iT House construction blog

2006-10-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

For new updates on the Orange County iT house (and Allegresse Vineyards, Three Rivers, and Gamma Gulch iT houses) please visit the iT house blog at www.tkithouse.blogspot.com

Week 35

2006-06-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we last posted progress on the iT house. We have moved into the "finishes" phase which will slow down progress considerably. Normally the iT house has all factory finishes, but this house has custome terrazzo tile flooring, a custom resin shower, drywall, as well as a number of other custom time-consuming items.

The owner has been in Europe for the last couple of weeks and we are waiting for the custom resin shower enclosure to be fabricated and installed by Modern Arc. But a few things have happend in the meantime including the paving of the pool area with the help of the neighbor, Rick, installation of the island by Euro Kitchens and the rest of "spine" section carcasses of kitchen cabs by Systems 32. A major milestone was passed when we passed inspection on all the electrical rough-in and plumbing rough-in.

The "spine" cabs still need to have doors and shelves installed. We are holding off until all construction work is completed to insure that there is no damage inflicted upon the doors by accident.

The kitchen island will have a waterfall caesarstone top and a kickplate installed once the finish tile floor is done.

The island rough-in plumbing and electrical is ready to go.

Brand new concrete deck in front of the iT house.

Week 30

2006-05-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

This photo shows a view from the kitchen. The cabinet will be extended and an island will occupy the center of the kitchen floor. Off to the right is the living room up against the retaining wall and across the courtyard to the right is the bathroom. Across the courtyard to the left is the master bedroom.

The stucco-based waterproofing called Grailcoat at the fireplace cab has been started. The photo shows the first of three coatings. For future iT houses we are also looking at translucent plastic sheathing as a way to cover the outdoor section of the cabinet. The Grailcoat looks great because it is so minimal in appearance, but it is more difficult to coordinate because it is a unique sub contractor. By using a plastic sheathing we could easily prefabricat the cladding by the cabinet contractor and have it installed by our framing crew.Dandoy has completed the installation of all the glass units, flashing, and glazing angles. They have a couple more days of work to finish the silicone sealant. Now that we are nearly enclosed (more sealant is needed at the structural frame to be totally watertight) the next item will be sheetrock - then the rest of the cabs - then plumbing and electrical finish - then the tile flooring.
A leak was discovered in the rear retaining wall. The owner uncovered some of the hillside at the wall to discover that the concrete contractor had actually removed some of the waterproofing just before they backfilled. This is highly unusual considering that we had observed and photodocumented as the waterproofing fully installed. It was covered in such a way that apprears that they concealed their sub-standard work. The owner has already severed ties with the concrete contractor, having been extremely upset by their slow schedule, so now he has hired a new waterproofing sub who is doing the remedial waterproofing work on the retaining wall. The black Bithuthane area in the photo will be covered by stucco.

The reflection of the glass is looking great!

Week 28

2006-04-26T15:17:00.000-07:00

Above is a view from the master bedroom looking at the newley installed Fleetwood sliding glass doors.
Standing outside looking toward the bedroom across the fireplace courtyard.
View from the kitchen towards the fireplace courtyard with sliding glass doors in place. The fireplace cabinet which can be seen towards the middle right of the photo will be extended through to the kitchen - ending approximately where I'm standing taking the picture. They will contain a refrigerator, wall ovens, and storage on the kitchen side and an ironing board, coat closet, and bookshelves on the hallway side. A kitchen island will occupy roughly the same area as Dandoy's temporary work table viewed in the foreground. The rest of the cabinets will be installed only once we know the building is watertight at the glass, roof, and structural joints.

Week 27 Thursday

2006-04-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

Dandoy Glass continues with the installation. The immediate goal is to enclose the area around our fireplace cabinet so that if it rains, the sensitive interior finish won't be ruined. First are the awining windows above the cabinet and the fixed glass units in the hallway.Then the sliding glass door frames are put in place. During the first part of Week 28 the sliding glass doors will be installed in the sliding glass door frames.

Week 27 Wednesday

2006-04-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

Glass! Dandoy Glass delivered the majority of the glass today and began installing the fixed glass pieces.These are the fixed glass pieces for the clerestory areas above the 8' beams. The narrow pieces go between the lower roof and the higher roof.The standard fixed glass units -- called IGUs (Insulated Glass Units).To pick up the glass, the guys and Dandoy glass use suction cups.They carry them to the respective locations and use the suction cups to lift the glass once its roughly placed.Once the glass has been placed and leveled, they drop in little sections of the glass stops to hold it in place until they're ready to come back with the full-length pieces.
View from the gate to the back yard....
Clerestory glass being installed....
Here's what the iT house is looking like from the street. Dandoy comes back on Monday to install the sliding glass doors and awning windows around the courtyards and up against the fireplace cabinet.

Week 27 Tuesday

2006-04-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

Systems 32 came to install a section of their cabinets today. This cabinet spans across the courtyard and will contain the washer/dryer as well as the radiant floor controls and the boiler with hot water storage. In the center of the outdoor side will be a fireplace. The cabinet comes in three parts and is joined together in the field.Some of the base parts of the cabs had to be cut out to acommodate the electrical and plumbing that was cast into the slab.
The large opening in the middle is the pocket for the pre-fab ventless fireplace.
The hole at the left is for electrical panel.

The interior side of the cabinets are high-gloss plastic white laminate
The exterior of the cabs will be covered in Grail Coat which is an elastomeric stucco application.The fireplace is set in the cabinet.Insulation is placed in the cavity of the front wall of the cabinets. Tomorrow a large section of the glass is to be installed.

Week 26 Glazing

2006-04-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

The rain finally let up and let us get starting on the glazing. We were also supposed to install the cabinet that holds the outdoor fireplace - and that is partially inside and partially outside, but the Owner had unknowingly scheduled digging work (to change his pool) that made it impossible for the cabinet maker to move the finished pieces across the yard. They have been rescheduled for next Tuesday. Otherwise this week we finished placing all the Fleetwood shash pieces for the fixed glass. And installed a few of the packaged units such as the Awning windows and Sliding Glass Door frames. The three weeks of on-again, off-again rain not only stopped us, but it also has messed up most of our subcontractors' schedules as well. A lot of this week has been spent on the phone trying to work out scheduling and coordination for bringing them all back into the project to get moving next week.

Week 25 Rain!

2006-04-03T09:41:00.000-07:00

Rain is forecast through Wednesday. Cabinets and Glazing are waiting for some dry days to get started.

Week 24, Friday

2006-03-31T13:36:00.000-08:00

It was raining today, but we went out to the site to inspect the Fleetwood units which were delivered by Dandoy Glass yesterday. In the photo above, you can see the sliding glass door panels on their side in the foreground.
Pictured here are the awning window units that go in the corners of the house. Also visible are the sliding glass door track and jamb frames.
Dandoy began installing the Fleetwood fixed track (marked with blue tape) and the glazing angles for the clerestory windows before it started raining. Much of this week was scrapped due to rain and more is forecast for Mon & Tues next week. Starting next Wednesday then, the glass is rescheduled for installation along with the big cabinet that contains the outdoor fireplace and which extends through to the kitchen.

Week 24

2006-03-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

The waterproof roofing has begun. It's a multi-layered process finishing off with a lightweight concrete topping. The picture here shows Tuesday morning during rain. More rain is expected Thursday and Friday of this week when we had hoped to have a finished roof and the fireplace cabinet and some storefront glazing begun. Looks like not very much more will happen until next monday...

Week 23

2006-03-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

Electrical rough-in continues this week while the roofing starts. Also in the roofing package is the installation of the galvalume gutters & fascia which gives our roof it's finished edge.The custom bathroom we created for the client was built out of standard steel framing instead of our usual cabinet/walls. The wall framing contractor normally only does museum walls, but was so intrigued by the iT house design that he decided to make an exception.
The electricians took a lot of pride in their work by making sure that the electrical was put out of sight. In a normal house this is simple, but in a house with exposed structure, they had to slip the conduit inside the columns and beams to get it up to the ceiling fixtures.Rough plumbing for the custom shower, bathtub, and lavatory also was placed in the wall framing. Modern Arc, the fabricator for our custom orange resin shower enclosure, will come out to the site to measure for all the valve locations before they generate their resin pieces.
The gutter/fascia is attached to 2x nailers at the perimeter of the roof decking.
EPS rigid insulation board is passed up to the roof.
The galvalume gutter/fascia installed around the courtyard...The finished gutter/fascia looks nice and neat when complete. The tapered insulation gets built-up and adhered to the roof decking.Next week the waterproofing will be installed over the rigid EPS insulation board. For the rest of this week, the roofers will be "tapering" the insulation in order to create a positive slope to the gutters.

Week 22

2006-03-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

Electricians install the recessed ceiling lights - typically in the iT house there are no lights in the ceiling because of the added complexity of the coordination between roofer and electrician. The owner in this case elected to add this feature as a customizing option and was willing to accept the additional time and expense for added funtionality. The j-boxes for the recessed fixtures fits in the channels of the steel roofing. Conduit is chased out to the perimter for the minimal interference with the roofing process above. Before the sound-absorbing insulation can be placed in the roof decking cells, a wire mesh is rolled in to keep the insulation from showing from below.Foam rubber stoppers are placed at the end of the cells to prevent air flow through the perforated decking and over the beams and down into the conditioned indoor spaces. With the perforated decking, the batt insulation acts as a sound asborbtion material to help the indoor spaces feel more comfortable.

A quick stop at the local Bosch distributor: Automation Controls.

CABOOM03

2006-03-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

This weekend Taalman Koch presented the iT House to the public at their booth at CABOOM03. For those who don't know what CABOOM is, imagine a tradeshow of designed "lifestyle accessories" These could range from metal wall panels that grow plants to full-blown architecture like the iT House. The event gives the general public a chance to check out some of the most cutting-edge products on the market- some of which have graced the pages of design magazines such as Dwell, Metropolis, Architecture, ID, and other trade magazines. We took the opportunity to interface with the public and show them all of the intricate details of constructing the iT House, as well as showing folks that the iT House is different from other "Prefabs" because it is more about lifestyle than economics (of course we had some data on hand to address the dollar side of things as well).

Since the iT House is considered Prefab, we were given space in the Prefab section of the event and got a taste of how hungry the public is for the concept. The TK crew manned the iT House Booth from Friday morning when the show opened, to Sunday evening when it closed. We passed the time by answering questions and educating folks about how great the iT House is.

Week 21 Thursday

2006-03-10T16:47:00.000-08:00

A long and busy day at the iT house...

The stainless steel cables for the cross bracing were installed today. They help the structure stay rigid against lateral loads like wind or earthquake.

Also, the metal track was installed for the bathroom walls. Typically, the iT house doesn't have any normal walls, but in this case they were added by the client's request. Additionally, part of the house is lodged into the hillside against our new retaining walls. Track has also been installed in these areas for the upcoming sheetrock phase.

The last of the Epic roof panels were put in place followed by the wood blocking used to attach the galvalume gutters to be installed around the perimeter.

The last bit of sunset from atop the kitchen section of the roof decking. Next week the roofing materials will be installed to make it waterproof.

And the final touches were finished to complete the framing phase with the expoxy anchor bolts being installed at dusk.

Week 21 Tuesday

2006-03-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

The roof panels come pre-cut to length and are 24" wide on-center. With electric shears, the panels are cut to width onsite along their edges and are lifted up into place. After snapping them together, they are then screwed down to the beams every 4" to create a structural diaphragm.

With much of the roof in place today, you could finally get a sense of what it will be like to be inside the finished product.

The roof panels are like miniature structural beams. They will also be the surface of the finished ceiling. Above the panels rigid insulation and roofing membrane will be applied in the next couple of weeks.

This project has two different roof levels; there are higher "pop-up" roofs at the living room and bedroom. The structure for the higher roofs is tranverse to the lower ones, creating different patterns in the ribs of the roof structure.

Week 21 Roof Framing

2006-03-06T21:20:00.000-08:00

After some rain delays, the framers came back out to finish tightening up the structure. After lunch the first roof panels went up. Tomorrow the remainder of the panels will be dropped in place and fastened to the structure.

Week 20: Aluminum Framing Continued

2006-03-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

No work today- It's raining.

This marks the continuation of the erection of the Bosch frame system. We've experienced a couple of weather delays so things have been moving sporadically. Our framer, Chuck Moffit began to tighten and square the frame at the key joints so as to finalize the alignment of the structural members. As the photo illustrates much of this takes place with the aluminum "L" connectors. In the background is an aluminum "T" connector that forms part of an "X-Brace" which compensates for the shear forces on the building. Next week we should be done with the framing and into the roof sheathing. Stay Tuned!

Week 20: Trenching

2006-03-02T12:10:00.000-08:00

With the concrete complete and the framing started we dug our trenches for the utilities today. This involved 2 trenches:
1 "dry" trench for gas, power, and telephone.
1 "wet" trench for water, sewage, and drainage (see the photo below of the 8'-0" deep sewer excavation).

The complicated part was that we had to "saw-cut" and trench through the driveway and not cut through the existing utilities which are all "live" and connected to the main house. Over the next week we will install and cover all of the utilities for the iT House so that it can be connected and functioning by the time our finish work is complete.

Week 19 Aluminum Framing

2006-02-23T20:17:00.000-08:00

Framing started up again today and the result was a complete rough frame. When the framers return, the members will all be carefully squared, plumbed, and anchored. Immediately following will be the steel roofing planks. Below see more pictures of the framing.

Week 18: Aluminum Framing

2006-02-15T14:45:00.000-08:00

So this week started out with the initial erection of the Bosch framing system. Chuck Moffit, our trusty fabricator, met with Alan on site and together they laid out the frame of the iT House. After everything had been figured out, Chuck and his crew began assembling the frame piece by piece. After two days of work a majority of the house was complete and you can see the results for yourself.
What makes the iT House so unique is that unlike a steel building that requires welds at the connection points, the aluminum system bolts together, saving both time and cost. Most important however, is that it produces an aesthetic that is cleaner and more refined than steel. Because aluminum has a stronger cross-section one is able to specify thinner members, producing a structure that is both elegant in its appearance and economy.

After the Bosch system is complete, the roof will be installed next and we will the iT House will truly begin to look like a building.

Week 16: Courtyard Slabs

2006-02-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

The courtyard concrete work is done at a different time than the rest of the floor becuase the courtyards are depressed lower than the floors (about an inch) so that water will not flow inside during rain. We also need to put insulation around the edge of our floors to help prevent the warm radiant floors from "spilling" all their heat out the sides. To do this we had to wait a day for the floor's concrete to harden enough to safely remove the forming boards and insert our insulation in their place. Now we fill in the courtyards and cover up the insulation.

Each courtyard in this particular iT house has a drain in the center. Normally, we would just slope the courtyards to drain off into the perimeter, but in this case we are building up against a hill and have trapped our courtyard from natural drainage.

With the courtyards done, we are finished with our concrete work!

Week 16 - Concrete Slab

2006-02-02T19:07:00.000-08:00

Today is Concrete Slab day and it starts at 6:15 AM with the pumper and the concrete truck arrival.

As the concrete is poured in different areas, the finishers step into the wet concrete and start leveling it out with a 2x4.

This is the slab at the end of the first truck of concrete (10 yards). The process up to this point took about 45 minutes.

Once the slab is leveled, the floater comes in to smooth out the surface and bring the excess water to the surface. It takes two or three passes and a couple of hours to finish this process.

After the floaters are done, the steel trowel finishers start to put a fine touch finish on the surface. In this iT house, the Owners have decided to add a tile floor on top of the slab so the finishing process ends at this point. In the other iT houses with finish concrete floors, there will be a further step in which the concrete is polished to a super-smooth texture.

The iT house cabinets will have to fit over the radiant floor stub-ups and around the vent stacks and electrical distribution.

Here I am on the cell phone TCB! It's great to finally see the slab in place because now the exciting work begins with the aluminum structure. After tomorrow when we pour the courtyard slabs, work will stop for about 10 days while we wait for our framer to free up his schedule from another job. Once he starts though, we're expecting to go pretty quickly!

Week 15: Radiant Flooring

2006-01-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

Wow! Things have really moved forward this week. The slab is almost complete and we are looking forward to start erecting the aluminum structural frame. The only thing left to do is pour the concrete on Tuesday and then we'll start setting up the iT Kit pieces.

On Wednesday the mechanical subs moved back onto the job-site and began laying out the radiant flooring. After they outlined the different radiant paths, they attached the radiant tubing to the rebar grid with plastic zip-ties. It was a fascinating process to watch and I was most surprised at the speed at which the work was being completed. By lunch time they were pretty much finished and were working on building the piping for the Munchkin boiler, and radiant flooring controls.

Inspection is scheduled for Monday morning. By Wednesday we'll be posting images of the finished concrete slab.

Week 15: Slab Rebar Layouts

2006-01-24T13:00:00.000-08:00

This morning the rebar benders were back and began laying out the grid for the floor slab. By late afternoon, they were finished and the next step was to lay out the radiant flooring. By this time next week we will have poured the slab and starting the Bosch framing system.

Week 15: Pre-Slab

2006-01-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

So Monday started with Alan and me arriving at the site to install the Insul-Tarp. Gail-force winter winds were there to greet us. After getting the Insul-Tarp unpacked we began the process of unrolling, cutting, and securing the tarp in place.

The Insul-Tarp works in conjunction with the radiant flooring and provides a protective thermal barrier between the radiant flooring in the slab and the ground beneath it. Without insulation, the radiant flooring would loose all of its heat to the ground below.

It took us most of the day to install the Insul-Tarp because we had to work around all of the plumbing, electrical, and HVAC layouts. The whole system is quite elegant and only took a modicum of work to install. The final result was very satisfying and by next week we should have a slab in place. Back at the office, we’ve been locking in the roofers, finalizing the custom shower design, and planning for all of the finish work that will take place in the coming months. Tomorrow, CALQUAKE, the concrete sub will be laying out the rebar for the slab area. Stay tuned!

Week 14: Electrical/Pre-Slab almost done.

2006-01-19T13:43:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are! The end is in sight. Our electricians finished their conduit runs today and we are going for inspection with the City of Villa Park tomorrow morning. It is pretty amazing to see the conduit in electrical conjunction with the plumbing runs, and the duct work (now buried). It’s impressive to think that only a few weeks ago this all seemed like a monstrous task. Now that it’s almost wrapped up, it doesn’t seem that hard.

The final masonry wall is almost complete as well, and by the end of next week we should be ready to pour the slab.

On Monday Alan and I will be on site to lay out the Insul-Tarp and inspect everything prior to the construction of the re-bar grid for the floor slab. After that is complete our mechanical sub will return and layout the radiant flooring. By February 1st we should have a completed slab and be ready to begin the Bosch framing.

Week 13: Electrical/Slab Prep

2006-01-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

This week we finalized our slab preparation by compacting the fill in the slab area. In order to speed things up we had our electrical crew come in right behind the compaction crew. For the first day it was quite a circus. However, by today work has calmed down to a manageable rhythm, with everyone politely staying out of each others way. Tomorrow, we should be almost done with the electrical pre-wire and into the final two weeks of the concrete phase of the project.

Week 12: Slab Preparation

2006-01-06T15:31:00.000-08:00

So this week we got closer to pouring the slab. We compacted all of the soil under the slab and are now preparing to lay in our electrical conduit on Monday. Meanwhile, back in the office Alan and I have been tending to other iT House issues and coordination items. The Insul-Tarp arrived for th slab, as well as the bolts for the Bosch system. We are lining things up for the next phase of the project and focusing how to dove-tail all the trades against each other .

So this week we got closer to pouring the slab. We compacted all of the soil under the slab and are now preparing to lay in our electrical conduit on Monday. Meanwhile, back in the office Alan and I have been tending to other iT House issues and coordination items. The Insul-Tarp arrived for th slab, as well as the bolts for the Bosch system. We are lining things up for the next phase of the project and focusing how to dove-tail all the trades against each other .

Passed Plumbing Inspection!

2005-12-23T11:53:00.000-08:00

So we reached another milestone in the slab layout on Wednesday. We passed rough plumbing inspection. This is a big deal because all we have left is the electrical, rebar, and radiant flooring and the slab will be complete. The slab has been a monumental undertaking because of it's complexity, however with the elimination of the underslab ductwork in future iT Houses we expect to shave off several weeks off the process. The cabinets are in production with Systems 32 and we are lining up all of the subs who will work on the interior of the project. While all this has been going on we've been sending out lighting orders, finalizing the schedule for the Bosch frame, and putting together the necessary items that will need to follow the framing system. It is akin to being in a commercial kitchen- lots of pots, some hot, some not- you just have to keep them moving.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Taalman Koch Architects!

2005-12-16T14:38:00.000-08:00

Week 11: Plumbing

So this week we were supposed to be wrapping up the slab and moving on to the Bosch framing system. However, we've made every attempt to be extra carefull in cross checking our layouts so that everything is perfect. This is the part of the project we don't want to rush, because it will be harder to fix later. It's been really educational and will help us solve some of the complications on future iT Houses. After backfilling on Monday the crew came back and then re-trenched for the interior footings and plumbing runs. After some field layout with the plumber on Wednesday the excavation crew dug the plumbing trenches only to find that the concrete covering the ducts was too close to the surface to allow for some of the sewer runs (which must drop at a ¼” per foot). After the plumbers crew chipped out some of the concrete and did their “take-offs” work commenced on the actual piping. This morning Alan and I went to the site to check the work and overall things looked pretty good. A lot of the problems with the plumbing runs occurred because of the ductwork having been placed first, as well as the fact that the iT House has hardly any walls, or places to conceal the plumbing (which has its own set of eccentricities dictated by the Universal Plumbing Code or UPC for short). However, the delays have helped us to redesign some things so that the next iT House will be easier. The bend in the picture above is an “island vent” used in lieu of a vent stack. It allows for some pressure differential so that the gasses, etc… will travel to the vent stack in some other part of the building.

Monday we should be pretty far along with the sewer piping and into the gas and water supply. The plan is to go for plumbing inspection on Wednesday and then push onto electrical for Thursday. We’d hoped to have the slab poured by Christmas but with all of the delays caused by the under-slab mechanical system it looks like it is going to be happening in January.

Ducts get covered.

2005-12-09T11:23:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally made it. Alan and I showed up at 800AM to finish building some formwork around the ducts and then waited for the concrete truck to show up. It was only after the pumper got set up that we realized that we were going to get dirty. I manned the pump hose while the pumper got his machine cleaned out and got the honor of spraying the first load of concrete into the trenches. The hose was pretty difficult to handle and weighed about 100 lbs. as it was full of concrete. Alan, the pump jockey and I spent the next three hours moving from trench to trench methodically filling in the space around the ducts. It is key that when one is pouring concrete over duct work that the concrete be poured around all of the ducts evenly. If you put too much on one side, the weight will cause the ducts to collapse. It was a pretty stressful exercise, but between the three of us we made it happen. 4 hours and 20 yards of concrete later the job was done and the site was ready for the concrete subs guys to come back in and backfill over the ducts.

Passed duct inspection!

2005-12-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

We passed duct inspection today. Tomorrow the plan is to fill in the areas around the ducts with concrete and then backfill on Friday.

Week 10: More Ducts!

2005-12-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

This week we are finishing with the underslab duct work for the iT House. It has been quite a learning experience for everyone involved in regards to means, method, and time. It is amazing to see the ducts go in and the agility that the mechanical subs have in cutting, fitting, and fastening them. Tomorrow we go for inspection and then fill in the areas around the ducts with concrete to insultate them. After that we will backfill and start on the final footing and utility layouts.

Make sure those “ducks” are straight!

2005-12-02T16:12:00.000-08:00

More comments today from Don. Today, we were trading jokes about throwing things. It started with me asking Alan to “throw me the hammer”. This was proceeded by Don offering to “throw me a piece of rebar” and so on.

At this point we have had guys digging trenches for a week and there is no sign when they are going to be finished. Each time we re-measure the center-lines for the register grilles they seem like they are a bit off from where we were before. It is truly one of those experiences that makes you feel like you are missing the big picture. Alan and I have been diligently re-checking our dimensions in the computer at the office, but find that things are still just a little off the mark in the field. It’s exhausting work and puts a big strain on the mind because you are visualizing things that as of yet do not exist and are having to plan for things that will not happen for a couple of months down the road. As much as we’ve checked and re-checked things we won’t know exactly how things turn out till the slab is done and by then it will be too late.

All this and we’re only into the HVAC system! Next week should be moving on to plumbing, and the covering of the ductwork. Stay tuned!

More “duck work” Madness

2005-12-01T14:08:00.000-08:00

The HVAC subs called me at 7:30 am this morning to say that there are still problems with some of the trenches and that we need to lay out the box points so that they can set their register boxes. This is after he had said the day before that he didn’t need us for another couple of days. Alan and I flew out there on the 5 freeway and realized once we got to the site the amount of work that was involved. Normally with this type of under slab ducting you would excavate the entire slab area, lay out the ducts, form around them, and then re-fill the voids. We realized that by not insisting on this method we had set ourselves up for more work than we had bargained for.

3 hours later…

Don, the foreman for Rusher Air keeps referring to the ducts as “ducks” and is a non-stop supplier of sarcasm and friendly jabs. He was really patient with us though and was willing to work out solutions to some of the coordination problems rather than just grouse about how things were not going according to plan. It is key to have good subs who are problem solvers. The guys who create roadblocks or point the finger are no good to work with and for something as precise as the iT house, there are bound to be coordination issues- especially since this is the first one.

Alan threw together a master set of dimensions on a piece of card board and we set up a string line in various parts of the building so that we could orient ourselves in the mass expanse of dirt, and metal. After checking and re-checking our dimensions we realized that practically all of the dimensions were off by a little bit here and there. It appears that our digging crew “crept” the original lines with each swing of the shovel. It took us another hour to re-set the strings, place the stakes and dash back up the 5 freeway to Los Angeles.

Ductwork begins…

2005-11-30T10:01:00.000-08:00

This week we begin the monumental task of laying out the duct work. As I’ve mentioned before this is by far the hardest part of the project and mainly due to the fact the grill registers have to align with the grout lines of the tile. Since the slab is not laid out yet, the act of finding the centerlines of the grills is looking like it is going to be a problem.
Already, we’ve had to re-dig a couple of trenches as the dimensions shift every time the guys dig a new trench.

The iT House arrives

2005-11-23T09:50:00.000-08:00

This week started out slow and is quickly got crazy. We are still trenching on the site (plumbing trenches now) and so the only thing really going on was the arrival of the Bosch structural system and the Epic roof decking but 40' truck. For most contractors this wouldn't be any big deal, but since this is an "owner-builder" project we are relegated to figuring out how to do this ourselves. Most contractors would have ready labor but since we have no permanent crew I had to go to the local job center and "recruit" so guys for the day. As I was about to leave to pickup the guys the trucker who was carrying the Epic roof system called to say he was on his way which I was expecting. However, as I sped down the freeway to the job center in the adjacent city of Orange, I got a call from the second hauler. "I am about and hour away" he said. "Are you ready with a fork lift?" he added. "Um, yeah." I replied "we're ready for you, but did you say something about a fork lift?". "You're going to need one, my palletes weigh over 3,500 lbs." he laughed. "No worries, we'lll deal with it, I'll see you soon" I replied.

We of course had no fork lift, but I went to Home Depot and grabed a pry bar and some bolt cutters in order to disassemble the crates. I blew into the job center, secured some guys, u-turned and sped back up the freeway to Villa Park. We reached the site and the first truck was still not there. Villa Park has a distinct rule about "no trucks" and I was worried that and nosy neighbor was going to call the police. The only thing worse than one illegal truck is two parked right next to each other. Rather than worry about it too much, I put the guys to work cleaning up the site while we waited for the first truck.

The Epic roofing system showed up at around 1:30pm. The trucker and his wife hopped out of their rig and helped me and the "temporary TK construction crew" release the bindings that held the roofing system. With two guys on the bed of the trailer and two guys on the ground we slowly unloaded the steel roofing. Things were going pretty well, but slowly. The Epic roof is really strong, but can get "dinged" pretty easily. The guys did a great job considering that they had to unload 35 pieces of steel decking one by one.

About the time I had finally begun to relax, the second truck roared down the street and parked itself in front of a neighbors house. "Oh great" I thought, "here we go". I approached the delivery guy and explained that we were only half-way done with the first truck and that we hadn't expected him until 5:00 pm. He laughed "Well, I could use a nap. Wake me up when you guys are done". It took another 45 minutes to unload the Epic from the first truck. In the meantime I chatted with the trucker who had come all the way from Epics factory in Pennsylvania. He had driven over 1000 miles in one day, just to get the load here before Thanksgiving, and now he was turning around and heading to Arizona. What a life! The best quote he shot my way was "If you don't get a spot at the truck stop early, you don't get a spot".

Food for thought.

Anyway, after unloading the Epic steel the trucker backed his whole rig all the way back down the street and headed off for Arizona. Now it was time for the Bosch to get unloaded. We had made space for it in the garage and had the driver from USF back his rig (a shorter, local haul rig) into the driveway so that the guys could unload it faster. We opened the trailer to find the Bosch neatly stacked and bound into 6 palettes- so no pry bar needed. After breaking the pallet straps with the bolt cutters the team unloaded the Bosch (lighter than the Epic, but easier to scratch) and stacked it in the garage. Some of units were easy to move as a group and were not that heavy, but the 20' beams proved to be a challenge and had to get broken down into single pieces. The crew did a great job and did not drop a single piece.

After an hour we were done and after some clean up and re-hydraition I took the guys back to the job center, did another u-turn and hit the now jammed freeway back to Los Angeles.

Whew!

More Trenching

2005-11-17T15:14:00.000-08:00

I met with the mechanical sub on site this morning so that he could do his final "take offs" on the duct work. We looked over the trenches and he took some measurements and left for his shop to start the fabrication process. I started marking up the plumbing layouts on the ground so that those could be dug as well. All in all there isn't going to be much dirt left when we are finished with all of the trenches (see above photo).
There are so many systems running beneath the slab, that it is surprising that we have room for them all. Because the fabrication process for the ducts is going to take longer than expected it looks as though we may find behind schedule. I won't know till next week, but with the Thanksgiving holiday I don't know how we are going to get everything trenched and laid out by the end of next week.

Marking the trenches...again

2005-11-16T14:53:00.000-08:00

So Alan and I headed out to the site this morning to check some of the trenches. It is always good to have another pair of eyes on the battlefield and sure enough we found some coordination errors. Notice the different colored paint? We spent a good part of the morning scratching our heads and wondering where things were off before diving back into the layout, and finalizing on the dirt. Once the mechanical sub comes out tomorrow to do his takeoffs I can start coordinating the plumber and electrician to come in and lay their work out. By December 2nd we should be done with this phase of the project and I think everyone will breathe a little easier.

Sunset on Downtown

2005-11-15T16:57:00.000-08:00

Back at the office after a killer day in the field. I must have spent 4 hours going over the locations of the ductwork with the trenching sub and it still seems like some things are off.
Alan and I are going to go out again tomorrow and re-check things to ensure that the trenches are correct. The execution of the phase is so critical, the stress is building.

For now though I'll take a moment to enjoy the view.

Trenching: Mechanical

2005-11-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

So Monday started off with us continuing the backfilling operations behind the retaining walls. On Tuesday, the concrete sub and I laid out the mechanical trenches so that his crew could start the excavation for the HVAC ducts. Because everything is going underground, precision is critical. Once the ducts are cemented into the trenches they cannot be moved, so we are checking and re-checking to make sure it all works. We've also had to re-design the footing to allow for three 16" ducts to pass through it without compromising the integrity of the wall. This is the part of the project we've all been nervously joking about (I keep making references to needing another rolaids or valium). The slab layout is the most difficult phase for us because there are structural, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical lines running through the trenches underneath the slab. On top of all that goes the radiant floor, so nothing can be amiss.

Backfill

2005-11-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the backhoe which is about to start backfilling behind the wall.
I am standing at the top of the hill looking down into the 10'-0" deep cut that is behind the retaining wall. It is going to feel good to fill that up and be done with it- especially with more rain on the way.

Waterproofing and Backfill

2005-11-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

With the rain behind us The crews have begun preparations for the backfilling operations on the retaining walls. They waterproofed the walls today with Thuroseal and then added an addition sheet membrane of MiraDri. This is because the retaining walls will make up the back of the house and need to resist any moisture seepage. The MiraDri is a roll-on (think wall paper) material that forms an added layer of protection. After the guys get that set up they will put in a perforated drain at the base of the wall. We are also installing 2"x12" of rigid insulation at the base of the wall to contain the heat generated by the radiant flooring. All in all it makes for a lot of coordination and continuous inspection inorder to insure that the job gets done properly. Afterall, no one wants to have to re-excavate, and re-waterproof the wall if it leaks.

There is a backhoe on site again that will dump the dirt behind the wall to complete our backfill operations. There is a lot going on today, and so it's exciting to see things moving forward so quickly. We are still on schedule, but one delay could set us back a week. On Monday we will layout the trenches for the underslab work and begin the most complex part of the project.

Rain Day

2005-11-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

So it's raining here in L.A. I spoke with the concrete sub this morning and his guys are working on the pipe and gravel for the drains behind the walls. Other than that not much is going on since the concrete plant canceled our pour this morning. Since it is raining off and on most of their deliveries got canceled and so they closed for the day. I decided to use the opportunity to tackle the mountain of coordination paperwork that is waiting for me at the office.

Tomorrow, weather willing, we should finish the wall.

Passed Inspection

2005-11-09T11:34:00.000-08:00

Passed our final lift inspection. Yeah!

I went to the Home Depot to pick up the rigid insultation for the base of the slab. We almost forgot to add this in, but it is critical in that it keeps the heat from the radiant flooring from escaping in the area where the slab meets the CMU wall. Basically, the guys will just cut it up and slip into the area between the wall and the "French drain" behind the wall. After we finish with the drains and additional waterproofing, we will begin the backfill process.

Tomorrow we'll finish up the grout fill on the wall and start to work on the trenching for all of the utilities for the iT House. Before we do this though, 18" of soil will have to be removed and then recompacted to provide a stable base for the slab.

It's still looking like rain.

Week 6: Masonry Walls: Final Lift

2005-11-09T11:09:00.000-08:00

So it has started to sprinkle. I am holed up in the on site office waiting for the building inspector to arrive to approve our final lift on the masonry walls of the iT House. There is still so much to coordinate and the next phase (the slab) is going to be the hardest part. While it seems like there is not a lot going on at the site, Alan, Linda, and I are in constant discussion about what is going to occur over the next four weeks, two months, etc... till the project is finished.

I hope the rain holds off till we can fill the walls with concrete.

Masonry Walls/Grout Pour

2005-11-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

So our plumber never showed. Construction is one of the few industries where people can get away with flaking on meetings and it's not unusual that you show up at the job site and the sub either calls you 2 minutes before the meeting, or they don't call at all. You just have to roll with it and hope they didn't die on you or something.

About the same time I was wondering about the plumber the truck showed up with our grout fill. It took the crew an hour to fill the entire wall and vibrate the concrete to make sure it sits down in the cells. After having lunch the crew is going to continue to build the wall and put the first coat of waterproofing on the lower side.

We have city inspection tomorrow and then we can grout fill the entire wall and start on the slab.

We are still looking for a roofing company to do the epdm roofing. It is frustrating as there are plenty of companies, but no one who does residential. If the iT were only a 200,000 s.f. warehouse we'd be in luck.

Masonry Lifts: Grout Pour

2005-11-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

Met on site with John from CALQUAKE (the concrete sub-contractor). The first thing we did was take an overall dim with the long tape to check (once again) the interior dimensions. We came in at 49' 1" - 1/2" over what we needed! This is great news because while the Bosch beams and colums can be cheated out a bit, they cannot be cheated to compensate for a dimension that is too short. We had contemplated shaving down the block where the columns would go, but now that looks to be a thing of the past.

Another big coordination issue is the are where the under-slab ducting crosses beneath the footing. Basically the footing is going to have to span a 48" gap where the ducts are, and consequently will not work as designed. The footing has been dug already, so now we are trying to re-design it to act as a beam in the area of the ducts. It just goes to show you that no matter how much you design and plan, things always need to be reworked in the field. I always like to think of the building as a body- in that it needs constant re-evaluation and primping to make it come together.

Waiting on the concete trucks to show up for the grout pour...For those who are unaccustomed to construction lingo, a "lift" is the height of a course of blocks that have been grouted by the masons. The typical lift height varries by municipality, but for safety measures you don't want to pour higher than 6' because the block is unstable untill it's cells are filled. So today we are "grout filling" (filling the cells of block with concrete) the block to the 6'-0" mark and will begin constructing the next lift of the wall later today.

The weather is holding up O.K. though they say it is supposed to rain tonight. This is bad, because we want to hog out the rest of the dirt in the slab area so that it can be recompacted. The dumps won't take wet dirt, so we are hoping that it stays sunny here in SOCAL till we can finish this phase of the project.

Waiting on the concrete trucks and the plumber...

Masonry Wall Inspection

2005-11-07T14:06:00.000-08:00

We passed our first lift inspection! Yeah!

Masonry Walls 1st lift

2005-11-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

So Alan and I made it out to the site this morning to do structural observation for the retaining walls of the iT House. All the bars were in place and the walls were up to the 6'0" mark. We checked the overall interior dimensions of the house to make certain we were within a 1/16" of an inch and found that we were 3/8" off. After thinking for awhile we decided to come back the next day with a "long" tape, just to be sure. If the overall dimensions are under what they should be the Bosch system will not work. No one on the project has ever worked with tollerances this tight! In masonry construction the normal tollerance is usually anywhere from 3/4" to 1'-0" over the length of the building. The hope is that because we were adding dimensions in the field that the discrepency can be attributed to that.

Just waiting around for the inspector to show up then we can confirm tomorrows grout pour for the walls.

Week 5: Masonry Walls

2005-11-04T15:46:00.000-08:00

So the day started out with the second course of block. After making some adjustments to get the walls exactly to the proper interior dimension, the crew methodically laid each block, finishing the second course in about an hour. The alignment of the rear retaining walls is criticial as they not only have to align visually, but must meet the Bosch columns at the correct intersections. The masonry crew's efficiency is impressive. a laborer brings block to the masons and they set everthing with and such precission- it looks like a bunch of lego bricks. As they work there is a constant checking and re-checking to be done, to ensure that the walls are in plane with each other as well as level across the entire course. Monday we go for inspection again and hope to "grout fill" the first 4'-0" high section of block on Tuesday. The goal is to have the entire wall complete by the end of the week.

Week 5: Footings/Masonry Walls

2005-11-03T08:19:00.000-08:00

With todays pour we finally got out of the ground! 40 + yards of concrete went into the footings and by the afternoon, the masonry crew had begun to set the first course of block. I spent an hour with the concrete sub in order to cross check the interior dimensions of the house. The exciting part is that now you can see the overall footprint of the iT House taking shape. It is always hard to visualize things by simply looking at the string lines, but once you have a piece of the building going up, the form begins to materialize.

Week 5, Wednesday

2005-11-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

Today we got our approval for the city for the footings. Tomorrow morning we pour concrete!

Week 5

2005-11-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

Phase: Concrete footings at retaining walls.

The general thing people don’t realize about construction is that it is about good days and bad days- As long as at the end of the project you have more positives than negatives, then you are doing O.K. Monday was one of the bad days. Alan and I arrived at the site to inspect the rebar cages for the footings at the rear retaining wall and noticed that one of the footing excavations was not as long as it should be. After a quick conference with the project engineer we decided that the footing had to be re-excavated and the cages in that area re-done in order to match the detail. A minor hiccup no doubt, but one that cost us two days since the city inspector only visits the job site on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

After stopping by the site today to inspect the work one final time, we signed off on the rebar cages and barring any problems with the inspector tomorrow, we should be pouring our footings on Thursday.

The soils engineer visited the site and confirmed that all the soil under the footprint of the house, to a depth of 18" will have to be removed and disposed of due to excessive organic material (roots!). New fill will have to be brought in and compacted prior to pouring the slab. It is expected to add about a week to the overall schedule.

Week 4 Friday Report

2005-10-28T15:59:00.000-07:00

Phase: Concrete footings.
After spending the past 2 weeks dealing with weather, and material supply problems we are back on schedule and have completed the week with a set of rebar cages that by Monday will be ready for inspection by the city. Since Monday most of the work completed has been focused on bending and tieing in the steel that will form the rebar cages for the retaining walls of the iT House.

An unknown that occured on the site this week was the discovery of additional roots in the area where the slab is due to be laid. A Monday morning meeting with the soils engineer will either turn this into a problem or something to ignore.

Week 4

2005-10-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Rebar finally shows up on site and layouts are placed and tied.

Week 3

2005-10-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

Excavation work is completed, but rain and postponed rebar fabrication slows the project to a temporary halt.

Week 2

2005-10-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

Grading work begins on the hillside for the 11' high retaining wall at the back. Also, footing excavation begins for the rebar layouts.

Week 1

2005-10-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

Demolition begins on the existing pool patio, jacuzzi, and outdoor BBQ area.

Construction Begins

2005-09-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

The site for the first iT house is in Orange County, Southern California. The iT house will be built as a guest house next to the client's main house and pool. Taalman Koch Architecture is also designing an extensive renovation for their main house, during construction of which, the clients will live in the iT house full time. Due to the zoning setbacks and existing site conditions, the iT house will be carved into the hillside necessitating the need for solid retaining walls on 2 1/2 sides of the building. Hillside grading and retaining wall work is expected to add 8-10 weeks of additional time to the project schedule.