Holliston LEED House

Well, it's over.

2010-06-16T10:34:00.000-04:00

Project #: 3028

Dear Philip Porter,

USGBC is extremely pleased to approve the certification of the LEED home(s) at 80 Mellen Street, Holliston, MA, USA built by Philip & Erin Porter, and supported by the LEED for Homes Provider, Conservation Services Group. This project received a "LEED Silver" rating. Congratulations!

The certificates you receive for this project will be printed exactly as they appear below. If any of the information below is incorrect, please contact me ASAP so that alterations can be made. Certificates will be shipped within 4 weeks of this announcement.

Congratulations on this great accomplishment! Look for an email shortly that will help get you started in celebrating your new LEED for Homes certified project.

Utility update

2010-02-05T09:56:00.003-05:00

Here's the poop: netting out what we always paid in electrical bills, and keeping in mind that we run our well pump and our geothermal heat pump electrically, we have paid $60 upcharge to heat the house and supply water in November, $200 in December (holiday bills), $130 in January. We'll see how February goes. Doesn't look as if we'll be paying $3000 to heat this winter, however, and we definitely need no backup heat source. So it works, dudes.

Paperwork in

2010-01-29T10:52:00.003-05:00

Here's a shot of the kitchen (with temporary stove as Chambers is still being converted and it's too dang cold in the barn to work on it). As you can see, we finally painted it.
The big news is that we finally filed the paperwork for our LEED silver, and now are awaiting news about whether we owe anything more in terms of paperwork or whether we are now just waiting.

Happy 2010

2010-01-01T08:54:00.002-05:00

Wishing all a happy new year. Now that the snow is here, we are more and more valuing the energy efficiency of our new home. The geothermal furnace works fine, does not need a "backup," which was implied by everyone from the building inspector to the local carpenters, and our fireplace works great—more for ambiance than for heat, but still, just great on these snowy days. Long live new technology...

Electric update

2009-12-15T14:57:00.003-05:00

Got November's electric bill, $225. Base line is 130 from our old house, so I'd say about $100 to heat the house in November in spite of the electric pump for well water, added square feet and barn. And it was pretty cold. Of course, December's will be higher thanks to the holiday lights, but that's what you get for being festive.

One recycled trestle table, slightly slanted.

2009-12-13T10:48:00.004-05:00

Seats ten, twelve in a pinch. Thanks to the left over doug fir, not a penny in lumber, just a few bucks in screws, bolts and lags. Oh, and as some would point out, time that could have been spent painting. Sweet!

More press

2009-12-13T10:44:00.003-05:00

Metrowest Daily News, that hotbed of suburban scoops, ran an article today on the cover about LEED houses, with us in it. The lead is a beautiful home in Sudbury with metal and concrete. I'm jealous. Madis and Eva said, "Sunday front page? Ho, hum. Can we get the tree now?"

Reuse, recycle

2009-12-04T09:41:00.003-05:00

The timbers for the house had large pieces of doug fir used to brace the dormers for delivery. They were about 20' long and trapezoidal in shape. With Sam's help, I ripped one down into a long board and two short for use in building this table base. Now, I'm using some of the left over ceiling stock, also doug fir, for the table top. We're getting there... when done, it will be around 7.5' x around 38" wide, plenty for seating 10.

Notes on open loop geothermal

2009-11-23T09:37:00.002-05:00

After living with our geothermal heat pump for a few months, and coming into winter, there are a few thoughts I'd like to share. Note that ours is a water system, open loop, and shares water with the house from our one standing well. As you will recall, due to regulatory conflicts between plumbing board and state we had to ask permission to use this type of system. The one thing we were asked to do at the end of all the hoo-hah was to install a backflow valve—a CYA move that satisfied everyone, although they also agreed it was unnecessary.

A backflow valve is a safety device that sits between the intake of water to the geothermal and the intake of water to the house. It works like a trapeze artist; the balance between water pressure to the geo and water pressure to the house keeps it quiet. If this balance is affected, however, it kicks in, draining backflow from one side or the other. Things that may affect this balance include a leaky toilet, or a clogged pipe somewhere, or the pressure variation from your well. In our case, our "constant pressure" well pump is constant to within 5 GPM, which is great except that it may vary within that 5 GPM. When it does, the backflow valve drips.

If you have a drain under your backflow valve, well and good. If you don't, however, it can cause you headaches. Our valve, being close to the floor, does not have adequate height to drain with gravity. If we put a basin under it, we'd have to pump it. If we don't have a pump, we have to empty it. You can imagine this can be inconvenient for travel.

So if you are planning a dual use geo/house supply well, beware. Place your backflow valve over a drain, or of adequate height to drain elsewhere via gravity.

So far, so good.

2009-11-04T10:47:00.002-05:00

Utilities:
Okay, we have a 2850 square foot home, four bedrooms, three baths, an electrically powered well which supplies both our electric geothermal heat pump and our house water. We cook with propane, and use propane for the dryer and hot water heater as well.
We have been living in the property, had house guests, ran all systems continuously.

So far:
Propane: the dryer is a big expense here, total so far is around $60 per month. We are looking to change our use of dryer with standard controls so that we don't "overdry" our clothing.
Electric: New electric bill just in for $201.71. This means our total utility cost for October was under $265. However, we need to look forward to midwinter, when the geothermal will be cranking a lot more.

Solar gain:
We do get some benefit here. Our south-facing house, even with the low-E windows, is warming the downstairs by around 3 or 4 degrees, so that our furnace, set at 65 degrees, is not kicking on.

SIPs:
The house holds heat beautifully. It also, however, holds cold. So if there is a sudden warming trend in the weather, you have to throw open the windows to get that benefit.

Insects:
We recently had the annual ladybug swarm, and the exterior of the south side was Covered with ladybugs. Only a handful got inside. The leaf-footed stinkbug we have here, which likes white pine cones (and boy do we have those) has also been seeking a winter home. Again, only a few made it in.

Posting, not.

2009-10-27T16:16:00.002-04:00

So, the house is being painted, but you won't want to hear about that. We're waiting on some calculations to file our paperwork, but you won't want to hear about that. We're putting together a nursery garden of gifted plants from friends, but that's boring, too. I've not been posting; is there anything anyone would like to suggest while we wait for the LEED thing to wind up? Any special topics you'd like to hear more about?

Ducts and aerators

2009-10-20T12:58:00.005-04:00

Now that we've had our blower test, we have a few things to get to the rater: a duct plan (be nice if you did it when you did the ductwork), and a couple of other things. For a LEED house, water efficiency is key. 45% of your water receptacles need to have low GPM, even if, like us, all your water is kept on site (well + septic). You can find cheap aerators for lavatory faucets to bring down the gallons per minute to as low as .5, but you'll only need it under 1.5 for LEED. Also, shower heads need to be under 1.75. For the aerators, I found two for $5.15, so you know that's not bad, and shower heads go to around $17.

One house, certifiable.

2009-10-16T15:14:00.002-04:00

Well, Will D'Arrigo came and spent the morning, did the blower test, pressurized the house, tested the air flow in the fans, went through the check list, told me what further papers I need, and made it official — we will be a silver certified LEED home. We are actually close to gold, but with the points cushion, we have room to lose a couple if the USGBC takes issue with any of our points. In any event, we're good for Silver, thanks to all of everyone's hard work. Here's the house right now, with one room nearly painted...

D Day

2009-10-13T15:49:00.003-04:00

So our final LEED exam (blower test, etc.) is this Friday morning, and I have a few pieces of paper still to round up. They tell me it takes around a half day, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Meanwhile, I'm painting trim in the fireplace room, which has decided me on building a house with NO windows next time. There's always CFLs. But I'm nearly ready to start walls, which will, as Eva points out, allow us to call that the "done" room.

Painting prep 101

2009-10-06T10:37:00.003-04:00

At top, what your nail holes filled should look like. Use Ready Patch or similar, sandable product. Center, what your nail holes filled should NOT look like. If they do, sand the crap out of them until they look like the first photo.
Lastly, alternative uses for that old note paper someone gave you ages ago...

Paint and primer

2009-10-06T08:14:00.003-04:00

Benjamin Moore has a "green" product they call Aura. It is expensive, but it is also called "self priming." Here is our experience: I loved not having to prime the master bath, but noticed as I moved the ladder around that it ding-ed easily, even after two coats. When I consulted my painter friend, David Stoffregen, he said "paint's paint and primer's primer." His point is, I think, that primer is designed to soak into plaster and seal, while paint is designed to cover easily—in other words, to sit on the surface.

On raw wood, this is not as big an issue. But on plaster, which sucks moisture from the paint, it doesn't wear as well as painting over plaster. My new experiment is using the self-priming on the trim (except those places with knot holes, which will bleed through), and using the same paint on primed walls.

The LEED points you will get for low-VOC paints is minimal; I believe you can get a half point or something comparable. Why you would wish to continue with low-VOC is for it's ability to age without "off-gassing," or leaving pollutants in the air.

LEED Paperwork

2009-10-01T08:40:00.002-04:00

A quick overview: LEED paperwork does exist, but if you keep a building file as you go it's not horrible. There are a few things that will be required particularly, but if you look at the green book as you're building you can be sure you collect them along the way. In our case, we involved our rater early and he told us first, keep this blog as it helps to document the process, and second, keep him in the loop with questions and he would help us. If your rater doesn't say the same, get another one!

Here's where I am:

Innovation Design: I have a list of team members, capabilities, meeting dates, meeting notes. The durability planning checklist has all been signed by the responsible parties (many of them us and Lloyd) except that I forgot to get the plumber's signature when I saw him so will have to make a special trip.

Location & Linkages: Most of the location information we need for LEED is either public record (look up flood plains, etc. at town hall) or it is on site drawings (calculations of perimeter area, etc.). With a calculator and a few moments, it's do-able.

Sustainable Sites: Here's where we need various certifications. We will need signed accountability forms demonstrating no invasive plantings, a list of trees and plants installed, a list of invasives of our area, details on the type and quantity of turf, drought tolerant plants and stormwater runoff information. We are not eligible for a couple of points here having to do with irrigation systems, as we don't have one.

Water Efficiency: This is where you will need to have back up on high-efficiency irrigation systems, again.

Energy & Atmosphere: This can be tricky. If you've done what we have, and reached first for the Energy Star label and then for LEED, using the same rater for both, you can skip several steps as the items needed will be on file already. Ask your rater to help you. Primarily, before your paperwork is done, you will need room-to-room load calculations for your HVAC system and lots of back up data on the type of system you have. Also, you will have a final "blower" test which will demonstrate how air-tight your home is.

Materials & Resources: We gained points in this category by having SIPs and shipping them precut to our location. There was very little framing waste and this is verified. Keep your dumpster weight slips after they are picked up.

Indoor Environmental Quality: Keep in mind that if you have a masonry fireplace, as we do, you will need doors on it. If you used an insert, keep the documentation. For air circulation venting equipment (like our low-watt auto airflow fan) keep the paperwork. Document your radon protection program with photos. Note the dates of your flush of ductwork pre-occupancy.

There is a checklist that your rater can give you for what needs to be submitted. There are a number of Accountability forms that your rater will need at the end. If you keep proper backup, you should be fine.

Sweet rain

2009-09-27T08:05:00.004-04:00

Sorry, folks flooded down south, but we have been preparing for this day for three weeks. Days of digging trenches at a 1/4 inch drop per foot, and hand-perforating drain pipe with a drill (since it was a gift from a friend and thus, free). Finding and retrieving lots of coarse gravel and stone. Planting the perennials my generous friends gave me. Going around the ground with a pitchfork, putting holes in the hard ground. Six pickups full of loam/compost mix shoveled by hand and raked in, more Pearl's Premium eco-lawn seed, lots of lime, and now, finally, rain.

Our site took a beating from all the June and July rains before we had groundcover established. Raw, hard, reddish tan and hard as concrete, with exposed rocks and pieces of root, with the grass struggling through and a sheen of red or green moss was all we had. Soil improvement is a hard, dirty, and generally difficult job where the payoff is long-term. There are lots of reasons not to do it.

Now, hopefully, the payoff will come; with a healthier site, happier plants, and maybe next year, an ability to dig holes without a pick-axe.

Poor lawn

2009-09-25T07:07:00.004-04:00

It is not the seed, but the soil that washed away with the spring and summer's torrential downpours that made this terrible patchy lawn. To see the poor struggling grass through the "concrete" that is all that remains of our beautiful soil is heartrending. However, because of these same downpours, we were in a race to stabilize the hillside with this eco-lawn seed.

Now that the hill is staying still, as it were, I have been bringing compost in, truckload by truckload, and shoveling it over the grass, raking it in, and augmenting the poor soil as best I can. Although I plan to lay in garden beds, first things first.

Open House report

2009-09-21T08:07:00.008-04:00

At various times, groups came and went—we probably had around 60 or 70 in total, with about that many children (or it seemed that way) the whole time...

From top, some party scenes, the credits were posted, but we ran out of room for "gratuitous advisors," there were too many to list. Second, Red from Doug Paddock's crew, David Stoffregen from Natural Lines Painters, Paul Cook and Lloyd. Third, Bill Anderson (the mason who built it) lights the ceremonial first fire in the outside fireplace; we ended up needing it. At bottom, Bill with John Larter, drainage consultant Dean Schofield, and Lloyd.

All in all, a lot of people, a lot of yacking, a lot of kids running around, and a lot of fun. Today, a little cleanup (thanks everyone). And then, I will put in some of the wonderful plants people brought and sit still on the porch for a bit.

Some new faces I was glad to see: the Hamms, Ray Finn, Gordon Maxfield back from traveling, the Colantonios. New lessons learned: make more chili than that, don't use that eye hook to hang a swing from, and it's great to have a party before painting. Now I don't have to wipe up finger marks.

Ground gutters

2009-09-17T08:21:00.003-04:00

The last few days, I have been digging holes. First, along the porch where there is no gutter, water runoff from the roof has been cutting arroyos into the lawn area on the east side of the porch. Solution? I dug a drainage ditch so that runoff from the roof will strike a gravel trench with a large plastic pipe which I opened up at grade, then perforated with a drill as it went further under ground. Then, with Lloyd's advice on the proper angle, I run the water north to the drive where it meets the upper cut in the driveway, carrying the water over the east side of the drive.

In this way, I can bring around 15% of the water runoff to a different place than the other areas of the house, putting less stress on the swale we built on the south border. But boy does it hurt, the day after.

OP Party Sunday 20 Sept

2009-09-12T09:03:00.007-04:00

If you...
Built it, shingled it, roofed it, trimmed it, poured it, decked it, engineered it, framed it, supported it, plastered it, ducted it, heated it, photographed it, cooled it, caulked it, guttered it, managed it, dug it, bricked it, painted it, nailed it, planted it, plumbed it, wired it, designed it, advised it, graded it, finished it, floored it, admired it, trouble-shot it, reported or wrote about it, or just plain tolerated it...

Please come with your family (or potential clients) to celebrate your work on our home
Sunday, 20 September 2009 at an open house
noon—9 pm
rain or shine

Regrets only to Erin & Flip Porter 508-429-7110

Building team: It would be great to get your picture together if you can manage to overlap here close to 5 p.m. while it's still light.

Invited are you, your spouses and children and loved ones, your prospective clients, anyone you want to show off to. We'll have beer, wine, soft drinks and a truly welcome atmosphere with maybe a hot dog or hamburger thrown in if you get here before we run out. (Also, don't expect completion: painting will be in progress for the next ten years.)

We have an occupancy permit, and so...we have a party! Apologies to our Jewish friends, it's the only weekend that works so come as early as you can.

We Live Here

2009-09-11T08:03:00.005-04:00

Okay, now I can state unequivocally that we live here. And how sweet it is.

We're planning an open house next Sunday the 20th* for those involved in the project. If you're following the blog and were part of our team, mark it on your calendar to come and show off to your family or potential clients, and please tell those I don't have email for (see below). Even if it's not painted, it's still swell and y'all did a fabulous job under very strange circumstance.

Emails missing and invitations include Doug Paddock, Bob, Red, Jason, Scott; from SCPB Todd, Matt, Mark, Tom; from Native Structures David Kessler; from Holliston Jeff Heavner and Bill Anderson; from Hopkinton John Larter with his son and nephew; from Richardson Wells Mike; the guys from Paradise Plaster; Jimmy and Steve from Erickson; and probably several more I will remember later on. Pass the word!

I'll post a bit later with details. *Note Date changed to Sunday due to Rosh Hashana!

Legal at Last!

2009-09-09T16:28:00.002-04:00

The paperwork is in: We're legal.

Unfortunately, instead of swilling champagne and dancing on lawn, we will be wolfing down turkey sandwiches and listening to the elementary school principal and teachers at Back to School night.

I'm still mad at the building inspector, though: he stalled as long as he could.

Verification on two fronts

2009-09-09T08:43:00.003-04:00

Well, we have the document that states the following Electrician's code determination:
"If the equipment is prewired and is approved by a recognized testing laboratory the Artesian Well contractor may install it into the well only." From 1986.

Pretty clear indication, but as I say, I'm not fighting today. I'm preparing LEED paperwork, which I will post in the order in which I complete it.

First section is Innovation Design, for which we are going for extra points under ID 1.2 Integrated Project Team, ID 1.4 Design Charrette, and ID 2.3 Third Party Durability Management Verification. Note that the prerequisites have been met (Preliminary Rating, Durability Planning, and Durability Management) but I must verify those as well. There are eight sections in total, some larger than others.

Obstruction

2009-09-08T18:07:00.003-04:00

Peter Tartakoff, the building inspector of Holliston, is now showing his animus toward the dual use well on a personal level. In spite of our changing the level of the pump and installing the valve, inspected last Friday, he now says we did not pull an electrical permit to rewire the pump at its new altitude. Lloyd had an electrician up who will, tomorrow morning, both pull a permit and inspect the wiring on the well.

However: in 25 years of doing code electrical work in Holliston, our electrician has "never, ever installed well wiring" and has no knowledge of permits being pulled to do this. It sounds pretty clearly like obstructive behavior on the part of Mr. Tartakoff, who doesn't like being crossed by a little thing like a plumbing variance in favor of a well he doesn't like.

I have, reluctantly, agreed to withhold my ire until after tomorrow. After that, however, all bets are off and I pursue the town for my permit which, in my opinion, the inspector is wilfully withholding based not on code—but on his dislike of our well. I believe the line was crossed several weeks ago when we disconnected the geo due to regulatory conflict and he wouldn't give us an OP because then, "we didn't have heat." Now, gloves off, it's time to fight the good fight. But I promised Lloyd I would wait until after tomorrow, and so I shall. 'Til Thursday?

As promised, conforming...

2009-09-04T19:01:00.005-04:00

At the plumbing board meeting, we agreed to two things: 1) to get a backflow valve on the heating system, which everyone (plumber, plumbing inspector, well driller) agreed was pointless, and 2) to reset the well pump to be below the return pipe, which actually has a purpose.

When the pump is at the bottom of the well, and the return pipe with the water that goes through the furnace is at the top, any possible contaminant from the refrigerant that might get into the water (highly unlikely) will bubble up and dissipate before the water falls to the bottom and gets pumped back into the system.

In these shots, you see at top the 500' of pipe needed to drop the pump to the bottom, and at bottom, Mike reconnecting the pump so that it would draw correctly. Ignore the lengths of gutter in the background, they were for the roof. Now, we are in compliance with the plumbing board and the MassDEP and I have filed papers accordingly. But, as it is Friday before Labor Day, we won't know until Tuesday whether we need to do anything else. But we'll have a good weekend anyway!

We won. Here's how.

2009-09-02T11:33:00.007-04:00

Mr. Cerutti from MassDEP wrote:
"Congratulations! I spoke to Ken Pelletier and to his knowledge you are
the first persons to seek a variance directly from the state plumbing
board. It really does appear that your efforts have brought us much
closer to having this issue resolved for future applicants. In fairness
to the board, my presentation today was probably the most detailed walk
through of the potential health concerns that has been provided over the
years that this issue has been discussed. "

This morning's meeting was interesting with the plumbing board, but the headline says it all. For those installing this type of system in Massachusetts (dual use well for potable water/standing well open loop geothermal heat pump), follow this procedure:

1. Check with your Board of Health about local requirements for this type of well. Pull whatever permits or obtain what permissions you might need.
2. Drill far enough down to obtain a water test. Test water before proceeding with an open loop, as anything but extra clean water may guide you to using a closed loop.
3. Choose a system with a dual coil refrigerant circuit. Our Water Furnace Envision uses a cupronickel coil surrounded by steel casing. Single coil circuits are not the same, and greater resistance may be found at the regulatory level.
4. Register your well with the MassDEP and get a UIC number. You will be committing to testing of the water 90-120 days after the system is running. Your well driller should do this filing for you.
5. Check with your local plumbing inspector if he is going to run into trouble with code regulations against the use of dual use wells. In our case, the plumbing inspector did not fully understand the system and we simultaneously had a building inspector who defers to the letter of the law over the spirit of the law.
6. Call Dennis Driscoll, Code Compliance Officer at the Massachusetts Gas Fitters and Plumbers Board at (617) 727- 2243 and request a "discussion" place at the plumbing board meeting, which meets the first and last Wednesday of each month.
7. Get all data (specification manual, plot plan with well drawn on, schematic for well, UIC number and all filings and well lab test results). Make 12 copies of everything. Prepare a short statement of your wish to use your well in this way, and why. Attend the meeting, be courteous and prepared, bring your well driller and if he so wishes, your representative from MassDEP. Bring the manual of your furnace that states the type of coils and automatic shut-offs for your system. We also brought the regional rep for the furnace company to answer questions.
8. In our case, after a fairly lengthy discussion, the board voted 8 to 1 in favor of a variance to this code regulation for our dual use well. The one person against was in favor of our "just digging another well."

Hopefully, if enough people do the above steps, we will get permanent regulatory change on the books going forward, if only to stop having to have hearings all the time. As it is, I believe we were the first. Let's not make it the last! Go geo!

One thing accomplished

2009-08-30T14:32:00.003-04:00

The master bath is painted now. And it sure is pretty with Mom's mirror, the Mexican lights and sink, Chris's beautiful tub surround and all that nice wood. Hard to get a picture without a bad reflection of the unpainted attached bedroom, though. Patience, patience, one room at a time...

Dual use, dual message

2009-08-29T20:02:00.003-04:00

We are awaiting Wednesday morning's meeting, where we will discover if we can adapt current code to our needs or carve new criteria or... suck it up and dig another well. In the meantime, Flip and I have been painting the master bathroom which seems to have more walls than a typical three-family home, or at least is taking long enough to be one. Anyway, I''ll let you know how things progress.

One way or the other

2009-08-26T13:25:00.003-04:00

This week has been a whirlwind; from Monday's disappointment of no temporary occupancy, to Tuesday's blizzard of phone calls. What's happening now?
Here we go:
September 2nd, we will be meeting with the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters (which is to say, the plumbing board) in Boston. There are nine members. Also attending this meeting is the regional director of Water Furnace, our well driller and furnace installer, our representative from the Mass. Dept. of Environmental Protection, the Holliston plumbing inspector, Lloyd, Flip, and me.

Why the excitement?
As Flip says, we have a "walk" and "don't walk" sign going at the same time when it comes to our type of geothermal system, which is, if you've forgotten, a standing well open loop geothermal heat pump, which is operated from our drinking well. The "walk" sign is coming from MassDEP and the federal government, the board of health and environmental research. The "don't walk" sign is coming from the plumbing board, which rules our poor plumbing inspector's license.

According to my sources, this situation has been run into approximately once per year, for a total of four times since MassDEP has been registering these systems. However, as the installation pace is increasing, more and more people like us and plumbing inspectors like Holliston's will be placed in this situation—it's legal, but it's not permitted.

So it looks as if everyone involved is eager to explore our problem and see if there is some way to create criteria for approval. Needless to say, we just want to move in. Watch this space!

Status report

2009-08-24T11:01:00.002-04:00

Here's where we are:
In an effort to diffuse the situation and get a provisional occupancy permit, we had Richardson disconnect the geothermal on Friday morning. However, now we can't get a provisional as we don't have a heating system! Catch-22 you say? Ah, you would be so right. Richardson Wells, Lloyd and us will be having a meeting this afternoon to outline every contingency. We will then present our plan of action to the building inspector and hope he will reconsider. After all, it IS August and we won't be needing heat for a few months.

Sheesh. This is what you get with linear thinking. However, I must say that the headline can read two ways: "Holliston town officials block green house family" or "Holliston town officials help green house family resolve code issue." Right now, the first one looks more likely than the second, but this remains to be seen.

Why illegal geothermal systems exist

2009-08-20T08:26:00.003-04:00

Well, here's the up to the minute report. Although here in Massachusetts, wells are governed by the board of health and water quality by the state Department of Environmental Protection, apparently the plumbing board likes to weigh in as well. Although we didn't know it, because our inspectors never let us know during the course of the project, the plumbing board has an outdated regulation on their books precluding the use of a well for both potable water and heating purposes.

This would not have been a problem, because for years the plumbing board has been winking at this discrepancy and there are about 100 legal systems installed like ours in Massachusetts, and they are now being approved at a clip of around 35 or 40 systems a year and growing. However, they didn't really want to say out loud that this was the case. So when our plumbing inspector pressed them for a read on it, not getting the hint he was given that this was under the radar, they came out against the dual use well.

This places us in the position of having a silver rated LEED home, clean well water, up-to-date geothermal, good plumbing, fine electric and a well built home, but no occupancy permit. We either have to put in another well (something we never would have done, would have gone solar instead) or get no permit. We considered pressuring various parties, taking this up the ladder to the governor, making a huge stink but-- this might lead to various other problems with town. Do we go ahead and put the well in, get the OP, and Then make the stink? Do we release it to the press? Do we go downtown to Boston and meet with the plumbing board and ask them why they allow DEP to hand out permits if they won't sign off on them?

Comments welcome. Also five grand, which would be the price of another well...

The waiting game

2009-08-18T08:08:00.002-04:00

Plumbing inspector is still working with the board on this, although I believe he will fail to get anything out of them. Building inspector wants to see where we are after today; I have called for a meeting tomorrow. So we wait, while life and death continue. I am attending a funeral today.

Sweet home?

2009-08-16T08:34:00.004-04:00

Home again now, but is it, home I mean? After so many months of work, so long of a wait. After building a quality house, with approved electric, plumbing, septic, clean well water, and in a fashion ready to be awarded a silver certificate in LEED, after having the federal government support our efforts with a tax credit for the geothermal, the state's permission to use our well to drive our heat, after taking care to be transparent every step of the way, we still do not have our occupancy permit. It kind of takes the party atmosphere right away.

Our permit is being held up due to one thing. The state's plumbing board has not ruled its approval of a mixed use well (potable water mixed with geothermal). It has been nodding at this lack of a ruling for years. There are a couple hundred approved systems in Massachusetts at this point that resemble ours. All the local plumbing inspector has to do is go ahead and sign, and no one will pursue him. But because Holliston has a very formal structure, our plumbing inspector will not sign until and unless the plumbing board speaks its approval out loud.

The board won't do that. The plumbing inspector will thus not sign. And we are caught; we have done everything, and there is nothing left for us to do. The building inspector will not let us move in. And we have nowhere else to go.

I will call a meeting this week with all the personalities in play and see if I can get somewhere. But the man at the DEP assured me, waiting for the plumbing board will result in "indefinite delays." In the meantime, we must go on with our lives. We have tried to follow all the rules, and our reward is delay, shuffling, and buck passing.

Okay, but I'm away

2009-08-12T13:29:00.003-04:00

We moved our stuff into the barn, and split. Now in a tent in Truro, Mass, on the tip of Cape Cod, I have yet not been spared from the bureaucracy. Apparently, the plumbing inspector took the issue of a one-well geothermal/potable water source to the Massachusetts State Plumbing Board, who didn't feel confident ruling about it without speaking to the Department of Environmental Protection, who requested more information from the Board of Health, who... but you get the idea.

As of right now, we are still without our permission. In the end, I'm sure we will be approved but perhaps not in our time line. Flip says "move in and let them try to evict us." He's probably right. I want to give Holliston this last few days to do the right thing before I go over the town's head on this.

In the meantime, there are worse things than surf, and sun, and sleeping in a tent, and we are certainly enjoying all of these.

Almost out

2009-08-06T19:43:00.001-04:00

And I'll be reporting on the plumbing situation soon. We've been madly moving and now are staring at two cleanings--the apartment and the house. Tomorrow will see the end of this place, and my internet is due to be hooked up tomorrow. Forgive me if there's a break.

Moving blues

2009-08-05T18:34:00.001-04:00

We're moving Out, as opposed to moving In. However, if I can survive getting Out of the apartment, I will be happy enough sitting on the porch of the house and knowing I no longer have to pack.

More later.

Being driven slowly mad...

2009-07-31T11:52:00.001-04:00

Okay:
Electrical, check.
Fire department, check.
Board of health, check.
Department of environmental protection, check.
Building inspector, we're working on last fixes.
Highway department, we're working on last thing.
Plumbing: Because we have a new-fangled heating system (standing well open loop geothermal heat pump with shared water source), everyone wants someone else to say it's okay. Plumbing inspector thinks it's okay if the State plumbing board says it's okay, State plumbing board says it's okay if the inspector thinks it's okay, board of health says it's okay if the state says it's okay, state says it's okay if the plumbing inspector says it's okay, everyone's passing the buck back and forth, and my occupancy permit awaits.
Monday, I will speak with the plumbing inspector again. In essence, the plumbing board inspector told me this morning that if it looks okay to him, it was okay with them. I may just have to sign a paper promising not to sue anyone. And people wonder why illegal systems exist.

So you want to build a house in Massachusetts.

2009-07-29T12:10:00.003-04:00

The following are the final permissions I need prior to living at the house:
1. Electrical
2. Plumbing
3. Highway department (paved driveway apron and connection to town road)
4. Board of health (potable water, proper septic)
5. Mass Department of Environmental Protection (geothermal system, acquifer protection)
6. Fire department (smoke & CO alarms)
7. Building department (general code for house, etc.)

Mrs. Hamm told me that when she and her husband built her house, they could live there while still building. Now, I need someone to tell me my stove is safe before I can live in my own home. Go figure.

2009-07-28T12:22:00.002-04:00

What it looks like

2009-07-28T12:14:00.003-04:00

Top, the green girls' shower room; then, the kitchen from the main room; then Chris D.'s staircase, then main room from the kitchen. The building inspector comes this afternoon. Hopefully after that, I'll be able to peel the stickers off the windows and start filling the house with junk. For those who live in an ideal world, no, I'm not painting it first--I'll be painting for the next ten years at least and I couldn't wait that long to move in.

For those of you that are concerned, however, I do have two painted bathrooms. We matched my mom's Mexican sink to the colors in the green bath with orange floor, although I'm not sure you can tell from this photo. I will post a materials list this weekend for those interested in the products we ended up with.

Pushing toward finish

2009-07-26T16:56:00.003-04:00

Got our electrical final on Friday. Have our plumbing final tomorrow. Put the last coat of finish on the downstairs floor this AM, and Jeff H. worked at getting the bannisters hooked up to the basement... last item for code, at least so we think. Now we need lab results from water testing, UIS number for geothermal from the state, and a little grading on the driveway. Then, we go for final.

Wave your crystals, burn your feathers, this is break week.

Demise of a mole

2009-07-23T17:35:00.003-04:00

Eva and Grace found a dying mole and after he died, they buried him with this shingle grave stone. Flip says that RIP means Resting In Porch.

2009-07-23T16:15:00.003-04:00

Pardon the blue tape around the floor line, we're still working on final finish on floors. The refrigerator went in today, and we're having problems with our (new) hot water heater, but isn't the tiny vanity in the guest bath sa-weet? Chris L. bravely continues his quest to plumbing finish.

2009-07-22T15:03:00.002-04:00

On the blink. My camera. Replacing it. Today. Promise.

Sam is finishing the conversion of the bureau-to-vanity process, which isn't simple, certainly not on one of them. Chris Lombardo is doing the plumbing finish, and Pearl's seed is coming up around the lawn. Today has turned hot, which will help the seed burst up from rains of yesterday.

LEED notes: Although you do get LEED points for coatings like paint and varnish, the 1/2 point you get is not enough to make anyone bother who doesn't already care about off-gassing. However, there are several decent floor finishes with a lower VOC and some excellent, albeit rather pricey, paints (notably, Ben Moore's Aura).

The finish on my floor is about 2/3 done, with fun stuff like tripping over the stain tray and having poly holidays all over the place and knocking things downstairs. Oh well, as they say. I'll buff and screen and put down a new coat and it will be good as... new? One hopes.

The tile in the kitchen and bath is looking swell, and now we have a sink and dishwasher and will soon have a fridge as well. We have three working toilets. We have a washer and dryer. And if Sam survives today, we have almost finished the vanities. Chris Lombardo is willing to give the Chambers stove conversion a whirl, and we're going to attack that tomorrow, I think.

I took some time off to be with my girls today and get Madison a new pair of specs. After all, life does have to go on, house or no house.

Timing

2009-07-19T07:36:00.002-04:00

Sorry I haven't been posting. What I have been doing is last minute tasks like screwing down and plugging squeaky floorboards, painting the bathrooms, filling nail holes, raking in grass seed, positioning sprinklers, filling out paperwork, getting the electrical finish done (which involves running out to the hardware a million times for forgotten things like closet flourescents) and falling, stupified, into bed. Today, Flip is sanding the floors, I am staining the upstairs floor to cover up it's true identity as the cheapest possible pine flooring, and hoping to get a couple of coats of finish on before the end of Monday. Tuesday starts plumbing finish.

Energy Star will give your electrician enough CFL bulbs to trick out your house if you get them the list, so (with our usual talent) we left this until last, which means we have a bunch of fixtures up with no bulbs. Anyway, we're getting close and if I can, I'll put up some pictures of the new floors Monday.

Lawns and LEED

2009-07-14T07:41:00.005-04:00

We are now at the stage where we need to plant grass seed not only for a lawn, but also for stabilization of certain areas of the property. After some research, Flip chose Pearl's Premium Ultra Low Maintenance Lawn Seed (see Pearl's Premium website). In essence, this grass, developed by Jackson Madnick, needs no fertilizer or chemicals, less water and a quarter of the mowing of other lawns. Although higher in initial cost, it should cost less to maintain and will require no outside fertilizers or frequent mowings.

Mr. Madnick's remark on pricing is "although Pearl's Premium is more expensive than some seed mixes, it uses all premium, more expensive seeds that are harder and slower to grow. However, it has a one week pay back in the cost of the seed from water, fertilizer and grass cutting prevented and dramatically saves water, time and money compared to other lawn seed mixes."

You should note that Pearl's gives you LEED points.

The following is a quotation from Mr. Madnick's website.

"From my research, it turns out that up to 80% of lawn care chemicals run off lawns, down the street, into the storm drain and ends up in the watershed or local ponds only to feed the invasive weeds. Use of pesticides and fertilizer in urban and suburban communities contributes significantly to contamination of our drinking water and other water supplies.

"What ends up in our homes effects children, animals and others: Lawn care chemicals and pesticides get carried indoors into homes on shoes, paws and air currents. Once inside, pesticides linger in carpets, dust, on toys and in the air we breathe. These chemicals normally break down out side over time with sun light. However, away from sunlight and water, pesticides persist for many months, resulting in longer exposure to these chemicals in doors.

"Chemical lawns are depleting our water supplies: Additionally, lawn care irrigation uses 3 to 5 times the amount of water compared to what is used during the winter. This is causing water shortages and the need for water bans and conservation to make up for the water greedy lawns require. This is due to the fact that many of the non-native lawn seeds from Europe or Kentucky, with very shallow roots are native to environments that are more humid. In New England, this means we need to water this type of seed more frequently. Chemical fertilizer makes it grow faster and be even more water hungry and labor intensive to need to cut more often."

Some snaps

2009-07-13T17:22:00.003-04:00

Chris has been building porch steps, not his favorite but boy is he good at it. Bottom, Eva's using the dozer since no one else can... the ground is too wet.

Drive-by update

2009-07-13T13:13:00.002-04:00

Too busy to write much, but we're into electrical finish, making adjustments to things and running to the hardware, juggling children, making trips to the floor finish place, trimming boards, making quick fixes and in general, mayhem.

I'm just home for a sandwich and off I go again...

The quest to code

2009-07-11T18:38:00.002-04:00

Continuing our efforts to code, Chris D. completed one set of exerior stairs today, wrapped the kitchen island and made two corbels. Flip plugged a ga-zillion nail holes, painted the ceiling in the mudroom, and sanded off the Ready-Patch on the windows. Erin put tile poop on the floor tiles in the mudroom, set a shoe-molding on the girls' shower, caulked windows, and cleaned the apartment. In fact, another busy day—but tomorrow, we take the day off and go to the Tall Ships which are still in Boston Harbor.

It's not raining again... yet

2009-07-09T18:58:00.005-04:00

Lloyd B., still in the mud, masterminded the Great Wall of Mellen Street. Now, perhaps he will no longer have to shovel dirt off the street before it hits the wetlands or Mr. Hamm's shed. Chris D., still in the stairway, finished making his final bannister adjustments. Finally, today we Finished the Flooring. This means that Jeff Heavner could make his final cuts, Eva could clean the porch, and Erin wished she had put the baseboard in afterward.

Nearing completion

2009-07-08T19:05:00.003-04:00

Okay, just of floors. But it's a big benchmark, making us nearly ready for electrical and plumbing finish, lacking only a little in the pantry and laundry and Erin's office. Tomorrow will see the end of it. Tiling guys are coming on Tuesday, but Chris laid the Mexican tiles he had for the mudroom floor. The tile guys will do the shower and the kitchen counter, both of which need special sealing for water. We're cooking along, and if the weather ever clears we'll get to the grading and seeding. Flip found some slow growing, ecological grass seed which if it pans out, we'll tell you more about.

Busted

2009-07-07T17:02:00.003-04:00

Yours truly cutting boards and laying flooring. We are two thirds done with the downstairs, and should finish up either tomorrow or Thursday. These boards are being laid in the pouring rain, which makes an interesting "twist" but we are managing. Flip decided it was time I made it on the blog.

Movin' on down

2009-07-03T16:39:00.002-04:00

Flooring is complete upstairs. Now, we're moving into the den and main living area with the truly wide board pitch pine. These boards, some 16 feet in length, are quite heavy to manipulate and in this weather, susceptible to cupping and bending. After a month of rain, we couldn't wait for clear skies so we're taking our chances. So it's floor, floor, floor until the crack of 5. Our shoulders and backs hurt, our saw blades need replacing, and our tempers were frayed by 3:45 today, so we broke early and came on home... just in time for severe thundershowers. Again.

Flooring 101

2009-07-02T08:49:00.003-04:00

Jeff Heavner and I have been flooring upstairs in spite of the weather and humidity. Today, Flip is flooring with Jeff as I am sidelined to our rental property, which I have to clean, and to the airport, where I need to take Madison for her trip to France. Flip is going to learn on the master bedroom, which should hone his skills for moving downstairs tomorrow.

Site work, part 63

2009-06-30T17:25:00.003-04:00

The sun came out, and thus the backhoe; John Larter and I were placing rocks which look small here, but are really quite huge. Jeff and I have been making some progress on the flooring, and friend Barbara Keene and her friend Sue and puppy Fern stopped by to discuss rocks, placement of, et cetera... such a big help to have more minds on this than only mine. John and I only did these three, but picture plantings!

Hard at work

2009-06-29T20:25:00.003-04:00

Top, Chris takes a load off on a hammock at friend Janice's; middle we get a dozer in the face as John Larter raises the grade for the steps to the west porch; bottom Madison is landing a plane...not.

Today, Jeff Heavner laid the Marmoleum ("green" linoleum) floor in the girls' shower room; we still must tackle the master bath tomorrow. Flooring is in full swing now; the first board is laid upstairs and once the master bath is done it's off to the tongue and groove, babe.

Sunday night blues

2009-06-28T18:19:00.003-04:00

Flip, Chris D. and Neil C. (one of the salvage door team) have gone off to see Star Trek (the new movie), Madis has a sleep-over and Eva's coming home soon from weekending with friends (how many 8-year-olds weekend with friends?). That means..... YES! I am alone! Well, except for Luna, who since it's after supper hardly makes a difference.

Today, Flip and I worked on priming and prepping the annex for painting. Flip primed walls and ceilings, I Ready-Patched, sanded and caulked. We are, well, almost there on the 1/4th of the house we were working on... rather daunting when we look at the beamwork and high ceilings and nail holes and caulking spots everywhere else. But in our own, small way, we have made a start before flooring. Too bad the flooring will start this week and then force us to paint over the top of it. But such is life, and newspapers need new purpose these days (beyond my reading them in bed, which is one small benefit of aging).

Chain of custody

2009-06-26T13:52:00.003-04:00

Our flooring was delivered yesterday and no, that's not all of it, just a few boards. We purchased pitch pine in variable width (between 8 and 12 inches in width) from Craftsman Lumber in Groton, Mass, which came with something LEED folks like: a chain of custody document. Essentially, a chain of custody proves who touched the wood since it was a tree... like a chain of evidence. In our case, our flooring came from a Nature Conservancy forest in Cocorua, NH that was being harvested for fire breaks and open habitats. Logging contractor LE Taylor and Sons conducted the harvesting, and sold the sawlogs to Home Grown Lumber of Center Conway, NH, who milled them. Craftsman Lumber, finally, planed and formed the tongue and groove.

LEED likes locally, responsibly harvested lumber. This chain of custody document not only proved this, but is also quite interesting all by itself. How many of us know where our trees came from?

finally, photos

2009-06-25T10:22:00.003-04:00

Top, the salvage french doors are looking swell.
Next, Jeff Heavner works on ceiling slats as Eva strolls through.
Third, baseboards are complete and we're moving in flooring through these doors.
Last, Chris D. and Lloyd—who is their wardrobe consultant?
Upstairs flooring was delivered this morning, downstairs coming this PM as the delivery guys are dodging raindrops. It's been raining non stop for a week and a half, and the barn doors are swelling, the bugs are moving up to escape the ground water, and it's murky as heck.

Short break

2009-06-21T09:58:00.001-04:00

Have run off for a short break. More Wednesday.

Progress

2009-06-18T13:17:00.002-04:00

Okay, my camera's been acting up. Porches, check. Exterior, check. Plaster, check. Upstairs window trim, doors hung, baseboard trim, check. Finish team is moving downstairs. Hope to get a shot later today, but it's raining (again) and the grading has been held up with weather forever. And forecast says... rain some more. So grading, not check, holding up porch steps. Andy T and Flip are going to move the kitchen cupboards in later tonight, and I'm whittling away at the downstairs ceiling slats.

Getting plastered

2009-06-15T15:50:00.004-04:00

Okay, so the Paradise Plaster dudes have moved downstairs, working their way from west to east. They needed a rest from high beamwork, so they've done the annex (which has no posts and beams) and are moving into the main living area of the house. They're making good progress, not sure exactly when they'll be done. The finish carpenters are right behind them doing the window casings and hanging doors.

Base and case

2009-06-12T15:36:00.002-04:00

Jeff H. and John Luczkow have been casing windows and hanging doors, respectively, on the east side where Paradise Plaster is done. They're moving at a wonderful pace. Unfortunately, my pictures of Brian (Paradise) posed in front of beams look like someone possessed, so I shall try again on Monday. I'll try for some interiors tomorrow when hopefully, I will have the legroom.

Cleaning house

2009-06-11T12:16:00.003-04:00

Since the cats are away, I took the opportunity to clear the decks. Filled up the big shop vac twice, stacked wood, took another lumber delivery and cut some ceiling stock. Work on window casings starts tomorrow by Jeff Heavner; John Luczkow is coming to hang our antique doors, something he's been doing for years in his honking great antique down the road. Sam and Paul, having finished their endless shingling job (yay!) will be putting the supports together for the two remaining entries on the north and south sides. John Larter is grading and grading. (But remember: Don't tell Chris and Lloyd, it's a secret.)

Good news, bad news 2

2009-06-10T19:56:00.002-04:00

Good news, Chris's stairway design was structurally approved by the building inspector. Bad news, that means Erin had to insulate above, on the sides, and underneath the stairs both with fire stop (rock wool) and regular itchy fiberglass all in one day. Good news, insulation was approved to close in; bad news, board men have gone so this waits for another day.

Chris has flown the coop--he is off to vacation with his family at Claudia's, although Claudia may leave herself, who knows? Tonight, he and his stay with Hannah and tomorrow, off to the Island with the sands and seas, leaving us to our fiberglass dust and regrets.

Big Secret: Many things may happen in his absence, but sssshhh! Don't tell Chris!

2009-06-09T14:45:00.004-04:00

Top, a picture of Erin's handiwork in the office; learning how to install the slats between the beams, allow for wiring, and not waste wood is a lesson in progress. Bottom, Chris contemplates the porch which has a few tweaks needed; after working so very hard for five days on the stairway, he now awaits inspection. I'll tell you what—with the house full of board and plaster guys, we do NOT want to be in there.

Groovin' with T&G

2009-06-06T16:15:00.002-04:00

I spent today up and down the step ladder, to the table saw, to the lumber pile, to the step ladder, with a mallet, with a nail gun, down the ladder again, get the jig saw... Cutting the T&G ceiling planks around the ductwork so that they'll marry again at the end of the wall was a bit of a trick. But two sections done; one to go. It's really fun when you need reading glasses... part of the time... when you're on a ladder.

Stair, by Chris

2009-06-05T15:10:00.003-04:00

He probably doesn't want me to put this up yet. He's picky that way. But note the graceful turn, the beadboard wall. The stair is taking shape.

Board Warriors

2009-06-05T15:08:00.003-04:00

Blueboarding with cathedral ceilings and beamwork is some pretty fancy cutting. Here are two of the board experts from Paradise Plaster who are cutting it in. Couple of short walls to go upstairs, then on down.

What's this?

2009-06-04T13:40:00.002-04:00

That's right, wet plaster. In my experience, a team would come and board the whole house, then another team would come and plaster. These guys, however, have three guys boarding, followed by two guys plastering, which means we have one room already done and moving on to room two. They are doing both at once in each area of the house. Boy was I extraneous at the site today; I bugged out to make spaghetti sauce and lie low. Very low.

Curves

2009-06-03T15:04:00.003-04:00

Shingling around a circle is an interesting job, especially when you're working at altitude. Paul has been working on the two dormer windows for the last two days, and I do believe he is finishing up as I write this. It will be a relief to him (and me, too) to have them done. Meanwhile, the blueboard and plaster was delivered but the guys aren't starting until tomorrow.

This gave Chris D. a couple of days inside alone to work on the winder staircase. The architect had designed a partial winder—that is to say you go up three steps, take a left on two triangular steps, then a straight step, the left again on two triangular steps. Chris thought, and I agree, that a continuous set of triangular steps completing the U-turn on the stair would be both more comfortable and more attractive than having a straight step in the middle.

The building inspector suggested it as "ambitious," and that's all Chris needed to meet the challenge. He's spent yesterday and today reconfiguring the staircase and now he's building it--beautifully, and to code. So there.

The bottom shot is our new mantle piece, a hunk of butternut that had sat in a Vermonter's workshop for oh, twenty or thirty years. Cleaned up "real niiiice."

Getting there is half the...

2009-05-30T14:54:00.003-04:00

Here's the porch framed. In these shots Chris D., center, is finishing the decking and Lloyd is widening the opening for the mason to pour the hearth area required by code. The porch itself adds a great deal to the space of the house, and as it's on the east side only darkens the house in the morning. This afternoon, Chris and I were hanging fascia board so that we can move on to roofing shortly. I was "wing man;" a nice way of saying I held up the other end while Chris did all the work.

Meanwhile, inside, Atlas Insulation was putting batts of insulation in all the walls as we are still expecting the board guys on Monday. I'll be doing some more tomorrow, but we're looking pretty good at this point; all I have to do is a small area around the staircase.

Madness

2009-05-28T15:40:00.002-04:00

I am going crazy seeing Lloyd, Jimmy, Steve, Doug, Jason, Red, Bob, Chris D., Sam and Paul all buzzing around the property... and watching my checking account dwindle. However, this too shall pass, just not yet. Tomorrow, we add an insulation guy to the picture and on Monday, the boarding folks. I'll remember my camera sometime, but not right now. I hope to get a couple of good shots tomorrow.

Conditional thumbs up

2009-05-27T09:33:00.002-04:00

So the building inspector came and saw; made a few requests and gave us a conditional thumbs up to close in the walls. This morning, Chris D. is putting up lags and hangers on the west wing ceiling. It's raining, so Sam & Paul are inside the west porch shingling there, and John Larter is coming with load after load of leaching sand for the septic field. I've spent most of this week so far running to doctors' appointments (children, dog) and to school events. Now that the inspector has given the okay, we'll move toward insulating the interior walls and up goes the blueboard!

Flip on deck

2009-05-23T16:34:00.003-04:00

It's rare to have a pic of Flip, who is there when I'm not or is not there when I am. Today being Saturday, though, we managed to overlap long enough to get a snap of him screwing down the decking on the west porch. Many trips to the recycling transfer station and after moving the piles around the yard, he still hasn't received the admiration that he's due as Waste Master and General Factotum.

Paddock's Progress

2009-05-22T15:25:00.003-04:00

Doug, Red, Bob and Jason were back from Paddock Carpentry to put up the east porch and how sweet it is. They were just putting on the carrying beams when I left after Flip and I sorted all the scrap wood and moved the piles around. Meanwhile, Sam and Paul were climbing up the north side of the house with shingles, and Chris Lombardo got his plumbing inspection. Two down, one to go--the building inspector comes on Tuesday to give us the thumb's up (or down, hope not) so we can go ahead and board things up.

Money's tight now, and we had many discussions on whether we could move on the porch at this point. Given that there were two exterior doors and a fireplace there, we Had to build at least a deck. When we costed out the incremental increase to roof it, we found we wouldn't be paying that much more to complete it. With a few cost cuttings on materials (using pressure treated instead of redwood or fir), we will eke it through the exchequer with a simpler design and a slight green tinge to the decking and posts. How appropriate.

Multitasking

2009-05-21T08:52:00.002-04:00

Top, the gutter guys work above Sam and Paul as they put gutters up post-haste. Middle, Steve the electrician after bringing the barn live, and bottom, Jimmy J in the truck. We also have well guys (2), John Larter and his backhoe, Chris D. and Lloyd. Lots of trucks...

We've Got the Power

2009-05-19T14:27:00.001-04:00

Electric's up. Tomorrow, electric rough, water and furnace on. Thursday, plumbing rough. Click click click...

What's that in the trees?

2009-05-19T11:30:00.003-04:00

At top, Sam is shingling and the weather is fine. At the bottom, peek through the trees and there you'll see... the NSTAR trucks! Yes, they're bringing in the power lines and we won't have too much longer to wait.

Ambitious? Possibly.

2009-05-18T15:09:00.003-04:00

We're down to the last few days of the generator and we're all looking forward to the sound of one less machine. Hoping to get our rough inspections the end of this week, finish up shingling, get the porch going, put up some gutters, get our septic leaching field in and move into finish stages (board and plaster) next week.

Final pour

2009-05-15T16:55:00.003-04:00

Left to right, Lloyd, Gordon Maxfield (neighbor), Paul Cook of shingling fame, and Chris Dowling manage the final footings for the east porch.

A dirty job, again.

2009-05-15T14:44:00.003-04:00

At top, John Larter is happy to see the septic tank go in. Chris and Lloyd were setting the sono-tubes for the porch posts today, and believe me, both of them spent true quality time in the hole. Meanwhile, inside, Erickson's team continued wiring and now confront the wiring of the exterior walls. Showed them Paddock's trick of heating up a floor joist mounted on a piece of wood; when the hot metal hits the XPS it melts like buttah.
Unfortunately, I ran across a few more doors that needed stripping. So I will let them fester until morning.

Hey now.

2009-05-14T15:26:00.002-04:00

The guys are so busy it was clear they didn't want me inside the house today, so the Mouse (who stayed home from school) and I stripped and painted some more doors in the barn. Chris made a wonderful extension jamb for the circle windows out of Azek, heated and bent into a circle. The Mouse vacuumed inside the wiring holes in the second floor (before we got the boot) so Lloyd could put fire-stop in the holes. Rained out this afternoon on shingling, but they're getting there.

Wiring and wondering

2009-05-13T12:32:00.004-04:00

Here, you see Steve (top) and Jimmy (center) of Erickson Electric wiring the upstairs and downstairs respectively; they are bookin' it. Meanwhile, Chris has hung all the uppers of the kitchen cabinets, including cutting one down six inches to fit over the fridge. Although traditionally we would not mount cupboards during rough, we needed to see where they would go and if they would fit, as they were salvage. You also see here the Chambers stove, delivered by Claudia over the weekend, which we have now safely wrapped with plastic so we can wheel it around on the dolly rather than lift its 500 pounds (again).

2009-05-12T16:38:00.002-04:00

Today, the geothermal system is being perfected for launch. Whether they fired that puppy up yet I don't know; had to take the girls to the dentist. But the van was there, the water lines were there, and the super generator was there. So I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Chris D is perfecting the art of using salvage cupboards. Erickson's team tore through the cellar, putting up the power lines and circuit box and lighting. When last seen, they were tearing through the second floor. Guess I'd better get up there and clean the first floor soon. Pix tomorrow, promise; I forgot my camera today.

The Week in Review

2009-05-10T10:46:00.003-04:00

It's Mother's Day, and things have settled down for this moment; here's what occurred this week.
Lloyd: Got back from vacation and managed us all, hopefully feeling refreshed
Chris Dowling: Completed nearly all the extension jambs and sills for the windows and doors, changed the kitchen island configuration to allow refrigerator clearance on the stair side, built and/or altered a few spaces to allow shelving, toyed with using a salvage bannister for the stairway, started the tub surround and generally kept moving 24/7.
Claudia Dowling: Brought up the 1950s Chambers stove she found in Staten Island (thanks, Ted)
Electric: Erickson's team showed up and got ready to run cable from the telephone pole to the house on Monday, will then tear through the house wiring.
Ductwork: Completed, tied into the furnace
Richardson Wells: Started with final water lines in cellar, had to fly away for a water emergency
Sam Savage and Paul Cook: Got most of the South and West sides of the house shingled.
John Larter: Backhoed the utility trenches closed and graded around three sides of the house; will start septic tomorrow.
Erin: Stripped down the french doors and put a coat of lead binding paint on them between clouds of sawdust, painted duct sealer on the cellar seams of the ductwork
Luna: Was mad because she wasn't invited to the site as she barks at the backhoe in an annoying fashion
Flip: Earned the money to pay for it all

As you can see, a productive week. More this week; we'll see how we do

Good news, bad news

2009-05-08T14:20:00.003-04:00

Good news, we get to use these fantastic salvage French doors. Bad news, they tested positive for lead paint. These and the 18 other interior doors came from an antique being torn down in Newton, Massachusetts. Drew, Neil, Flip and I took them out of this house complete with casing and hardware. Now, I have to strip the paint and reprime. In this shot, you see this pair already stripped and being primed. Only 18 to go. Luna thinks it stinks.

Shake and dig it

2009-05-06T16:56:00.003-04:00

While Paul and Sam shingle (thanks to a break in the weather), John Larter digs; as you can see, the ground is coming up to meet the house as the septic field starts to take shape. I've been in the barn stripping doors, Chris is doing extension jambs (still) and will advise me on porches tomorrow. Lloyd and Dean were consulting about stormwater reuse, and tomorrow John Erickson starts, I think....

Buried again

2009-05-05T09:49:00.004-04:00

The electrical inspector looked at the trenching yesterday, and John Larter's guys are in the process of burying them once again. After this, Larter will put in the septic system and porch footings. Meanwhile, inside, Chris D. is cutting extension jambs and working to complete a visual for the interior so the electrician can see where to wire and the plasterers will have a more complete idea of where the board goes. Erickson Electric should be starting shortly with wiring.

We received our tub and toilets this morning, and Chris and I stowed them in the cellar while he perfects the concept for the tub surround. Sam and Paul were rained out today for shingling.

Ducting

2009-05-04T07:40:00.004-04:00

Okay, so Will D'Arrigo from CSG stopped by Friday to look at the ductwork. The ducts will be pressurized to make sure that they are within a range of being air-tight, and he determined to wait a bit before doing this test while I do a little more. In the shot above (NOT our house), it is done correctly; with painted mastic along the seams and tape along the joins. In our house, we did pretty well taping the joins but need to paint on the mastic. Dave and Ken have done an awesome job, and plenty of it--so I have a job this week, tweaking the riveted areas to make them further airtight.

Two down, one to go

2009-05-02T10:40:00.002-04:00

Okay, so if Chris and Flip actually buy the washer and dryer they went to see from Craigs List today, we'll be down to just the dishwasher (and disposal) to buy, and those I was going to get new anyway (something about used dishwashers and disposals just didn't do it for me). That means we're closing in on being done with appliances, phew.

Update from here

2009-05-01T14:56:00.002-04:00

Today, Chris Lombardo just about finished his rough, needs water to complete. Electrical inspection did not happen, but probably will Monday morning. This means we still have trenches across the driveway, which should close up then. Chris Dowling has been fixing the areas that needed tweaks in framing before the electrician comes. Will D'Arrigo came by and told Chris D. what else I need to do before he tests the ductwork (mastic on the exposed seams and cover returns). Sam and Paul continued shingling, and Erin cleaned up. Some. But I'll have more to do tomorrow.

Working men

2009-04-30T13:03:00.005-04:00

Outside, Sam Savage and Paul Cook (closeup) shingle while Erickson's team lays conduit for the wiring, cable and telephone. Chris designs window casings in the barn. In the house, Chris Lombardo continues with setting up the propane lines and placing the outlets. Today, we hope to complete something... maybe the trenching. But it's not for lack of working.

Foam insulation

2009-04-29T15:49:00.004-04:00

I'm sure all my readers know this... but why not say it again? Once your windows are in, but before putting on the extension jambs, be sure to insulate the area between the window and the wall (see bulging beige stuff above). Although it means going window to window and trimming it back to the casing with a utility knife after you foam it in, it will pay off with years of cozy warmth in winter. This goes for doors, too.

And this doesn't show them all.

2009-04-29T12:38:00.003-04:00

This is what happens when you have three carpenters, two duct men, a well guy, a plumber, and two site workers (not to mention yours truly) on location. Trucks, trucks, everywhere. What's happening today:
Tying the well head to the house with an in and out line. Digging the trench for electric power up the driveway and to the house. Starting the septic field. Finishing the ductwork (thanks Dave and Ken). Shingling the house. Insulating around windows and doors with foam (done, thanks Chris). Extension jambs on windows and doors. Hot water lines and propane gas lines. Stripping or encapsulating lead paint on doors.

Trenching the well

2009-04-28T10:12:00.003-04:00

None of the guys like the noise, but we needed to bring the water line trench down another foot or two through ledge. Here the machine is pounding away; they're making good progress so we should wrap it up before much longer.

Full house

2009-04-27T13:38:00.004-04:00

Chris (above) has set up and is tearing through the list, which keeps getting longer every day; first thing is the tub deck that the plumber needs for his drain pipe, then the myriad discussions on how to best use the kitchen cupboards, how to make the stairs look nice, how to trim the bathrooms, and so on. John Larter is back with Dave and his backhoe, beginning the process of building the septic and digging the trenches for the utilities. Eli Richardson is putting his water lines in from the well tomorrow. It's hoppin' around here.

Santa Fe contingent

2009-04-26T08:01:00.004-04:00

My brother Chris arrived from Santa Fe yesterday morning with his Stuff; has tools, has tile, has ideas, and after a full day in the barn getting settled in, has fatigue. But now, he's off to Lowe's for materials to start the tub deck.

This week, Dave duct man finishes and Chris L. plumber finishes his rough, Sam Savage and Paul Cook start shingling, footings are poured for porch, utility trenches are dug, water lines run and brother Chris Dowling starts. Lots of bodies on site tomorrow; I'll be posting a lot, promise.