Hooray!

Over the weekend David Vreeland, an engineer, made time in his busy schedule to work with us on the foundation. (Thank you David!) As it turns out, although we made a couple of alterations, I did design the shallow frost protected foundation correctly. David got the stamped plan to us on Tuesday; that afternoon I was at the building inspection office with the rest of the revisions and going over them with the building inspector. After making another few small adjustments on the fly we finally got the go-ahead!

This afternoon sitework will resume. Life is about to get hectic.

Below are some pictures of the sitework that was done in the previous week and half.

Stump removal

Stump Removal

Dump of gravel for driveway - $350

Compacting driveway with vibrating roller

Stump grinder

Stump grinding. The stumps that were not under either foundation were ground. It disturbs the soil less.

Last week we were testing out some possibilities for the height of the first floor (shooting elevations/grades). Much to our dismay it revealed serious problems with the red maple tree on the corner near the streets. That corner is 18″ higher than the low corner opposite it. This means that we would either have to dig into the root system even more (the water line runs 5-6′ to the side of it) or fill the other side (very expensive). Even with a compromise between the two there would still be serious drainage concerns where the tree would be higher than the house. Lastly, leaving the tree meant that the excavator would have to work around it, and at $90/hr…

So, alas, we spent the last two days removing the tree. I felt bad–especially when I saw one neighbor drive by with a stunned look.

Last week we finally got word back from the building inspector. Below are his questions/issues  which I have been working on. The most troublesome of which is the second point. I have since confirmed that the inspector is looking for is an engineer’s stamp for the foundation (not clear in the letter below). The inspector never guaranteed that he would OK my design for the shallow frost protected foundation, but that he would consider it if I submitted detailed support and calculations. Since last week I have been trying to find an engineer who has time to complete the project on short notice. If I can’t get a stamp for it by the middle of next week, I will be aborting the notion of doing the shallow foundation.
>>>>>>>>>>

Spartan,

I reviewed the plans for the new single family home and detached garage you propose to construct. The following are questions, or issues found during the review,

1. Since the driveway to the home is located off from Charles Street , A Charles Street address will have to be assigned,
2. As a home owner, you have designed the home and a frost protected shallow foundation, can you please provide this office with credentials you hold as a designer?
3. The design for frost protected shallow foundation shows insulation board being used, how is the insulation board is protected against termite infestation, see 780 CMR section 5320.
4. According to elevation plans, the overall height for the new home is approximately 30 feet, is this accurate?
5. What is the finished ceiling height for the study room located on the 3^rd floor?
6. Plans indicate you are using a single top plate, how are the walls being tied together? See section 5602.3.2 regarding top plates.
7. Plans indicate you are using full dimensional lumber, is the lumber being used native lumber? If so, please refer to 780 CMR 110.R4 regarding native lumber, the grading and restrictions for native lumber.
8. Plans are unclear to me as to the length the 2”X10” floor joists are spanning, please provide the span.
9. Plans show the trusses are designed for a 44 lb live load, roof systems for this area must be designed for a 50 lb ground snow load, please ensure manufacturer for the trusses are aware and resubmit calculations for trusses.
10. Since a prescriptive method is not being used for the energy code, please submit the res-check calculation work sheet for the energy code.
11. Plans show a detached garage is proposed, see 780 CMR table 5602.10.5 for braced walls panels, plans are unclear whether you the front wall meets this requirement, please provide information how this wall meets braced wall requirement.

Once these questions/issues are resolved a permit can be issued.

Still no news on the building permit, unfortunately.

On the other hand we don’t need a permit to pull stumps or grind them so things are moving ahead on that front. (pictures to follow)

John Thom and I put  in a full day last week taking branches out of the large silver maple tree. We ended up taking away another four truckloads of wood off of the property. We estimate that there was 10 cords of firewood in all. We avoided renting a chipper again because I spent half a day using a loppers to chop the small branches into 6″ sections.

New Purchases:
-Stained glass window for first floor bathroom, which would otherwise get no natural sunlight. Hannah and I picked the window up at a yard sale in Cleveland OH.
-90 gallon stainless steel hot water tank manufactured by my GCC professor Peter Talmage. The tank is designed to be a solar hot water drainback tank.

Here are the complete architectural plans for the site, house, and garage. I submitted the plans on Friday as planned, and I was told to expect a 2 week review period. Legally, it could take as much as 4 weeks.

3D Views and Table of Contents

14 Vernon St Plans Complete Architectural Plans (3.5mb)

Quick overview:
*1500 S.F. overall; 1100 S.F. living space
*On Slab (Frost Protected Shallow Foundation so the stem walls only go 14-16″ below grade, details in the plans)
*Saltbox style
*2 Floors plus a 3rd floor room
*2 Bedrooms (Master has 15′ cathedral ceiling)
*1.5 Bathrooms
*128 S.F. West-facing Screen Porch
*324 S.F. Single car garage with storage space
*15,000 BTU per hr heat load at 0 dgr outside 65 dgr inside (Typical new construction is around 80,000 BTU/hr)
*Heated with a gas space heater on the first floor (for details on this and other appliances in our home see our appliance wish list)

I have spent the last 36 hours putting in a tremendous push to get the plans done, polished, and ready for printing–and that is pretty much all that remains to be done. After some R&R this weekend I will put up the detailed final plans on the blog. There will, of course, always be room for changes and input is always appreciated.

As part of our urban homestead we are growing edible mushrooms on some of the logs that came from our land. Last Saturday Keja and Sarah came to help. (Hannah wasn’t able to help on account of the Winchester Elementary School talent show she was helping to direct.) We purchased innoculant for shitake, maitake, oyster, and lion’s mane from Fungi Perfecti. Oak is one of the best types of wood for the job, which we had plenty of from the land. The process involves drilling holes in the log, inserting the innoculant, which is in the form of dowels or sawdust with mycellium growing on it, and sealing the holes and ends of the log with wax.

Innoculating logs with mushroom spawn

Sarah and Keja moving innoculated log

Sara and Keja drilling holes in the logs. The white brick on the tailgate is ten pounds of cheese wax for sealing the logs. On the ground is our camp stove for melting the wax. You can also see our new (used) lumber rack on the truck (many thanks Justin!).

OK, so I definitely deserve some teasing. We now have all but three of the windows and one or two interior doors, but still no foundation. I also bought 3 locksets so the house is now very secure.

The doors and windows are from Renew and continue the eclectic theme. All of the interior doors are beautiful, but not-a-one matches. Some people pull off the mismatched dinner ware aesthetic… I hope to pull off the mismatched door and window aesthetic. Of course, the whole point is to save money–and I need to have the windows and exterior doors before I frame the house–which hopefully isn’t too far into the future.

I also got a great deal on ICF’s (insulated concrete forms) off of Craig’s List. ICF’s are big insulated panels that you can pour your concrete stem wall into. They stack like Lego blocks and make pouring and insulating your foundation a simpler quicker task. They run around $2o for a 4′ long section, but I picked up almost enough to do the garage foundation at $7.50/section.

Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF's) in John's garage

Pro: $70 for all 3 Con: 3 different keys

Scott, professor/friend/architect, and Thom, classmate/friend/international man-of-mystery. (We just unloaded more windows and doors into Thom's basement. What's left in the truck is Scott's Renew treasure.)

Cool arched door

I am going to be really good at framing doors. Oh, and we could use some hinges and door knobs.

When I was up at Renew (which, by the way is a fantastic place to get great building materials for cheap) last week to get the material for the bunks I also purchased another 9 windows, 3 beautiful solid fir exterior door slabs, 1 exterior glass door with jamb, and a cast iron sink with hardware and marble surround. The windows are all Marvin or Marvin-Integrity windows (high quality). By purchasing these windows I have given up a fair amount of solar heat gain in favor of saving money and getting very well-made windows. The fact of the matter is that no one knows to purchase windows with high SHGC (Solar Heat Gain Coefficient). Sales reps, for the most part, don’t know it even exists. This happened because the Low E coating, which was first introduced in the South to keep heat out, was brought up North because it also has insulative value. Unfortunately, manufacturers and sales reps fail to promote that by putting the Low E coating on the second surface in from the outside of a double pane window instead of the third surface, one can go from a a SHGC of about .3 (30% heat gain) to .5  (50%).  As a reference point: 2 panes of standard glass lets in about 60% of the heat (SHGC .6). I wouldn’t mind buying a simple window like this, but then  I would have windows that do not insulate well.

So, the dilemma is spend twice as much money on windows–money I don’t think we have–or sacrifice solar heat gain. Time to do some energy modelling.

Fixed picture window

Marvin windows

Doors and sink

Pictures by Thom