Shopping, Backfilling, & Planning!

Ok - sorry it's been a while since I posted. Not much to write about when you're waiting for concrete to cure. W gave it about 10 days or so...which isn't too bad when you consider that by some estimates the concrete at the center of the Hoover Dam is still curing...70 years after it was poured!

Nonetheless, here are some pictures of the foundation right after they pulled the forms off and waterproofed the outside (that's the black stuff you see sprayed on). After that, you'll see some after everything was backfilled to near finished grade (there will be one more bulldozer visit later on after the heavy traffic is done in the yard).

The other exciting thing we did recently was to travel around with our interior designer, Kristy, who works for True North Homes. She's fantastic - has a great eye for what works together and is very in-tune with what we want our house to look like. She also goes to our church and has a little boy Alex's age, so that doesn't hurt either! We visited T.A. Gentry Kitchen and Bath for our plumbing fixtures (sinks, faucets, showers, toilets, etc...). There we met Susan who helped us work through our selections with a health dose of humor...mostly at my expense, since it was Carol, Kristy, and Susan against me. Apparently they just don't understand how important the flushing power of a toilet really is. Anyhow, we had a lot of fun and picked out all 'Gerber' brand faucets as they are the best quality for their moderate price range. Everything on the second floor will be chrome (actually the cheapest finish you can get) while the downstairs will be 'brushed-nickel' which is a touch more pricey but really nice looking. The tub/shower combos are all 'Lasco' brand one-piece fiberglass units. No caulking or grout to worry about with these, which will be awfully nice. And yes, we got the 'power flush' toilets (extra tall even!) for me. Guys, you know what I'm talking about...Next we visited Rachel at West Michigan Kitchen and Interiors. She helped us pick out our kitchen and bathroom cabinetry and Kristy's expertise was very valuable here. Before she worked for True North she was a custom cabinetry designer! For the kitchen we selected cherry finished shaker style cabinets made by 'Pioneer' which is based out of Michigan of all places, which makes us really happy. The finish is going to be cherry colored (see picture below) but the actual wood might wind up being maple rather than cherry to save a little $$$. The two types of wood look very similar, but maple is much more readily available and therefore less expensive.For our last stop of the day, we met Cindy at the Lighting Corner to select our light fixtures. You wouldn't believe how much you can spend on lights! Needless to say, we told Cindy upfront that we wanted to stay relatively inexpensive! She was right on board with that and showed us a lot of lower-priced fixtures that looked remarkably similar to the sickeningly expensive ones. Funny thing is, they all use the same light bulbs...hmm... Anyhow, we picked out everything but our ceiling fans and exterior lights. The majority of the fixtures will be brushed nickel like the downstairs faucets (funny thing is that a brushed nickel faucet is $90 more expensive than a chrome one, but a brushed nickel light fixture is the same price as a chrome one...hmmm...). The glass in our fixtures is called 'alabaster' not because its made of the famous pure-white mineral used for carving and referenced in the bible, but rather because it's glass coated to look like the famous mineral. We just call it the swirly white stuff.
Looking forward, the basement floor will be poured Monday and the framing should start shortly afterward. Rich is still analyzing our 4 lumber bids, but it looks like the choice will be pretty clear.

We had a long budget and planning meeting with Rich and Kristy too where we got some sobering news about the cost of this project. I think we'll be able to make it work though. We kind of had a feeling that this would happen!

We also decided to change a couple of features that we had been planning on. First, rather than the house being made out of those cool SIPs (structurally insulated foam panels) it will actually be built using the traditional stud & sheathing technique. The cost comes out pretty much the same between the two, but there is a 6 week waiting list for getting SIPs from the manufacturer. We can't afford to wait that long! Instead, we'll have stud walls with spray-foam insulation that acts as a stellar sound, air, and temperature barrier so our energy efficiency will not be greatly impacted.

We're also going with a tank-type water heater rather than a tankless. We can always upgrade later and the price difference between the two is quite substantial.

We will, however, be spending a little extra $$$ on a zoned heating and AC system. That allows us to control the temperature of all three levels of the house independently with only one furnace and one AC unit. It will pay for itself over time and will allow for more even heat and air conditioning for different parts of the house. For instance, if the fireplace is going for a winter-time party that we're having on the main level, the forced-air heat won't be needed to heat that level, but the bedrooms where the kids are sleeping will need hot air. Pretty neat if you ask me!

We're also leaning toward having the deck built right away. We were going to do that ourselves, but the labor cost is only $1,000 and we'd have to buy the materials regardless. I think that it will be money well-spent as I'll have to spend most of next summer just doing yard and landscaping work!

Well, that's all for now. Framing should start soon and go really fast. Lots of pictures to come!