Home 2.0 Blog Archive

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

MOVING DAY

Temporary Certificate of Occupancy Issued

Tuesday's rain halted work on the exterior stairs and landscaping, which are the only remaining items in need of completion in order to obtain a permanent certificate of occupancy. However, thanks to a clever re-purposing of one of the railings on-site (see image below), a temporary certificate of occupancy was able to be issued in its place, which will allow me to move in and occupy the house immediately as the last few tasks are wrapping up later this week. The construction loan representative from the bank also made a visit to the site Tuesday for his final inspection of the property, which means I should be able to close on the permanent financing for the house in the next week or so. It's hard to believe, but today is moving day, so the next blog entry I post will be as a Starter Home 2.0 resident!

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

STEPPING UP

Front Porch Steps Underway

On Monday the porch steps were constructed, effectively completing the circulation path from the driveway up to the front entry. The width of the steps had to be narrowed up slightly from the original design to coordinate with the extents of the poured concrete landing, so it will be interesting to see what it looks like once the stringer trim and railing installation is complete.




Monday, September 28, 2015

MOVING WEEK

3-Day Look Ahead

It's hard to believe, but moving week is finally here. The following is a quick look-ahead at what the next few days should have in-store. Monday and Tuesday the porch steps and railings will be constructed on the exterior of the home, while a last round of cleaning takes place on the interior. During that time, the final home inspection is set to take place, which should result in a Certificate of Occupancy that will allow me to occupy the residence immediately. Assuming that all goes according to plan, I will be moving everything out of my current apartment and into the Starter Home 2.0 on Wednesday, fulfilling a longtime dream of mine (and many architects I know) of living in a house I designed.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

ACCESSORIZED

Bathroom Accessories Installed

While the concrete and siding trim work took place on the exterior of the home Friday, miscellaneous interior tasks were also being completed. One of these interior items was the installation of the towel bars and toilet paper holders in the second floor bathrooms, shown in the images below.




Saturday, September 26, 2015

CONCRETE & SIDING WRAP-UP

Concrete Drive & Steps, Siding & Trim Work

Friday, the concrete driveway and steps were prepped with a base layer of gravel and form work, and poured in place from the street, up to the base of the porch steps. The siding crew was also back on site and finished installing the porch ceiling soffit and trimming out the opening around the garage door. 






Friday, September 25, 2015

GROUNDWORK

Grading, Sidewalk & Apron Prep

Prep work started on the new sidewalk and driveway apron Thursday with demo of the existing sidewalk, site grading and laying-out the downspout drainage pipe to daylight at the street curb. The pipe, which looks to be in need of a few bends to navigate around the nearby landscape wall and cleanouts will be set on Friday prior to the gravel base and concrete being poured.





Thursday, September 24, 2015

DRIVEWAY STATUS & INTERIOR WORK

Driveway Approach Permit Issued 

One of the last hurdles to completion was cleared on Wednesday when the City of Cincinnati Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE) gave Mike Brown Construction permit approval to cut the curb, pour the driveway apron, and proceed with taking the driveway out to the street. This will allow for final grading and the pouring of the driveway and steps up to the base of the porch steps to be completed by the end of the week, with the wood porch step construction to follow shortly thereafter.
Wednesday's workload consisted of sanding, caulking and sealing, applying a final clear coat to the main stair treads, and miscellaneous interior painting and finish work.


Wednesday, September 23, 2015

T MINUS 1-WEEK

7-Day Look Ahead

One week from today I will be moving out of my apartment and moving into the Starter Home 2.0 house. Here is what is scheduled to happen between now and then. 
  • Wednesday 9/23: The painters will be on site to do the last bit of interior touchup work. 
  • Thursday 9/24: The cleaning crew will be on site to get interior move-in ready. 
  • Friday 9/25: The temporary occupancy permit is scheduled for issuance.
  • TBD: We are currently in for permits on the driveway and are expecting a fairly quick turnaround, but are planning for worst case scenario and assuming no driveway permit will be issued by Friday, hence the plan for obtaining the temporary occupancy permit at that time. Once the driveway permit is issued, one day will be needed to finish the concrete and another day will be needed to build the front steps and handrail.
Tuesday's work consisted of some final wiring and fixture installation at the garage along with floor register installation throughout the interior of the home.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

KITCHEN PROGRESS

Microwave & Fridge Installation

On Monday the last of the kitchen appliances were installed with the microwave getting secured above the range and the refrigerator getting slid into place in the alcove between the pantry and base cabinets. The refrigerator was an extremely tight fit that required some minor alterations to the baseboard trim to push it back against the wall, but the contractors made it work, which means the kitchen is now all but ready for use. At this point, the only remaining tasks to complete on the interior of the home are installing toilet accessories, hanging blinds, and touch-up painting.


   

Sunday, September 20, 2015

SPINDLE SATURDAY

Stair Rail Spindle Install Complete

The trim carpenters were back on the job Saturday installing the last run of spindles for the stair railing as well as finishing up the vanity hardware installation. Below is some visual evidence of that work.







Saturday, September 19, 2015

INSPECTION & PERMIT UPDATE

IBI Inspection & DOTE Permit

On Friday I received some good news, and some not so good news regarding the latest rounds of inspections and permitting for the Starter Home 2.0. The good news is that the final Electrical (IBI) Inspection passed on Thursday. The not so good news is that we are still waiting on the Cincinnati Department of Transportation and Engineering (DOTE) to issue the permit required for the new driveway to be poured to the street. Unfortunately, when dealing with the city, there is no telling how long that approval process will take. 


Friday, September 18, 2015

ON THE MAP

2015 CAGIS MAP UPDATE

This Tuesday at the most recent Pleasant Ridge Development Corporation (PRDC) Meeting, I volunteered to help create a new prototype map for the neighborhood showcasing the areas in and around the business district, which upon completion, will have the ability to be used for navigation, promotion, and publication. As I started working on this project, looking at CAGIS for a good base map of Pleasant Ridge, I noticed that the aerial images have been updated for 2015 and now show the in-progress Starter Home 2.0 construction site. Below is the CAGIS image, which looks to have been taken in early April, and offers an interesting perspective of the development.

Thursday, September 17, 2015

PORCH WRAP-UP

Porch Railing & Column Wraps

Wednesday, exterior work on the front porch resumed with the completion of the porch railing installation as well as the wrapping of the columns below the Trex decking with trim. Below are some images of that progress.


Wednesday, September 16, 2015

EXTERIOR RAILINGS

Iron Railing Installation Underway

Tuesday marked the completion of the landscape wall in the front yard and the start of the exterior railing installation on the back steps and front porch. The black iron railing from Fortress Railing does a nice job picking up on the contemporary design aesthetic established with the black railings on the interior of the home and should really help tie the interior and exterior together once completed.




Tuesday, September 15, 2015

TO THE WINDOW, TO THE WALL

Window Screens & Landscape Wall

Work resumed on the Starter Home 2.0 project Monday with the installation of all the exterior window screens and the excavating, base prep, and initial laying of block for the new landscape wall. As is oftentimes the case in construction, there was a bit of an unexpected setback when it was discovered that the water line entering the house was not buried as far underground as was originally expected, resulting in a call to the water line installer to relocate the line out of the way so work on the landscape wall could proceed. However, once that was addressed a short time later, everything got back on track and progressed quite nicely throughout the afternoon. The crew building the wall was still busy working when I stopped by Monday evening to take pictures, so it will be interesting to see where they are at when I check-in on things Tuesday afternoon. Here are some construction photos from Monday's action described above.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

VISION & REALITY CHECK

Renderings & Construction Image Comparisons

With everyone gearing up for the final week of major construction activity on the Starter Home 2.0 project, I thought it would be worthwhile to step back and take a look at how things have progressed from computer renderings to built results on the exterior and interior of the home. Unfortunately, for many projects, these two images end up looking not all that much alike as budget and constructability considerations are oftentimes neglected by architects (early on in the design process when renderings are generated), resulting in eventual value engineering exercises that eliminate and reconfigure many elements of the originally proposed design. However, this was not the case for the Starter Home 2.0 project, where special attention was paid to budget and constructability considerations from the very beginning, resulting in built work that is very much in line with what was envisioned in the computer renderings.



Saturday, September 12, 2015

VENTING

Dryer Duct & Exhaust Fan Vents

With furniture delivery scheduled to occur within the next week, the finish line for substantial completion of my first home is fast approaching. The majority of the remaining work is on the exterior of the home with the driveway, landscape wall, steps and porch trim still needing some attention, but in terms of interior work, minor 'punch list' items are all that is left at this point, with many of those getting checked off the list on a daily basis. One of these recently completed items was the installation of the dryer vent duct in the basement and corresponding exterior cover plate, not only for the dryer vent, but for the three bathroom exhaust fan vents located on the rear and side elevations of the home..   




Friday, September 11, 2015

URBAN DESIGN SALON

21st Century Models for Single Family Lots

Wednesday evening I had a great opportunity to attend and participate in an AIA Cincinnati (Urban Design Committee) sponsored discussion with local Architects, Builders, and Developers, titled 'Urban Design Salon: 21st  Century Models for Single Family Lots.' The featured speakers were Doug Hinger, who is designing and developing a series of infill homes called the City Series in the neighborhoods Obryonville, East Walnut Hills, and Northside, and Darin Hall, who as Vice President of Development for the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority, oversees activities of the Hamilton County Land Reutilization Corporation and works with private and public entities to revitalize neighborhoods through land banking and programs like REACH Evanston. Frank Russell, who is the head of the Neihoff Studio and Community Design Center at the University of Cincinnati (and former professor and of mine), also spoke about some of the challenges and opportunities for infill development in the city that his studios have identified over the years.
I was happy to be able to contribute some of my thoughts and experiences with the Starter Home 2.0 project to the conversation as well, which peaked some interests among the group and helped spur some additional discussion about opportunities for future projects that I would be interested in taking on. Overall, it was a great learning experience to hear what others are doing and have done around the city, and I made some great connections in the process.



Thursday, September 10, 2015

STAIN, SPINDLES & SCHLAGE

Stair Stain, Railing Spindles & Exterior Door Hardware

As I was leaving the project site on Tuesday evening, the trim carpenters were just arriving to begin installing the black railing spindles and exterior door hardware, so I was looking forward to seeing the results of that work when I returned to the property Wednesday evening, and I was not disappointed. I was somewhat surprised to see how active the job site still was when I showed up, with the painters in the middle of applying stain to the basement stair treads to match the surrounding hardwood floors. It will be interesting to see how that finishes out when I'm back out on the job site Thursday. I'm also anxious to check-out what HVAC work went on in the basement Wednesday, since the wet steps made me decide against going downstairs to observe that progress.


Wednesday, September 9, 2015

GAS UP & DRIVE

Gas Meter & Driveway Extension

On Tuesday the gas meter was hooked-up to the home and a second section of the driveway was poured along the side of the house. I also met with my builder to discuss the logistics of adding in a landscape wall around a portion of the front yard where the concrete steps to the driveway will be poured, which will make the yard more usable, give the lot some additional curb appeal, and prevent the steps from sliding down the hill over time. Below are images of the work completed along with a sketch of the proposed landscape wall.




Tuesday, September 8, 2015

LABOR DAY LABOR

Carpet Installation & Interior Painting Work

Despite it being a holiday and day off for many laborers in the US, crews were hard at work on the Starter Home 2.0 project Monday installing carpet pads and carpeting in the bedrooms, and applying final coats of paint to the stairs, doors and trim throughout the house. With the stair stringers now painted, it is nice to see how the contrast of the black railing and white stair works with the neutral tones of the wood floor and wall color to create a signature design element for the space that helps tie the main living area together. Once the paint is dry around the steps, the black iron balusters can be installed, effectively completing the stair assembly.