Oooh

Barry the Builder took this shot of a completely clad section of the house -- the guest wing. For the first time, you can see what the finished exterior will look like.

If it's possible for a guy to swoon, I'm swooning. To me, the cedar, black windows, concrete and galvalume flashing harmonize perfectly — the cedar warming up the concrete, the black windows ensuring that the cedar doesn't look too rustic, and so on.

He's also built the deck, which looks sharp, and contrasts nicely with both the black window frames and the concrete. Time to buy those cool chaises longues.

Glazed Over...

...and loving it.

That's Pete in the foreground, and inside is Barry the Builder, who has been fighting through all kinds of window issues from my major window company (check your quantity pers on those bills of materials, guys!).

This is a huge milestone, because now work can start on the interior (rough plumbing, rough electrical, the radiant heating system in the floor, while other exterior work (the cedar siding) can be performed in parallel. As a former project manager, I love parallel activities.

Ted the Architect had a great idea for the "stairway to work". It involves more glass, but not the kind from the major window company (fool me once...).

Stay tuned.

Glazing Gruntlement—Not

The name-brand window company screwed up again, forgetting some parts or sending the wrong sizes (at this point does it matter?), so the structure is still the world's largest Christmas manger, yesterday catching 70 mph winds in its 20' x 50' mouth. For the want of the right-sized flashing, the curtain wall waits. As does the floor system. And the rough plumbing and rough electrical. Plus the finish carpentry. And occupancy.

The solar panels are now coming in August, so I'm not going to catch many summer photons.

On the encouraging side, 99% of the interior framing is done, not that there's much of it. The roof is fully clad in galvalume, minus a couple pieces that blew away in the high winds. Most of the cedar siding has been stained and is ready to go up once—oh, right—the curtain wall is finished.

Come on, name-brand window guys.

Shiny Roof

Most of the galvalume roof is up and it sure is purty (that's Ted the Architect and Barry the Builder--naturally the architect is the one wearing black). It also distracts the eye from the messed-up concrete, which we'll one day fix, somehow (suggestions welcomed). There are some minor details that need rework, but in all the roof looks terrific.

Here's the final combination of materials and colors that make up the exterior "palette" — concrete, black metal (windows), vertical grain cedar and galvalume.

Glass, At Last

The ground finally dried out, the windows have been delivered, and Barry has started the installation. Here are the master bedroom windows behind the black steel roof supports.

Remember that the green stuff will be covered by smooth, warm vertical-grained shiplapped siding that will run horizontally. The roof will consist of shiny, spangly galvalume standing seam panels. All this will nicely offset, we think, the black metal elements.

Next week, the main event--the curtain wall.

The Great Thaw

Above is an aerial shot from a demo ride Barry the Builder gave me (he's recently become a FAA-certified flight instructor), courtesy of Touch & Go Aviation.

Below that are the black steel supports for the master bedroom--an audible that Barry suggested. I'm liking 'em.

Spring may finally have sprung. Wisconsin has had a long, tough winter, and the project has been in stasis for longer than everyone would like.

Recent progress, however:

• The steel guys finally came through with the curtain wall's extremely robust window framing (courtesy of the window manufacturer's liability lawyers and nervous engineers).


• The windows are ready to install this coming week (how many times have I said that in the past few months?)


• The roof has been insulated and membraned within an inch of its life, just waiting for final galvalume layer.


• The primo vertical grain cedar siding is being sanded smooth, buffed with a fine chamois and sealed.


• The cabinet guy is returning North, just like the swallows of Capistrano.
  

During the Winter, I was pretty philosophical about the slow pace, now I'm anxious (and so is Barry, Ted, the architect, and everyone else connected with the project) to see things happening with all deliberate speed.

More updates to come shortly. Promise.

"As Long As He Keeps Using His Finger, We're Fine"

Barry the builder on the left, Ted the architect on the right, sketching out a detail for the cedar siding. "Detailing" is where the design rubber meets the execution road, and you want your architect and builder to meet, both physically and mentally.

As Pete and Shawn blocked the roof joists, Ted and Barry figured out some alternatives for the lapped cedar siding, which will cover the framed walls (including the green part on the right of the picture). Based on these discussions (I shot photos of the snow drawings so Ted could document them in a little more permanent media), Barry's going to mock up the different options so everyone can make an informed decision and Barry's crew will know exactly how to execute it for real.

The objective here is to warm up the structure with the cedar, but keep it modern. So the shape of the groove between the boards is key (square-ish, not a V, some slope on the bottom to let the water run off), the finish of the boards is important (smooth as a baby's butt, not furry), as are the corner details (a little aluminum edge sticking out at the miter just to give that "machine" look (that's a Ted-ism).

The Manger is Ready for Christmas

Now that the steel is all up and the roof joists installed, Barry and his crew have put down the first layers of the roof over the dining/living room and master bedroom. So the finished ceiling there is done.

"Huh? How does that work? You haven't even installed the standing seam galvalume yet."

Well, this is no ordinary roof, it's an Arctic Hot Roof. If you have an attic, you probably have a cold roof design, where the space in the attic is unconditioned and insulated from the living area. In the winter, it's cold in the attic, and therefore the roof itself is cold, preventing snow from melting on the roof and getting water into the house. It's a good system, but it's not perfect (the space has to be vented, which creates opportunities for moisture and critters to get in there, moisture can seep up from the conditioned space, the moisture can turn to frost in really cold climates, and so on.)

The Arctic Hot Roof, perfected in Canada and other cold climates, focuses all its insulation (6" of continuous rigid foam) and waterproofing efforts on the roof structure itself, and doesn't require an attic. All the air under the roof plane is heated (hence the "hot roof"). That's very helpful for this design, which has a massive shed roof (thanks to the covenants and restrictions that required a pitched roof). It also means that the maple veneer plywood ceiling panels were the first layer on top of the roof joists. I hope I like them....

The windows finally got ordered (the window company is very nervous), so the manger won't be one for long.

It almost looks like something

Ted, my esteemed architect, took these shots after Barry, my esteemed builder, put up the roof joists, apparently in high winds. No one was hurt, and they look terrific. They're glulams from Rosboro--not much more expensive than dimensional lumber, straighter, and so good-looking they don't need staining (but they'll be sealed, of course).

By now Barry's trimmed the joists, and might even be laying the roof. The interior side will be maple plywood panels between the joists, the exterior will be galvalume (galvanized aluminum).

Stairway to Work

Barry the builder (Bob didn't return my calls) just sent a new batch of photos. Here's the stairway to the study and the terrace over the guest wing. The form ties have been snapped off of the concrete (thanks, Jason), so now the wall looks a little friendlier.

The rest of the steel is also up, as is the engineered lumber that will support the roof joists. The front steel frame will support the curtain wall, which will have black mullions (Dramatic? Yes. Too heavy? Perhaps.)

Jason also finished the concrete pouring with an overhang for the garage, and the concrete step ramp (this one's for you, Allstate).