Foam and Hose Bibs

This last week saw more progress on the exterior, and a bit of smaller progress inside.

The vapor shield wrapping was finished this week. Since we decided orange wasn't the color we preferred, they started adding foam panels over the top, giving it a more Mondrian look.



Inside, blocking was added and some framing changes made. This picture shows the blocking in the entry for the bench that will go in.



A bit more work was done on plumbing to bring it near completion. Hose bibs were added around the exterior:



and the Power-Pipe was installed:



This drains the hot water from the shower, and pushes the cold water up the copper spiral to absorb the heat from the waste water, giving you much more hot water for showers.

The timelapse shows the foam panels going up on the exterior.



The plumbing inspection is scheduled for early this coming week, so that portion should be wrapped up soon. The windows have been shipped, and should be delivered sometime this week. We finalized our HVAC choice, so work on that should start this week, too.

Rough-In and Exterior

It's been a hectic several weeks for us, and we've fallen behind here. But construction has still been (mostly) happening.

The week after our last post, the Seattle area had one of the largest snowstorms in a few years. We were stuck at home most of the week, and not a lot was accomplished on the house, either.

Since then, things have been progressing nicely. Plumbing rough-in is finished, besides any later fix-ups or changes we or the inspectors need. This picture shows the laundry room: copper pipes for water in, washer/dryer on left and sink on the right, and the black pipes for waste water. Right behind it, you can see a bit of the master shower; and the back wall will support the master sinks.



Outside, the roofing was installed as soon as the snow cleared. It is a gray membrane called VersiWeld TPO, and covers the main roof, the mid-level eyebrow, and the rooftop deck. On the deck, it will be later covered by decking and the green roofing modules.



After that, work on the rest of the exterior house started. The first step was to wrap it in a vapor shield to protect the interior from moisture. You can see the white wood around the windows on top of the shield. This allows the windows to be securely mounted — they can't be mounted on the foam that will come next.



More concrete was added. The slab at the very bottom of our stairs was poured, along with a short retaining wall extending from the north-east corner of the garage, and the foundation for our entry stairs. The wall on the left of the picture is level because it will support the flat landing from the garage, while the main stairs step down to the entry.



Changes captured by the camera slowed down in the middle of January, but you can see a nice bit of framing going up at the beginning of the month, and the orange vapor shield going on at the end.



We've been working on a lot of design stuff that we should discuss. The big things are electrical/lighting/data plans, and mechanical (HVAC) systems, both of which are up next for rough-in work. The exterior will continue to progress, with the windows on schedule to be delivered next week!

Exterior Siding

The bulk of the exterior will be finished before most of the interior of the house, so we need to finalize the design for that fairly early. Yuval also likes to submit a basic siding scheme with permitting documents, even though it is not required.

We were inspired by a picture of another house by Whitney Architecture. We like the simplicity of plain lap siding for most of the house, with large panels to emphasize features such as the stair tower. The other houses at Bellevue 41st have used more elements than this in their siding schemes. Our house will have a lot of exposure to view, so we wanted something simpler to keep it from being too busy. This picture also suggests a light grey/dark grey color scheme that is cohesive but provides nice contrast between the different sections. The funny thing is, in person this house is a nice cream/chocolate brown color; but we prefer the grey that we saw in the picture.

Another picture inspired a plan for the windows. We like the contrast of the dark window trim against the light siding. To prevent it from being too stark, we'll use a dark grey instead of straight black.

Markus designed a great siding scheme from those initial inspirations. It uses lap siding for most of the house, but uses a smaller width on the upper floor for variety. The stair tower and the garage use panels, along with a little bit around the living room windows. The section next to the front door is designed as wood slats, to warm up the entry a bit. We've also discussed using wood on a section of the upper floor over the garage, to mesh with the green roof garden up there. Other than the wood, we are planning on a light grey for the lap siding, and dark grey for the panels.

We still have to finalize colors and woods, but we like the current design, and are happy to have a piece that is nearly perfect from the start.

Pictures from:

• Whitney Architecture: Wedgewood
• Bungalow Style House by Architect Randy Bens