It will keep the front entry sheltered from the rain but it still allows natural light into the foyer. We will cover the beam and fascia with fiber-cement and then paint it to match the rest of the trim.
The past couple of weeks have been really busy. The fiber-cement siding and soffits are all done and the exterior painting is complete except for the small roof over the front entry. I decided to use clear Suntuf polycarbonate sheeting for the roof over the front porch. It is strong, lightweight and easy to install. http://www.palramamericas.com/Suntuf
It will keep the front entry sheltered from the rain but it still allows natural light into the foyer. We will cover the beam and fascia with fiber-cement and then paint it to match the rest of the trim.
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I've been working on a post about Design Patterns and the various factors we thought about while we were designing the new house. I'm jumping the gun here, but Tracey is at the site and sent a few pics today that I just have to write about. When we were initially going through the design we wanted to create public and private zones. Although the public area is merely a few feet from the private area we wanted the public area to feel expansive and dramatic while the private area should feel secluded and sheltered. We utilized the change in terrain, a change in material and a step back to create the sense of two distinct outdoor environments. The bedroom wing is positioned at the east end of the house where it is at grade and in the woods. To define the public space we stepped the Great Room back to the north to create a two-story open outdoor area. The bedroom wing has no windows facing the public space and only looks out to the woods. That's the theory... As the trees recover from construction and fill in, it's looking pretty good. Todd and his crew from Top Notch Siding has been making great progress on the fiber-cement soffits and siding. Everything is done except for a small area above the front porch, which they will finish on Friday. The panels and trim are both fiber-cement but the Hardie battens are a different color than the Nichiha panels. It will be much more subtle after it's painted. Note the lower batten that is in-line with the bottom of the metal siding. The siding on the kitchen cantilever is nicely aligned with the metal siding along the deck. This also happens to be the height of the railing that will be installed on the porch. A modern/minimalist design doesn't have any ornamentation (or gingerbread) to break up the structure so small details are a big factor in the overall appearance. Alignment and proportion are key elements in Modern design. Kudos to Chuck, Tracey and all the craftsmen making the details come out right. I'm getting kind of attached to that big red dumpster. Maybe we'll keep it as a permanent lawn ornament. We decided to use Fiber-Cement siding for about 50% of the house to provide a contrast to the ribbed galvalume.
Typical residential grade panels from Hardie or Nichiha are 5/16 inch thick, while the commercial grade panels are 7/16" We are using the 5/16" residential panels rom Nichiha. It's a great product and its made in Georgia. In addition, NichiPanel is available in 12' widths, which reduces the number of seams and the potential for water leakage. Here's a link http://www.nichiha.com/home The residential panels weigh about 2.2 lbs per square foot, so the larger panels can weigh 75 - 80 lbs. The panels go up quickly, but it takes a three man crew to support and fasten these heavy sheets. We originally planned to use Tamlyn aluminum reveals between panels (see the How To section) but the logistics (and cost) of using the reveals was just too much. We decided to use simple galvanized Z channel between panels and use thin battens to create shadow lines. Here's a couple of pics. And... The trees are turning green! When we started this project, one of our main goals was to create a Modern design concept that is efficient, inspiring and sustainable. Our design philopsophy is captured in this terrific graphic. In the 19th Century (not that long ago) houses were not very comfortable unless you were wealthy. Electricity was still a futuristic dream. There were no flush toilets, no central heating and no air conditioning. Those were the "Good" Old Days! In the 20th Century tremendous technological advances made all of these comforts and conveniences affordable and widespread. We enjoyed cheap energy, so the march of progress paid little attention to nature or environment for making homes comforatble or livable. The name neoTerra refers to the New Earth of the 21st Century. This will be a world with 9 billion people competing for food and resources. Only through sustainable design and conscientious use of materials can we all enjoy a prosperous future. Why Steel?Although we are creating a Modern design concept, the world has changed a lot since the 1950's. The aesthetics and design principles pioneered by Frank Llloyd Wright and his contemporaries still apply, but the technology and materials used 60 years ago are no longer appropriate. Old growth timber, cypress and cedar have become luxury materials. We must look for new 'natural' materials. Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, two of the most abundant materials on Earth. Steel was a hand-crafted and valuable material until the late 19th Century. Today, steel has become a commodity that is so abundant we throw it away. Let's reuse ALL of this! But how do we make it beautiful?? For neoTerra we decided that a responsible design should make extensive use steel. We used a steel framing system for the suspended slab and we are using steel for roofing and much of the siding. In my opinion, the key to making steel beautiful is to use it 'honestly'. In other words, to utilize the products in a manner that highlights their stregths and characteristics rather than trying to diguise it as something else. For neoTerra we are using raw galvalume siding for it's luster and natural crystalline pattern. The 16" high TJ rafters in the Great Room create a 17" high fascia. Using 4" ribbed galvalume provides a rigid, maintenance free fascia. And the ribs create shadow lines that add interest and reduce the visual 'mass' of the tall fascia. Although steel is not inexpensive, it is extremely strong and modern galvalume coatings make it durable and virtually maintenance-free. Since steel can be applied in long, seamless panels it provides an almost air-tight barrier that helps make the home more energy efficeint and comfortable. We were fortunate to connect with Fabral Metals who put us in touch with Mark Alarcon at Champion Metals. Mark specializes in large commercial projects but he has a great interest in projects that use commercial metal products in residential applications. Mark is a true craftsman with steel... every aspect is well thought out and detailed. We are using 4" rib galvalume on the two cantilvered sections of the house. The 4" rib creates a strong horizontal appearance to empasize the cantilevers floating over the concrete foundation. The kitchen faces north and has a thin horizontal band of windows between the counter and the upper cabinets. The guest bedroom and master bath are cantileverd to the south. In "Passive Solar Design - Part II" (way back in August of 2013) I reviewed a few different windows with different Solar Heat Gain Coefficients (SHGC). As you may recall, the SHGC is a measure of how much of the Sun's heat is captured by the glazing. A higher number means more heat captured and a lower number means more heat rejected. Unfortunately, Andersen Windows did not offer their Passive Sun high SHGC glass in the 100 Series. Based on our cost and payback analysis, we decided to use the Andersen 100 Series windows anyway since they are constructed with a maintenance-free composite material and very cost effective. The main reason for the exclusion is that the IECC Building Codes do not permit high SHGC glass in our part of the country, which makes building a passive solar house more difficult. Recently, however, Energy Star Version 3 has provided an exclusion for passive solar designs. The exclusion is detailed in section 13.e. This is very important news for anyone building a passive solar design.
Andersen customer service is great, but because the Passive Sun high SHGC was a new product, it took many e-mails and phone calls before we were able to special order the 100 Series windows with the Passive Sun glass. They utilize Cardinal LoE-180 which is one the best glass units on the market today. This is a huge breakthrough because we can now get a durable, low-cost window system with truely excellent high SHGC glazing. We were very fortunate to work with Mike Korney from ABC Suppply. They have offices and distribution centers around the country so we were able to work with Mike face-to-face here in Chicago and have the windows delivered to their distribtion center in Marietta, Ga. The windows have arrived and the large fixed units have an SHGC of .54 (which is awesome). As a side note, the Builing Codes are several years behind the new ENERGY STAR standard. We met with our county Building Commissioner to get a waiver based on the new standard. Mark Miller was at the site yesterday to wrap up the rough-in on the plumbing. He installed the the valves for the showers and the Viega Manablock manifold for the PEX supply lines. A very neat, professional installation!
Well, it's always somethin'. The fog has cleared and we have a beautiful sunny Sunday. BUT Tracey discovered that one of the subs ran over our new well head and smashed the crap out of it. It's hard to imagine how somebody did this since the well head is at least 30 feet from the driveway. We have Builders Risk insurance but with a $1000 deductible I imagine we are going to have to eat the repair bill. Aside from that, it is a pretty nice day
Tracey has been in Georgia the past two weeks and a lot has been going on. Our shower units and the Andersen windows have been delivered. The HVAC and electrical contractors have been working hard and the rough-in is nearly complete. We are using Metal Clad (MC) Cable throughout the basement, within the steel joist system and wherever the wiring goes up through the suspended concrete slab. MC cable is similar to the older armored cable but it has a seperate ground wire and does not rely on the metal sheath for grounding. Kieth's crew did a really nice job running the MC cables through the space in between the steel deck and the top of the joists. It makes a very neat installation and the cables are barely visible in the photo below. Note that the red lines are hot water and the MC cables are above the joists. We have been planning to install a tankless, electric water heater. These beasts can draw as much as 140 Amps so we are installing 400 Amp electric service with two 200 Amp service panels. It's probably overkill, but it only cost a few hundred extra dollars and it keeps my options open if I ever decide to build a woodshop. There sure is a lot of wire in a modern home! Mark has completed the plumbing rough-in. We decided to use PEX for all of the water supply lines. PEX has a lot of advantages over copper or CPVC supply lines. Its less expensive than copper and fairly easy to install. The lines are distributed from a manifold in the basement. We are using a home-run system so every fixture has a direct, continuous run from the manifold. This minimizes joints, tee's and elbows. Each line has it's own on-off valve right at the manifold so you can turn individual lines on and off. The tubing is flexible, so installation is fast and simple and the entire system is lead-free. The manifold is installed vertically and looks like a fuse panel for water The Marino/Ware joists made it easy to route the lines through the floor system.
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