I've Been a BIT Busy

[fabr]

The last 6 months or so have had to take a break from the buggy build. Ready,well,99% ready for sheetrock now though. All labor is by me,myself and I.

[sandvw]

Very nice Wes. Looks like you have your work cut out for you. What are you estimating it will take for time to finish?

[fabr]

 A day of wiring a couple more circuits for carport fans/lights,a couple days finalizing kitchen plumbing/wiring layout,and a couple days for the plumber( friend that owes me a few) to rough in and I'll be ready to hang rock. All the ceilings are 1x6 center match just like all the soffits. The sheetrock hanging should be 2-3 days. The ceilings will take maybe a week. 24 foot in the air adds a lot of manhours. I'll have the sheetrock taped and finished by a very talented person from the south .I'm thinking it will be a month and the time for cabinets will have come. All said I'd think another 2 months and we can move in. Outside final such as porches/patios will be late spring/summer after I finish buggy. 

[Carlriddle]

Looks fantastic and I would expect nothing less than that! 
What's the little room that comes out front, upstairs?  Except there's no steps to it atleast not yet.

[D Walker]

Looks amazing!!!!

[DeepBusch69]

Awesome, I love the heavy beams and wood exterior.  Did you do the whole design? 

[fastcorvairs]

Love that Colorado Montana look Wess. Place should stand up to a F4 anyways.  Am I seeing right? Are them two large beams out back all that is holding up the top room? Anyway that is no less then I would expect form you my man.  When's the house warming party?

[Yummi]

That does it you are hired.  We don't pay much, but the bath and kitchen remodels should only take a couple weeks for a guy with your skills.  $50.00 a day, three cup o noodles, a room heated to 62* and a cup of coffee per day sound fair?  We can sweeten the deal with a wi fi password after hours if need be. 


Looks great and must give you a huge sense of pride.  Post up more pictures when you can. 

[fabr]

Looks fantastic and I would expect nothing less than that! 
What's the little room that comes out front, upstairs?  Except there's no steps to it atleast not yet.

Thank you. That's the solarium above the yet to be built front porch . There are 4 large pieces of glass to be installed still where you see the OSB . The whole thing is basically glass with a 14 foot ceiling. There will be 2 large peeled logs for porch posts.

[fabr]

Looks amazing!!!!

I appreciate that.

[fabr]

Love that Colorado Montana look Wess. Place should stand up to a F4 anyways.  Am I seeing right? Are them two large beams out back all that is holding up the top room? Anyway that is no less then I would expect form you my man.  When's the house warming party?

Yep! That's the only way I will ever have my Colorado ski lodge I've always wanted. I just have way too much stuff to ever move away from here. Actually there are 5 of those beams carrying all the roof and supporting that room as well. There's no need for any porch posts but they are needed to complete the look.  Ya,I over built the thing. All 2x6 walls and those beams are 8x18 size. Oh,and heavy as hell!!!

[fabr]

That does it you are hired.  We don't pay much, but the bath and kitchen remodels should only take a couple weeks for a guy with your skills.  $50.00 a day, three cup o noodles, a room heated to 62* and a cup of coffee per day sound fair?  We can sweeten the deal with a wi fi password after hours if need be. 


Looks great and must give you a huge sense of pride.  Post up more pictures when you can.

I'll be right out but you'll need to turn the thermostat down to 60. Also change to cheese and crackers with tequilla. The wifi would be a nice touch.    Thanks yum,I know you are a man with good taste!

[fabr]

Something that cannot be seen is my unique way of central heating/cooling. I have no duct work yet I have central heat/cool.

 Most central hvac will have a plenum with ducts running under the slab or in the crawl space to each room  and outlets in each room.It works in 99.9999% of all houses built past /present/future. BUT I wanted radiant heat in all rooms however that would be cost prohibitive for me. SOOOOO,I was watching some documentary or some other BS educational TV show and saw something I had forgotten about. It was how the rich and powerful Romans heated their mansions and such. They used raised stone floors and built fires under them. Nice toasty housing in the cold winters of Rome. Well ,that got me to thinking. How can I achieve total radiant heat cost effectively? My solution was to combine thermal mass with the old roman method.

Now to give a bit more info first,the house is not on a slab. It has a crawl space just like any other house but that is where it ceases to be conventional. The entire foundation and the master bedroom(only bedroom BTW) are made from ICF's. ICF's are foam concrete forms. Mine are 2" foam outside/8" reinforced concrete/2" foam inside. The bedroom also has insulated concrete ceiling creating a tornado shelter as well as additional thermal mass.

 Back to the crawlspace. I placed 2" eps foam on the ground and poured 4" concrete on top. That and the ICF foundation created the totally sealed/insulated crawlspace with thermal mass. The entire crawlspace is now the HVAC plenum.No need for ducts,just need openings and floor registers just like a conventional central system BUT I now have a totally heated floor as well. BTW,it works in reverse in summer when the AC is running. I'll have cooler floors in summer. Best of both worlds. So far I have found the comfort level is light years ahead of conventional central heat.

 So,taking a hint from the Romans of old,I thought I had come up with something no one,at least in my neck of the woods ,had done. WELLLLLL,I was wrong. Before I actually started the build a very rich oil man about 50 miles from me started his house. Guess what . He did the (almost) exact thing! Good thing he's rich though because he failed to insulate his crawlspace/thermal mass as I did. He just formed using conventional concrete techniques. Why do I keep saying thermal mass? Well,the heat/cool that would normally be wasted to atmosphere from poorly insulated ducts is trapped in the TM and returned to me between run cycles of the HVAC. This gives a very stable inside house temperature with very,very little fluctuation.

  Did I save money using this method compared to conventional ducting?  Nope! Will it save me in the long run? I think it will but that was not the goal. MY comfort was. Goal accomplished.

[dsrace]

very impressive!! and lack of conventional ducting will add to the look very nicely ! i like that look and always will.

[dsrace]

are you installing a real wood burning fireplace inside as well? or would that draft the heat under the floor out to fast? i assume there's a nice large shop going up around this house somewhere for fabr's toybox?