House exterior: What's Your Inspiration?

Whether you're building or not, chances are you have a "favorite house".  Perhaps it was featured in a magazine long ago, or it's a place you pass by everyday in your town.  I'm no exception, and I've always had a favorite house.  This is mine, and it's located in a small town up north - every time I visit up there, I always pass by and admire it's simplistic charm, so naturally it was my starting point of inspiration:

But then initial inspiration becomes tricky, because I also really love houses like this (which HOA will prevent me from doing, sigh):

and this (again, a little much for HOA):

but there is a common theme:  They are white.  They are simplistic in shape.  They have stark contrast in lines and coloring.

"What style are you going for?"  my friends and family will ask...   I never knew what to say until my friend put it pretty succinctly, so I stay with this:  Organic Modern with an Italianate/Spanish mission architectural drive.  I've no idea what that will really mean for the house yet, but it basically sums up the architectural direction to a point, and the feel of the interior I'll lean towards when making design choices.

Now, how all those pieces will fall together so as not to create a mish-mash of conflicting and tacky design is another story.  For now, however, with no other architectural details known other than white brick, the house is shaping up to look like this:

It's a little hard to depict our boomerang-shaped house on a 1-dimensional piece of paper, but that's the basic look.

Progress: First Floor Foam Walls Are Up

The foam walls are now up and just waiting on the inspector to give the go-ahead on the concrete pour.  Of course we were assigned a newly-hired inspector (who, rumoredly, said on a recent job site "there's a new sheriff in town..."     great.), and he wanted to see all the engineering specs from our ICF provider, so now we are in a holding pattern until all that is done.  This makes us very nervous as we are anticipating very severe weather and we would not be surprised to find all of our foam walls scattered across the state if what they are predicting comes true :-(   The ICF company assures us everything is braced strongly, so we shall see.  Here's what it looks like from the back yard so far.  The garage is not on yet as it will come last and is a stick build:

ICF - Be Aware, Part 1

Entitling this "Part 1" because I'm 100% sure during the process there will be things that have been overlooked.

If you're not familiar with ICFs (short for Insulated Concrete Forms) it's basically a more green way of building that is also a secure structure in severe weather, which The South is famous for.  Not to mention your energy bills are fantastic, and you generally recoup the increased cost over a stick-build within a 5-year period.  We are not excessively knowledgeable about green builds, but after researching the cost vs. benefit of things like geothermal, solar, LED, etc, the cost-effectiveness and quality of an ICF home was a no-brainer in comparison.  Our shell (translation: exterior walls) is being built with ICFs but with that comes a bit of forethought.   So far it's been an interesting process to watch, kind of like foam legos, and if you look at the earlier post of 1/25/13 you'll see things that I have made note of in advance.   Here are things to make note of re: ICFs too:

1.  Noted all HVAC, electrical and plumbing lines so that the holes can be punched into the foam BEFORE the concrete is poured into the walls.  I'm so glad I remembered the hose bibs!  And a chase between the upper & lower floors in case future wiring needs to be done, so that it can be done without much issue. My HVAC guy almost forgot I needed an ERV, too.

2.  Windows in general - where the rough openings are for the windows is where most mistakes will occur.  so, it's extremely important to check! check! check! the rough openings.   In hindsight, I wish my GC would have double-checked the very first window rough opening BEFORE they were all done, because there were a few pages the ICF installers did not double-check on the architectural plans and at the end,  5 windows had to be moved by mere inches and we were almost charged an excessive change order.  Checking the very first window would have set a precedent for all the others and avoided this, as well as even more-detailed architectural specifics on the plan.  You can bet we will be more conscientious of this when the second floor goes up, to make sure everyone is on the same page as to where their measurements are coming from. 

3.  Corner windows - our architect specified several corner windows that didn't have a lot of space in between at the corner.  this presented a challenge for an ICF build, however, unless we wanted to get into a lot of expense/delays figuring out steel posts in between for support, etc.  we resolved this by giving up a little bit of space in between the windows, where an ICF will separate it now, and not have to a complicated support issue  it's barely any space to give up so it thankfully wasn't a big deal - you can see the two black lines drawn near the corner where the windows will be begin on each side:

4.  Look at the work being done!  My builder and I just happened to be out there with the subcontractors going over all the holes for plumbing and I glanced up, only to notice that a 2nd story window had actually been placed on the first floor, which hadn't been noticed yet.  What a disaster that would have been!  This goes back to number 2 above:  make sure to check and re-check your window chart and plan repeatedly.  Your architect cannot be too over-specific.

The House That Built Itself - What I've Done Right (So Far)

If you scroll to the first post, you'll see the house shape is a fairly unusual one.  At first glance, it may seem like a strange choice of plan - I agree!  But I encourage you to do more than just pick a plan and plop it on the ground...    before you corner yourself into a "this is the house I've always wanted" mentality, MAKE SURE it will complement the land around it.   I myself prefer symmetry in a home, and we could have easily picked out my "dream" house plan and built it based on appearance and layout alone by what I've always liked.  Let's take a step back, however, and ask some extremely important questions: 

1.  Where will you spend most of your time?  Dedicate the priority aesthetics here, FIRST.  This may mean simply reversing rooms on a pre-drawn plan so that the location is better.  Or it could mean that windows are adjusted, ceilings are heightened.  In our case, it meant designing from scratch to take advantage of our lot views and our preference for privacy.  Whatever the case, really treat your main living area as the starting canvas of your home, letting all the other pieces fall into place around it. After all, this is where you will spend your time;  make it count.

2.  Why are those windows there?  What do they show?  What do they leave out?    Window placement is essential in creating the perfect environment.   If there is a scene you like on your lot - a beautiful tree or view, for instance - think about how your windows can be placed to accommodate this.  Conversely, if there is something you would rather NOT have sight of - an electric pole or power unit for instance - is there a way to position your window placement so that it eliminates that?   What about privacy?   Again, think about where you want your windows, and where you do not.  Additionally, a mistake I see often is locating windows without any thought given to furniture placement - be sure to take that into consideration.  One other big mistake I see is that many times the best view ends up being from the front of the house, yet people tend to locate their main living and entertaining spaces in the back.  What would it be like had the kitchen been placed in this focal area instead?  How could it have changed the dynamics of the home?   These are all important things to think about.  

So, that being said, I willingly walked away from the "perfect image" in my head of my "dream home" and instead

The house practically built itself once we listened to the land.

This wasn't without a few compromises (mine being that my kitchen is further away from my garage than I'd envisioned).   And, I'll confess to being a tad squeamish when the walls started coming up, because it really is a intuitive leap of faith designing with the land in mind...   will it look right?  is it weird?   oh my gosh is this going to really work?!   but when the walls and windows came up - wow!

Slam dunk.

 

Now, let's see what would have happened if I had simply plopped my "dream home" on the lot based on appearance alone: 

What a waste of a beautiful yard that would have been, had we just gone that route.  Not to mention views of our neighbors,etc from many angles of the house.

Now, we have this lovely view (house shape) that eliminates the ugly culvert views (clever window placement) as well as any neighbors (house shape AND clever window placement) that creates a charming piece of private, yet vast property in the back that no pre-formed "dream plan" of mine would have accommodated, ever.  And that glorious sunset?  We'll get to see it every night, in a bevy of large windows in the main living area of the house where 90% of our time is spent.

Things You'll Forget - Write it Down BEFORE You Start

Compile a list - I've been compiling mine for over 6 months now. Yours will be different, but for me this is the stuff that ended up being particularly important and there's no way I'd remember it all during chaotic conversations with builders, subcontractors, etc. I encourage you to keep a running list at all times - I send this file to my builder and then as I add things, I color-code it to red so that we both know it's an addition or edit. It's rather random, but it's invaluable when I go brain-dead during quick decisions/conversations. Keep it in the"Notes" section of your phone, too, so you can add something when it comes to mind. Disclaimer: some of this stuff was researched so long ago that I have no idea why I said it! but it must be for good reason if it's on here, so I'll just share it all...

Notes for Builder - Random:

1) If I get a choice I would prefer Fortifiber's Moistop or Tyvek's FlexWrap type flashing

2) I would like a blower test BEFORE insulation installation. (This typically leads to a slightly smaller HVAC system as most are oversized for tight ICF homes) . I might do another one after HVAC and insulation, not sure.

3) while the bulldozer is there remind me to consider having it build berms for any trees that might be in later.  also SAVE ALL THE SOIL from any excavation.  we can haul it off at the end of the build, but not before.

4) what is the cost difference between formaldehyde-free MDF and not ? assuming it’s used throughout house in places.

5) I want a Central Vac hide-a-hose system.

6) I want a water softener.

7) I want be very selective about hose bibs around the house. something to think of before ICF holes?

8) I would also like the enclosed attic/crawl with spray insulation in those areas.

9) I want to know where the tacky AC filter cover(s) is going to and for once in my life would like it not to be in the most prominent place known to man, which always seem to be the entry foyer.

10) I want weep holes installed correctly on sills. I want this to be shown to me when/as it’s being done. all exterior brick sills/similar should be at slight downward angle for proper water drainage.

11) I want thick gauge HVAC, not the cheap rattly stuff.

12) If I get a choice I would prefer low VOC paint, low VOC counter glue, low urethane products when needed.

13) please do not assume I want wire shelves in closet. I assume we can discuss before installation.

14) There should be no hack saws/tools other than special drill bits that appropriately accommodate valves/pipes going through walls and cabinets. There will be no gaping holes that are bigger than the pipe going into the wall, and for the remaining gap they will be sealed appropriately which most always involves a better compound than regular caulk since it eventually dries and cracks. You understand that holes will be properly sized to the type of mechanism going through, and then the appropriate, non-degrading sealant material will ensure a properly sealed passageway.  In other words, I don't want a 6-inch hole for a 1-inch pipe.

15) If possible I would like plywood floor installed in the attic as opposed to exposed rafters only.

16) we want an alarm system.

17) all walls should be painted in a cream color, I need to pick out color. all windows will come as unfinished pine on interior and will need to be stained a black or deep brown.

18) where does the chase go?  this is needed for future wiring edits after ICF pour

19) screws in the sheetrock, not nails

20) dimmers in kitchen & great room electrical

21) motion sensor light in garage

22) fan in rec room

23) run conduit under driveway to backyard in case future plumbing/electric ever needed

24) Lint trap for dryer vent: http://www.reversomatic.com/category/Accessories-/Lint-Traps.html

25) A master switch in mudroom by garage door that turns off all of the power to the switches/lights in the house, so that you can turn off all lights without going to each room and/or light switch.

26) Make sure for all interior stick-build walls, the sheetrock is caulked at the bottom where the baseboard goes. No gap, as is typical.

27) Built in ironing board master closet

28) Also, put in a bypass for the water softener, so that you can still get water to the house, if the softener needs to be repaired or replaced. Lastly, sodium softened water can kill house plants, so put in a separate line to 1. all exterior hose bibs, and 2. kitchen sink.

29) Have electrician wire home in 2 breaker boxes for essentials and non essentials in case you wish to add an emergency generator in the future.

30) Put a 6" wall behind your washer and dryer - they can sit flat against the wall because the vent can go down through the wall.

31) Radiant barrier sheathing for roof?

32) Don’t put thermostat in hallway above stairs – not accurate

What I Wish I Knew: in the Beginning

We were supposed to break ground in late November.  We figured since our lot is flat, we would just do a  slab foundation and it was recommended as the best option for ICFs.   That wasn't to be, due to soil issues.  After much debate between the builder, foundation people, etc, we finally sprung for an in-depth soil test and it was determined that we will indeed need a crawlspace.  So, plans had to be redrawn for that and new documents, etc. etc. in the beginning:

1.  In hindsight, I wish we had sprung for a soil test from the start.  This would have a) given us great reassurance that the foundation would be really secure and b) eliminated unexpected delays in breaking ground.  We have it now because it was a necessity, but we should have done it in the first place.

2.  In hindsight, I wish I'd had a slope/grade survey.  Even though our lot is very flat, once they did the crawlspace per codes and for potential water concerns, my house very unexpectedly is much higher off the ground in one back corner.   And of course this is the corner of the house where our main living area is!   I was slightly freaking out at first, because I'd always envisioned a very minimal transition from walking off the back porch/patio onto the lawn.  It's not the end of the world, however, and the good news is that since I did design the house specifically for the lot, there should be a very good way to design the back patio/porch to accommodate this.

3.  There was a utility line marked on our lot that everyone shrugged off as "not a big deal".  Only to learn at the permit application process that it was indeed an issue and that the water company might not allow us to put a driveway over their line.  Thankfully the water company was nice as pie and immediately emailed the permitting office granting permission that they did not see it as a problem, so we were able to proceed as planned.   We were really lucky it turned out that way.  Some advice:   get the official word from the owner of the utility line before committing to a plan.  This could have been disastrous for us! 

Invaluable Resources

I did a lot of homework before getting to the point of having a house plan.  A lot.

To me, the top ones are:

1.  www.floorplanner.com   For $15/year, you can easily import your plan and then trace over it to scale, placing furniture and viewing it in 3D.   This was absolutely the #1 best resource for me during planning.  It's amazing how things look differently when you plug your data into a 3D source and view it from that perspective.  Very user-friendly and easy to use.  Not without its drawbacks (it's mainly for interior, not exterior) but still, at $15/year and easy editing, who can resist?

2.  all of Sarah Susanka's books.   I started off reading the much-acclaimed "The Not So Big House" and before I knew it, I was requesting the local library for every other book she'd ever written. I read them all.   Don't let the "not so big" part fool you, the books are as much about planning smart space as they are about functioning well in a house.  (My husband is a "big house" kind of guy and even he was taken with her books, which is saying something.)  She clearly states invaluable specifics ranging from window head heights to window seats, to shelving recommendations.  As I perused the books, I would take snapshots with my cell phone to refer back to in later meetings.  This has been so helpful, like recently at a final window appointment where I was describing the specifics of achieving an infinity windowsill at the kitchen sink, for example. A sampling of her books can be seen here:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&field-keywords=&field-author=Sarah+Susanka&field-title=&field-isbn=&field-publisher=&node=&field-p_n_condition-type=&field-feature_browse-bin=&field-subject=&field-language=&field-dateop=&field-datemod=&field-dateyear=&sort=relevanceexprank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=0&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=0

3.  www.houzz.com   but of course!  As you browse pictures in Houzz, create a file of things you like to refer back to later.  Better yet, create a www.pinterest.com account and "pin" things you see online to various room boards that will later help you to be better organized.

4.  http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/  Gardenweb's forum are an invaluable resource.  I learned more here probably than anywhere else.  I would also do searches like "things you regret" "what you would do different" etc etc and then I compiled a list from these that was pertinent to our home.  You can also research everything from water heaters to shingles here, as well as post questions and get feedback.  It's fabulous.

5. http://olioboard.com/    A one-stop place to shop.  You can tag things that are your favorites and refer back to it later.  So far I've used it for lighting shopping.

6.  Google Earth   .http://www.google.com/earth/index.html  I located our lot and then inserted various house plans on it to see how it would  function with the surrounding land.  I did this the elementary way, using the PrintScreen function and then cutting out the image in the old school Paint program, eventually superimposing via PowerPoint.  For an example of what I mean, see the post on House Plans:   http://acustomhouse.blogspot.com/2013/01/to-begin-part-2-determining-house-plan.html

To Begin, Part 2: Determining the House Plan

As mentioned in the first post, we originally thought we would just find an online plan that we liked and then edit it to our needs.   This is a great way to save money in drafting costs, and many of our friends had built their houses by editing an existing plan with much success.

It sounded good in theory, but as I experimented with house shapes via Google Earth, it told a different story.  Take a look at these examples:

The house plans were nice (and would have been more economical to build due to more stacked square footage = cheaper building costs), but it wasn't doing our lot any justice.  We were having a hard time reconciling that all these plans gave us a very short-sighted back yard to the treeline, as opposed to the long sunset view we knew was there.

Now look what we eventually decided upon:

I call it our "Boomerang House".  The main living area (kitchen, great room, den) is that left side "wing" with the yellow arrow views.

As I mentioned previously, this wasn't without some compromise.  Our garage had to go on the right side due to HOA, so my kitchen ends up further from my garage than I would prefer, though a mudroom entry helps alot.  Our material costs will also go up some, due to stackable footage being only in the center portion of the house.

Our architect knew I wanted 1) my Uncle Tom's Kitchen (see posts under Kitchen label) and 2) these yellow area views as our priority starting points for a plan.  The house built itself around those two main parameters and we ended up utilizing the best part of our beautiful lot.


THE PLAN ITSELF - CURIOSITIES

There's also some quirkiness to the plan that is intentional: 

1.  "Business in the Front, Party in the Back" -  We had to adhere to HOA guidelines so my hopes of a more-modern home appearance were dashed.  The back, however, is more conducive to our preferences.   My architect cringed a bit on a few backside window decisions but I'm okay with that - you'd have to walk 2 acres back and look at the entire house to ever notice a few inconsistencies.

2.  Size - this house is way bigger than I would like, but it's the best compromise my husband and I could reach in his love of huge houses.  I also have a moral dilemma with it.  Sigh.

3.  "Museum Rooms" - I was determined to have minimal "museum rooms", as I call them.  Our old house had a formal dining room and study that were never used.  As it stands now, we still have a formal dining room (again a compromise with the husband) but it's small and to be honest, it's a room that is very much an afterthought that I could care less about.

4.  What's Up With That Master Bath? - our old house had an ingenious layout to utilize the views, and the best view from the master bedroom area was...  the bathroom!   It was wonderful and I'm copying that concept.   We spend significantly more time in the master bathroom showering/dressing than we do hanging out in the actual bedroom.   It's for that reason we opted for the best view to be in the master bath, not the bedroom.

5.  That Upstairs Rec Room Is Weird- yep, it is.  I'm okay with the quirky shape and expect to put in an odd-shaped fort in all those weird nooks for the kids :-)

6.  Why's the Powder Room So Far Away? -  Although common practice these days to add a powder room very close to the kitchen, I opted not to locate a bathroom in the main living area.  I wanted the main powder room a little bit removed for privacy purposes.   In my old house, I liked the fact that it was a bit further down the hall, and guests did too.

7.  There's No Such Thing As A Forever House - so we did do a few things to make resale value appealing if we were ever to move, which we don't intend to.  However,  life's thrown enough hilarious curveballs our way that I would never count on that.  Therefore we put a "second master" downstairs (it's just going to be a guest room to us) and we are putting in a capped hookup for a stackable washer/dryer in the mudroom across the hall from there, should one ever need to live downstairs.  That way, all the bases are covered both in growing old and resale value.

To Begin - The Lot and The Plan

So here's the scene...

The Lot:
A non-symmetrical corner, pie-shaped lot that is flat and will have a beautiful sunset view with the way it's shaped now.  It's just shy of 2 acres.

The House: 
We figured we would just tweak an online house plan to our specifications to save costs like all of our friends did.  Wrong...  we could have, but a typical boxy house shape gave us a "short" backyard view which didn't make sense.  I want to look out my main living space windows and see the expanse of yard, not have it be off to the side, invisible.  Granted, it's more economical to build up in a stacking manner, but it didn't make sense in our case, unfortunately for us.


The Architect:
I was fortunate to count several architects as friends, so once we agreed that working together would not ruin our friendship (kidding, sorta), I worked closely with our architect for literally about 6 months.  (The delay mainly being different square footage preferences between my husband and I - I've been continually trying to downsize but with a lot of resistance!  So we reached the best happy medium we could.) Our architect drew up a few sketches and eventually we decided on a boomerang-shaped house that is specifically built for our lot views in mind.  It's unusual, but perfect for the land.  There were compromises that come with this - mainly that the garage isn't as close to the kitchen as I'd like - but a mudroom entrance helps and the views/backyard was more important to us in the long run.  More on this in the next post http://acustomhouse.blogspot.com/2013/01/to-begin-part-2-determining-house-plan.htmlHere are our plans: 

The Builder:
We have a builder, a GC who also built three of my friends' homes in the past 2 years.  I'm lucky to have that perspective on him.   I have the utmost confidence in him, even though he's never done an ICF build.  We are subcontracting the ICF piece to a local company.   Our builder knows I'm going out on a limb giving him the job, but I trust him.  Time will tell...

Resources:
I would be remiss without mentioning some amazing resources that were priceless for the planning process.  You can find these under the label "Invaluable Resources" and will see them mentioned throughout the blog.