Winter comes and we're ready to work inside

It's been a while since the last post.
Siding was finished in October and November which entailed caulking and painting until the weather stopped us. Only one window and one piece of trim did not get painted, but we're happy with the progress. The closed cell wall insulation was complete Mid-October and flat ceiling battens were installed the first week of November. The window jambs were foam filled following that to finish the 2nd building permit. During that time the construction crew of Cherie and Mike took a well deserved trip to Mexico for a week of rest and relaxation with Steve and JoNell. The Driveway was installed to the 2 car garage the week before Thanksgiving.

During the fall family members Mom, Steve, JoNell , Cousin Diane, Cousin Jen and Scott helped paint and suck-up 5 acres of leaves (see photos of the leaf free rear yard).

Drawing for the interior permit has been finishing up during the month of December with a planned sumbittal date of 12/29/10. Septic Engineer Al Schmitt laid out the troubled new septic field design. Either the water table was too high or soil conditions were not acceptable. Field is going to be a chamber system which is a more efficient septic design, but not recognized by the county (so reduction of length not given). Backup sump pump has been successfully installed (in case of a reoccurring ground water problem) and the furring framing has been started to increase the wall thickness from 2"x 4" to 2" x 6" to accomodate the R-27 wall insulation. Mike and Dave Baum have been trying to get the existing high-efficiency furnace running over the last week and make progress with every part replacement.

Our new completion date has been moved back to April 1st,2011. Rushing to finish the house just wasn't and option and Mike wanted to go through Greenbuild to look and other final design aspects. Looking forward, 2"x 2" furing will continue for the next two weeks and a self leveling floor surface is being poured in the crawl space over the hand trowelled mud floor this week. House is also being checked for levels of radon. In a tight LEED house, it is recommended to check if radon will be trapped in the house envelope.

New and revised bids are cominig in this week for HVAC and Plumbing. Some of the existing HVAC ductwork, which is in good condition, is being reused for the 1st floor. Since the basement has been dry for months, it has been determined that the new HVAC unit will be replaced and stay in it's current location. Pricing for an alternate Geothermal system came in at twice of what a high-efficiency natural gas system cost, so the budget and life-cycle cost both say gas. Electric wiring is being done by M & C (that Mike and Cherie Electric). McHenry County allows Romex wire without conduit. This makes it much easier for the Mike and Cherie team to do accomplish the job. Our cabinet contract is going to Joe a local custom cabinet shop, who is using formeldhyde-free plywood and low VOC stains & finishes. I hope to update as the mechanicals start installing this coming month. photos are included of the interior as per request by readers. Unfortunately, they are not the best views right now.

Siding and Insualtion helps move the Exterior Envelope to Completion

Haven't posted since August and the only excuse is that "I'm always working on the house" or picking vegetable from the garden.

We've decide to back off on the aggressive October 31st completion and now committed to a December completion. Due to the fact we have limited resources to hire professional and limited friends, we have chosen to take our time and do a good job and not hurry through the experience.

The exterior of the house is near 100% complete. In the next few weeks painting will be completed and a driveway will be installed. We are pricing both asphalt and concrete for the new drive coming into the side load garage.

Foreman Cherie Dudek (my wife), helped me do a complete tear-off and re-roof of the garage roof (see photos). The sheathing at the perimeter was an added bonus to deal with a raccoon presents in the attic. Although we new Raccoons had gotten into the Garage ceiling, we didn't realize the extent until the hot August summer, when you could smell it. We realize that dropping we left in the ceiling studs near the eaves and the only way to get them out is to temporarily remove the sheathing and clean/ sanitize the area. Cherie freaked out on day during the whole ordeal and demanded I hire someone for $1,000 to clean the mess up. I obviously refused and darted over to the house after work and while Cherie read me all the HEPA mask criteria, I had most of the droppings cleaned up on 20 minutes (as the sun was setting). I was not willing to pay anyone $1,000 for work I could do myself (with taking the right precautions with mask and gloves). That was the cost of our refrigerator ! By the next day Cherie had calmed down and bought a new HEPA vacuum and finished the minor debris and then scrubbed the area down with bleach. Carpenters asked where they could find a wife like mine.

Progress made since the last post is the installation of all the fiber cement Hardiplank siding and Miritec fiber cement trim. Also at the beginning of October, the 2" closed cell spray foam had been installed on all areas as part of the "Flash and Batt." building insulation. The R-value of 1" of foam is 6.7 and 2" is 13.4". We plan to install 2" furring to create and internal 6" stud scenario. Total wall insulation will amount to R-26 walls and R-49 ceiling when finished. All the crawl space and floor sill plates were foamed just in time for cooler weather (and to prohibit outdoor critter from taking residence for the fall and winter). Metro Insulation was the contractor hired from Rockford to do the work. prior to the insualtion work, Cherie and friend Linda took on the job of removing all the old sill plate insulation and cleaning up and debris in the crawl space. This included 1,000 recent acorns stored by a squirrel (that has now been evicted by foam).

I have to drop a special note on our great carpenters of Steve Hopp, Greg and Corey. Besides someone dropping a rag down the toilet (and putting it out of commission for 2 weeks and making the ladies suffer), they have done a great job in craftsmanship. I'd recommend these guys to anyone. They hustle and work hard. You could not ask for more.

Falls coming and leaves are accumulating, so the next post will be soon and highlight the fall preparation, interior permits and creative design elements related to our LEED Certified Home.

Construction is taking shape/ Driveway is done

It's been over 2 month since my last post.

We're a little behind schedule on the main house, but the other areas have made some good ground. Due to regrading, gutters and mortaring a manhole our water seepage problems have been gone for 2 months. Goal is to finish by October 31st.

Our LEED home provider is signed-up and design improvement have been discussed.

We submit for the "interior permit" after our LEED "Design Charrette". The big ticket LEED items are spray foam closed cell insulation, Solar panels, and HVAC/ Geothermal system. Naturally we are going with low-flow toilets and aerator faucets to reduce water consumption. We are researching the low-flow shower heads.

As for the area around the house. the grass and landscaping has taken place. Sister Cindy from Redondo Beach and kids Nicolas and Heather helped seal coat driveways, and cut grass on the riding lawn mowers. What a gas for the kids, on their first riding lawn mower experience. Sis, thanks for the help. Mom, Twin Brother Steve, JoNell, Scott and Jessica all pitched in time which was appreciated. We have many other friend and family that have helped as well and say thanks. By the way, my wife Cherie is boss and share in the do-it-yourself chores. Couldn't do it without her and enjoy it most of the time.

Driveway took 4 weeks to patch one crack at a time and seal, but looks great. Hopefully I can get credit for saving a driveway from LEED vs. replacing it (jokingly). The garage door and header have been installed with the garage being rotated 90 degrees.

1,000's of acorns have littered our property. Our plan is to donate a 1,000 of them to the conservation district to plan new trees two miles to the East. If hey want the rest, they need to come and pick them up of the ground.

We resolved permit problems with removing the 50' semi-trailer (via scrapper) and pulling a permit for converting the little house back to an accessory building to meet the current code.

We have permits finished for the roof and working on the 2ND permit for siding, windows and garage doors. A super-insulated garage door is installed and Hardi-plank fiber cement siding is being finished on the three other sides of the house. Foam Insulation is very large premium. We are doing Flash and batt insulation on most of the walls, Full foam in some walls and cathedral ceiling and R-42 insulation in the ceiling. 2ND floor ceiling are very difficult to engineer.

The new cutting edge septic design is almost complete by Forest City Engineer (it's required) and the landscape design is being done by Rob Bottesek of Lawnscapes (great landscaper and close friend). I highly recommend Rob.

Cherie has done major clean-up on the planting beds in the from of the house. I failed to plant wild flower earlier in the year that was taken over by weeds. Now the entry looks respectable.

This week windows are delivered and installed next week by the carpenters. Foam for "Flash and Batt." ,electrical wiring, HVAC, and Plumbing is next.

Managing 5 acres eats into Construction Schedule

Spring arrived and so did the growing of grass and the need for maintenance of the property. Unfortunately these items need regular attention, so construction has to halt for the moment. With this task, the hiring of Jimmy, a high school student, for yard work was essential.

Just after getting the gutters on to the house, we had the yard regraded and installed a rear sump line to draw water away from the rear foundation (see photos). Now it was "wait for rain"
and see if we still had water seepage problems". In the meantime, we continuously run two small 150 CFM fan to ventilate the space and keep the crawl space dry.

Currently, there is no standing water, but only dampness in the slab. The goal is to eliminate the small puddles in a few select areas and any future threat of any seepage. The moisture issue has delayed construction, because the house cannot be sealed up without first tackling the moisture in the crawl space. Mike is confident it can be remedied, but is being dealt with implementing one idea at a time.

The rain came and went and water still showed up in the crawl. I'm happy to say that about 60% of the previous seepage has been resolved (but that's not good enough). It appears that water coming front is the last source of water. A brick manhole 5' from the house appears to be the culprit. This was notice as Mike went to the house during a 2 1/2" rain and notice that 100 feet of driveway found itself to the manhole and nearly filled it to the top. The rear sump pump hardly ran, so is a good sign that the water is not coming from the ground up, but from foundation side wall seepage. So the next step is to mortar the manhole and make it water tight. Currently water is coming through the bricks of the old type manhole.

Maintenance of 5 acres. Thanks to the help of brother-in-law, Kurt, we have two tractors to tackle the growing grass and 1,000's of dandelions. The application of weed & feed took place in the front by the bag full ((10 )-10,000 sqft for the front yard). Considering the high water table and the concern for water run off, only a localized weed control was applied to the back (This is the best environmental option). Spring is also germination season, so out with the grass seed in areas disturbed around the house. Each week, a high school kid, Jimmy comes out for a day and helps with the mowing of the grass and other chores. Jimmy has been a great help as a second set of strong hands. Grass is looking great and trees are in full bloom. At the end of the season we will consider installing prairie grasses or wild flowers for a n acre or two. We are also working on fixing cracks in the 350ft long driveway to the house. I used to think my current 30 foot / 3 car driveway was a project, now I consider it a 2 hours short job (piece of cake).

The garage door and driveway under our exterior work did start and the header was installed by Mike, Jimmy and Kurt (see progress photo). Project was a little harder than expected, since none of us has done this previously. This also involved disassembling the wall cabinet in pieces, which was a two day project in itself. We expect the door to install the 1st week of June. If anyone has an alternate idea for finishing our driveway of some thing different than Asphalt we are considering this. Cherie and Sister Kathy have been working on cleaning up the planting beds, so all the existing beautiful flowers and bushes are kept in order during construction.

Time management. During the Spring priorities had to be shift, because many non-construction unplanned task popped-up. Maintenance of 5 acres is difficult, since the yard had been left for 9 month without anything being done. Four acres of grass takes a good 5 hours to cut, so you can imagine how much time is left to do construction. Grass must be cut each week, because it has to be mulched (because you don't want to bag that much grass). The removal of an old 1940's semi trailer in the back, is another task that needs that has been a project of Mike's.

I'd have to say 70% of our month of May has been dedicated to the exterior grounds (with no regrets). Mike got to the point that he had to create a running list of 25 thing to do (and assigning each task to the most capable person (Mike , Cherie, Jimmy or a subcontractor). Volunteers and family members are always welcome to picnic (and work).

At request, I have added interior photos of the house. Yes, the house looks somewhat finished on the exterior, however it more like a movie set on the interior, only framed walls exists (yes there's nothing inside). We have no plans to make any changes in the walls, because we feel the sizing of rooms are just fine. Our first task is the get the garage is somewhat order, so we have a staging and deliver area. We have registered the house for LEED for Homes with the USGBC to make it official that we are building a "Green Home" registration is $650. From what I'm told the balance of certification is another $1,500 for "Green rater". Cost is much more than expected for certification, because $2,150 buys allot of kitchen cabinets when your on a budget. I plan to discuss this with USGBC at my next Board of Directors meeting.

Doors, windows, siding and insulation is coming future posts.

LEED Registration/ Massive Yard Work/ Removing the Temp Divider

I have contracted the LEED certifier, Jason Lafleur of Alliance Consulting. Jason has been a great contact and will be a super resource during construction. Now that the water seepage issues appears to be in better control, it time to get back to construction.

Mike has met with a solar panel installer and visited a Woodstock firm that sells and installs wind turbines. He was surprised to hear that wind speeds in Woodstock are at 12 mph and that many turbines are designed to work at 27 mph. He also learned that as mph increases, output increase substantially. The speed to output is not a linear relationship (hence a wind turbine in Woodstock is not going to be very efficient option). Also, the big the propeller the less wind you need (but also cost much more). Solar is also going to be a challenge due to the tall oaks on the site and less it is implemented on the far NW corner of the site.

Getting control of the grass and weeds on 5 acres is a project in itself. The dry weather brought early dandelions by the thousands. Mike chose to weed and feed the front lawn and on spray apply weed control in the back, since there is an abundance of moisture (due to high water table) grass gets constant moisture. Also the pallet fertilizer could get into the site storm run-off. Safe guarding the storm run-off is a high priority on this site on the Northeast. Our goal is to get the ground rehabilitated while we are finishing out the house,so the site is in great shape by the time we move-in. Our goal to move-in is end of July, but not etched in stone.

Next item is to raise the header between the house and great room. Cherie and I took down the divider wall between the two spaces to get a better feel for the overall space (see photo).

We have guttters!!

Been almost a month since the last post. Hard to make the time when every 15 minutes count toward the house construction. Happy to say gutters went on two weeks ago and resolved most of the water seepage issue in the crawl space. Ventilator fans help draft and dry out the very west side of the crawl space. I'm happy with progress. Soffit priming and painting went as fast as I could paint, until the gutter guys caught up to me. Front and sides are primed and painted and back is at least primed with pre-primed Hardiboard. Grass cutting and fertilizer/ weed control has started to become and issue (yard was cover with a sea of yellow dandelions). As for the gutters, they were made out of recycled steel and we installed 5" gutters with over-sized downspouts. Leaf screens went in immediately.

With 5 acres, we brought on a second riding mower with the help of brother-in-law Kurt. Pool is still laying on the driveway until a scrapper picks it up. Semi-trailer in the back is the next big items to be removed.

We are finding we are always shifting the priorities based on what the weather says. We have been extra lucky to have minimal rain and allow use to dry weather to our advantage.

We were also able to locate Mr. Russ Reed who was the owner previous to the last owner of 10 years. Mr. Reed (who will be 91 this year), came by with his wife and shared an abundant amount of information from the 20 years they owned the property. His wife used to bake wedding cakes in the back house and Mr. Reed built 6 sided picnic tables and supplied scrap lumber to people in the area. We invited them to come by any time to property to visit and share memories. Mr. Reed was disappointed with the lawn condition and said he kept it like a golf course. Unfortunately, the lawn had been ignored for about 8 months and taking time to rehabilitate. Russ wants to bring his mower and cut his old lawn again. With 5 acres I said any time. BYOLM (Bring Your Own Lawn Mower).

March Leave clean up as we enter April Rains

I struggle to get my first blog posted and realized after posting I had forgotten to mention my wife in the first blog entry.
Cherie my wife, is obviously the boss and I do what she says. (that's the boss on the ladder painting).
She is my partner in life and in building this house. Amazingly, we are not at each others throats and enjoying our building experience together.

This month was drier than usual and an opportunity to pick up 5 acres of leave from last season. Two-thirds of the yard took 4 days to pickup. First day was raking by hand (which was very tiring for 3 people). Second day we got smart and showed-up with a 24 hp lawn tractor and a triple bagger with a mulching blade. Best money spent. Purpose is to remove the leaves in low areas and areas where trees will quickly grow leaves and block the sun. We need grass to grow under all these oaks. Cherie, Myself, Brother Steve and friend Jimmy helped out with the leaf clean-up.

Although we obtained a second permit for the garage door, some windows, exterior insulation, hardiplank siding and 1.5 of closed cell insulation, we are holding all closing of the structure until all ground water issues are under control. Super insulation is great as long as you don't trap moisture inside. So were monitoring our progress.

Two weeks ago, an exterior sump was installed to relieve the rising water table. Fortunately, we found no water due to the unseasonably dry conditions. This last week Friday, we enlisted our friend Rob and crew to excavate the entire rear of the house and install slotted drain tile (since we assumed we had none). We are hoping the combination of roof gutters and drain tile will help control crawl space moisture (our biggest unknown).

In honor of McHenry County Building Department, we removed the backyard pool they have complained about for years. See photo to left of the dirt ring.

We uncovered some nice yellow daffodils in a courtyard to the west of the old garage and we began to excavate for the new side load driveway and garage door. Front yard was regraded to get water to drain across the yard and not toward the house.

Gutters go up this week. Garage door is ordered and final remaining windows are being ordered this week. Home Depot has been a ghost town most of the month and been a great resource if your looking to buy Anderson Windows.

Finally figured out how to "blog"

This is my first entry to attempt to post something about my adventures of Building a LEED Certified Home.

To give people some background, this home was 40% complete when I purchased it from the bank and it sits on 5 acres in unincorporated Woodstock on Route 176. It has brick on the front and Hardiplank siding on one side (see recent photo). The roof had 90 lb. roof felt during the 8 years the house had been under construction/ or not under construction. The inside of the house is uninsualted and on has wood framing in place and nothing else.

My wife and I had closed on the house a week before Christmas and made an emergency effort to obtain a partial building permit and put a roof on the house, install columns to replace the two toothpick stilts holding up the front entry roof , and enclose the soffits to keep the visiting raccoons out. So far so good, the soffits are finishing up on Monday, as I see raccoons wonder the neighborhood.

As the Chair of the Rockford branch of the USGBC and Member of the Board of Directors for the USGBC Chicago Chapter , I committed to complete my home under LEED certified for Homes and go for a "Silver Certification" (of Certified, Silver, Gold, Platinum levels). If this home was new from the ground up, I would obtain a higher certification. In this case, some points can not be obtained because I have no history of the past construction practices.

My goal is to personally experience the process and share the information with family and friends while I go through this adventure of finishing this home for me and my wife. I will also share the LEED points being sought, cost associated with each item and the decisions to implement or not implement points as it does come down to my personal willingness to pay premiums for LEED/ Green items. Since I've always been designing for energy efficiency on new and existing homes, I have just incorporated items I'm convinced that are "must haves" (and considered "Best Practices").

I'll try to keep posting shorter than this introduction.

Michael Dudek RA, LEED AP