METER BOX MOUNTED

Electric Meter Box Installation

One of the miscellaneous construction items from this past week was the installation of the meter box for the electric service to the home. Now it is just a matter of waiting on the utility company to hook up the service and install the electric meter itself.

SLEEPER PICS

Roof Deck 2x Sleeper Layout

Thursday at the Oakley Home 2.0 project, a series of 2x4 and 2x6 sleepers for the Trex decking on the roof deck were cut to size and laid out on the roofing membrane. Additional strips of rubber were placed between the rubber roof and sleepers to provide a better seal once the floating deck is fastened back to the roof structure.

SHELF LIFE

Knick Knack Shelf Photo Gallery

One of the features added into the Oakley Home 2.0 project is the built in shelf for shampoo, soap and other accessories in each tile surround, including a 'double wide' for the master shower. These are all in the process of being installed and below are some progress photos from Wednesday.

PIERING INTO THE FUTURE

Deck Pier Excavation and Concrete

On Tuesday while tile work continued on the interior of the Oakley Home 2.0 @ 3874 Isabella, the holes were dug and the first of the concrete piers were poured for the columns that will be supporting the rear deck. Here are a couple images of what that looked like.

UP THE WALLS

Wall Tile Installation Progress

Monday the tilers were back at work laying out, cutting, and placing the wall tiles around the shower and tub surrounds. They also grouted all the floor tile and cut in the 'knick knack shelf' for the hall bathroom. Below are images highlighting these various activities.

GOING FOR GOLD

A Path to LEED Gold

One of the more recent developments on the Oakley Home 2.0 from a LEED perspective was recognizing that with where things were falling from a LEED credit standpoint, the project was only a few points away from achieving LEED Gold Status (the second highest certification level behind LEED Platinum). In collaboration with Green Building Consulting, the following credits were identified as those worth capturing to make the leap from Silver to Gold and that I plan to pursue:

• SS 2.4 - adding landscaping (other than just turf) that is drought tolerant (2 pts)
• WE 2.1 - irrigation (up to 3 points)
• WE 3.2 - upgrade showers to all be 1.75gpm (1 add'l point)
• MR 2.2 - pick up additional materials points for local or recycled content (up to 2.5 add'l points)

DRAIN THE ROOF

Gutters and Downspouts

On Saturday the gutters and downspouts for the main roof and low roof were installed and connected into the downspout drain pipe below. Here are a few pictures of the work completed.

MUD ROOM AREA

Basement Tile Layout Strategy

LEED for Homes requires the first 3 feet in front of any exterior door to be a hard, cleanable surface such as tile or hardwood flooring. In the Oakley Home 2.0 project this meant that the first 3 feet in front of the walkout basement patio door would need to be tile, rather than carpet. That said, a small 3'x6' patch of tile in front of a door is not all that useful, which made me decide to extend the tile from the door to the basement bathroom to effectively serve as a mud room area where residents or guests could enter through the basement, take off their muddy shoes and clothes, and clean-up without dragging dirt throughout the house. This extent of mud room area tile was installed on Friday and below are pictures of the result.

PATIO DOOR

Walkout Basement Patio Door

On Thursday the Pella Impervia Sliding Patio Door was set in place in the concrete foundation wall opening for the walkout basement. With a black exterior and white interior matching the windows and 4-panel sliding door above, this latest addition to the Oakley Home 2.0 project does a nice job complementing the contemporary aesthetic of the rest of the house.

FLOOR TILING STYLING

Glazed Ceramic Floor Tile Installation

On Wednesday the tiling crew began to start cutting and laying the 18"x18" glazed ceramic floor tile in the upstairs bathrooms as well as in the basement bathroom and adjacent areas near the walk-out patio. I also selected a grout color for all the floor and wall tile, which is 'Mapei 01 Alabaster Flexcolor CQ Grout' and will fill in the gaps left between the tile spacers.

CEMENTITIOUS FLOORS & WALLS

Backer Board Installation Underway

On Tuesday the tile crew was able to start installing the cement backer board on the floors and walls receiving tile in the upstairs bedrooms. Below are the pre-tile pictures of that work.

PROPER BACK-UP

Corner Shower Pan Installation Revisited

Turns out the corner shower pan installation I blogged about a few days ago was only temporary. Why? Because first the proper backing material behind the wall tile needs to get installed, which means replacing the drywall that was put up in those areas with cementitious backer board. Cement board is especially effective in these wet areas around showers and tubs because it does not rot, warp, grow mold, or deteriorate when subjected to water.This backer board was delivered on site Monday and should be installed along with the tile over the course of the next few days. Below is a picture of the pan, cement board referenced, and corner shower area with markings on the wall showing where the drywall is to be cut-out and replaced with the backer board

SELECTION SECTION

OakleyHome2.com Selections Tab

Over the weekend I added a new tab to the Oakley Home 2.0 @ 3874 Isabella website that provides a running list of selections being incorporated into the project. The list is In-Progress with several selections still needing to be made, but it should be a nice resource for potential buyers and followers of the project to better understand what all is going into the home. Below is a screen capture of the Selections Page as it currently stands and the realtime version is live on the OakleyHome2.com and 3874Isabella.com websites.

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BASEMENT SHOWER

Corner Shower Pan Installed

One of the construction activities at the Oakley Home 2.0 project that took place in recent days was the installation of the corner shower pan in the basement bathroom. The small pile of gravel and concrete chips next the pan is the result of some additional saw cutting of the slab that was needed to center the drain pipe under the fixture. The walls of the corner shower will receive floor to ceiling tile to match the hall bath and master shower surrounds on the second floor, and a glass shower door/enclosure will also be added to complete the assembly.

2ND FLOOR COLOR TOUR

Updated 2nd Floor Video Walkthrough

Friday was the first sunny day since the interior rooms were painted, so I decided to take a new video of the second floor showing off the new colors (that I posted about earlier) and the great view from the second floor roof deck.

PANORAMA DAY

1st Floor, 2nd Floor & Roof Deck Panoramas

On this beautiful Friday afternoon in Cincinnati, I was able to make my way over to the Oakley Home 2.0 house and snap a few panoramas of the first floor living area, 2nd floor hall, and view from the front roof deck. Images below.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE NOOK

Construction Detail Sketches

On most building projects, once the full-size architectural drawings (whether 34"x22" or some other size) have been issued and approved for permit, the primary means of issuing drawing revisions is in the form of simple 8.5"x11" sketches. One of the reasons for this is that it makes it easy for anyone out in the field to be able to print and make use of the sketches with a standard home office printer. Below are a couple such sketches I produced recently detailing the construction of the second floor reading nook and the surrounding paneling. The sketch is a mixture of plans, elevations, sections and a 3D-axon view in an effort to tell the complete story of how I envision this element being constructed.

WORLDLY, REQUISITE & ONLINE

First Coats of Interior Paint Applied

The Oakley Home 2.0 @ 3874 Isabella received a splash of color on Tuesday with the interior rooms getting their first coat of paint applied to the ceilings and walls. Below is a rundown of the colors for the various spaces along with pictures and links to the Sherwin Williams paint color visualizer that gives a better view of what the true paint color looks like.

All Areas Except Bedrooms & Bathrooms: Sherwin Williams SW 7023 'Requisite Gray'

Bedrooms & Closets in Bedrooms (includes basement bedroom): Sherwin Williams SW 7043 'Worldly Gray'

Bathrooms: Sherwin Williams SW 7072 'Online'

PRIME TIME

Interior Walls Primed for Painting

Probably the only thing more boring than watching paint dry is watching primer dry, but with Monday largely dedicated to priming the interior walls for the first coat of paint going into the Oakley Home 2.0 project, that is a lot of what my site visit entailed. The following are some images of the primer drying and I promise future blog posts will be more exciting.

GARAGE FINISHES

Painted Walls & Textured Ceiling

Stopping by the Oakley Home 2.0 site over lunch on Monday I noticed the walls and ceiling of the attached garage had been painted and textured. Below are a couple pictures showing the results.

FLYER PROOF

Marketing Brochure Preview

With the Oakley Home 2.0 on a street with a lot of pedestrian traffic, one of the recommendations the Build Cincinnati marketing team had was to put a brochure box on the For Sale sign in the front yard with flyers that will give interested passers-by some additional details on the house. Below is a proof of what that takeaway piece will look like.

OAKLEY HOME 2.0 VIDEO BLOG UPDATE 17

Construction, LEED & Listing Update

This is episode 17 in a series of updates on the Oakley Home 2.0 @ 3874 Isabella project that will serve as a supplement to my other Home 2.0 Project Blog Posts.

• Topics Include: Construction Progress Update, LEED for Home Certification Status, and Listing with Real Estate Agent

JUST LISTED

Oakley Home 2.0 Now on the MLS

Yesterday the Oakley Home 2.0 @ 3874 Isabella went live on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS #1552649) with Mike Hines and the Build Cincinnati Team serving as the Listing Agent for the Property. I'm extremely excited to start this new partnership with Build Cincinnati and to learn from the Region's #1 New Construction Sales Team as recognized by the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Home Builders Association in 2016. Below are some links related to the Listing as well as an image of the freshly painted Oakley Home 2.0 exterior.

• Official MLS Listing
• Build Cincinnati Website
• Updated OakleyHome2.com

THE ANONYMOUS PORPOISE

Exterior Painting Started

On Wednesday morning, the painters arrived at the Oakley Home 2.0 @ 3874 Isabella project site to begin cleaning, caulking, and prepping the fiber cement board lap siding and trim for painting. By days end painting was well underway with the north elevation largely covered along with portions of the garage bumpout. The two colors used so far? Sherwin Williams 'Anonymous' and 'Porpoise'. Below are several images related to the day's work, beginning with a mark-up I created being used by the painters to better illustrate which paint colors go where.