Some Small Topics

I'll have another progress update soon with pictures, but I want to make sure I occasionally write about some of the smaller decisions and topics that have come up recently. When it comes to building a house, the devil is in the details! So here are a few small topics.

The $500 Shower Drain
Shower drains are not typically noteworthy objects worth much thought. So how did I end up spending $500 on one? Here's the story.

We fell in love with the Xylem tile in Ebony from Ann Sacks, and plan to use it on the floor in both full bathrooms. These tiles are huge at 9" x 36", and have a subtle wood-grain texture; the black version looks a bit like board-formed cement. For the Master bathroom, I really wanted to continue the tile right into the shower, without any curb, for a truly minimalist look; also, the texture on the tile is great for avoiding shower slips on a wet floor. However, the traditional tiled shower slopes radially towards a center-drain, so small mosaic tiles are usually used to adapt to the non-planar slope. How does one achieve a curb-less shower with large-format tiles? A linear shower drain, like this example from a vendor that makes them.



I love the look! For a linear drain, the whole shower floor is planar and tilts towards the drain at a shallow angle. You need to plan carefully in advance, so you can recess the shower area into the floor to accommodate the slope. We actually had our structural engineer include this recess in the framing plans (fortunately, the shower is above the coat closet on the lower floor, so losing a few inches of ceiling height didn't matter). Linear shower drains are quite common in Europe and Australia, but unfortunately, they're considered luxury items in the US and are quite expensive. They're also tricky to buy, with lots of middlemen in the acquisition chain, which I always find distasteful. Fortunately, I found an online shop, myshowergrateshop.com, which custom fabricates them in Canada using a CNC machine and ships them out next day! I spent about about $500, which is actually cheap for a linear drain. Furthermore, our architects at PB loved the idea and went to town making sure the drain would run flush from edge to edge of the shower. They made a crazy drawing to figure out that the drain needed to be exactly 51.375"; I assure you this amount of thought and energy has never gone into a shower drain in a spec house! So, the drain has arrived and once tile work is finished I'll be sure to report back on how it works out.

The $45 Light Bulb
Along the same vein, how did I become the proud owner of three light bulbs costing $45 each? Well, about a week ago the electrician installed three recessed lights in the bottom of the cantilever; they will illuminate our front driveway and yard. These lights are about 20 feet off sloping ground; how will I ever change burned-out light bulbs? I remembered recently hearing that the newer LED bulbs last much longer than regular bulbs or even CFLs; I looked them up, and indeed Home Depot has an LED flood light bulb that they claim lasts up to 46 years!



That should do. The downside is that they cost $45 each. In my scenario I decided that it's worth it, though honestly I can't imagine any other scenario where a $45 light bulb makes economic sense. I picked three up; they are heavy, engineering marvels, and work great!

$600 and Three Inches
A minor annoyance that came up during framing cost us $600 and three inches of ceiling height on the bedroom level. The horizontal steel beam that supports the cantilever lives in the ceiling of the second floor; the beam is 16" high, whereas typical floor joists are 12" high. So, plans were made long ago to "fur down" the ceiling height to cover the bottom of the beam; however; no one thought about the bolts connecting the vertical and horizontal beams that protrude out even further from the bottom of the horizontal beam! Oops.



So, after the ceiling was already dropped by 4", we had to drop them another 3" to cover the bolts, at a cost of $600. Not a big deal, but definitely a snafu. Why wasn't this anticipated? Apparently, steel beams are fairly uncommon in residential construction, and when they are used there are typically only wood beam / steel beam connections. When there are steel-to-steel connections, they are typically welded. Bolted steel-to-steel connections, while common in high-rises, are rather foreign to houses, so no one thought about the bolts. Oh well; we've had more positive surprises than bad, and there will always be surprises in construction.

Friends
On a final note, two of our close friends who were similarly frustrated with the available houses in Seattle decided to also design modern houses with PB Elemental! One is in framing, and the other in permitting. I helped to instigate the first three houses on PB's in-progress page! I wonder what our kids will think as we shuttle them back and forth to BBQs at three crazy modern houses surrounded by seas of Craftsmans!

Aluminum siding & windows

I've been remiss in posting once again, but progress has been good since framing completed. As you can see from this first picture, most of the white aluminum panel siding (done in a rainscreen application over Vaproshield) is on. The wrapped siding under the cantilever has to wait until insulation has been applied. The lower volume will have stucco, and the first stage of wrapping the sides in two layers of tar paper is complete.



The windows in the lower volume are all black Milgard aluminum. I love the graphic pop of the black windows against the white siding.



We decided to delay ordering the windows until framing was complete, because most of our windows are floor-to-ceiling and we wanted to make sure the windows fit the rough openings perfectly. Unfortunately, this choice is causing about a month of delay, and the wood Lindal windows have not arrived, yet.

The master bedroom window was too large to be built as one unit, so it was split into three pieces separated by 2x6's that will later be encased in black metal to make it look more like one.



The TPO roofing is also in, and can be seen on the 2nd floor deck, here. Sleepers and cedar decking will go on top.



Electrical and plumbing rough-ins are also mostly complete. Radiant heating on the first and third floors are embedded in concrete, but the second floor will be heated by tubes running in the joists, with heat transfer aided by aluminum ultra-fins attached to the tubes.



The windows under the floating stair are in, and look super cool; the stair treads themselves are temporary.



Finally, the front door and side windows are installed; the door is 8-ft tall and runs floor to ceiling. We plan to paint it bright red.




The wood Lindal windows are arriving today, but the Lindal sliding doors will take another two weeks. So the plan is to bubble in the remaining openings and turn on the heat to completely dry the wood out; after that, we can install insulation and start drywall, which can take two weeks. Then the more fun finishes, such as tile and flooring and cabinets, can start!

One slightly annoying issue is our gas line. We thought gas was stubbed to the property, but Puget Sound Energy didn't like the stub, for some reason. At first, they told me that it would cost $3k-$4k to run gas from the street. Then, it went down to $2k plus $0.17 per therm for the next 5 years, which should add up to less. After that, our superintendent at Logan's Hammer called them, and the up-front cost went down to $848! So, now we have gas and an unsightly patch in the road, which they say will eventually be replaced. But fortunately the cost wasn't so bad.

Framing complete!

The framing of our house was completed this past week (minus a few small details which must wait for scaffolding). You can see a complete album of photos, but here are a few choice images.





We were also able to get up on the roof and see the views from the top. They are indeed great! We can see the Olympic mountains, the Ballard bridge and port, and the Puget Sound. The mountain tops are obscured by clouds in the images below, but you can get the picture. The second image is a panorama of the whole thing; it's a big image so the details are small. As usual, it's more impressive in person.





Unfortunately, the very best views are out on the cantilever, where we weren't originally planning to have deck. Now we are considering adding some more deck out on the cantilever, though the cost could be substantial. Here are some images of the roof as it stands now.

The cantilever part:


The current deck area (with part blocked out for skylights and an in-line blower for the cooktop hood):


Also, it looks like the construction rock stars at Logan's are coming in under budget in a few areas, so we might have a little room to upgrade. Probably the extra deck area and railings will blow any extra funds, but other possibilities include upgrading the insulation and/or adding some exterior motorized shades for the third floor. I'd love to upgrade the insulation, but the options are dizzying (open or closed cell spray foam, blown-in cellulose, flash and batt, or extra airtightness like the "advanced drywall approach"), and the bids are coming in high.

One slightly unfortunate turn of events is the location of the electrical meter, which is visible at the front of the house. We didn't want it along the entryway to the front door, which isn't that wide to begin with, and code didn't allow us to put it behind the front door. So, we did what we had to do.

It poured rain this last weekend before they managed to get the roof on, so the images show some water. We spent an hour each day this past weekend brushing water out, but the roof is going on today so that phase should be over. Plumbing and electrical rough-ins are in progress! Pretty soon I'll start listing some of our finish choices.