Old house - pre demolition

Pictures of the old (original house on the property) and new house build.
Original house on lot. Nice from the outside.
Pre-Demo 1 Pre-Demo 2 Pre-Demo 3 Pre-Demo 4 Pre-Demo 5

But this is a sample of the trash that was in the house. (took a 6 yard dumpster to haul it off)
Condition of some of the items in the house.
Pre-Demo 6 Pre-Demo 7 Pre-Demo 8

Beginning of the demo. (Sept 2009, before the rains)
Demo 1 Demo 2 Demo 3 Demo 4

Demo 5 Finally, it's down. Looking to the "basement".
Demo 6 Loking from the pool to the foundation, under what was the deck.
Demo 7 A hole where the basement used to be.
Demo 8 Where the pool and basement were.
Demo 9 Almost flat enogh to build on.
Demo 10 Prepping for the "foundation" framing.
Demo 11 Stake it out. For the foundation.

Finally the build begins. (May 2010)

Document which explains the house construction.

The forms start to take shape.
Build 1 Build 2

Main Sewer Line exciting isn't it.
Mechanical Room Water supplies.

New House Hydronic heating installtion

Hydronic Tubing general layout at edge of slab.
Hydronic Tubing at slab edge near electrical conduit.
Hydronic Tubing final connection location in mechanical room. The hydronic tubing looks like a bunch of snakes crawling around.

New House Concrete Slab gets poured (June 17, 2010)

Concrete Slab looking towards the back yard.
Concrete Slab garage is on the right side of frame.
Concrete Slab looking into the mechanical room at the hydronic piping.
Concrete Slab mechanical room hydronic and electric.
Concrete Slab front right corner of garage.

New House Lumber delivered and in 2 days the house is up. (July 20 & 21, 2010)

Pre-fab walls delivered on 7/19/2010.
Pre-fab walls up in two days the walls are up.
Rafters went on the shell in less than an hour.
Rafters Outside walls are up.

Roof - Roof.
The shingles go on On August 12 & 13. The waves are not the shingles, it is light diffraction.
The shingles go on Garage - Front entry. In two days the roof is complete.
The shingles go on The mechanical room. All mechanicals will be on main floor. No attic climbs for me.
The shingles go on Backyard porch.
The shingles go on The waves are not the shingles, it is light diffraction.

Bricks on.
The brick work starts.   On Sept. 1 the bricks started going up.
View to the dining room.   LR and Dining room back of house.
The brick work starts.   Garage.
Front entrance.   Front entrance of the house.
Front Archway   Archway over the front entrance.
Front corner.   This is front of house where the tie walls will go.

Day of completion

Brickwork Completed   The brickwork is done. Only work left, is remove the scaffolds.
Side entrance   Door to garage and side entrance.
Back Side   Looking into the living room, Dining on the right.
Back Side   Window sill work is completed. The porch is not yet started.
Retaining wall 1   Tie wall on upper neighbor.
Retaining Wall 2   Retaining wall on lower property line.
Retaining Wall 3   Retaining wall looking back from street. New shed in the background.
Front window sill   Front window sill brickwork.

Floor Tile

The floor tile is an 18" porcelain tile.
The color is sort of grey, with a dark grout (hard to see in these pictures).
One room looks just like the other, when you are looking at ground level :-)
Laundry room
Bedroom #2 Tile floor thermal.
Dining Room

Thermal Imaging/ Home Inspection

After the house was completed we had a home inspector go over the entire project.
Keystone Property Inspections performed the inspection. Kip, did an excellent job and I would recommend him for anyone needing a home inspection.

Because we have hydronic heating in the house, we were especially impressed at the thermal imaging performed by the inspector. Here are a few pictures of the thermal images.

Dining room Tile floor of the dining room. Dining room thermals Tile floor.

Living room Notice the coils showing up in the segment of the floor, and how at the top, one parrallels the wall.

Final pictures of some of the area. Laundry room and other living quarters not shown.

All cabinetry, woodwork, and doors (except fiberglass entry doors) in the house are solid maple with Acrylacq Safecoat finishes. There is not a piece of pine to been seen.

Main entry  Looking out from the living room to the main entry foyer. It has access to two closets and a guest bath.
Hallway  Over 50" wide for wheelchair access. Looking from bedrooms to the kitchen / living area.
Kitchen  Galley kitchen looking from the dining room towards the handicap area at the end of wall. Kitchen and all cabinetry in the house is custom.
Handicap sink  at the end of the kitchen. Sink is wheel chair accessible with accessible counter next to sink.
Living room  Looking from front entry towards rear foyer/sun porch (left), and dining room (right).
Sun Porch  or rear foyer. Looking from dining room. Has door exit to screen porch behind house.
Sun Porch  In the living room, looking into and thru (sun porch) from living room. (dining is on the right).
Master Bath  sink wall, with handicap accessible sink.

Final Landscaping.

The house is surrounded by Zoysia grass, and Monkey grass (liriope). We also have a six foot high fence surrounding the yard to protect the pets, and keep the coyotes out. (Yes the coyotes freely roam the neighborhood). The fence is burried 2 feet underground to keep the animals from digging under it, and on top of the fence is what is called a coyote roller. It is a free rolling bar, that won't let an animal get a grip to climb over.
On one side of the house, where there is a terraced tie wall, we have a decorative safety railing. (see the picture of the left side of the house).

Zoysia Sod  As we started the installation.
Zoysia Sod  The right side of the driveway.
Landscape  View from the left corner of the lot.
Landscape  View from the left side along tie walls. Monkey grass and zoysia.
Landscape  The rear of the house looking down to the screen porch.
Landscape  The rear of the house, looking toward the street.
Landscape  The top of the fence. Has roller bars to keep coyotes out, and cats in.
Front Yard  This is the way zoysia grass should look

The house is finally finished, and we moved in (fall 2011). Photos are generally going counter clockwise around house.

Front drive   There is a covered entry hidden by the camers
Mechanical room   Located on right side of house. All mechanical, HVAC, air and water filters, phone, etc. in here at ground level.
Fencing, and tie wall.   On side of mechanical room. Entire back yard has 6' tall fence.
Back of mechanical room.   The windows are the family room.
Dining room   and screen porch.
Direct back view.   three windows on left are the family room. Next is dining room and the screen porch.
Master Bedroom   Master bedroom to the right of the screen porch.
Screen Porch   Looking out from the house entrance to back yard.
Screen Porch   Looking left from the house entrance.
Ceyote Roller   On top of fence all around. Keeps cats in, ceyote's out.
Back Yard  The back yard slopes up and away

Icynene Insulation: Living in a styrofoam cup
Insulation under roof  The Icynene insulation is doing its job. Where the 2X4's are, the heat loss allows melting of ice.
Insulation under roof  The Icynene insulation is doing its job. Where the 2X4's are, the heat loss allows melting of ice.
Insulation in the walls  The Icynene insulation is used throughout the home.
Insulation in the attic  The Icynene insulation is installed under the roof. No need for venting.

Handicap design
Here are some of the pictures of the design that went into making the house wheelchair and handicap accessible
Kitchen  Looking down the kitchen. Notice the far end has a wheelchair accessible sink area.
Kitchen  The wheelchair accessible sink, and work aream with a 2nd dish washer.
Living room. looking down to the dining area.
Master Bathroom  The double sink. One normal height, the other wheelchair access.
Powder Room  The powder room. With complete wheelchair access. n is doing its job. No shower/tub in this room.