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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 6/22/2008 11:34:20 AM
The tilework was a good example of something that evolved quite a lot after we started doing it, and I just can't imagine it without heavy involvment in the process as an owner-builder.
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| Custom design for cabinet counter underneath the stairs. |
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| Border between guest bath and bedroom. |
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| Guest bath counter. |
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| The master bath counter includes several custom tiles that Lynda made at work. |
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 6/22/2008 11:21:58 AM
We're working on putting together our main move next weekend -- right now it's a modified do-it-yourself: Rent a truck for a couple days, hire firemen on each end to help load and unload, and me driving it both ways. Makes me exhausted just thinking about it. But it will be great to get it behind us, and get into setting up housekeeping.
Catching up on pictures of my finish out, this time on tile work.
Originally I was planning to do all the tile laying myself, as I am doing with laminate flooring. But my subcontractor for rainfall catchment had a guy who does tile laying as well as concrete tank construction, and he was willing to provide him for a fair day rate, if I "supervised," so that seemed like an attractive deal.
I'm glad that I went that way, because the tile work turned out to be a massive job that I would have had a really hard time getting done on my own in any kind of timely way. Over 1,500 sq ft, over about 8 rooms, with lots of corners and tricky things to work around, plus a half dozen tile counters, a large shower and a couple large tub surrounds. Just keeping him supplied with materials kept me pretty busy (partly because our main source of tile was back in Dallas). It ended up taking nearly a month (one guy nearly full time).
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| The biggest share of the tile was an 18" tile used downstairs in the great room, entry, dining area, and kitchen/pantry. We ended up also using it in the downstairs bath, master closet, and for some special areas such as the risers for the staircase. |
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| Lynda and Octavio (our tileguy) worked up a design for above the range using the main floor tile along with several special tiles. |
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| Wider view in the kitchen. |
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| Border between dining area and kitchen. |
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 6/15/2008 3:21:42 PM
Continuing to catch up on my postings about the last few months finishing up the interior:
The trim carpentry had turned out to be something of a logjam. First I'd had a hard time getting referrals to trim carpenters, and then selecting one. Then once I done that, I was still left with the task of acquiring all the materials: getting the right stuff, right sizes, quantities, etc. Just enough complexity that I tended to avoid getting it done.
Also my first choice to supply lumber was an independent lumber mill guy from East Texas who had previously supplied great looking Cypress to my trim carpenter. But when he was supposed to deliver, he called and said he couldn't get the material, and wouldn't be able to supply it. Then it took me some long while to get back on the wagon and find an alternative.
Getting the materials together for the main stairs was surprisingly complicated. I ended up buying oak stair treads and nosing from 4-5 different places I think, iron balusters from a couple, rough cedar and pine from three more. Part of the problem was that at a couple junctures the quantities of stair treads and lengths that we speced and bought turned out to be insufficient, and when I went for emergency shopping, most places had a very limited supply.
But in the end I think it turned out well.
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| The raw stairs before trimming. |
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| The oak treads in place, but the oak flooring yet to be laid on the landings. |
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| Lots and lots of "measure twice, cut once" critical junctures. |
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| I think the relatively wide door trim works well in the scale of our house (relatively high ceilings, open spaces, etc.) |
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 6/14/2008 9:48:12 PM
Based on my little bit of current research, I think 5.75% is a pretty good rate for a 30 yr permanent mortgage. Passed the inspection/appraisal, got the final docs notarized and into the bank, and we should be done with everything for the final mortgage. That's a relief, because the construction loan has got pretty pricey lately, as the construction has taken way more time than I originally envisioned (1 full year instead of 7 months).
As soon as I can finish at least most of the laminate flooring, we can move in.
Worked about two good days on the laminate this week, and got two thirds of one room done. I'm agonizingly slow at it. Did make some pretty good progress climbing the learning curve, figured out a couple tricks. I'm hopeful that I can put in a full week at it next week, and do one room every couple days. Have what amounts to five rooms to do, including the one that's mostly done.
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 6/1/2008 9:06:42 PM
I've been really busy finishing up the house over the last few months, and have skipped out on regular postings to my blog--I'll do a few catchup posts after this one.
Lots has happened since last posting. The tilework was finished, then trim carpentry, then woodwork staining, with more electrical, hvac, plumbing and bobcat work mixed in. Many trips to HD, Lowes and McCoys. I did a big push staying onsite straight thru the last two weeks, culminating with the lender's final appraisal inspection on Friday. If it was satisfactory (haven't heard yet), then all steps will be complete to convert my construction loan into a permanent mortgage, although the paperwork will take a few weeks to percolate. I got a quite good rate locked in last week, 5.75% for a 30yr.
The house was supposed to be finished for the final appraisal, and I got as much as possible punched out by then. Just this week got a lot of electrical finished out, shower door and mirrors, carpet laid, grass laid, pictures hung, etc.
But the reality is that my remaining punchout list seems a mile long, and in particular substantially all the laminate flooring remains undone, and the HVAC still had maybe a couple dozen manhours to go. But I got my hvac guy to install the thermostats, and the outside units have been in place for some weeks, so it at least looks like the hvac might be finished. As to the laminate, which I'm doing myself, I laid down the underlayment, and laid out a lot of the laminate on top of it, without any trimming to fit. Although 95% of the work is in the trimming to fit, maybe it looks further along than it is. My holdup on the laminate flooring, besides having all the other finishout to supervise, buy for, and do some of, has been cutting the door trim for fitting the laminate under it. Bought my 3rd or 4th tool for the purpose last week, which I'm hopeful will make it go quicker next week.
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| Kitchen pretty well finished--recent completions have included installing the real rough cedar beams, hooking up the oven, dishwasher, sink with garbage disposer, finishing the lites and ceiling fan, and installing the venthood. Still have to mount the counter trim, and cafe doors into the pantry. |
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 3/29/2008 11:49:02 AM
Had another stallout last week when very little happened, but this week was reasonably productive. Electrician has finished most of the fixtures and wall sockets, switches. It's beginning to feel more like a place to live in. Plumbing will make a big difference.
Also started the floor tiling this week. And I started putting in shelves--staining the wood and hanging brackets.
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| Testing the relationship of fixture to vessel--looks like it'll work fine. |
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| Lots of ceiling fans--I think the total count is 15. |
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| I'm doing "hanging metal" shelf brackets with wood or melamine shelves in all the closets and pantry, laundry, garage, etc. Lately I just buy all they have at the Lowe's or Home Depot whenever I'm there. |
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 3/29/2008 11:28:03 AM
We've got a couple early spring rains since got my tank hooked up to the gutters, and it's over half full now. Looks like I'm catching about 3300 gal per one inch of rainfall. If our annual rainfall is about 35 inches, that would net us about 115,000 gal a year (actually less due to possible inability to capture if already full when it rains).
Feels like a very good situation though, considering all I'm reading nowadays about water crises all over.
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| Moved some dirt and fill around the tank. Still have longrange plans to build a deck up around it, but probably not this year. |
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 3/16/2008 1:34:29 PM
Although I've got lots of continuing "shovelwork" work to do all around, we've got the tractorwork part of landscaping and driveways pretty well finished for now.
This is one of the more personally satisfying parts of the project for me, partly because I've always been fascinated with working in the dirt and manipulating drainage, since my mudpie days. And partly because I'm more hands-on involved in this project.
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| Sometimes people have to truck away surplus dirt and rocks--for me it worked out just about right--had what looked like lots of excess dirt and rock piles, but ended up using all of it, mostly behind the house, on the downslope. Could have used more. |
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| Added a circular driveway to make it easier to get in and out. |
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| Scraped some dirt away from in front of the house, to make water run away and around the house. |
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 3/16/2008 1:13:33 PM
Fans and lighting fixtures also seem to be a pretty good value these days. Thanks to the Chinese, mostly, and the bigbox retailers.
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 3/16/2008 12:05:12 PM
Got our kitchen appliances delivered a few weeks ago. Last week, I finally moved my office and "bedroom" out of the workshop and into the house. After all this time roughing it, feels like quite a luxury to have a full-size fridge--plenty of tv dinners, ice cream bars, etc.
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| After interminable shopping over many months, we bought our appliances (at Home Depot) and got them delivered. I was worried about the fridge fitting into the space, but it's going to work. We moved the fridge location after framing, so the space wasn't really designed to accomodate. |
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| There's also a pretty modernistic looking stainless and glass vent hood that we've bought to go over the range. It's an interesting turn--we started out planning to splurge on a ridiculously overpriced antiquey-looking range. |
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| Lots of room, at the most comfortable height. One of the perks of building a new house, is getting up to date appliances. Overall, they seem like quite a good value. |
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 2/8/2008 11:00:36 PM
Got the stonemason crew back this week to finish the stonework inside. It really helps to tie together the living room, floor to ceiling.
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| Magic stone dust |
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 1/26/2008 2:00:37 PM
Over at the Texas Local Forum, under "Subs in Austin", I've posted my list of subcontractors and suppliers that I've used for my project. So thought I'd add it here to my blog.
Of course you'll want to make your own judgments for your individual projects, but I hope these names will be helpful in your quest for some folks in the area (Austin and mainly West of Austin, TX). My particular housebuild is 10 miles northwest of Dripping Springs, but most all my subs seem to work an area about a hundred miles in diameter.
I know that for myself, every single recommendation that I got from anyone with direct experience of a sub was precious indeed.
Myself, the top item on my search list right now is for a trim or finish carpenter. Anybody know any?
Real Estate Agent (Specializing in Rural Lots)--Mike Rose--512 894 0835
Construction Loan and Mortgage (1-time close) that accepts ownerbuilders--Capital One, Houston—Kristin Louviere and Ray Miller—713 435 5527.
Surveyer--Gary Pennington--512 894 0664
Foundation--Texsun Concrete—Shane Pot—512 858 7001
Framing--L & M Const.--Mike Steel—512 585 7140
Plumbing--Bowman Plumbing—Tom Combs—512 263 9495
Electric and HVAC--Jack Ward—512 497 7982
Metal Building: Blanco Metal Buildings--Chip Northcutt—830 385 1351
Septic System: Dirtco—Jake Lindsey—512 845 5470
Concrete Rain Catchment tanks and systems—Bowerbird Const.—Keith Miller—512 858 5395
Stonemason--Gabriel Ugalde—512 395 4829
Metal Roofing--Atomic Roofing—Tim Moss—512 787 8965
Painter--Taylor Painting--David Taylor--512 393 9009
Demilac Foam Insulation--Bobby Key--Central Texas Foam--512 563 8624
Sheetrock,tape,bed, texture--Mary Jane Allen--Action Drywall--512 280 9609
Seamless Gutters--T&E Services--Lewis & Heath--512 947 8191, 832 868 8290
Some suppliers:
Windows:--American Window Systems—Bryant—817 654 9050
Lumber, etc.--McCoy’s Bee Caves—Donna—512 263 3527
Trusses--Lampasas Building Components—Dan Clausen—512 556 2180
Stone--Brooks Stone Ranch, New Braunfels—830 608 0387
Sheetmetal Roofing--Mueller, New Braunfels—830 620 5141
Paint--Kelly Moore, San Marcos--Art Lopez--512 393 3202
Cabinets--Jimmy Carter--Parish Co (Quality Cabinets)--512 748 1789
Fireplaces--Anthony's--512 263 5115
Garage Doors--Precision Doors--512 280 2300
Tile--William @ World of Tile (Dallas)--972 243 0115
General--Lowes and Home Depot everywhere, 2nds and Surplus (Dallas)--214 637 3131
Line of Sight Wireless Internet--Billy Byrnes--Texas Data--512 264 8787
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 1/26/2008 11:47:20 AM
The rainfall catchment tank is finished, and got a delivery of water to test it out. Also, there's been a slow but nearly continuous mist in the air for days, so it'll will be interesting to see if that's added any significant quantity of water.
The sheetrock/tape/bed/texture process is finished, and we've decided on the wall color, and bought the paint. The painter is hopefully starting taping off this weekend, and will finish the interior paint next week. Gratefully, we're keeping it simple, with just one wall color for everywhere. We might get into some other colors after we're finished. But right now I'm trying to focus toward reaching a zeropoint where we can close out the construction loan to the final mortgage, and move in.
Forgot to take any pictures of them yet, but the cabinets are finished being installed.
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| The finished rainfall catchment tank. 20,000 gallon capacity. Later I'll extend the back porch with a deck incorporating the tank, which will give me a great perch view over the valley below. |
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| Testing paint colors. The colors on the wall were persistently darker than the paint chips, perceptually. Ended up with a color choice one or two steps lighter than these shown. |
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| Lynda's retired now (from over 20 yrs at the Dallas VA hospital), and so she's been able to come down to the house to look it over a couple times lately. |
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Posted to PennsmithLostValleyTX by Michael Penn in Dripping Springs, TX
on 1/6/2008 4:49:20 PM
There's no water utility serving my rural location. I could do a well, but they're expensive and the water quality is pretty poor (the limestone underground makes the wellwater very hard). So I decided to go with a rainfall catchment system.
I'm feeding it with runoff from both my house and it's porches, and also from the workshop building, so I'm pretty confident that once I fill up my tank, I'll be good to go indefinitely. In the worst case, there's lots of local suppliers who deliver water pretty economically.
It turned out that I could get a 20,000 gal concrete tank for less than fiberglass or even plastic, plus you can incorporate it into your deck and walk on it, so that's the way I'm going.
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| The site behind my back porch. |
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| The metal "cage" that will form the sides. |
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| "Plastering" the sides with concrete, which is done from the outside, and then from the inside. |
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