Construction Update

Things are really moving now-- electrical, plumbing and HVAC are nearly complete.  Windows come this week, bathtubs have arrived and we have made a ton of small, yet important decisions.  

Things you would never think about unless building a house: 
-vent size and number for AC
-number of recessed lights in each space
-electrical outlets installed horizontally instead of vertically
-where you want extra outlets and why
-what height light switches should be at (we stuck with the traditional chest area rather than lower by hand height when arms are down)

We chose hardwood floor material for next month (#1white oak quarter sawn) with what will be some variation on ebony stain.  

What added a cabinet and art focal area outside the master bedroom (Alex's brilliant idea for use of space).  Our builder is incredible agreeable to these kinds of mid-build changes.  We also extended out the wall for the parlor to make it more effective as a TV room.  

We have our first round of cabinet layout for the kitchen... imagine a kitchen island 110" long by 40" wide with a solid surface-- it's going to be amazing.  

Appliances are getting finalized by mid-week next week-- get ready for the announcement!  

Finally, some new pics below to show some of work.  Happy to answer questions or give tours-- it's getting fun now.

Front of House

View from Guest Bedroom to Courtyard (Margaret the Tree)

Guest Bedroom Bathroom with Transom Windows

Dining Room

Great Room with Windows and Sliding Glass Doors to Courtyard

Great Room with view towards Parlor and Front Door

Alex Climbing the Stairs

Kitchen with Transom Windows

Fireplace in Great Room 

Ceiling above Kitchen (tangled mess of HVAC and Electric)

Adding Italy to Domus Rex.

You may not have pieced together that "Domus" is Italian/Latin for a beautiful home. Yet, we have nothing Italian in the home (until now!). 

We have a Bontempi Casa furniture piece, that's removable. To show our commitment to excellent design and bring a piece of Italy into the house, we decided to take savings from well priced faucets in the full bathrooms and splurge on this beauty for the guest half bath that also serves as a cabana bath for the pool area. It is stunning, interesting and not gaudy like some other wall mounted faucets. What do you think?

Canali Faucet by Neve

We have walls and roof cover!

Things seem to be moving very nicely now.  The framing is essentially finished (more pics to come).  We did a walk through today for some minor changes in doors and to designate how doors will open, sliding glass door options and exterior materials.  Electrician, HVAC and plumbing all start in the coming week or so.  

Happy to give tours during construction.

View from the great room towards the parlor.

Stairs.

View from the balcony into the great room (guest suite adjacent to the right).

View of the front entry and parlor.

The kitchen (notice lower ceilings-- intentional and smart!).

Front of the house (dining room on right, front entry way and parlor window to the left).

View from the great room into the courtyard.  14' ceilings with windows above the sliding glass doors. Master suite in the distance across the courtyard.

We've Gone Vertical!

Some real movement now... While Alex and I were on a short vacation to New England, the framing got done.  It is a sight to see.  Happily surprising, the rooms do not feel small!  We have been warned that you cannot tell size from framing and that it will always look small.  Not so.

It looks great from the front, and a great decision to have the second story only above the back of the house to keep our house in good scale to the original feel of the neighborhood. 

Happy to give a tour to anyone.

Front of house.

View from balcony on second floor into great room.

Gatorade-- important to stay hydrated when working.

View from kitchen into great room, parlor and guest suite in the distance.

View from the great room into the courtyard.

A doorbell before the door...

So when only the foundation is done, you're approaching the one year anniversary on the start of the project and you lock down a wonderful professional opportunity, what do you do?  You treat yourself to a fun item for the house to be.  I have been eyeing the most wonderful doorbell for months, and finally got Alex to acquiesce to my desires.  It's damn cool.  Unfortunately, the only online videos of how it functions is crappy, but do watch it to get the full effect.

Click here to see the doorbell in action...

Under a great home must be a strong foundation...

Last week, our foundation was poured.  The process to dig the trenches, lay the post-tension cabling, plumb for water for bathrooms, kitchen, utility room and also install in foundation electric for floor power was quite a process.  The digging along was impressive.

According to FraserCon, our concrete company, we "have one of the most over engineered foundations they have ever seen."  That basically means it cost too much.  Seriously, there is a beam of concrete around the entire house that goes 5' deep and 12" wide along with a retaining wall that gradually increases to 4' high as you go front to back on the property.  There is a lot of concrete in this foundation.  Can you guess how many truck loads worth?  Each truck holds 10 cubic yards of concrete.  Answer to be posted in the next post.  Our engineering firm also took samples to test for strength-- pictured below.  They will crack the concrete at seven days and 28 days to make sure it is rated for a minimum of 3,000 psi. 

Below are photos and two videos of the trenching system and digging as well as video of the foundation being poured and complete.  Enjoy... framing to done towards the end of the month.

Trenching system for post tension concrete foundation

Master bedroom back wall-- 5' into the ground and 4' wall above ground.

Trenching system for post tension concrete foundation

Trenching system for post tension concrete foundation

Hooper Engineering testing the concrete for strength

Hooper Engineering testing the concrete for strength

Pouring the concrete

Pouring the concrete

Finished foundation before forms are removed

Finished foundation before forms are removed

I hope you enjoyed the intermission...

It has been two months since my last post, and I am sad to say very little has happened since then until today!  The pool/spa were done to gunite stage, and we had some issues with the measurements of the property, house and pool/spa being off somewhere by about 3'.  Three feet is an issue when you are talking about zoning setbacks, foundation cost and, most importantly, the master bedroom and closet.  

After some reworking, FraserCon (www.frasercon.com) have started our foundation.  Here's some interesting construction details:

1) We are using a post-tension slab foundation (http://www.northpointehavasu.com/Post-Tension_Foundations.html).  Essentially, it uses pre-stressed concrete that handles the expansive and contractive soil conditions like we have in Dallas.  Remember, in winter it can freeze here and in summer it can be over 105 degrees for weeks.  

2) Based on engineers recommendation, there will be a 4' deep beam around the entire foundation.  For the back half right side of the house, there will be a 4'-7' retaining wall/beam around the foundation.  Basically, we are using a crap load of concrete under this house.

You can see the guys digging the trenches that will be filled with concrete.  It looks like a war zone on-site.  We are holding everyone to task to get this sucker done!

One good rain and we'll have a pool!

Below are pics and videos of how a pool is made.

Step 1: Dig pool (see prior blog post)

Step 2: Frame pool with iron rod (1/2" with Cutting Edge Pool and Patio (http://www.cuttingedgepoolandpatio.com-- most companies use 3/8")

Step 3: Spray gunite for pool shell:

Step 4: Voilà (and now need to water it every day for seven days)

Digging the pool...

Well here it is-- this is what a hole for a pool looks like.  Steel and gunite being doing this week.  Expect more posts more often as things get moving.

For my friends in the arctic tundra of the Northeast...

It is with great pride and a lot of work that we have finalized our courtyard layout with pool/spa that will be constructed by Cutting Edge Pool and Patio (www.cuttingedgepoolandpatio.com).  Lisa, Glenn and Casey are a great team, and we cannot wait to see this first major project underway prior to the foundation being poured. 

I cannot stop imagining what it would be like to heat the spa during the day from my the iphone app so when I get home on a cold winter day, it's ready to go.  All friends are welcome!



View from back corner of lot

Aerial view



Courtyard View

At night

From balcony off upstairs living area

From Courtyard

Whole house and courtyard view