Friday, July 24th, windows and doors in! Well, most of the windows. The clerestory, and a few main floor windows, and basement window-well windows yet to come. The framers cleaned up and packed up for a while. They'll be back to finish framing around the venting, and a few other things.

Thursday, July 23rd, framing all but done. Had another bonfire as the pile was getting large. A little too large. I had one of the neighboring farmers stop by to see if the house was on fire. It wasn't. Yet. The fire looks closer to the house than it actually was. Which was close enough.

Wednesday, July 22nd, while driving around the corner on my way home from work I saw the house and my stomach hit the floor. Once my brain got a hold of my limbic system I was glad for the felt paper on the roof (and glad the house hadn't charred). Very fast dramatic change. The roofers also put the top drip edge of fascia in place (white).

Jake and co. stayed late again to finish the curve on the front porch. The curves in the house look great, but are time consuming to construct. The framers are so far over there planned time for completion I'm sure it's good for them that we eliminated the curves in the master bath. I think it's going to function better for us too.

Tuesday, July 21st, had a long meeting with Chris where we met in turn with:

1. Guy (Guy's Glass). Long story long on the remote controlled windows in the clerestory: Originally we had planned on Velux windows (high quality, very expensive) but they cannot be installed more vertical than 85 degrees. Then found Marvin "power-drive" windows (high quality, very expensive), but long story short, our builder thought (incorrectly) that we couldn't get them. So then Chris wondered if the powered windows were the same excepting the power unit (they are) so then he got to wondering if we could put Amsco Artisan windows (like what we have in the rest of the house) (less quality, less expensive) but get a powered drive system and install it ourselves. Guy found the drives for $250 a piece (we want 3). All in all this will save us thousands vs. any of the other alternatives, and our windows will all be consistent (excepting the type of glass) throughout the house.
2. Gordon (Bill's Comfort Systems). Decided to go with the simpler, smaller fireplaces. Discussed options for heating/cooling -- all of which are more expensive than what we originally had budgeted -- but then we had originally budgeted for radiant heat in the basement also. Also discussed fresh air options.
3. Jake. Decided to leave out the interior wall that faces entry. Everyone seems confident this is a great idea except for me. I'm adjusting. It's a small loss of privacy for a great gain in aesthetic beauty (Jen's choice of words). Fireplaces -- no hearth on the main so that TV can be mounted above mantle and not be quite as elevated. 16" hearth on basement fireplace. Squared the shower -- will try and match the glass block with the master bath window.

Jake stayed late to finish the clerestory. Very fun. It ended up with the windows 9 inches off the roof decking (in case of snow drifts in winter on the North side). I think the plans were 4 or 5 inches, so the clerestory is a little taller than originally drawn. Well, with the change in roof pitch and trusses, it's a couple of feet higher...

Monday, July 20th, framed main floor interior walls. There are a few funny places deciding where the walls should be and how high they should go in the central portion of the home beneath the clerestory.

Sunday, July 19th: Tuesday night we tore ourselves away to go to youth conference at Alpine, WY. Rafting the Snake river for three days and etc. Awesome. But the framers kept going. The main floor roof is framed and sheeted. They added a second layer to the outer edge of the roof. The edge was ~10inches tall and Jake and Chris thought that the aluminum fascia would look better if it was tiered like on the architectural plans.

Monday, July 13th, more roof framing, fascia, and sheeting. Jake the framer is estimating they'll be done framing the roof this week, and complete the remainder of the interior by the middle of next week. We're glad that progress is continuing, but we have enjoyed Jake and his crew, and will be a little sad to see them go.

Saturday, July 11th, Jake's back again working on the roof. It's amazing how much different the house looks in just a couple of days.

We went down to a LEED open-house in Daybreak. It is another iteration of the Utah House and was built by PCR out of Ogden. We met with PCR a few times and were starting the process of getting a bid from them, and long story short, it didn't work out. The homeowners were there and were very friendly and excited. They have not used their air-conditioning yet this summer, and the house is not getting hotter than 78 degrees Fahrenheit. They have two energy recovery ventilators (ERV's) which they are using exclusively for fresh air because of all of the construction dust around them right now.


I'm still concerned about having fresh air flow into a "tight" home when air is being actively exhausted from the house (clothes dryer, kitchen/bathroom fans). I was asking Scott Dwire about it -- they elected to not install a kitchen fan, but instead have a duct for the ERV in some proximity to the cooktop instead. While this solves the issue for the kitchen (while maybe drawing greasy air into the ERV) and the bathrooms (if no direct venting bath fans are installed) it doesn't address the clothes dryer (which might be the most used...) ERV's work by exhausting just as much air as they allow in -- rather than compensating for other exhausts.

Friday, July 10th, more framing on the trusses in the morning, and then the crane came a little later. All in all the crane was here about six hours. Everything seemed to fit together well except for the box trusses underneath the clerestory, but that got worked out too.


We went down to Salt Lake to see some Bamboo cabinetry by Patrick Bingham. The pictures really don't do them justice. They look almost too uniform in photos, but in person they look very sharp. It is a very different look than we are used to however, so we're still a little undecided as to whether to "make the jump" or stick with something more common, probably natural chery.

Thursday, July 9th, starting trusses. Jake was sick yesterday. Back on the job today but maybe not feeling that much better... no crane today... it's coming tommorow. Jake was able to get some trusses up with his forklift. They sorted through and laid out many of the trusses laying them out close to where they'll be used tommorow. It looks like a giant is playing with a 3-D puzzle -- and not getting very far.

Tuesday, July 7th, return of the framers. They framed the beams and posts for the front porch, and readied the trusses for the crane.

Monday, July 6th, more concrete. The morning was spent creating forms for the front porch footings (that go on top of the sonotubes) and digging out about two foot footings on the front and back of the patio between the house and the garage (Chris still thinks we'll be enclosing this after one winter). The concrete guys didn't want to make a two day project out of it so they poured early afternoon. Unfortunately it's been hot and windy which makes gettting a nice finish challenging -- but it looks great. We had another bonfire this evening -- even larger than our previous -- and had tinfoil dinners and roasted marshmallows. How bad can that treated wood be for you anyway?

Friday, July 3rd. Jake and the framers packed up Wednesday for a long weekend -- they'll be back Tuesday. Chris and Jared have been filling and compacting the front porch area.

It's funny how we all (well, Jen, Chris & I) have a picture in our head of the finished home, but we haven't discussed all of the details with each other. That came out a bit when Chris disclosed his plan to step the front porch down a bit. Jen and I thought it would be flat (as per the plan) but that had it's own set of problems. Did I mention that we wish we'd just built a cold storage. Aghhh.

I think we've worked out a solution that is agreeable to everyone. Chris had an idea Friday to make a second landing in front of the front door, and then have the "front side" porch step down one step. I think this will look better, while solving some of the other grading and water issues.

Wednesday, July 1st, a pile of trusses were delivered.


Central main floor framing. The corners of the central structure are four or five engineered wood 2x6's (orange/red color), nailed together. Chris was concerned that regular 2x6's would warp over time and crack the corners.