Cabinets

Kitchen cabinets with clear vertical grain Douglas Fir veneer.

Stair Railing

Driveway / Walkway Install

Douglass Fir Flooring Install

The Big Reveal

Scaffolding removed for "the big reveal".  First glimpse of the finished product.  Used a darker semi-transparent color to add punch to the wing wall.

Gypsum Board

Insulation

The interior cavity of the stud walls being filled with blown-in cellulose insulation. The product is called Nu-Wool and is made of 100% recycled paper.

The blown-in product can't be effectively held in place when installed in the ceiling cavity, Nu-Wool comes in a batt product called Eco-Cell.  You can see the insulation here in 6" thickness, being applied in 2 layers to fill the 12" joist cavity.  An added benefit of Nu-Wool is it's astounding acoustical dampening properties.

Cedar Siding

My contractor (DRM) installing the cedar siding.  Nails are hand driven.

Rain Screen

Scaffolding set up to install 1" insulation board (pink) and vertical rain screen wood strips.  The Cedar siding will be attached to the wood vertical strips.

Cedar

For the exterior of the house I specified western red cedar.  Seemed fitting that the Little Woods House should be clad in wood, and not vinyl or cement board.  This particular produce was harvested in British Columbia and milled in Washington State.  Had the painter pre finish with a semi-transparent stain which will allow the natural color variation of the cedar panels to be visible.  Boards are tongue and groove.

House wrap with windows

Windows

Windows installed today.  Manufactured by Western Window Systems and installed by Hemm Glass.  This is an aluminum frame system with thermally broken 1" insulated glass, low E coating, Solarban 60 glass.  Nice thing about Western is that the door is part of the same system, but is able to be specified in a unique color - Chose cinnamon color to give it a little kick and say "front door"

Wow - this thing is just incredible.  30' clear span of glass, comprised of (5) 6' wide x 8' high pieces of sliding glass.  When open the panels gang on the right side.  Needed to make special structural provisions for the clear span, and to handle the 3,000 lb point load of 5 panels of glass sitting on the wood floor.

Spay Foam Insulation

Closed cell spray foam insulation is blown in against the inside face of the wall sheathing.  The 1" layer functions as both an insulator and an air barrier, providing a super tight house.

A House is Born

Today's marks the first day of being "dried-in", we are officially under roof.  This is the most significant milestone in the life of the project.

Prairie

I planted a prairie on the back slope of the lot, comprised of native plants and wildflowers.  The cosmos are coming in beautifully.

Roofing Installation

Tapered insulation mechanically fasted with screws to the roof deck.

Roofing membrane lapped 6" and heat welded at the seams.

Flue for wood stove

Installed through ceiling in living room.  Important to get the chimney flue up through the roof prior to the roof installation.

Roof Deck

3/4" tounge and groove OSB roof deck.  Deck complete with 3 tiers to step to lowest section over the garage.  Stepping the structure, along with tapered roof insulation will help move the water off the roof.

Roof parapet walls

Framing of roof parapet walls, this is a good view showing the stepped roof height.

Roof Joists

Roof joists are up in the living area.  This shot gives you feel for the massive first floor opening to the outside.  Truss joists are 12" deep and 24" on center.

First Floor Framing

Basement

Steel Beam Erection

First Floor Framing

Framing

Steel framing at stair, stair install, and first floor joists going in.

Steel Erection

Slab Pour

Foundation Water-proofing

Sub Slab Plumbing Work

Stipping Concrete Forms

Concrete Wall Pour

Thermomass Forms

Thermomass concrete walls forms about 80% complete.

Window openings in 12" concrete wall

There are 6 windows in the lower level.  To create the window openings the contractor framed 3'x4' knock out panels.  The concrete will be poured into the wall forms from the top, and these knock out panels will create a concrete void in the wall.  After the forms are stripped these knock out frames will be removed, and the 3'-4' openings created.

Updated Floor Plans

Project Delivery Method Update

After lots of consideration, and forming the right team with the right contractors, I have decided to act as my own Construction Manager for the Little Woods House.  This basically means that I am executing separate prime contracts with the following contractors.  There are some minor ones as well not on this list - but here are the major players.

1. Site Excavator - (Markley Excavating)
2. Concrete Contractor - (B-Concrete)
3. General Trades (framing, finishing) (DRM and Sons)
4. Mechanical  / Plumbing Contractor (Korrect Plumbing and HVAC)
5. Electrical Contractor (Glow Electric)
6. Window Contractor (Hemm's Glass)
7. Roofing Contractor (Frost Roofing)

Flowers are blooming at Little Woods

Thermomass

Lower level concrete wall forms went up today.  I am using the thermomass system.  This picture shows the outer wall forms, which are 9' tall and 3' wide aluminum panels.  The outer wall form is shown with rebar for the outer wythe of concrete.  Contractor is spraying a release agent to assist in stripping the forms from the concrete after the pour.

Next step is that the contractor installs the 4" wall insulation.  These insulation panels were factory fabricated to fit together like a puzzle with the forms.  This insulation provides R20 continuous in the lower level walls, not including the thermall mass properties of the concrete itself.

The 4 inches of wall insulation will be sandwiched between two 4" walls of concrete, creating a 12" total wall thickness.

Footings

Boom Pump Truck

Concrete truck dumps concrete into this boom truck, that puts that concrete exactly where you want it.  The guy in the dark gray t-shirt operates all controls remotely via a handheld remote control.  This concrete pour is for the lower level footings.

Rocker Chucker

The large truck on the left is literally chucking rocks (gravel actually) that is being used to backfill the footing excavation.  These labor savings machines are a sight to behold.