Plumbing

The plumbing crew has been busy for 3 days now and are making tons of progress. Most of the drains are in at this point.

Plumbing crew at work today.

Plumbing in the mudroom.

Stack ready for master bathroom vanities.

Septic is going in

The septic system has now been completed - I just didn't have time to post some of the in-progress pictures before now. The install went well without any glitches or cost overruns. 

The system is installed down the hillside.

Pool and HVAC

We now officially have a pool - or rather the shell of a pool. About a week ago the pool crew formed the gunite pool and it looks awesome! It is 30' x 12' and has an infinity edge along the backside.

To the left is the cavity for the automated pool cover.

Infinity edge and trough.

On the inside of the house the HVAC system is going in with all the ducting. We are using a series of Mitsubishi minisplit heat pumps to heat and cool the house in different zones.

Instead of the normal registers and grilles, we have chosen to put in some long 4" x 72" slot diffusers that are inserted into the ceiling. The custom made housings have been installed now so that the exterior portion of the diffuser can mount to the housing after drywall has gone in.

Some serious insulation going in around the ducting to prevent any heat loss.

It's a bit of a puzzle to route all the duct work around the house to the different rooms.

Windows

In the last couple of weeks there has been a lot of activity on the house. One of the things we have been looking forward to is seeing the windows and see them being installed. When we designed the house we decided not to skimp on windows and decided to use thermally broken all-aluminum windows from Schuco in Germany. We bought the custom sized windows through Tru Architecture near Los Angeles. And boy, are we happy with that decision now that the windows are going in. They are the most beautiful and sturdy aluminum windows I have ever seen. The windows, handles, hinges etc just smell like German engineering at its best.

Here are the six SouthWest facing window units. The two sliding sections to the left already have glass installed.

Windows and doors facing the outdoor living area.

Second unit facade facing SW.

North facing windows.

The two small windows in the guest bath and mechanical room.

Entrance door. 9 ft tall.

The remaining glass is sitting in the garage right now waiting for the crew to come back on Monday and install the rest. Those large glass panes weigh approximately 500 pounds each. 

One of the window assemblies up in the second floor rooms. Fixed frames mostly and a tilt-turn window to the right. The tilt-turn window can be opened as a normal "in-swing" window if you tilt the handle 90 degrees and can be tilted inwards if you tilt the handle 180 degrees. Pretty unusual in the US, but normal in Europe.

Here is the handle detail.

Windows in the office.

Triple sliders in the dining area

Door that leads out to the outdoor living area.

Roof

After a short period of rain, the roofing crew is not onsite and working hard to get the roof closed off. Since we have a flat roof they are using high density foam boards to build up the slope of the roof and then a very thick roof membrane on top of the boards to seal everything. 

We chose to create a cold roof by facing the white side of the membrane upwards since most of our energy requirements in the house are for cooling the house in the summer time. The white surface will reflect the sun better and help keep the house cool.

Here are the foam boards they use to build up the roof. The boards provide both the slope and extra thermal insulation in the roof.

In the last 2-3 days they finished half of he roof on the main house. The insulation is pretty significant since the thickness of the roof boards is 10-12"