BACK OUTSIDE

I realize it's been quite a long time since I took any exterior update photos, and I've actually made some progress out there.  Here in the front facade you can see that the slate siding is complete, we've just hung the steel balcony, and we've almost finished the porch ceiling.  

Oh, nice -- I just learned how to do captions!  Always had trouble with my text running wild all over the page and seemingly no way to format it.  Maybe I'll go back and fix all my other posts.

We ran out of wood for our porch ceiling - 8 boards short.  Now we have to wait 2 weeks for the new material to come in.  

This is the big wall, the money wall, as Mike calls it.  We've run about as much slate as we can until we place the two lower windows (more about that later).  Those are copper vents about mid-way up the wall (range hood, bathroom exhaust and gas water heater).  This is the service side of the house.  All the bathrooms, utility area, mechanicals, etc. are on this side, because it's the most hidden from view.

Another view of the front, but I chopped off the columns in formatting.

These are the steps down to the lower terrace, just below the spill-way.  They'll all get clad with brick shortly.  We ordered 100 bags of black mortar (really it's not black, but charcoal) and received 100 bags of buff mortar.  But what's another delay, really?  It just gives us time to work out a few more details.

Details such as this, my copper capped exterior outlet.  It will get worked into the slate.

And our copper corner.

The back porch is nearly complete, but again the slate is held up by the window and door details.  We've finished the ceiling and the gable wall, but need to start on the windows.  The balconies were challenging.  They weigh about 250 pounds, so we lifted them close with the tractor, then finessed them into place.

So here's our son's bedroom, looking north toward the meadow.  In the foreground, we'll have a n outdoor shower, and to the left will be the pond.

SPRAY FOAM INSULATION

We gave a lot of thought to the insulation we should use in this house and in the end, decided on a hybrid system.  The roof has 1 1/2" of rigid foam above the plywood roof deck, then about 1 1/2" of spray foam just below deck and finally R30 fiberglass batts.  Each component has it's own role to play.  The rigid foam keeps the plywood somewhat warm, to prevent condensation, the spray foam air-seals the house and the fiberglass batts are still the most cost-effective way to build up R-value.  All together, along with the roof system, it should give us about R50.

The walls are arund R20-25, with 1 1/2" of spray foam and R15 fiberglass.  Except for where they're clear, of course!  Each layer of polycarbonate is about R1.6, so even with two layers and a dead air space in between, we'll be lucky to get R5.  Still, that's better than any window I've ever specified.  

Here, the spray foam guys look like they're being very neat, and they were for the first two days.

Then, the end of the week crept up on them and suddenly they had a lot to accomplish on Friday.  No one likes to stay late on Friday.  I'm not sure exactly what they did - maybe opened the sprayer up a little more - but they sprayed more foam on Friday afternoon than they had in two previous days combined.

Until the gun blew up.  It's hard to really hear a scream through a respirator, over the job-site radio and the other power tools.  Luckily, no one was injured, and the mess was surprisingly contained.  Most of it wound up on that sheet of plastic.  

All in all, I'm glad we did the foam.  I believe it adds rigidity to the structure, provides a fantastic air seal and a lot of R-value per inch.  The sales pitch was grossly exaggerated, but they always are.  You're basically paying for material on the wall, so get a bid and a good measuring stick to check their work.

And, right after the spray foam, we did fiberglass batts, a much more tidy process, I might add.

The Knauf Ecobat, formaldehyde-free, yadayadayada

See how neat these guys are?  They even cleaned up after themselves.  Not like some other spray-foam contractors I know.

PLUMBING & ELECTRICAL

I know it's been pretty silent from me lately, and it's mostly because the stuff we've been working on just hasn't been very interesting.  BUT, that's largely complete, so now I can show you the pictures and move on to more exciting accomplishments!  We did our own electrical work, but hired out the plumbing, mostly because the estimate was so reasonable.  Unfortunately, I later found out that our house is considered 'custom' which more or less doubles the price.  Still the same number of plumbing fixtures, etc. but there's an up-charge for thought.  So without further ado, here is plumbing and electrical...

This is my wife's tub.  It's 5 1/2' long, about 32" high, solid cast iron, and I swear to God it weighs a thousand pounds.  I bought it for $50 at a hospital auction and it's in immaculate condition.  I was pretty proud of myself for that one.

And this is my son's tub, maybe one day.  This will all be tiled, or plastered, or finished in some way.  The sink is to the right and flows into the tub, which flows into the shower.  Not literally but visually - wouldn't want to brush my teeth and have it flow into the tub.