Another House Thread - Colorado Mountain Ranch

In reply to Slippery (Forum Supporter) :

Same closed cell foam on the exterior walls and ceiling. Nothing on the interior walls, aside from some fiberglass batts between the loft floor and main level ceiling (to retain the upstairs radiant floor heat). The garage got blown in fiberglass in the walls and on the attic floor. Nothing in the garage roof/garage attic ceiling right now, we can go back and finish that area later if desired. The cost just to foam the main living area envelope was quite a stretch, but we wanted to get the best insulation we could while we had the chance.

Looking good!

"I knew a man who hung drywall
 He hung it mighty quick"

All the sheetrock was up in the house and garage when I got there at 8 this morning, and the drywall screw inspection passed this afternoon. Onward...

Love the way you opened the staircase up! What do you have planned to finish it?

Margie

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

I have a beam leftover from the porch (4x12 Doug Fir) that I plan to run down the side of the stair stringers to hide the ugly bits and provide a bit of visual weight/appear like a structural part of the stairs. Then some sort of open stair railing, to be decided. The rest of the trim in the house will be something approximating Craftsman or Shaker style. 
Under the stairs will be some built-ins, around a couple large cubbies for beds/crates for the two dogs. 

What is a drywall screw inspection?  Is that a real thing that the county/city does?

In reply to nocones :

Yep, it was part of my building permit inspection sequence. I wasn't there for the inspection, but I gather that they are checking for the correct spacing and quantity of screws in the drywall, making sure it isn't dangling freely at corners or seams, etc. I also imagine they are checking that there is 5/8" firecode sheetrock in the appropriate places (garage firewall). 

This is awesome! 

Did you look into SIPs when you were designing?  I've seen lots of new construction in the foothills and high rockies that is using those instead of stick-built.

In reply to sobe_death :

I didn't really consider anything other than traditional stick framing, mostly because that's the type of construction I grew up around and am comfortable with. I knew the house could be framed quickly, affordably, and with a decent level of craftsmanship and durability. When you stray away from traditional construction and into the latest and greatest building science you really narrow down the selection of contractors who you can work with. However, it may have been advantageous to consider SIPs after considering the expense of full depth closed cell spray foam insulation. 

I do wish I had priced out Zip System sheathing, especially since I could have used Zip-R sheathing with built-in continuous foam insulation. I would have gained a nice thermal break in the wall envelope, and I would've saved lots of time in applying the WRB. I think the cost would have only been a little more overall (I spent over $2000 on the Sto products to complete the roll-on housewrap over standard OSB) and the labor savings could have narrowed the gap.

There are definitely lots of things I would do differently if I built another house, but I'm not building another house ever again :p

Looking good. Pro drywall crews move FAST. 

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Indeed, they tore through it and still did a great job, everything even ended up nice and straight. They finished texturing Thursday and deburred it this morning, I just got started painting today. 

Right now I'm ignoring the fact that there still isn't a single plank of siding hung yet, and I'm working on fun stuff on the interior. Waiting for a couple exterior trim carpentry bids to see if I can't offload the siding job onto someone else.

Interior paint is up. Most of the house is a terribly uninspiring grey-beige called "mushroom basket", but I'm making up for that with accent walls. They're all bright loud colors and make us happy, and this time around we aren't picking interior finishes to maximize resale market, just picking stuff we like.

Stove is in. The hearth stone is just chunks of natural stone pavers from the garden center. They vaguely match the local stone around the house. Eventually I would like to add stone to the side and back walls to make it look like a real old fireplace.

The power company finally moved our temp meter from the pole to the house about a day before the electricians came for final/trim. So we have light and electrocity inside now.

(this scaffolding is scary as frig btw)

Today I laid some VCT in the kitchen so I can move on to hanging the cabinets later this week. The Sektion cabinet rails are mostly in place already.

Looking great. Love the accent walls. 

Ikea Sektion cabinets going up in the kitchen. Still missing five uppers, that were backordered before Ikea closed for the shutdown, and are still backordered now that they're open again. 

Got the mosaic floor tile installed in one bathroom today before I ran out of mortar. 

Do you need any more permits closed out at this point or that's done? 
What about a certificate of occupancy?

How many months since you started the build process to now?

This is all very interesting to me. 
 

The main building permit is still open. I need final inspections for electrical, mechanical, and plumbing, once trim is complete for all of these items. I also need a final forestry inspection (county requires a wildfire defensible space) and a letter from the fire district approving my driveway. Then I get final inspection and Certificate of Occupancy. 

We closed on the property the second week of July 2019. It took until November to close on a construction loan, after being strung along by a few different banks. During this time I was working on preliminary stuff such as getting the architectural plans drawn up and then the engineered framing and foundation plans done, site survey and staking, well test, initial forestry inspection, etc. 
I submitted my building permit application around the beginning of November 2019. I should have had it by the end of that month, but I was delayed because I was missing submittals for the heating design and grading/erosion plan (because they didn't ask for them until after I had completed the paperwork). We finally got our permit the last week of February 2020, and started excavating on February 29th. 
 

So 5 months to secure financing and get plans/engineering/documentation together, 3 months for permitting/additional plans and documents/initial subcontractor selection, and about 4 months up to present for actual build work on-site. 

sobe_death said:

This is awesome! 

Did you look into SIPs when you were designing?  I've seen lots of new construction in the foothills and high rockies that is using those instead of stick-built.

A coworker built a garage with an apartment using SIPs. Makes for a very, very rapid barn-raising but of course the finishing work (as always) takes forever. Nice and quiet with good insulation, I can see the appeal.

In reply to newrider3 :

Thank you for the information. 

I missed out on a couple of lots due to not even knowing where to start looking for info. If I could turn back time 3 years I would have bought one of them and built a house in a subdivision with no HOA. 

Lots are still available, but they are either very pricey or I have to move an hour north. Its still in the back of my mind though. 

That location is beautiful--congrats!  What is the insurance situation like in Colorado?  The reason I ask is that in CA, last year, most major insurance carriers dumped coverage on rural homeowners (used to be me) because of the fire situation; eventually, the state came along at the end of the year and put a temporary moratorium on cancellations, but it was way too late for thousands of people.  Didn't mean to be a bummer, but I do appreciate a mountain view (used to have one of the Sierra Nevadas) . . .

As someone casual browsing for homes on the front range this thread is very much convincing me to buy the worst one possible and get to work. Thanks for the inspiration, beautiful home!

In reply to rustomatic :

No issues getting insurance, obviously it's more expensive than a house in the suburbs but the location doesn't make it untouchable. We have a good fire protection district, they actually just got some new equipment last summer that bumped up their certification into a higher class which lowered insurance rates for the whole area.

City-dweller here, though I daydream of moving up to the mountains sometime.  Maybe after my girls finish high school.

Is that Golden Gate canyon somewhere?  Looks a bit like that.  Pretty area!

In reply to TVR Scott (Forum Supporter) :

Close, Clear Creek Canyon / Hwy 6, the main road in my neighborhood actually connects all the way out to Golden Gate Canyon via Robinson Hill Rd. 

We're getting really excited to get moved in. My wife and I have been dreaming of living up in the canyon since we were in college and first exploring the area.

In reply to newrider3 :

Very cool.  Love the plaid kitchen floor, btw.

Very tangentially related - my dad went to Mines in the late 60's.  Lots of big hair in the old pics.

In reply to newrider3 :

My wife and I were volunteer naturalist for Jefferson County Open Space, so I know the area your in. It's a very wonderful place to live.. We moved away in 2015 due to my wife's transfer to Seattle. I do miss Colorado very much. Nice job on the house.