Insulation

In my research, I came across many different types of insulation that one can install in a new construction home:

• fiberglass - by far the most common and cheapest
• blown-in cellulose - this is where, with the use of a special machine, one fills all the cavities between the studs with a loose-fill cellulose fiber insulation. The benefit this provides over fiberglass is that it behaves more like a liquid during installation. It fills in all the gaps that might be left with fiberglass batting, has greater thermal mass, and is easy to manufacture
• open-cell foam - this is a type of spray-on foam. It does not provide air or water-tightness, but is easier to apply as closed-cell foam. 
• closed-cell foam - this is by far the best and most expensive type of insulation I came across. Similar to the open-cell insulation, a polymer liquid is sprayed onto the walls, and it expands as it cures. This type of foam provides very high R-values as well as creates an air and water-tight seal against whatever surface it covers

In order to get the most benefit out of the properties of the different materials and to save cost, I went with a hybrid approach. All ceilings were sprayed with a 1" layer of closed-cell foam, then the rest covered in fiberglass batting. That gives the benefits of the air-tightness of the foam and saves costs. The 2nd and 3rd floor walls were all given a blow-in cellulose treatment. 

Blow-in insulation on walls and closed-cell foam on ceilings

The rafters get filled in with fiberglass

Lastly, there was a bit of an error made in the planning of the downstairs area. Downstairs, much of the the concrete walls are exposed and insulated from the outside of the house. Unfortunately, the city inspector didn't like that there was a section of wall near the top that is not insulated from either side of the house. In order to keep the proper look of the house from the outside, I decided that the downstairs area walls should be framed out and insulated. I lost about 6" from the room, but I don't think it will be noticed. 

Siding Part 2 - Charred Cedar

The siding contractors have finished installing the first of three siding materials on the house - charred cedar. This type of siding originates from an old Japanese technique called shou sugi ban. Traditionally, planks of wood are set on fire and allowed to burn for a few minutes before being extinguished. This creates a dark layer of carbon on the surface of the wood that serves as a natural layer of protection. The benefit of this technique over staining is that it is low-maintenance and will not fade over time. 

A truly authentic application of this technique would have leave the wood planks with deep veins, which I didn't want in a modern application. The contractors instead used a blow torch to burn the surface, rinsed and scrubbed the planks, and repeated the process three times to achieve an even tone in the wood without over-burning it. 

Blow-torching cedar siding. That looks like fun! (he had a big smile while he was doing this)

Rinse, scrub, and repeat

The result

 It looks really nice on the house, and hopefully will be very low maintenance. I think that over time, the dark brownish tint of the siding coming up from beneath the carbon layer will fade to a grey and will still compliment the other materials on the house.

Front of the house in full sunlight

Back of the house

Western side of the house

Solar Heat Pipes

A green feature I wanted included in the build was the installation of solar heat pipes going from the roof to the mechanical room. Solar heat pipes are metal, insulated pipes that carry heat generated from solar thermal collector units on the roof down into a heat exchanger in the main hot water tank.

The collector unit is capable of generating heat even on cloudy days, so I'm hopeful this will give me good energy savings during the winter. 

I'm only installing the heat pipes for now to try and save cost.

The pipes start out on the roof...

They then make its way through the kitchen...

...go down a crowded wall in the foyer...

 

...and finally end up in the dark mechanical room

Siding Part 1 - Moisture barrier

I've been neglecting the blog ever since I started a new job, and there are lots of updates I need to provide! Let's start with the outside. The materials for the siding have finally arrived, so the siding guys have started their work. The first step to siding a house is to wrap the exterior with some sort of a moisture barrier.

There are two major choices for a moisture barrier: Tyvek, or tar paper. I left this decision up to the siding subcontractor since both options seem about equally effective. The subcontractor chose tar paper since it's more time-tested and a bit cheaper than Tyvek.

Once insulation is complete in a few key spots, they can begin applying siding to the house. 

Multi-Phase Construction

Progress update: high voltage electrical is in, and low voltage is being installed this week. There's no rush with the electrical since the siding still hasn't arrived and that's on the critical path. Not much further progress can be made to the interior of the house until the siding is installed.

I've been mentioning that this project has been going over-budget. Unfortunately, I just don't have the cash to be able to finish the house out the way I want it. Normally, I think what people (especially spec home builders) do in this situation is look for ways to cut corners or eliminate components altogether. If I were flipping a house or planning to sell ASAP, I'd probably do the same thing. However, I'm planning on living here for quite a while, so I'm taking a different approach to my problem.

I am keeping standards high, but am going through the list of features in the house, and eliminating anything that can be easily added at a future date. If there is a non-essential major feature that needs prep work, I'll pay for the prep work so it's ready to be installed at any time.

The following things are being eliminated from phase 1:

• Rooftop deck - I'll install mounting brackets for stairs and railings
• green roof - this doesn't need any prep work other than framing that can support the weight
• solar electric generation - A rigid metal conduit between the roof and garage is all that's needed for this
• solar heat - a set of insulated pipes will be run from the roof to the mechanical room
• Automated lighting - this was a tough choice since light switch consolidation can only be done now. Any future automated lighting system will involve replacing existing light switches with controllable ones. It won't be as clean and minimalist, but it's no worse than any other existing house that I've lived in. 
• Security cameras - ethernet cable will be run to strategic locations
• home theater - conduit, outlets, and speaker wire will be installed for a projector and sound system
• generator - gas lines and transfer switch installed for now
• outdoor grill - gas hookup and power is on the deck
• overhead fans - the electrician has pre-wired for these
• MIL unit - all the electrical and plumbing hookups are there, but it will remain unfinished.

With the preparations I have in place, I can complete any of those bullet items on my own time as budget allows with minimal disturbance to the existing structure. They are upgrades I will get to look forward to over the coming years.

By cutting the above from the budget, I don't have to cut corners on siding, doors, lighting, roofing, insulation, flooring, and other things that would be prohibitively expensive to modify after construction is complete.

Windows

A lot of time has been spent with the windows in the house. It's a big component, making up almost 1/3 of the surface area of the house.

The living room is where the windows are really featured. The windows are situated so they intentionally frame the view of capitol hill and the surrounding trees, while mostly blocking out the neighboring rooftops. This brings in tons of natural light, which is quite important around here, especially during the rainy season. 

The plans originally called for fewer, larger panes and had a giant Fleetwood 14'x9' triple sliding door out to the deck. This would have been an awesome feature of the house until I got some major sticker shock when I saw the ~$18K quote for the sliders. For a project that's already pushing the limit of what I can afford, that's way too much. We tried really hard to find a cheaper alternative without sacrificing the large opening, but none was found.

Original plan with large sliders

In light of the cost of the sliders, Pb redesigned the window/slider configuration in the living room to use a more standard Milgard 10'x7' set of double sliders. It's not as awe-inspiring as the large triple-sliders, and it shrinks the width of the opening to the deck from 9'4" to 5', but it ended up looking fine.

Current plan with double sliders

 Installed, it ends up looking like this:

Living room windows

The living room creates a great impression with the wall of windows. I feel like I'm in a tree house.

View of living room windows from the outside

One of the reasons this posting came a bit late is that the lower set of windows in the living room were ordered incorrectly by the rep at Home Depot and arrived in black anodized aluminum. It took a couple weeks for them to correct the mistake and have the replacement windows manufactured and shipped. 

The skylight had its own issues. Earlier, during the framing process, there was apparently a misunderstanding about the size of the skylight that was going to be installed above the kitchen. The result of that misunderstanding was that the opening for the skylight was 1-2 feet too wide in both dimensions. This would have been a non-issue (just get a bigger skylight) until I found out that nobody makes insulated glass skylights of that size without going to acrylic (with no insulation specs), or spending a lot more for some sort of a structural skylight. The house is already at the limit for meeting insulation code requirements due to the large amount of windows, so we had little choice but to frame in the opening to fit the originally-planned skylight. My contractor ate the cost for the extra framing, so least the mistake didn't cost me anything.

skylight above the kitchen with living room in the background

The frame for the skylight is bigger and taller than it needs to be as a result of the framing correction, but it's unimportant that it ended up that way.

The entry has a doubled set of full-height windows that give that indoor/outdoor feel to the house even before you enter. I'm still on the hunt for a decently-priced front door, but the intention is to make it look like the windows next to it.

entry to the house

 And finally, behind the entry is another set of windows that bring in as much light as possible to the office area and stairwell. It also opens up the entire second floor and makes, what otherwise would be a narrow hallway, something more substantial.

view from the lower patio

Overall, I'm very pleased with the windows in the house, and they were one of the few line items that ended up being on-budget! 

Roofing

There are a few different types of roofing one can use for a flat-roofed house. I considered the following:

• Torchdown - this is a classic method for waterproofing a flat roof. it involves applying heat to a bitumen-backed membrane (tar-like substance) and sealing it to the roof. This is relatively inexpensive and is expected to last 10-20 years depending on the thickness of the membrane. 
• TPO (thermoplastic olefin) membrane - this is a relatively new kind of roofing membrane that's mid-priced. It is expected to last around 10-15 years. Since this is a newer, less proven material, some older TPO membranes have been known to break down faster than expected. I believe any new formulation doesn't have this problem. One nice thing about TPO is that it is white and allows for creating a cool roof. 
• PVC (polyvinyl chloride) membrane - this is similar in design to TPO but has been in use for a much longer time. It comes in white, is a little easier to work with as far as sealing seams, and is expected to last 30-50 years. The downside is that it is the most expensive of the three options. 

Since I plan on living here for a while, I don't want to take any shortcuts with the roofing or siding of the house. I'd hate to get a leak, especially if it's underneath a layer of concrete. I chose to go with the PVC roofing. This roofing comes in several different thicknesses. I chose the thickest, 80 mil, since the price difference was only about 10% compared to 60 mil. It isn't very significant compared to installation costs and gives me some extra confidence that it will last. 

Here is what it looks like on the roll:

80 mil PVC roofing membrane

Installation is relatively straightforward. The roofers first lay down a thin sheet of foam insulation, mostly to prevent condensation from building up underneath the membrane during frosty nights. 

Roofers laying down foam insulation

 The PVC membrane is then rolled out on top of the foam, and is either heat welded or chemically bonded together. It looks like this when it is done:

Roof with PVC membrane

 The deck was finished in the same way.

View of deck from the master bedroom

Soon there will be 3" of concrete sitting on top of that. I really hope it never leaks.