We Did It- Rocked and Ready to Roll!
We did it, We did it, We did it -Yeah (theme from Dora the Explorer)! Everyone pulled together and we were able to hang the sheetrock in the house last weekend. The taper is in now working and he expects to have the house ready to sand on Sunday and clean next Monday the 13th. The Presby Environmental septic system was inspected and approved by the State of NH and is all backfilled. The roofers are here working as well.
It was close though. Due to delays on other jobs, the crew from Quality Insulation had to work until 11:00 Thursday night and most of the day Friday. Thanks Duncan, Rick, and Mike for making it happen! We had the Energy Star insulation inspection with Kevin from Horizon Energy Friday at noon and he was impressed. We ended up spraying an inch plus of foam on all the exterior walls to seal the house and then using the Optima BIB (blown-in blanket) system, giving us about an R24 in the walls and a very tight home. Kevin especially appreciated the foam on the blockers around the rim joists which is usually a trouble spot. The crew from Blue Rock Building supply loaded sheetrock Friday afternoon.
The home takes on a completely different look and feel with the sheetrock up. We have already noticed a couple of changes to make to the floor plan the next time we build it (we are offering this plan with several different exteriors and have the lot next door available). This week I am focusing on choosing colors for the paint, tile, and wood flooring. Still tight for having everything done for October 5 (the Grand Opening Party) but still doable. So far it is a builders dream as there have been no “slack” days.
A Hectic Week
Well it has been a very busy and stressful few days! As background, our drywall installation crew is comprised of union help who usually work in the Boston area and “hang” homes on the weekends for extra money. The upside is that the work is fast and top quality but the downside is we have to be ready by the weekend they are scheduled. This last week we still had a long way to go to have them in this coming Saturday.
Monday was the day set aside for the plumbers and electrician to finish anything not done last week and we were also scheduled for the central vacuum (Vacman and Bobbin) and low voltage (phone, cable, audio) roughs. On top of that we had the Town of Loudon rough inspection and the LEED inspection as well. Due to some scheduling conflicts, the low voltage (Instalz Custom Wiring) and central vacuum crews were pushed back to Tuesday which was scheduled to be the first day to insulate. As it turned out, the Quality Insulation foam crew also got stuck on another job and bumped us to Wednesday. That worked but only gives the insulation crew 2 ½ days so we can have our Energy Star insulation inspection and load sheetrock on Friday afternoon.
Paul and Seth from the Jordan Institute came on Monday to do the first LEED inspection. We were joined on site by our architect Barry Arthur Hoeg. They checked the house and site and gave us a couple of requests on erosion control. Other than that they were very complimentary and were amazed by our progress.
Bobby from Instalz Custom Wiring has some great technology he is featuring in our Green Demonstration Home. All the phone and cable locations also have a line for data and are network ready – everything goes back to a control box in the basement similar to an electric panel. We also have surround sound in the great room which we normally do anyway. But in addition they are running distributed audio to the deck, the kitchen, and master bedroom and bath -can’t wait to try that! Bobby even ran a wire to the front door for a security camera.
Outside the Presby Environmental septic system is in and waiting for state inspection. We are also working on running the conduit from the road to the house for the underground utilities.
As long as everything goes smoothly today and tomorrow, we will be hanging sheetrock this weekend which is the start of the finish phase. I will keep you posted.
