Current house: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:20, 11 April 2023

We purchased our new home after Christmas 2017 (closing was 12/27/1017) and started an ambitious remodel, completely gutting the basement to add a second master space and create a Data Center. The basement remodel got it's Final inspection on 04/28/2020 (we moved down from upstairs in November of 2019). The addition recieved it's Final inspection for occupancy on 01/26/2023, though we were using it well before that. We also elected to covert it to 100% geothermal heating and air-conditioning and install tankless hot water (to supplement the "free" geothermal hot water). Geothermal is dedicated to the geothermal installation process and results.

Pictures to Process

Just uploading these for now, I need to add the background later.

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Driveway

The house came with a decent asphalt driveway back in 2017. We tore it up building the addition and burying the geothermal wells and piping under it, as well as just running construction equipment over it for 3 years. And, I seriously dislike it. Concrete is King. Long live the King. Anyway, we're preparing to install the new driveway, with a largish parking area, an electric rolling gate with mail drop and package drop and camera/entry keypad and lights. It should be pretty pimp, though it is going to be terribly expensive...

Update: April 2023, construction actually started, pictures below. It will be 5" thick with rebar, and the parking pad (4 or so cars) next to the addition, which will have in-slab heating for melting snow that I'll plow here from the courtyard (with sub-surface drainage). The plan is also to have an electrically-operated car gate in front of the courtyard, so we're adding a truck turnaround and large mail/package delivery and dispensing unit for the letter-carrier and UPS/FedEx. There will be a video doorbell at the gate so we can let people in, and car detector to open the gate to let folks out, as well as car detectors on either side of the driveway to notify us when someone is coming down the driveway. "All the modern conveniences" as they say. The honeysuckle on both sides of the drive is being removed, as well as the landscaping between us and the neighbor's driveways, but we will probably put something back at the end. Also, our southern neighbor has a fence and light post on our property, in the driveway easement, that isn't mentioned in that easement, so we're going to remove that. Some of that is controversial, so we've retained counsel just in case it gets bothersome.

Here is a picture of the southern property line. As you can see, we actually own the land under about 1/2 of their driveway. Their easement on our plot allows them to "access their property, and maintain the current driveway". It is silent on any other feature, which means we retain all other rights. Incidentally, we had to point out this nuance at a Village planning meeting on x as they are also making improvements. They're building a new 3 car garage as well, and a sun room on the opposite end of their house, and had planned a expanded driveway on our property. We shared our survey to indicate that this was, in fact, our property, and that code does not allow building closer than 5' of the property line. During their construction, they've placed their potta-potty and ruble pile on our property (in the easement) at the same time as our ruble is on the opposite easement, so I'm sure that our northern neighbor is not enjoying the view these days.

Survey (STAMPED)
Sourthern property line surveyed and staked, you can seen the middle fence post is essentially in-line with the property line, so the fence segment north of this will be removed, along with the lamp post
Their construction debris pile
Runoff from their dirt pile
Basic driveway plan
Driveway plan
highlighting the buried conduit for utilities
Gravel delivery
Cars stacked up in driveway - a real donneybrook
The fountain needs to drain to the roof drain connection - and they cracked it...
Getting ready for the first pour
Preping for the fountain curb
Forms for the curb around the fountain, note that a conduit for electric (lights and fountain power) and plumbing (hose bib to fill the fountain and to run out front to the sprinklers) have been installed
Poured - note the nice rounded/rolled edges and finish work
Grading in front of the addition
Grading
Adding rebar, will be 5" concrete and we don't want it move or crack
Overview of the nearly-ready to pour "new side"
The 'old' driveway and some parking access as we widen the driveway, although with all the work and traffic it was difficult still
The truck turnaround, and loop around electric pole for parking pad
And example of a large electric rolling gate, wider than ours, although we expect to have a prettier gate
Typical gate operator
925 Easement
925 Congress Easment

925 Easement
935 Easement (Trelawny)

Property Line/Survey Documentation Here is some documentation of the property line from the survey we had done.

On the North side (925) in the back the property line is just outside of the old wire fencing, outside of the white fencing and beyond the new gas installation and well outside of the chain link fencing in the back corner. There is an old abandoned well or sewer access behind the chainlink fence.

Across the back the property line is just outside of the chainlink fence. There is a momument at the Trelawny back corner, and on the tennis/dog run corner.

On the Trewlany (915/935) side (South), the property is just inside the split rail fence where the tennis court used to be, but we own the dog run, and the side yard runs just inside the split rail fence.

Across the front, there is a momument just outside the fence on the 925/915 corner, and the property runs just outside the fence to a monument just beyond the garage near the driveway.

Pins associated to images
This shows that our side yard cuts across the yellow house's (925) driveway in line with the middle rail in their fence
towards white fence
from gas pad towards white fence
Near pool pump drain
Further back outside of fence line
Further back outside of fence line
Further back outside of fence line
Further back outside of fence line, and well outside of chain link
Corner
Middle of the backyard, outside of fence where old tree fell and took the fence down
Backyard nearer tennis court
Monument near edge of old tennis court on Trelawny side
Momument to Trelawny back corner, stick is behind the tree
Along edge of old tennis court/dog run - 2 markers showing we own the dog run
Side yard inside fence at 915 garage
Side yard inside fence at 915 courtyard
Side yard Outside fence at 915 pool
Side yard inside fence at 915 cabana
From Cabana stick to corner stick
Side yard inside fence at gate to Trelawny
Corner post outside of fence
Rear corner of propery (Southwest/Trelawny/915 end) - just behind the fencing
Corner at Trelawny/tennis court/dog run
Creepy old well or sewer opening
Monument on corner behind yellow Beale mother's home and Trelawny
Location of corner, beyond the fence near compost heap
Property line at garage corner beyond fence
Property line at garage corner beyond fence
Line of property at fence rown
Looking towards Congress
Corner marker
Monument
Driveway corner looking down property line
Concrete marker at Congress corner south (925) side
North side of driveway at 935 garage, looking North
North side of driveway in bushes 1/2 down
North property line next to 925 garage
North corner @ 935 and 941
North end against 941
North end against 941 just before new gas installation

Basement Remodel

We bought this house to get closer to the city, but still have some property and privacy, and to move my in-laws in. They don't need help now, but they might someday, and my wife wanted to be able to spend some quality time with them as they enjoy their retirement. We wanted to get them single-floor living, so if they do end up needing surgeries or have any mobility issues it won't be that hard, but we didn't want to give up having our own very nice space either.

This house provided that opportunity, it's large enough, and although it has a sunken family room and a couple steps to get into, is pretty flat with a first floor master, kitchen, laundry, and office for them. It also sits well up, so the spacious basement is only about 3' under grade, and so we were able to put in lots of windows and build a complete second master bedroom, bath, closet, full office, kitchen, and family room in the basement, in addition to a billiards room (it came with a table) and the data center.

It has 3 bedrooms upstairs for guests, and with the geothermal heating and air system we were able to zone it with 7 independent zones of heating an air so everyone can be comfortable (and we have tankless hot water for unlimited showering and laundry). When done it will really be extremely nice. One of the nice features of this home is every floor has a long, straight central hallway with stairs at both ends. This does make it hard to locate people, though, as it's big and they might be using the other stairwell.

A nice feature that I worked into the basement remodel is sound throughout. Our last house had built-in speakers, and I really liked it. I'd paired those (driven by simple stand-alone amplifiers) to Apple Airport Express units so I could "Airplay" music to them. Around the time we moved I got interested in the Sonos Connect:Amp product as an integrated amplifier and connected-device in one unit. I picked up a few for the first floor and really liked those, so I bought a bunch (7) more for the basement and threw them into the data center, one for each major room (although the master bedroom and closet share a unit/zone). I wanted to keep the power and data infrastructure in the rack, with UPS (battery backup) and the Tivos, etc. so I mounted local volume controls in each room and ran the main speaker wire back to the data center. This is nice because although you can control the overall volume from the Sonos app, and easily group and ungroup the Amps into multiple independent areas and individually or collectively control the volume, sometimes when you're actually in the room it seems too loud. The Sonos allows a lot of different music sources, Apple Music, Amazon, Plex, your iTunes library, TuneIn, and Line in. I'm using one Line In from an Airport Express to enable Airplay, which the original Sonos do not support, and I had another big idea. My older Apple TV (the new ones did away with it) and Tivos all have Digital Audio Output. I ran Toslink/SPDIF cable from each TV location to the data center, and picked up some digital-to-analog converters for the data center and connected the analog side to the individual Sonos amps, and now I can output my TV sound to the built-in speakers! Too cool, and great for Superbowl parties and the like.

Another idea this enabled is the "TV behind a 2-way mirror" trick! I built in a TV mount behind my vanity mirror and placed electric, network, and digital audio inside the space, and an IR receiver/retransmitter into the mirror mount so I could turn the TV on and off, and now I can watch TV through the mirror and get the sound on the in-ceiling speakers!

It came with a fountain!
This is what it looked like before we started wrecking it. Lovely
A light sensor for the outdoor lighting!
Existing layout upstairs
First Floor
Moving in
We gutted the basement and started from scratch
This water heater gets moved, and this back section becomes our master closet
This piping comes into the kitchen island
The existing shower will be replaced, and the geothermal lines will enter here
Shower room
These lights were over the old shower vanity, now this will be an opening into the addition
Vanity lights from another angle
Utility room, our laundry will go next to here
Laundry connections
These windows will get bigger, and another will be added
Master shower drain
Master vanity plumbing
5'x9' master shower with two 8' linear drains
the shower slopes to the linear drain side
Because we have two 4' linear drains in the shower, with 2 rain heads, a handwand, and 6 body sprays we need a larger drain pipe to the sewer
Master Vanity with have a TV behind a 2-way mirror
We moved a post to make the family-to-kitchen opening larger, so we had to pour a new footer
Old post location, and new footer
Reducting to add zone control
Billards storage
Preparing for the data center
Data center will have a raised floor, partly to hide wire chases, partly to protect from water intrusion
Pulling cable to data center (cat 6a)
Split AC unit for data center
Data cabling in hallway
Temporary network
Data Center wall/door - an 8 footer!
Server power
Exercise equipment
Kitchen plumbing
Reframing
That's the office, and that window gets replaced
Looking into the master bathroom
Billards room framed
New window in master bedroom
An angled hall will connect the master closet to the bath, so when one of us gets up we can close the bedroom off and move back and forth without distrubing anyone
This beam needs reinforced as we're pulling a column out
It got full-length 'C' channels on both sides
and the wood suport on this end was reinforced with steel
Before pulling the post (the wall will no longer be under this beam)
The beam on the other end of the master bedroom gets the same treatment
HVAC reducted in closet
My office, these windows get bigger
Voila!
A lot of ductwork
Powder room plumbing
More powder room
Cameras mounted around the house
Including Ring flood light cameras
And Ubiquiti UVC-Pro cameras
Basement kitchen island waterproofing
Starting basement tile
Multi-zone climate controls
Water shutoff under basement steps

Basement Master Bedroom

Our master bedroom is about 17'x18' with french doors opening to the rear stairway next to the "extra" shower and basement entrance to the addition. The addtion has a walkout set of french doors that gives us easy access to the hot tub. We enlarged the window area to three 3'x5' windows for natural light, which open to the side yard at grade behind the addition overlooking the wooded creek, so it's pretty private. The master has it's own zone of HVAC, a security panel, and connects to a small hallway between the master bath and closet thorugh a pocket door so I can get up and get ready for work without distrubing Elizabeth. It has 9' ceilings iwth a fan, and the same brushed, exterior-grade Italian marble that the basement has thorughout.

The electrical outlets above the windows are for HomeKit remote controlled/powered blinds or shades that will open and close automatically based on time of day, day of the week, and weather (or difference between indoor and outdoor temperature and sunniness).

Grading outside windows
Our new motion bed with TemperPedic mattress, the two sides are separate and can lift your legs/head separately for watching TV or if you have the sniffles
Bedroom TV
Master Bedroom
Basement master bedroom tile complete, Ikea cabinet paks for closet
Master fan and windows, and in-ceiling sound, and note the glass-break sensor near the windows for security
Master bedroom window to walkout
Master bedroom window to back yard
Hallway entrance to master (solid french doors) near addition connection - this will not have a door once it's heated, office is to the right of this picture and the extra shower is directly across from the master next to the stairs
3 Views of the connector hallway, from Bedroom (note the thermostat and security panel near doorway)
...from Bathroom, closet ahead, bedroom to the right...
...and from closet to bathroom, bedroom to the left

Basement Master Closet

The master closet is about 18'x18' with an additional pocket of about 9'x4' where our stacking washer and dryer will go. It has sound, just like every other room in the basement, and the walls are covered with IKEA storage cabinets with white glass doors with soft-close sliders and automatic lighting that comes on when the door is opened. This will provide tons of hanging storage as well as a bunch of shelving, and a (not yet pictured/installed) island will house our sundries (socks and undies) and give us a place to lay your wallet and keys down while changing, and it will have a bench on either end to sit on while you put your shoes and socks on. I really, really like everything to be tidy, and these cabinets are a nice compromise since Elizabeth doesn't ahve to put everything away every single day for it to appear tidy.

The closet, like most of the rooms in the basement has HomeKit WiFi controllable, and dimmable lighting switches in the wall, so that with dimmable LED bulbs mounted I can achieve nearly any lighting level. My idea is to have a motion sensor in the connector hallway (which has it's own lighting circuit) that will turn on the lights in the master bathroom and closet at a low (15% mabye) level when I get up so I can safely reach them, but dim enough not to disturb anyone until I can get the pocket door closed behind me. Then I can raise the light level to whatever level I want.

In the rear wall are shut-off valves for the water going to the pool cabana. We had them piped to the drain in the utility room while we were building, so we can just open the access panel and drain the cabana each fall directly to the sewer. Around the corner from the main set of cabinets is a nook for a full size stackable washer/dryer.

Ikea Cabinets with automatic lighting
Master Closet - The main power closet is the back
Basement master closet cabinets (IKEA)
Closet coffered ceiling with sound (chandlier coming)
Center island with stone countertop, with changing benches
Island with benches for shoes/socks
Center island isntalled
Basement master bedroom closet tile complete - the grey conduit is power to the island cabinet
Master Closet
Master Closet, the open space next to the utility closet will be Elizabeth's makeup table with mirror and chair
Master Closet - This is a little shallow cubby that we just mounted doors on, probably for shoes and sweaters
Island cabinet for scale (not the actual cabinet)
Closet trimmed
Rear of closet to W/D area...closer...
Rear of closet to W/D area...closer...
Washer/Dryer hookups...Viola!
Shoe bars
Double shirt hanging

Basement Master Bathroom

The master bathroom is about 15'x15', with a 9'x5' glass surround shower as the main feature, and a double vanity. Behind the mirror on my side of the vanity is a TV, with the sound wiring I mentioned above so I can listen to the morning new on the built in speakers from my Tivo or watch AppleTV. These both have RF remotes, but I have a IR repeater for the TV on/off function. The toilet is next to the shower, and as I mentioned we installed 2 of the largest tankless water heaters to make sure we can run both sets of rainheads and body-sprays without running out of hot water. The shower surround is marble countertop material, so it's way thicker than it needs to be, and we decided to cover the entire wall since the glass will give the room a seamless look.

Note that the floor has zero transition, but gently slopes to the back wall where the shower heads are. The glass surround will have a center door, and you can just see that there is a trench drain about 6" wide with a removable stone inlay, with about 1/4" drain slit all the way around, 4' wide for each shower head. Similarly the ceiling is gently sloped towards the back wall (since the entire space is enclosed) to keep moisure from forming on the tile overhead and dripping on us. Instead it will gently flow towards the drains as well. The glass will be treated with a special anti-spotting coating. Also note that we have installed "real" grab-bars in the shower and at all the toilets in the basement. For one, it's nice to have something to grab onto, and for two I hate seeing tile broken by a soap dish that's been pulled away. And since we installed all 3' doors in the basement, it's technical ADA compliant should it ever need to be. And it'll be nice the next time one of us wrenches a back. :-)

The door to the hallway will probably never really get used as the bath also has a door out the back to the pantry, and from there to the kitchen which is what I'm sure we'll use the majority of the time. Also note the center cabinet that will hide Elizabeth hair dryer, spin toothbrush, and curling iron, etc., with outlets inside. It cleverly lifts up for access, again to get things tidy.

Installed grab bars
Shower Surround/glass going in
Shower Surround/glass going in
Shower Surround/glass going in
Shower Surround/glass going in
Master Bathroom Shower (now with extended arms for the Rain heads)
Rain heads
Master Bathroom Shower
Basement master shower fixtures installed
Basement Master Shower Ceiling Tile Installed
Master Bathroom
Hidden TV-Still working on placement and shading
Hidden TV, final location - allows me to shave and see myself, and I worked out the shading to get best light through the mirror
2-Way Mirror for hidden TV
Mirrors and faucets
Basement Master Bath Cabinets
Basement Master Bath Cabinets
Master Bathroom to hallway and office
Cabinet for hair dryer, etc.
Center cabinet
Master bath vanity sink
Exit to pantry, toilet
Framing for vanity mirrors
Hidden TV behind mirror
IR Receiver for TV power and Apple TV
Mirror frames

Basement Kitchen

The kitchen gets the same stone Versailles pattern as the rest of the basement. It's way more kitchen than we really need, but in a million dollar home, you kind of need to do certain finish levels. The kitchen is about 18'x18' with another 15'x5' or so for our dining room table. It has a large island in the middle with a overhanging bar area for stools with the sink and diswasher built-in. The opposite wall will have a fancy Wolf gas range, and stainless fridge and microwave with full-height stone backsplash. The vent required for such a large range was problematic and required additional make-up air provisions I don't even want to think about.

All of the cabinets are internally lighted with drawer lights that come on when opened, a feature we really liked in our old house's IKEA cabinets. The upper cabinets have downlighting as well as hidden outlets so that there are no vible openings in the stone. The same is true on the island were the outlets are mounted on the sides in the cabinets, and all of the drawers are soft-close. We got all Wolf/Cove/Sub-Zero (it's one company) appliances, except the main fridge. There's a mini fridge in the bar for pool or TV drinks, and the dishwasher has LED lights inside and WiFi, as well as a light system that shows if the load is done because it's so quiet. A red dot on the floor means it's running, green means done (see below).

The "Dining Room" is just a little slice of the kitchen and family room stolen for the table, but it's more than we really need, especially with the stools on the edge of the kitchen island. On the long (rear of house) end of the kitchen/dining space is a wall of cabinets, the uppers of which are non-functional - they hide a HVAC duct and soffit, but the lowers are also lighted and have more adjustable pantry shelving. There is a door between the kitchen and the coffee bar/pantry that is decorated/hidden as a cabinet door.

Cabinets with handles
Cabinets with IKEA Norffly automatic lighting
Hidden door to pantry
Kitchen oven wall with cabinet downlights installed
Stove and Hood installed
Stove installated
Stove and Hood installation
Stove and Hood installation
Kitchen Island
Dining Table
Kitchen Sink
Sink/Island
Cove dishwasher
Red light shows the dishwasher is running (it's very quiet)
Green light shows when it's done
Basement Kitchen Cabinets
Basement Kitchen Island
Basement Kitchen Cabinets
Basement kitchen tile complete
Basement kitchen stone backsplash installed
Basement kitchen countertop installed
Basement kitchen island nearing completion

Basement Pantry

The pantry is only about 8'x8', as we don't really cook much we don't need a ton of storage. But we do need a few staples, and Elizabeth piped water from the bathroom wall to where our countertop will go for her professional Keurig coffee maker. Each upper cabinet is getting under-cabinet lighting.

The walls get the same subway tile as the powder room, and the one wall will get a kitty-sized door to the utility room where the litty box will be kept. The outer side of the pantry door (in the kitchen) will get cabinet doors so it blends into the cabinetry in there.

Pantry cabinet downlighting
Pantry cabinet downlighting
Pantry cabinet downlighting
Subway tile installed
Subway tile installed
Main pantry counter with pro-level Keurig coffee machine (with direct water hook-up!)
Small cabinets on the opposite wall
Door to kitchen, the facing side will be paneled to look like a cabinet so it blends in, water built-in on the left is for coffee maker
Recessed pantry shelving will be heavy-duty adjustable so it can handle cans, but be changed as our needs change, and has the same glass IKEA doors as the master
Pantry adjustable, heavy duty shelving
Kitty door opening trimmed

Basement Office

The basement office is my room. It's got the same fan as the master, and 2 big escape-sized windows. The window well has egress stairs, and with the closets and smoke detector make it a legal bedroom. I'll make one of the closets standard and the other will have a bunch of extra shelves for my computer stuff. The two big windows open onto the driveway and fountain, which is nice, and bring in a bunch of light. Since we didn't want to waste that light we installed 12 light glass french doors onto the hallway.
I'll have my wrap-around computer desk setup with dual monitors on my main iMac and antoher workstation for Elizabeth's MacBook or either of our work laptops. The room is wired with dual 10G copper and dual 10G fiber to the data center. Also the side wall is wired for a TV, and I plan to put my futon opposite for naps or for catching a game while I work on something. Also, since my security cameras are available on AppleTV, every one of these TVs duals as a security monitor.

My desktop and cabinets installed
Printers and Laptop workstation
Bedroom wall mounted TV
Basement master bedroom window brick trim
Office
Office
Office
Basement office doors installed
Basement office windows trimmed/framed
Egress Well
Egress Well, note the steps on far end
Computer stuff closet - Heavy duty adjustable shelves
Guest Closet - still heavy duty and adjustable, but with a close bar

Basement Family Room

The family room is 25'x20', and has a foyer and bar next to a walkout to the back yard pool area. We ran electric in the slab to where the couch will sit (it's an electric recliner, and for phone chargers or laptops, etc.), and mounted a TV mount, and added a built-in gas fireplace.

The big french doors on our side of the hallway (our master suite with walk-in closet, bath, pantry, kitchen, family room, dining room, bar and walk-out the pool are all on the west side of the house's main hallway so we can close it off) can all be held open with these cool magnetic latches with built-in spring-dampener systems so they gently grab and hold the door if you open it a little too briskly. Very cool.

New 7" OLED TV! Nice... with Sonos Sound Bar and Surrounds
Door hold-open latches
Fireplace install begins
OLED TV on
Framing for Fireplace
Fireplace stone surround installed
New all-glass backdoor with new style trim
Family room flooring going down
Family room flooring going down
TV mount, current plan is to get an 80" OLED 4k TV
Built-in gas fireplace

Basement Bar

The bar was a tiny little mini-kitchen (without any cooktop but a fridge) when we bought the place. It wasn't big enough for our needs, so we repuposed it into a bar with a mini-fridge under counter for pool drinks mostly. I don't need a bar, but it was there...

Much like the kitchen, the backwall is one large piece of stone with no opens for power outlets. Here the base of the cabinet hides the outlets and the glass-front cabinets are lighted.

Backwall stone and cabinetry
Bar sink and mini-fridge
Bar counter top

Basement Billiards Room

The billiards room is 20'x15'. I didn't need a billiards room, but we got the table "free" when we bought the house, and everybody else wanted to keep it.

Billiards
Billiards

Basement Powder Room

The basement powder room is just a small toilet and vanity across from the family room, with a pocket door. It's next to the "Craft room" which is very small now, and is really just a hallway to the data center.

Vanity with mirror
Vanity with Faucet
Vanity sink
Herring bone subway tile

Basement Hallway

...it's a hallway...

Basement hallway tile nearing completion
Hallway
Hallway

Basement Shower

The extra shower and bathrooom is a nice feature. It already existed, so we thought there was no other really good use for the space, so we kept it and just made it a little smaller, giving what used to be the vanity to the hallway to the addition. It's about 8'x8' with a standup shower with subway tile and a glass surround, a toilet and small vanity.

The "Little Shower" Door
Glass Shower Surround
Shower
Shower
Shower
Shower tile and paint
Shower

Basement Craft Room

The craft room really doesn't have much left over after the Data Center and Powder room were broken off, but still has some cabinets and sink.

Faucet and tile installed
Craftroom cabinets installed
Cabinets installed

Basement Data Center

See Data Center

Addition

We're building an addition onto the house as well as the remodel (below). Mostly we wanted some additional garage space, so we're mirroring the existing 3 car with an identical space - with my in-laws there are 4 driving adults in the house, plus lawn care equipment and workshop space. Because the existing garage has a small piece of house leading out to it, we also chose to miror this space, which will give us some additional living space we didn't really need, but it doesn't hurt to have. In the basement it will be a storage space with a walk-out to the back yard and steps into the new garage. On the first floor it will be a workout/exercise room, and an additional guest bedroom/suite (with kitchenette). There will be storage over the garage as well.

Getting ready, the parking pad will go away, and parking will suck for quite awhile
Topsoil stripped
This old sewer line will be moved back about 10', into the setback
The addition goes here
New sewer crock
The architect didn't get a real survey, with elevations, so I used my laser level to get a sense for how much the garage had to be raised to be even with the existing garage - 14" in front
22" in the back
Backfilling the sewer excavation-the foundation will cross over this...
Excavating the basement
Foundation drainage
Connection to the existing basement
Garage footer preparation
Foundation forms
Bridging the sewer excavation
The excavators nicked the existing driveway drainage... this will be rerouted around the foundation
Foundation wall prep
footer pour
Garage fill requirements now clear...
A good foundation
Annoying but inevitable construction yard damage
Using a rock-slinger to fill the foundation
Insulating the basement foundation
The existing roof drains ran across the new garage, so openings were left in footer wall for this drain pipe to carry this to the adjacent creek
Rerouting the driveway drainage and picking up the downspouts
Insulating the garage footers
Ready for the basement slab
This is the sewer drain for the garage, a direct connection. I'm not happy with this, but it works... strikes me as lazy on the part of my architect
Downspout connections
Basement slab poured
Ready for garage slab
Preparing the Basement Step forms
Basement walk-out steps
Basement utility room

Addition Workout Room

The fitness room has several really nice big windows at the first-floor level, and will be filled with (mostly) exercise equipment we bought from the previous owners - including a Gold's Gym universal machine, a stair stepper, a treadmill, and elliptical trainer and some free weights. We also picked up a rowing maching/recumbant bike trainer. There will be two TVs on the wall that joins to the existing house, and a couple of fans. There are outlets in the floor for the machines and will be a yoga mat and ceiling mounted speakers.

Installing ceiling fans
Workout room door
Workout room door
Workout TVs
Workout TVs
Workout equipment
Workout equipment
Workout room video
Workout Smith Machine
Workout Smith Machine
Workout equipment
Mouldings installed
Window trim
Addition from exercise room to storage over garage
Addition workout room
Addition workout room
Pool end of workout room
Pool end of workout room
Insulating the workout room
Drywalling steps up to exercise room from new garage entrance
Drywall in workout room - openings on upper wall are TV power and data, wood in left background is doorway to existing house
Drywall on the window side of workout room

Addition Guest Suite

The guest suite is going to be the really nice bedroom on the second floor for our guests, although we already have 3 pretty nice bedrooms up there. This one will have a double-french-door "Juliet balcony" to the backyard, and walk-in closet and on-suite shower, and work desk, bed with fan and it's own thermostat for comfort, TV and kitchenette and apartment-sized laundry. The shower is getting the same tile as the rest of the addition, but cut down into minature sizes. Looks pretty cool.

Framing to install kitchette cabinets
Temporary kitchen sink for permitting
Railing for "Juliet" balcony - fresh air but no exterior space...
Toilet almost ready, toilet bar/roll holder
Temporary vanity counter - we'll upgrade this later, this is just to get the occupancy permt
Fridge installed
Cabinets built and ready to go in
Shower coming along
Door trimmed
Bathroom flooring
Kitchenette flooring
Bed area in drywall
Desk/TV area
Flooring
Windows trimmed and baseboard
Shower pan in progress
Shower pan finished
Skylight in kitchenette
Drywall around the dryer vent
Vaulted ceiling over bed area
Drywall walk-in closet

Addition Guest Suite Kitchenette

The entrance to the new guest suite has it's own kitchenette, which fridge, stove,a nd microwave.

Refridgerator
Cabinets and washer/dryer hookups
Stove/microwave side

Addition Garage

The new garage is finally starting to come along, so I'll flesh this out a bit. Since there's 4 of us, all driving adults, we wanted at least 4 parking spots, and I need a place for my lawn tractor and yard tools and a work bench. We opted to build a mirror image of the existing garage to keep everything looking symetrical, which also meant building a bit of house since the existing garage connects to the main house with a hallway with some minor rooms.

The roof is a little unique. It's a pretty standard black shingle on the back, mostly because there will be so much covered by solar panels. The front is a pretty grey plastic dimensional shingle (DaVinci) that mimics slate, and is supposed to last 50 years.

My workshop will have a work bench and ceiling-mounted sound system and a sink. You can see I installed a monitor with an Apple TV so I can watch shows or checkthe security cameras, and the door has been matched to the grid-in-glass door on the garage (this replaces the blue steel door in some of the older pictures that we needed for the inspection).

The garage is getting RaceDeck™ garage tiles (12"x12") in a grey-on-grey checkerboard pattern. I wanted something to snaz it up a bit, and we'd tried epoxy in a previous house. That was OK, but was prone to getting really dirty, where these can replaced if a few get bad, and hot tires can pull epoxy off of the floor. Also these were a little cheaper than paint. Unfortunately we wanted to do the open "Free Flow" tiles under the cars (for snow and rain to drain and not make the floor slippery) and solid "Coin" tiles everywhere else, but once we got the 1,000 tiles (250 of each style) our tile guy found that the FreeFlow were slightly (~1/8") bigger, and after about 2 rows would no longer interlock!!! Fortunately RaceDeck™ and our retailer (Colorado Garage Flooring) agreed to cover shipping the uncut coin tiles back and replacing them with Free Flow.

Some finishing touches. I installed doorbells on our garage door and back door (in case you get locked out while in the hot tub!). This will let our guests ring our door only downstairs, and the Szoke's guests to ring the front door (and only ring them!).

Garage interior and shop door
Garage exterior door
Garage TV/monitor
Shelving
Faux copper gutters
Gutters
Gutters
Gutters
Downspouts
Gutters and downspouts
Gutters
Gutters
Gutters
Grading for the parking mat
Rocks for parking mat
Workshop cabinets
Workshop countertop
Workshop sink
Final grading
Workshop
Getting ready for storage and workshop racks
Elizabeth and my doorbell - on the new garage
Networking in the workshop
Cumulative misalignment
First few rows setup with Coin tiles in between the doors
The door/car parking area is all open/Free Flow tiles
Setting up the layout
One bay looking good
Snazzy car charging area!
Tiles ready to go back
Reay to install new FreeFlow on Bay 3
Porsche charger for Elizabeth's Cayenne
Final grading behind garage/addition
Completed garage roof with faux copper windown flashing
Garage roof
Garage/courtyard sound
Garage roof finished
Garage roof finished
Garage roof in progress
Garage roof in progress
Garage roof in progress
Garage roof in progress
Garage roof in progress
Brickwork mid-wall
New garage doors, and trim finally painted
Brickwork coming along quite nice
In drywall, with split HVAC unit
In drywall
Drywall
addition sheathed
addition sheathed
Congress Ave end of new garage
Congress Ave end of new garage
Rear of new garage
Rear of new garage
Finishing insulation
My workshop
Outside shop on way to basement
From workout room up to bathroom and attic storage
Door to garage from courtyard
Sub-panel for snow melt pad

Addition Basement Storage / Elizabeth's Office

We decided to make this an office for Elizabeth late in the process. It's probably bigger than it needs to be, but it is what it is.

Stairs to garage
Stairs to garage
Office desk
Drywalled
Drywalled
Hall to main house basement
Staircase from basement to garage/exercise room
Utility room
Utility room
Utility room
Utiliy storage
16 Basement Storage
New walkout to hot tub

Addition Attic Storage / Au Pair Suite

Over the new garage we created a storage area, but it has an attached bath/shower in case we want to make it a bedroom for a caretaker/au-pair (and it's fitted with it's own HVAC zone, CO and smoke detectors).

Trim at landing/shower
Window trim/casing
Stair finishing/sanding
Shower pan
Shower pan
Stair finishing/sanding
Shower glass/door
Shower cubby
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Addition
Addition
Addition
Addition
Addition
Addition
Addition
Addition
Trim
Trim
Steps
Tiling storage area
looking into new basement storage area
Insulating the roof over attic storage-spray foam doesn't require attic venting and makes it really quiet
Close up of spray foam
Drywalling the attic storage
Storage over the garage

HVAC

Our new HVAC system has steam humidification and UV lamps for virus destruction.

Exercise room
Foyer/Stairs
Foyer/Stairs
Storage Area
Storage Area
Reme UV Lamp for Virus protection
Replacement steam canister Honeywell HM750ACYL
Steam cannister

Plumbing

Drain from guest suite bath
Drain from guest suite bath

Energy and Energy Efficiency

Geothermal Installation

In 2017 there was still a 30% Federal tax credit for residential geothermal installations, and since we bought a big house with HVAC units right at the edge of their life expectancy my (accountant) wife talked me into replacing everything with geo. Geothermal startup was in March 2019.

We opted for the Climate Master Trilogy (Heat/AC/Hot Water) systems, a pair of 4 ton units, and a 3 ton split system for the upstairs - that's because there was no good way to get the geo piping up there, so we installed the heat exchanger/heat pump downstairs and reused the line set for the old AC system to take geo cooled refridgerant upstairs to a more traditional space pack, which has gas back-up heat.

We chose Gallagher/Hauser HVAC to do our installation, as the local company with the most experience. Their work has been technically quite good, but their customer service (for us) has been abysmal from start-to-finish, with scope creepy, cost overruns, and schedule delays at every turn so I would not recommend to anyone. For the kind of money we spent with them it's shocking how little regard they gave even the simplest requests.

The geothermal installation was really interesting to watch. First Jackson drilling showed up and installed 8 wells, each 300' deep. Each well provides 2 tons of heating/cooling capacity, through it's 600' of 1" PVC tubing, and there were two well fields installed in a line below our driveway to provide 8 tons each. The wells are 20' apart to allow them enough ground to extract heat from. The tubing was premade with a 'U' shaped connection at the tip. I think the holes are 3" in diameter, and the tubing is encased in Benseal (a bentonite mixture for casing the well) for heat dispersal. They liked drilling at our house because the asphalt made the process really clean for them, they could easily rack the tailing from the drill away and they had a nice solid base for thier rig, and since we have mostly shale and sandstone they were going through a 20' section of drilling pipe about every 2 minutes, or a well about every half hour. They made quite a mess, but the drilling was done in a couple of days. Or, rather, it would've been if they didn't break the bit on the next to last hole - and they didn't have a spare on this rig.

Drilling

1" PVC tubing
Setting up the drilling rig
The drilling started around my birthday and made quite a mess... I didn't like that, so Elizabeth got me a cake to ease the blow
The front wall by shower where the well field will enter the house
Tubing will route through here
Drilling
Sweeping the tailings away
Tubing installed
Adjacent wells
Bentonite has been pumped in
The white tube was used to feed bentonite
The last well on this field - this one is next to the gas line (but we didnt' know it)!
They typically use this pan for tailings, but didn't need to here
U bend at tip of tubing
610' of tubing per well (in a 'U')
The business end
Starting the second field
Benseal Bentonite
Benseal Bentonite

These were connected via a trench about 3' deep (pretty close to the frost line here in Cincinnati) manifold system so the could equalize the flow to each well in parallel and bring the cooling fluid (a mixture of glycol) into the house. The soutern field's last well was drilled without a boot's width of an unknown (and thus not marked by the utiltiy protection folks) of our neighbors gas line - which the ripped out while trenching. One field runs to the south end of the house into the front utility space and provides 3 tons of cooling for the front of the house through a Trilogy 45 unit service the the front of the basement and first floor, and a 4 ton split unit that feeds cooled fluid to a standand line set to the otherwise conventional HVAC unit for the second floor. The front Trilogy has cooling dampers and thermostats for the following zones.

Basement Office
First Floor Dining Room

The northern well field comes into the house in the full bath and routes up the wall and into the ceiling to reach the rear utility space where there is a 4 ton Trilogy 45 system for the back of the house - basement and first floor. In the ceiling is a T for the 3 ton HVAC unit for the addition. 1 Ton of excess capacity was planned. The rear Trilogy has cooling dampers and thermostats for the following zones.

Basement Master Bedroom
Basement Family Room
First Floor Master Bedroom
First Floor Family Room

Well Fields

The southern trench
Wells complete and trenching
The northern trench
Connecting the wells into a field
Pressure testing the tubing

Each of the 2 Trilogy units gets added efficiency by using some of the excess heat from the heat pump and well system to heat hot water for the house as well. This makes it the most efficient unit you can get in the United States. We will use this hot water as preheat to a system of tankless (Navien) hot water heaters that can provide endless full-flow hot water, and the electric backup heat in the Trilogy tanks will be deactivated.

Heat Pump Installation

Geo piping brought into the house for HVAC installation
4 ton Trilogy 45
Trilogy connections for hot water and geo fluid

Solar Power Arrays

We've installed (with ICON Solar) to get about 31.61kW (max continuous) of solar arrays on the south side (back) of the existing garage (the bulk) and west (back) side of the house to generate electric. Ohio is not a peak power state, so there isn't much need for batteries most of the time, and they're pretty expensive. We do get a decent tax incentive for installing them. The system came online on 28 April, 2021.

The arrays will start going in right after the roof is replaced. The system will consist of 125 (was 109) Canadian Solar MaxPower (CS6X-325P) 325W panels.

UPDATE: The roof is on, and ICON came in and installed the solar panels over 3 days. I have to say they look pretty good. Here are some pictures, and a quick YouTube of the shingles and solar array (the house is still a mess, but it was a nice sunny day, so I figured why not?). As part of the installation of the new geothermal heat pumps, generator and solar array we determined (with Bryan Bowden, electrical engineer) that we needed to upgrade our service from Duke. After a couple of fits and starts it was determined that the "code" load would be just under 800A capacity, but since we'd started with a lower number orginally we opted to install 1,000A just to be sure. As part of that Duke put in a new transformer for us, on a new pole, but they wanted a new vault at the base as well, which was a lot of work. [Keller] did a great job on the install.

Solar online and generating
Power Panel for Solar and Generator
325W Solar Panel
New "CT" Cabinet coming in from transformer
New electric meter (upgraded to 1,000A 'Net Metering' so we can feed the grid
Generator auto-transfer switching
I think this is the new "CT" cabinet...
Coming off of the roof
This is the infeed for the solar array...
And the shutoff switch where it connects to the grid-side of the generator's auto transfer switch
Generac 1,000A auto transfer switch
Generac 1,000A auto transfer switch
Generac 1,000A auto transfer switch
Installing the new vault
Solar cells over master bathroom
Solar cells over upstairs hallway
Solar cells on existing garage
SSolar cells over kitchen
JLG lift to install
DaVinci sample
Inside of bus cabinet

Backup Power Generator

We've installed (as of April 23, 2021) a Generac QT150 generator from Riverside Electric for whole-house electric backup. It's a natural gas powered 10 cylinder generator. This unit feeds 450 amps (120VAC) to the house at full load and will burn 2,061 cuft of gas an hour (2 million BTU/HR @ 100%) when running, and is a 150 kW/hr rated generator, Generac Commercial Series Model QT150 (Liquid Cooled). It runs a self-test every Wednesday at noon (same time as the warning sirens to minimize noise complaints).

It is installed in the backyard at grade next to, but below the pool equipment and tie into it's existing gas line. We also were required to upgrade our gas service so that the pool heater and generator could run at the same time (full-load). The high pressure system needed a foundation, so we had to pour that, and lower the pool heater so the line running to the generator could run above grade.

grading around upgraded gas service
The connection at the street for our gas line had to be upgraded
The generator needed this flexible hose for vibration
Generac Protector Series Model RG0060 (Liquid Cooled) whole-home backup/standby generator
Delivery Day
325W Solar Panel
New "CT" Cabinet coming in from transformer
New electric meter (upgraded to 1,000A 'Net Metering' so we can feed the grid
Generator auto-transfer switching
I think this is the infeed for the solar array...
High pressure gas foundation
Regulator feeds the house, the pool line bypasses at high pressure
Installed high pressure gas system
Finished high pressure gas
Pool heater getting ready to go back in
Pool heater foundation (lowered)
A job well done
We got the 100kW unit

Jake's Room

We moved my nephew in to go to college, and so we setup the bonus room over the garage with his own workspace, TV and gaming area, and fridge and microwave.

Data Center

See Camp Kiwi Data Center.

Other Updates

"Kittys Room"

There as a dog room in the house when we bought. I don't have a dog. But, we could use a second powder room for guests on the first floor, and a place to put a cat box. So, we put in a piece of frosted glass in the "doggie window" (so they could see the front door), installed a fan, toilet, and upgraded the sink. They'd also installed a Dutch Door so they could keep the dogs in, and the motion sensor in this hall was set to be inactive when Away so the dog's wouldn't trip it (nor their caretakers coming in the side door).

Finished counter
Sink and Mirror
New toilet
Fogged window pane
Cabinets going in
"Doggie Window" with glass

Tree Removal

We needed a few trees removed. First, there was a rotting tree leaning dangerously in the backyard, a dead ash in the front yard, and 2 pine trees behind the existing garage that were going to block the solar array.

Pine trees
Pine trees
Pine trees
Pine trees
Pine trees
Pine trees
Pine trees
Disposing of branches
Rotted tree in back yard
Rotted tree in back yard

Fire Pit

Before the big "COVID-19" panic of 2020, we'd visited some airplane friends in Pennsylvania. They had one of these Breeo smokeless firepits, and Elizabeth liked it so well we got one.

New firepit

Pool Heater Replacement

Our old pool heater gave out, so we got a new one. This one has an optional phone "smart interface".

New pool heater

Pre-Purchase Pictures

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Older Zillow Pictures

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