Redid water setup for the house. Ran new 3/4 supply to new copper manifolds that I put together. The manifolds are 1in with 4 – 1/2in lines and 1 – 3/4 line.
After relocating sewer and water lines refridgerator can slide back additional 6 inches making it less conspicuous.
Installed two new Marvin windows for the master. I was trying to decide between Marvin and Pella, but found Marvin to have a better crank design.
HVAC to do list…
One- Figure out a good place for the future AC compressor unit.
Two- Run the lineset out to that location.
Three-Craft a new return air that would draw from the hallway
Four-Place return air vents in each bedroom
Five- clean out the existing plenum.
Six- create a new register outlet for the new mudroom area.
Here’s the finished return air duct that draws from the hallway – Pictures are taken a little post facto
Electrical was much more time consuming than I would have imagined. I had a lot more fishing through masonry than I initially imagined. It worked out pretty well though, most voids in the CMU were possible to maneuver through.
The data cables for the house were also a larger burden than anticipated because of the 4 coax lines I ran to each location and also all the cat 5, cat 6, speaker, control wiring, and security wiring.
Here a picture of the wires for my media cabinet in the living room.
A few considerations I had during framing were
Whether to use steel or wood studs (probably should have used steel for the areas furred out)
Ceiling heights -I could have taken the ceiling higher in both the hallway and bath, but felt that choosing a height that was a little lower than the high points in the bedrooms was the best.
How to get a look where no baseboard would be used – I considered drywall options and went with a something I came up with where I notched studs and then ran backer in the notch to facilitate a stronger base.
Put in floor drains for the clothes washer and the water heater. Hearth and home ran gas to the fireplace and also ran gas to the stove area.
View of where gas that goes to the stove dives into the ground behind the dishwasher.
The home was featured in Better Homes and Gardens, which was a bit of a shock to us. The fellow who originally built the home dropped by and was delighted that somebody was trying to rehabilitate the home.
He told us a story about the original planning process and how it had been difficult to obtain permits because of the “radical” design. It really was quite interesting to see all the articles and such that he had kept over the years.
The original builder had said that a man had shown up from Better Homes and Gardens to look at a potential home in the area, but was also keeping an eye out for anything else. The original builder suggested he look at his, and he said the moment the the man from BH&G pulled up, he said, this is it!
So they flew in a photographer and staged the home for the magazine.
Apparently, because of the magazine publication, he sold the same plan to people around the world, so if you’ve seen this before, there you go.
He gave us copies of everything. So now, for your delight, the home before years of renters and do-it-yourselfers got to it.
Fun Stuff. A couple things to note, the master bedroom had windows just like the rest of the house. and the appliance arrangement is different, but the cabinetry the same.
