Operation Home Build: Part Dos

[NastyStang113]

After almost 5 years we decided to start looking for a new house. We had looked for a while but everything we liked the owners thought it was the Taj Mahal but they realistically needed $50,000 - 60,000 in updating the house.

We ended up finding a great neighborhood in the city we wanted and close to everything we need. It really fit the bill perfectly. It's a 4/2/3 - 2600 sq ft so almost another 900 sq ft and the bigger garage. I would rather have a bigger yard, it's 7,500 sq ft, but it's good enough for what we use our yard for and it'll save me from having to mow more lol.

We started building, listed our house a couple months later, had it sold in 48 hours. We had eight showings in those 48 hours, it was hell, especially with the four dogs. Gonna be living in the current house until we close on our new home which is nice because I was worried I was going to have to move us twice.

Enough talking, here it is..

Forms:

Slab was poured 3” deeper:

Slab set and block up.

Trusses up and the roof sheeting started. Got lucky and got a brand new set of trusses which means they never got wet.

Roof sheeting completed.

Start of the framing.

Roof Finished:

Framing finished. HVAC + Electrical Started

Kitchen:

Family Room:

Master Bedroom:

HVAC / Electrical Finished. We did a lot of custom electrical. Upgraded fixtures, fans, etc. Upgraded to a larger breaker panel, OnQ panel, ethernet ran, security system, security cameras, low voltage landscape lighting, soffit outlets, 6 flourescent lights in the garage, 30A outlets in the garage and offices, 40+ can lights, pendants in the kitchen, wall scones in the dining, tons of extra outlets, bifold closet lights etc.

Entry:

Living Room:

Dining Room:

Family Room:

Kitchen:

Master Bed / Bath:

2nd Bedroom:

4th Bedroom:

Garage:

Got switches?

 

[NastyStang113]

Ready for Stucco / Stone:

Drywall Progress:

Living Room:

Dining Room

Kitchen / Family Room:

Kitchen:

Master Bed / Bath:

Laundry Room:

Garage:

 

[Hawgman]

Looking good man!

 

[NastyStang113]

Today they laid the driveway / sidewalk forms. Here it is with the stucco done, just needs the stone now. It's kind of hard to tell so I added the other picture for a comparison.

No Stucco:

Looking good man!

Thanks! I'm really excited. We're going to be happy living in it for at least the next 10 years.

 

[Hawgman]

I am hopefully going to "endure" this pain toward the end of the year if I can ever find a contractor/home builder that will build our plans on our property.

 

[NastyStang113]

I am hopefully going to "endure" this pain toward the end of the year if I can ever find a contractor/home builder that will build our plans on our property.

It's a good time, expect rates to go up in the next 1-2 years.

 

[ksack]

Very nice. Does anyone happen to know the insulation differences between doing cinder blocks for wall versus wood frame with Tyvek/drywall?

 

[mikeysgt]

Congrats man! Me and the wife are talking about buying a new home also and selling this one. I think right now I can get about 65k out of this one if we sold to use on a new home. I love our home, but have always wanted a new construction home. Something all new, and clean.

 

[NastyStang113]

Very nice. Does anyone happen to know the insulation differences between doing cinder blocks for wall versus wood frame with Tyvek/drywall?

Wood framing has better a better energy efficiency because you can really stuff a lot of insulation in there. I've got foam insulation in my blocks to offset that. Poured concrete is the way to go for ultimate energy efficiency and strength. I wish I could of done that! I'm trying to get a price on making one of the master closets a poured concrete room for a storm room.

I found this comparison.

Pros and Cons about Block (CMU) vs Wood Frame

Concrete Block (CMU)

• Better soundproofing
• Durability during a hurricane
• A “simple box” one-story home could be less expensive that wood frame. (Not always the case with more intense design, angles and varying wall heights.)
• Some say CMU has a better fire rating however the roof and interior walls are still wood frame.
• Better protection from termites. This is true but most builders on all homes now provide termite colony elimination systems that ward off termites and provide very sizable insurance bonds if termites strike.
• Not as energy efficient as a wood framed home
• Possible dampness in areas of the walls that can be trapped within
• Higher cost on larger, high-end homes due to more complicated design elements
• The block size dimension is wider that a 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 thus robbing a couple of inches from a room located on an exterior wall area.
• Harder to rout mechanical rough-ins such as electrical and plumbing or retro-fitting wiring

Engineered Wood Frame

• Meets building code wind requirements just like CMU homes
• Much more energy efficient due to having deep wall cavities for various types of insulation
• Allows greater freedom in design for multiple wall heights, angles, curves and other detail at an affordable level
• Improved moisture protection due to advancements in house wrapping products in the last several years

Congrats man! Me and the wife are talking about buying a new home also and selling this one. I think right now I can get about 65k out of this one if we sold to use on a new home. I love our home, but have always wanted a new construction home. Something all new, and clean.

Thanks bud. Yeah that was our thing like I said, I didn't want to spend all that money updating and renovating. Plus having a brand new home with a warranty is pretty nice. All new technology and processes are used to build it. They put in this Pest Defense system in all of the homes at 'no charge' and they actually have to pay for it. It's a system within the walls that allows them to just apply treatment from the exterior of the house in a few minutes to pump it in.

http://www.pestdefense.com/

 

[ksack]

Concrete and CMU still hold hot/cold a lot better than a wood frame. I find it interesting that concrete is overall more thermal efficient.

 

[mikeysgt]

Ive never seen a home using that method of concrete blocks before. Interesting To say the least. My mother in law is a realtor and I just asked her what she thought we could sell our house for in the current market. I was pleasantly surprised with what she said. Possibly about 75k in equity right now we could use towards a new home, and a down payment on a rental condo also.

 

[NastyStang113]

Ive never seen a home using that method of concrete blocks before. Interesting To say the least. My mother in law is a realtor and I just asked her what she thought we could sell our house for in the current market. I was pleasantly surprised with what she said. Possibly about 75k in equity right now we could use towards a new home, and a down payment on a rental condo also.

Yeah this is how we build them here generally. It's essentially what you want here unless you go with all brick or poured concrete which is damn pricey. We don't need them to survive an earthquake but they do need to withstand hurricanes and tornados. Being in real estate / construction I've always found it interesting the different types of construction to accommodate for mother nature.

Rates are going to go up in the next year probably. There was a little bit of a slip the other day even but it looks like it's fine now. I still need to lock in my rate lol. Not sure what my mortgage broker is doing. It goes through the home builder so they aren't the best mortgage brokers / company I've dealt with. I got lucky since my house was a short sale. I invested a bunch of time and money into renovating it in that other thread. So I had a bit of equity in it. Paid off all my bills and moving into a new house for the same cost. Can't beat it.

 

[skwerl]

I was fortunate to find a kick ass mortgage broker, he got me approved with marginal income documentation at 3.5% on a 30 year mortgage. If you'd like his contact info give me a holler.

 

[tjm73]

Looking really nice. Why is this tub full of water?

 

[NastyStang113]

I was fortunate to find a kick ass mortgage broker, he got me approved with marginal income documentation at 3.5% on a 30 year mortgage. If you'd like his contact info give me a holler.

Appreciate it. I've got an amazing mortgage broker I deal with typically but with the special incentives the builders offer to go through their mortgage company, it's too good to pass up. Thousands in savings in the house and I still get a rate I would get from my mortgage broker. Kind of a no brainer. If I couldn't get a rate and had to pay for the stuff on that end it wouldn't

Looking really nice. Why is this tub full of water?

They filled both to make sure they don't leak. Water was in there for almost a week and then they drained it.

 

[ksack]

Finally had time to look up the CMU vs wood frame stuff. All the articles I came across were from Florida so it's obviously a topic of contention down there. One thing your list kind touched on was moisture. I didn't even think about the swelling and rotting of the frame in that environment. Not a huge concern in the less humid parts of the country. And with regards to the insulation, one of the articles made the point that during the summer, most of the heat comes through the roof/attic areas of the house so even if you have a CMU based house, there's still plenty of room for insulation up top.

 

[NastyStang113]

Finally had time to look up the CMU vs wood frame stuff. All the articles I came across were from Florida so it's obviously a topic of contention down there. One thing your list kind touched on was moisture. I didn't even think about the swelling and rotting of the frame in that environment. Not a huge concern in the less humid parts of the country. And with regards to the insulation, one of the articles made the point that during the summer, most of the heat comes through the roof/attic areas of the house so even if you have a CMU based house, there's still plenty of room for insulation up top.

Yup, completely different construction methods for different environments. We still have some wood frame homes. They just wrap them and insulate them well. Kind of the same thing like up north with CMU basements. The concrete just loves to retain moisture and cold so they have to take major steps to waterproof. The main thing here is block is superior in regards to hurricanes / tornadoes and the threat of termites / bugs.

Here we are insulating to keep the cool in, heat out. Our attics achieve pretty insane temperatures so we have to install multiple roof ridge vents, you can see them in the pictures. I'm also going to add an attic fan that will suck the hot air right out of the attic. Insulation makes a big difference there as well.

 

[NastyStang113]

Ready for stone and to pour the sidewalk / driveway.

Entry

Living Room

Kitchen

Breakfast Nook

Family Room

Dining Room

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Laundry Room

Garage

Back

 

[ksack]

Looking good. Big fan of how open the layout is!

 

[Kenaizer]

Moving right along. How long until closing?