Not So Big House Yet Again

After the foundation was poured, one concern we had was how far out of the ground the house appeared to be. It made our intentionally small footprint house look like a much larger house. When we were planning our house, we read some of Sarah Susanka's "Not So Big House" books in earnest, enjoying her perspective on designing a house for how we really live and using each room daily. Anything else is would be unnecessary extra for us. You can learn more about Sarah's philosophy, which we certainly share, here: http://www.susanka.com/.

Now that Bartley installed the window wells and did the rough grading around the house, the home looks like it will be a much more management size. What a difference a little dirt can make.

When the weather clears later this week our Contractor, Aaron, will be on-site to test the dirt/sand/cement mixture in order to make the Compressed Earth Bricks for the walls. Then the team will get into full swing with brick manufacture! We're looking forward to the demonstration of the brick-making this Saturday. If you'd like to come by and need our address, please email me at flybymike at gmail dot com. (replace at with @ and dot with a period).

One more note - the HUGE pile of dirt in our neighbor's yard is now a much smaller pile of dirt, which will be used for making the CEB.

Mother Nature 1; Liquid Nails 0

In my last post, I listed a number of upcoming tasks. We're taking two steps forward, one backwards, and, thankfully, making progress. The radiant heat system arrived late last week, ready for installation this week. On Friday, the 50 sheets of 3" extruded foam insulation came, so I spent all yesterday installing the foam board on the outside of the foundation. I was armed with dozens of tubes of liquid nails and my caulk gun. I organized the work site and got about 8 foam boards installed, and then "the rains came."

Since I'm not the wicked witch of the west, I needn't worry about melting, so I worked away, getting all of the foam boards installed. I was worried, though, that the rain would affect the liquid nails' ability to cure. So I used leftover cuts of wood from the first floor installation to hold most of the board to the house. I didn't have enough leftover wood for all of the sheets of foam board, so once the boards seemed firmly affixed, I moved the boards to hold the next set of sheets I installed. I left the lot about 9 hours after I started the project, exhausted, covered with mud from head to toe, and soaked to the bone.

It rained through the night. After church this morning, I drove by the lot to see how the liquid nails held up. Mother nature won the battle, at least with the five boards on the west side of the house, which were no longer affixed to the foundation. Not surprisingly, those were the only five boards I did not wedge the wood up against, since there wasn't a good way to do that on the west side. Fortunately, all of the other boards still were affixed to the house, albeit not to firmly. The liquid nails simply couldn't cure with the steady rain for more the 28 hours.

I waited until the rain slowed significantly and then headed back to the lot this evening to fix the problem. While I was there, Helen and Jeff from across the street, two of the nicest people we've ever met, stopped by to say hi. All of our neighbors have been extremely kind and their visits while we're on-site are always very welcomed. It's such a great neighborhood and we can't wait for the house to be complete so we can be there full-time. That reminds me, yesterday Chris from directly across the street came by to visit in the rain and offered me some tips on sump pumps - a very timely discussion because of the rain, and since we'll be buying those pumps this week.

Back to today - after Helen, Jeff and I chatted for a bit, I put more liquid nails on the five western boards, and I propped the boards up with some wood. The wood only needs to hold the boards up through the back-fill which is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Then the earth will hold the foam boards to the wall forever and the liquid nails become a moot point. I'm hoping that none of the other boards will fall down this evening, but, if they do, I hope that our contractor, Aaron, will be able to put them back in place Monday morning before Bartley back-fills.

What is Dimple to Board, Drain to Tile, Water to Proof?

Ladies and gentlemen, some of the most important preventive measures are being addressed during construction this week -- that is the waterproofing and water removal system around the house's foundation. This was one area where we wanted to spare no expense, in hopes that we won't have water challenges in our basement.

The good folks at Bartley Corporation came back to the lot to coat the foundation with a waterproofing product, install the draintile around the perimeter of the house, and install dimpleboard which acts slightly as an insulation and predominately as a means for water to drain into the black plastic draintile. The draintile then was covered with stone and a filter cloth. All of this will soon be covered up when Bartley returns on Monday morning to backfill around the house. This all will be matched on the inside with a double sump-pump system with battery back-up.

In the meantime, we have ordered 50 sheets of 3" extruded foam which I will affix to the foundation exterior walls this weekend. We've placed the order for the WeatherShield windows & doors with Quality Window & Door in Beltsville, MD. And we ordered the energy-efficient radiant heat system and high-efficiency gas water heater from Radiantec in Lyndonville, VT. The windows & doors will take five-to-six weeks and the radiant heat materials should arrive early next week. I have scheduled vacation for March 19th & 20th to install the radiant heat system in the basement.

Check out our fancy waterproofing system:

FSC Wood Arrives! FSC Wood Installed!

One of Earthcraft's requirements to certify a house as green, is that more than 50% of the wood used in the house must be sustainable/green. One program that promotes sustainable practices for wood products and certifies wood as sustainable is the Forest Stewardship Council. The wood we purchased from T.W. Perry's branch in Gaithersburg, MD is FSC certified. Also, our first floor deck (not outside deck, but actual subfloor on the inside of the house) is AdvanTech, a green engineered wood product. Here's our stack of wood products just after delivery: And here's the framing crew, headed up by Hector, working away early on a Saturday morning to install the floor joists and first floor deck:

CEB Demonstration

We will be demonstrating the manufacture of Compressed Earth Brick (CEB) on Saturday, March 21st from 11:00am - 2:00pm. If you would like the details for this demonstration, please email me at flybymike at gmail dot com.

Mike

Character Is Like the Foundation of a House - It Is Below the Surface

I'm not sure who that quote is from, but I like it. Don't worry; this isn't a philosophical post, it's an update on our house foundation!

Today, Bartley removed the forms for the walls and the foundation looks great!

The lumber package has been ordered and our primary contractor, Aaron Holmes with Cornerstone Building Services, will be on site over the next couple of days with a crew to install the first floor decking. We're actually building a house and I can finally prove it!!!

The Children Were Nestled All Snug in Their Beds

Another pleasant surprise. The folks at Bartley Corporation showed up on an extremely cold Tuesday morning and hustled, completing the forms for the foundation. They then poured the concrete. They wrapped the forms in blankets at the end of the day, and our new basement walls were snuggled up in their beds for a long winter's nap.

Thank you

It stopped snowing in downtown DC today at approximately 2:30pm. After work, I picked Andreas up at the Dulles Jet Center, where he was waiting after the last leg of a charter flight today. We rushed to our lot in Falls Church with a broom and shovel to clear the sidewalk and we found it already had been shoveled by one of the neighbors.

Whoever you are, thank you very much for shoveling our sidewalk. We're looking forward to the house being finished so we can enjoy the company of the fine people who live nearby. The City of Falls Church boasts of the benefits of a small town atmosphere and our experiences so far certainly have proven there is truth in their advertising!

---

And a quick update on construction: Bartley Corporation did not complete their work with the foundation forms on Friday, and they didn't show up to work on Saturday as we were led to believe that they would. Obviously they didn't pour the foundation walls yet. Of course with the big snow storm in the DC area yesterday, it is understandable that they could not work today. So if all goes well, they'll finish the forms on Tuesday, pour the concrete on Thursday, and we'll be able to set the first floor trusses/decking the week of March 9th.

Footer Fetish

A good bit has happened this week. And today, if all goes as planned, it may actually start to look like a house is being constructed! On Monday, Bartley Corporation had to re-do some mud excavating work they did not properly do in the area way. They admitted their mistake and corrected that, at their expense, and finished placing the #57 crushed stone. The good folks at CIS had caught Bartley's mistakes and after they were fixed, CIS signed off on the soil stabilization. That cleared Bartley to set the forms and pour the footers for the foundation. On Thursday, Huntley Nyce Associates came to do the brick pointing. Today Bartley is scheduled to set the foundation forms and pour the foundation. See the progress:


This is the area way that clearly had not been properly cared for per the engineer's instructions; mother earth eventually would have won this water battle if this hadn't been fixed before the footers were poured:
Brick points:

Brick point close-up:

No River Too Deep

On Thursday, Bartley's team was back on the lot to start scraping the 6" of mud. They finished the mud scraping and removal on Friday then laid the geotextile material. Truck after truck backed into our driveway to dump the first deliveries of #57 crushed stone from the Loudoun Quarry of Chantilly Crushed Stone. Using a Bobcat, they moved the stone from the construction entrance into the excavated pit, covering the entire area with approximately 4" of stone. On Monday, the crew will return, and more trucks will deliver much more stone, and they'll sling the stone from the trucks into the excavated pit for a total of 18" of stone to mitigate mother nature's high water table in this area.

When looking at the pictures, you can see the grey markings around the side of the excavated area. I stopped at the lot today on my way to the gym, to check on Bartley's progress, and Tim Gary - the Vice President of CIS Engineering - our soils consultant, happened to stop by at the same time I was there. He explained to me that the grey markings show there was a river that went through our lot and that's the sediment that was deposited at the bottom of the river. He was a super nice guy and extremely knowledgeable. You don't think about how water moves underground, but it clearly does. It's not confined to streams, rivers, lakes and the ocean, but Mother Earth is moving water all the time, right under our feet.

There's still a little bit of water showing in some areas, but there's no stone in those areas yet either. I'm guessing that Bartley noticed water seeping from the side walls of the excavated area and they decided to let it collect in spots order to pump the water out on Monday, scrape some more mud, then add the stone to ensure stability. The good news is that water level was below the 4" of stone that surrounded it and when there's another 14" of stone, we're confident that the water will remain well below the footers and foundation of the house. That's the goal!

Yes, Virginia, There is Such a Thing as Green Power in Virginia

Today I received an email from Dominion Power telling me that my latest power bill was on-line for viewing (I switched from paper statements a long time ago). The first sentences of the email said, "Your Dominion online statement is now available. You have the power to choose renewable energy! Click here to sign up or learn about your Green Power options." Very cool - I had to check it out.

This is a voluntary program from Dominion Virginia Power that allows customers to support renewable energy. While it the power provided to my condo won't necessarily be renewable energy, it does mean that the 1.5 cent per kilowatt-hour extra charge allows the power company to purchase renewable energy certificates.

I did some calculations and it would cost just over $5 per month more for this green option -- it's a no-brainer! I'm signing up.

According to the charts on their website, this is what my choosing renewable energy translates to, based on our 4,368 kWh usage in the past 12 months:

• 82,241 Pounds of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Avoided
• 37.35 Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Avoided
• 6.88 is the Equivalent Number of Automobiles Removed from the Road (In terms of greenhouse gas emissions avoided)
  
• 81,565 Equivalent Miles of Automobile Emissions Avoided (In terms of greenhouse gas emissions avoided)

Does your state have a similar program? If you're in Virginia, check out these links for more details:

http://www.dom.com/customer/efficiency/vares_greenpower.jsp
http://www.dom.com/customer/efficiency/pdf/greenpower_cost_chart.pdf

Swamped, Scraped, Crushed, Ouch

Swamped:

In the past week, we watched that little bit of ground water that you saw in last week's pictures start to rise throughout the entire excavated lot. See for yourself:




The ground along the sides of the lot have settled into the excavated area in some areas, which will require re-pouring of some deck pier footers. We were frustrated by this since Bartley - the excavator and concrete company - plans to charge us again to re-do this work. But they were the ones who took the risk of digging the deck piers before excavating for the house. We're not the excavation experts, they are. So when there was a problem based on their decision, why should we have to pay the cost for it?

Scraped:

As reported last week, we had to hire a soils consultant to look at the lot and make a recommendation that will allow us to proceed with the construction. The best option was to pump the ground water out, scape 6" of mud out, haul that mud away, and then put down a geotextile matting and then 18" of stone on top. 12" for water avoidance & stability + the 6" of depth for the scraped-away mud = 18" of stone.

Crushed:

18" of #57 crushed stone across the size of our excavated area translates to 205 tons. That's more than the empty weight of a Boeing 747 aircraft. The stone will go into our scraped, excavated pit. It then will be compacted. As I understand it, this stone serves two purposes: 1) along with the geotextile, it will create the necessary stability for the footers of the house; 2) it will provide a drain plane for the ground water, allowing the water to stay away from our foundation. That's a great thing.

Ouch:

We expected to run into some challenges and additional expenses while constructing this house, and this sure is an expensive one. We're trying to find ways to save money on this, but the extra $12,000 hit on our budget is not very welcome. Maybe we can do without a roof on the house to cover this extra cost?

I've Always Wanted Waterfront Property

We can't say we weren't warned. Our neighbors had warned us that the City of Falls Church has a high water table, so we planned accordingly with our home design - no expense spared on waterproofing, sump pumps, etc. The one major concern we still had with construction was the fear of the unknown when they start digging - the high water table being at the forefront of our minds. As you can see from these photos, and as determined by the city inspector, there is too much ground water on our lot to simply pour the footers for the house. Also, the soil was too soft in that area. Bartley's crew already had set up the forms for the footers, so that all had to be undone. The good folks at Bartley had a soils engineer on our lot within an hour and he recommended two possible solutions, with one being a far superior one. Needless to say, that's the option we're going with. A geotextile will be installed to provide stability to the soil, then 12 inches of stone will be poured on top of that. This will provide a strong enough base to pour the footers and provide an excellent drainage field for water underneath our entire basement. Yes, it's adding several thousand dollars to the budget, but it raises our confidence that the house will be nice and dry in the basement, which is worth the investment. Hopefully they'll be able to continue work in the next day or so, so the footers can be poured and inspected, then on to the foundation!

The Big Dig

Bartley Corporation, who is doing a lot of the early work for us including excavation and pouring the footers and foundation, started the Big Dig this week! The construction project finally is starting to seem real! See for yourself:




A special thanks to Mrs. Brown who owns the house & lot on the north side of our property (the old house that's for sale) since she gave us permission to use her backyard to store the dirt that's excavated. We'll repay that favor by removing the branches/debris from the trees that have accumulated at the back of her lot over the years, which will improve the appearance of her property.

We're just hopeful that our Big Dig isn't as expensive or fraught with problems like the city of Boston's Big Dig!!!

A Sign of the Times

The professionals who have helped us through this project so far have been absolutely wonderful, amazing, patient, and helpful. This is definitely a team project - we couldn't do it without them. Several have marketing signs in our front yard, which we're proud to display:

Earthcraft - the green program our house will be certified under.
Mike Terpak with Access National Bank - our lender.
Aaron Holmes with Cornerstone Building Services - our general contractor.

If you are building, we recommend EarthCraft and Cornerstone. If you need financing, we recommend that you call Mike.

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

On Tuesday morning, during an ice and snow storm, we woke up before the crack of dawn and headed to JMB Fabricators in Annapolis, MD to purchase 45' of root protection matting and 100 landscaping nails to install the matting. We had no idea what to expect, but it's a good thing we took my Ranger instead of Andreas's Volkswagen Golf. The 13' long roll was thick and orange. The nice folks at JMB helped us load the roll onto my truck and fasten it down (thanks, Dad, for the ratchet tie-down straps you gave me a while back!). Some people likened the end result to a modern-day Oscar Mayer Wienermobile driving from Annapolis to downtown DC. See for yourself - Andreas jumped out of the truck to snap this photo at the red light at the intersection of Rhode Island & Connecticut Avenues, NW.


Versus












After work, we went back to the lot to install the Root Protection Matting. It still was sleeting and freezing rain, mixed with some snow, but we had to get it installed so the City's urban forester could inspect our tree protection measures. The landscape nails were no competition for the frozen ground and compacted gravel driveway, where we were installing the matting. The gravel won. We could only get about 1/2 of the landscape nails in; the rest bent wildly as we attempted the install. The next morning, Andreas and I each visited Home Depot to get progressively more aggressive in our approach to install this matting. Ultimately, the galvanized spikes saved the day and the matting was installed per the tree protection plan. Yay!

Here's the lot with the matting installed:

We passed the tree preservation inspection with flying colors. And now the construction entrance has been installed by Bartley Corporation. I have not seen the gravel construction entrance but will drive by the lot tomorrow!

I'm Plastered

OK, not really, but I got your attention, didn't I?

A couple weeks ago, I took a class on American Earth Clay Plaster application. The class was offered at Amicus Green Building Supply in Kensington, MD (http://www.amicusgreen.com). This a really cool, environmentally-friendly product that we've admired for some time. This is a finishing product for walls, ceiling, etc. that can be used in lieu of paint. Finishing the Compressed Earth Block interior of the house with American Clay Earth Plaster made a lot of sense; it was just a question of cost. I took the class to see if this is something I could do myself, or if it's best left to a professional.

I found the class to be a lot of fun and I walked away knowing that this would be a big project, a lot of work, but something I certainly could handle on my own if I plan accordingly and don't expect the entire house to be plastered in one weekend. I'm excited about this option and thrilled that we won't have to drywall the whole house, but may be able to use this plaster instead.

Here are some photos from my training class. The first photo is my sheet after the first coat; the second is my sheet after some decorative finishes we learned (many of which we won't use since we're seeking a relatively smooth, contemporary surface), and following these are photos of the board other students in the class worked on.

Enjoy.

Let Us Break Ground Together

On Martin Luther King Day, just before Andreas and I headed out of town for business trips, we met on our lot with our architect, John Spears; general contractor, Aaron Holmes; and EarthCraft technical advisor, Chris Conway. We gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony to recognize the milestones we achieved so far and commemorate the start of the construction project for our new home. Since it was in the teens and low 20 degrees (F) for several days prior to and during our groundbreaking, the topsoil was frozen and extremely hard, so we were able to break away only a few pieces of dirt. We enjoyed some champagne after the groundbreaking (non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider for Andreas, since he was flying that day). Here are some photos (note the beatiful super-silt and tree protection fencing Andreas installed in the background).

Mike (on left) and Andreas (on right).

Aaron (on left); Mike, Andreas, John (on right).

Chris (on left), Mike, Andreas.

Timber!!!

Sorry for not posting over the past couple of weeks. We've been out of town for work most of the time, and working on prepping the lot for construction between trips. We closed on the land on January 2nd and the next week the crew was there to take down the trees that needed to be removed. If you've read all the blog postings, you'll recall that we struggled with the decision on which trees to remove, especially the question of the large maple on the front of the lot. Here's a picture as the trees were being taken down.

In the front of the photo, you see the old, green sheds Andreas and I dismantled. The vast majority of the sheds have been taken to the Fairfax County solid waste center where they'll rot away. As Andreas posted earlier, the metal shed was taken for recycling.

For the most part, the tree branches were turned to mulch and are now being used as a root protection matting to save the three holly trees on the South side of the property. The black walnut tree trunks were hauled away by an artist/furniture designer/woodworker who will use the wood in crafts projects. He's also giving one of the black walnut logs to the Corcoran School for students to use in carving and woodworking projects. We feel that went to a wonderful home since we couldn't afford to have the wood milled and prepped for use in our house.

In addition, almost 1/2 of the tree protection fencing and silt fence for erosion control has been installed by Andreas. The rest should be installed tomorrow while I get caught up on paperwork/administrative items for our home construction project and spend the rest of the day on my real job.

After we get the geotextile material from the distributor this week, we can have the tree protection measures inspected and then the construction entrance can be built. Excavation will begin right after that construction entrance is inspected.

To sum it up, I think we're making good progress so far and we're looking forward to the big dig!

Recycling Pays

One of the old sheds that Mike wrote about in his earlier post went to Potomac Metals to be recycled today. We took all 195 pounds worth of steel there and got ... $2. Who says being environmentally responsible doesn't have a quick payoff!

Shed No Tears

Andreas and I spent much of the weekend taking down the three sheds that were on our new lot. One was metal and two were made of wood. All of them had a lot of junk on the inside we'll have to have hauled away. Per our real estate contact, the sheds were supposed to have been completely empty before closing. Most of the junk that the sheds contained was removed, but there was still a pile of stuff the sellers didn't take out of them. So that was the first order of business; demolition followed.

The metal one (steel, we think) was the easiest of the three to take down and that's now in the back of my truck to take for recycling. The wood ones were more challenging and, in fact, the biggest one is only 95% broken down. We made that much progress only because during a lunch break, Andreas suggested we rent a chain saw to assist with the project. That was a smart recommendation and one that saved us a lot of time and effort.

Also today, we put a letter introducing ourselves and our project at the front door of our neighbors surrounding the lot. We invited them to stop by and visit and we apologized, in advance, for any noise and dust we may make throughout construction. The highlights of the day were when several neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves and say hello. Everyone was exceptionally friendly and we're excited to (eventually) move into the neighborhood.

Sorry we didn't take any pictures today. We were hoping to get the sheds completely torn down, to show the lot without them, but we worked until the sun went down. Andreas will be back on the lot first thing tomorrow morning to meet our arborist who will be starting the tree removal project.

At long last!

Today is the day we thought would never arrive. We just got back from a wonderful meeting at Lighthouse Title in Arlington, VA where Tina guided us through the closing process. At looonnnngggg last - we now own the lot! Or, more accurately, our lender does (Access National Bank in Reston, VA.) Tina and her colleagues at Lighthouse Title and Terri and her colleagues at Access National Bank worked their tails off the last few days - during the holiday season - to wrap up the details for the loan so we could close today. We greatly appreciate their hard work on our behalf and we were extremely impressed with the professionalism and high level of customer service that everyone provided throughout the process.

To make the day even more perfect, our wonderful realtor, Suzanne Fauber with Buck & Associates in Arlington, VA, gave us a bottle of Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. I can't wait to open that to celebrate!

I'm glad the weather forecast for this weekend calls for sun. We will spend tomorrow and Sunday working to clear away the three large garden sheds that currently are on our new property. Andreas has already talked to the tree removal expert and on Monday a crew will be on-site to remove certain trees, including the large maple I wrote about in the beginning of this blog.

We will be able to start construction after a couple more details are worked through with the general contractor and our fantastic lender.

For Larry M.

Our friend Larry M. has asked me several times to post an image with the floor plan/layout to this blog. He has seen the drawings on paper and asked why they're not posted to this blog. Well, here they are. The first image shows the main level/first floor. That includes two bedrooms located on opposite ends of the house. The master bedroom is on the East side (the right side of the image) and the guest room/office is on the West side (obviously on the left side of the image). The heart of the house contains the kitchen, dining and living rooms all open in one big great room (okay, not so big, but it will feel much more open than if we walled off each room). The entrance to the house will be on the North side (at the top of the picture) just across from the stairs into the basement. In the spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs, when one walks in, the ceiling will be lower and as one turns to the great room, with the roof slanting/rising up, the eyes will be drawn to the expanse of windows on the Southern side.

The lower level (aka the basement) will have a third bedroom and rough-in plumbing for a third bathroom. The washer/dryer will go into the basement as well. Eventually we will divide the basement a bit more to add a media room with my wine collection, and there will be a workshop (future airplane building area).

Solar, Solar Everywhere

Yes, I know it's been a long time since we posted anything. The state of the financial markets left us scrambling to find financing after the lender the mortgage broker found for us decided they were no longer going to do construction loans. So we had to start over with finding a bank. More on that later.

Solar, Solar Everywhere - in Bavaria that is. Andreas and I just returned from a Christmas trip to Germany to spend the holidays with his family. One of the things that struck us on this trip was how much solar energy is being captured in Germany. Old barns, old farm houses, new houses, and commercial buildings of all sizes had solar PV panels capturing energy and/or solar water heaters. It was amazing and refreshing. Hopefully that's something we'll see in our country in the not too distant future. Hopefully Obama's commitment to green collar jobs and potential tax incentives for renewable energy options will lead to more affordable solar power in the U.S. Cost certainly is an issue for us, which is why our house will be solar ready instead of solar powered.