In the spirit of shorter posts, here is a quick update for this week.
Address
We finally got an address, which is an important precursor for lots of things like permits and quotes. It wasn’t easy in the small town environment where the person who does it works 6 scattered hours per week. It took many calls, but we finally got it. I am leaving off the full address for privacy reasons, but for those who know the town and road, the number is 10415. Sherri liked how the guy said it, ten-four-fifteen.
Sourcing
This week, we got some quotes on well drilling (roughly $7k) and we visited a Pella showroom. The Pella show room sales person was very much more responsive and engaging than anyone else we have spoken to. I had been ignoring Pella based on early impressions, but I gave them another chance due to comments by the owner of the Battle Creek earth shelter and poor service I was getting from Marvin distributors. Lets see how the quote works out.
I am considering ways to reduce the cost, including flattening the curved walls… But I have not decided on that change yet.
Engineering
Engineers rough reinforcement sketch on my concrete rib design…
I finally got a few hand sketched pages from my engineer. This one has the rebar sketched out on the concrete ribs. It was pretty much what I was expecting (maybe a bit more more and thicker rebar). He also did some work on the arches that span between the ribs, but he must have misunderstood the examples I provided and went about 10 times over weight/cost, so we will need to get that reviewed.
Battle Creek
Next Tuesday I am taking a day off work to head out to Battle Creek (about a 2 hour drive) and watch the shotcrete get applied. The house is all ready with the poured slab, steel arches and rebar, and an ICF front. This is the next big step. It will be interesting to see how cement is sprayed on a 50ft dome (25 ft high). I will try to bring back some pics.
Eye Candy
Here are some fun pics I have seen lately (collected across the internet) that I found inspiring in one way or another. Enjoy.
-
- Just thought this was cool… Somewhere in Easter Europe, but I forget where.
-
- Cool Sauna under a rotating house… But I like the natural rock features. Should I have the shotcrete guys fake up some “rock formations” on the outside where the cement is only partially covered by rock?
-
- Got this from Houzz.com. I like the idea for use with the retaining wall outside one of the “below ground” egress windows. In my case, it would be more like a “conversation pit”.
-
- I would like to create something artistic like this at some point… This image came from houzz also.
-
- Just liked this one.
-
- Cool retaining wall. Got it from pinterest or something like that.
-
- I had planned to use something like this to water proof my cold joints, but now I will likely go with Sika Swell S2 instead.
-
- Probably won’t make it into my house, but thought this was cool. Obviously this came from 9gag.
-
- This is a detail for the copper clad “architectural feature” I want along my small parapet edge and some of the retaining walls.
-
- Again, nothing to do with my house, but I liked it a lot.
-
- Just an example of an illustration I made for my architect. Yes, many recommend other configurations (such as small clerestory windows) that don’t have the summer heating issues, but I like this better and plan for small Japanese maples to provide the summer shading.
-
- Similar to the last, but showing the mini solar chimney I plan to use to provide bathroom ventilation…
-
- Just a fun image of an unintentionally earth sheltered house.
-
- Another fun image of a hobbit house from the upcoming movie, due out Dec 2012.
-
- Another clip from houzz.com. This was part of a large an elaborate home with a slide to the basement and other fun features. My kids have asked for this, but not sure if I will give in yet. Another option is a fire pole between the playroom closet and the basement.
-
- Engineers rough reinforcement sketch on my concrete rib design…
