Drywall.....finally

The project is still making progress but I can definitely tell I'm tired. I lost about 8 weeks during the summer due to my sideline business but my customers were extremely patient with me. After all the rough ins were complete I was at a crossroad. Do I hang my drywall or hire a pro. After lots of talking it over we decided to hire a pro for my drywall. We felt the pro could help us make up lost time and we knew the finish would be great. I've done my share of drywall finishing and can make it look good but I'm really SLOW.  My wife says it's because I'm picky...lol

We used rounded corners and it looks really nice. We've since painted the main level and installed trim and hung the doors and were so excited being able to see the hard work pay of and see the finish line....I'll post more as soon as I can 

Warm weather brings outside work...

I could not have done this build without great family and friends. We've been blessed with great help. I've spent countless hours with me and my dog Kitty or my boys but a great deal of work has been accomplished by close friends and family. To this point the pros I've had we're for the basement concrete floor, spray foam company and I did hire a crew to lay the shingles to help get me weathered in. I hung all the sheathing but winter came fast so I had to sub the shingle install out. Everything else has been me and my crew and the quality is top notch and in most cases superior to the pros. Not to say the pros can't do the quality I expect but I know they can't the time it takes because they would be broke and I completely understand that. Pros can save people time and even money over doing it yourself sometimes. We are blessed in the fact that between our family and friends we have professional HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and contractors provided me great counsel and assistance. After the winter broke I hired my next pro.....a brick mason. No brick mason's in my crew. My wife and searched forever it seemed on a brick choice and finally decided on one. We originally wanted stucco but the stucco estimates we received were extremely high in price. The ICF process is suppose to make stucco more cost effective but in my neck of the woods I don't think our stucco people received that memo, so we chose brick.

Electrical & plumbing Rough In

I installed a Ton of wiring in this home.  I'm very paticular in my skilled trades and take pride in doing something right and neat. I had a great deal of help from a friend who is just like me in my thinking prepare the home for electrical service. I also plumbed the entire house in Pex plumbing and I oversized the drains I sched 40 pvc. I chose a heat pump water heater instead of a conventional water heater for energy effiency. I also did not choose the on demand because of the maintenance schedule they require. I also wired the house for home networking,security,etc. wiring home for future was a good read and I did a great deal of Cat6 cabling in the home. All the systems will be controlled in a separate panel. 

HVAC Rough In

My father in law is an outstanding HVAC tech and been in the field for over 30 years. However he is not expierenced with super tight energy efficent ICF building and wanted me to find an engineer to spec and design the system. I first used an engineer from our HVAC supply house and he planned a system. It was clear to see he did not understand my type of building envelope and the system would have been WAY oversized which is one of the worst things that can happen to a home.  I spent countless hours reading reports and studies of ICF HVAC systems.  I contacted EnergyWise Structures and made the agreement with them to design my system. They provided a very detailed blueprint and it seemed very logical. They guarantee my energy bills for 2 years also if I built the system to they're specs. We ended up going with a 2 stage variable speed heat pump with a gas backup. The gas backup in reality should never come on but we needed some sort of back up. The heating loads and cooling loads on this home are extremely low. We choose a Nordyne system and mounted horizontal for better air duct design. After installation we did have some balance issues between the floors but we have since dialed it in buy a design modification that my father in law and I came up with. So far the system is working well but I can't wait to get drywall up and make sure the system works as designed. I'll try find better pics of system and post later.

Windows & Doors

I think I failed to provide information on the window and door decisions.  I ended choosing Andersen 400 series for the home. We went withe the best U factor and chose the solar heat factors for different window locations. I positioned the house where the front is facing south. With all the windows on the front side we should benefit from solar heat during the winter months and during the summer the sun will be more to the north and sunlight should not directly effect us. Placing the home in an ideal location can really save you money. I guess you may not always have that option but if you do have a choice it's something to consider.  I really wanted to use Intus windows in the house as I loved the product but big shipping costs and the concern of support had me nervous. However after dealing with a Andersen frenchwood door issue I haven't been overly happy with there support. I love the door but the first one arrived damaged and the second had the door gasket fail. All other exterior doors are therma tru and they are fine. I used the Fox Buck on all my openings and had no problem with the.  I did frame the openings with 2x12's to support the bucks which cost me extra money but I wanted the openings square.  We mounted the windows and hunts the doors the. Sealed everything up with a adhesive wrap and spray foam. The house will be extremely tight and will control the air exchange with the HVAC system. My power company heard what I was building and dropped in for a visit. The company was so impressed they are trying to get the home energy start certified! which would be the first home awarded in my area!  I did have one problem with the front door also. I was told therma tru offered an extended jamb and we ordered the largest they had which was 12". However when it arrived the threashold wasn't extended and would have caused a huge problem or "cobbled" job so I sent it back and went with a 2x6 jamb. No other problems after that. 

Time to work inside!

Well, one thing I've learned is its hard to keep up my blog with my full time job, family, part time job and build the house. Sorry for the slow updates but I'm trying.  After we got the garage up and weatherd in it was finally time to move inside. I was very happy as we have received record amounts of snow this winter. After many hours of insulation research we decided to continue with investing in the structure of our home more so than the finishes. We decided to use EcoComfort Spray foam company and spray the roof deck. We totally encapsulated the house this way and with the use of the Fox Buck the entires house is thermal broken. After the foam we started framing walls and building the staircase which has two landings and was a big hurdle I was concerned about. However my Uncle Glen came out of retirement and helped me get it built and it turned out great.

3 car attached garage

After I got the roof sheeted it was time to move on to the garage. I dug the front porch and garage footers and poured the footers. I had planned ahead and had rebar coming out of the ICF where the garage and front porch stem walls would attach so they would be anchored to the ICF. I choose to stick build the garage just because the cost vs stick build and also square footage. After pouring the stem walls for the garage I formed a curb and poured the garage slab. We then framed out the garage which went really really quick. We had some snow move in which made it hard installing the trusses and the sheeting. It was the first time I ever shoveled a roof so I could finish it plus it was in the single digits outside......cold.  We worked hard and fast and was able to get the rest of the shingles on just in time for a huge rain storm that came through. Well, no leaks so I was good. 

    We were working as hard and as fast as we could to get the home completely weathered in. My plan is to have the brick installed in the spring as the weather would be more favorable and I didn't want to have any problems with the brick.