The Hartnett House

Update December 20

2008-12-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

It's almost impossible for me to believe that it's been three months since I've posted an update. It seems like mayby three weeks. Thanks to the many who have been asking about our progress. We've simply been too busy to post. Some highlights are:

We readied, showed, and sold our current home (actually we settle tomorrow). This is a lot of work, as anyone who has done it knows. For the last couple months, we've been run out of here regularly at a moment's notice so that agents can show the place to prospective buyers. We asked the Lord for the blessing of two interested parties and a generous rent back option, and this is precisely what happened. Two solid buyers with good agents (who both knew there was someone else bidding) presented contract offers the same day. The offers were similar in many respects and we chose the one with the more generous rent-back option. We will be able to stay here until February 20th.

This is all great news, since it's not easy to sell a house these days, especially with all the upheaval in the banking industry, and we didn't like the prospect of renting it for several years until the market improves. So while we got what the market will bear, this good news is tempered by the fact that this house was worth $100K more a year ago, and we had planned much higher numbers in our overall equation of selling and building. This means we'll have a much larger mortgage than planned, but we see God's provision in lower interest rates, so are heartened.

We had hoped to be in our new house by year's end, and are disappointed that we didn't make it. There are too many reasons to enumerate why things have been delayed, but all typical of building a house...mistakes to be corrected, miscues and confusion, contractor delays, banking issues, our own decision making, etc. But progress does continue...

The new house has a septic field and tank, much HVAC ducting, much plumbing and much electrical wiring. Efforts on all these fronts continue. We'd love to get the "close in" inspection in early January. We still need to install the rainwater collection cistern, and sediment control drywell outside, plus additional trenching to provide a place other than the well itself to return water to the ground from our planned open loop geothermal system.

The radiant heat tubes were finally laid in the basement and the slab poured. This allowed for stairs to be installed into the basement, which greatly improves the ability to move around and work. Stairs, likewise were installed into the bonus area above the garage. The geothermal furnace and air handlers were ordered and should be arriving soon.

Outside, the installation of 3" of foam and synthetic stucco (eifs) over the earth blocks has begun. One can even finally see the finish color - Dorset Gold. Once completed, this exterior work should make the house warmer on sunny days, when the heat can come through our many south facing windows. Up till now, it's been pretty cold in there on many days, and very muddy and messy outside. It's emotionally challenging for us to go over there at times...so much effort and money spent and such a mess with so many unsolved problems and mistakes to be corrected!

Three consistently bright spots have been Tom, our church friend and electrician, and Andy, our church friend and HVAC installer, and Anilton, our framer. They've all been very patient with me and helpful.

Inside, the earth block walls are being parged smooth with concrete and will be covered with a new product from American Clay called Enharre - a fine textured plaster.

For our praying friends reading this, please continue to ask God for favor. Cash flow management is hard now, and much physical and emotional strength is needed to finish the house, pack and move. I've been forced to do a lot of my NASA work at night since I've been so busy with the house during the day. There are still many, many things to be decided upon and bought, contractors to be compared and hired, etc. I really can't imagine us being ready to occupy before March, and so there's the very real prospect that we'll have to move twice and none of this is firmly planned out.

So here are some fairly recent pictures...

Update September 18 - Three Front Progress

2008-09-18T20:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've updated things, but we keep pushing along. Our friends from Ohio, Robert and Kristen Ream came east with their cute baby boy Bobby and Robert's brother Phil so that Robert and Phil could shingle the house. It was a hot, dirty job, but they did it cheerfully and professionally. Our framer, Anilton, commented that they knew what they were doing. A few days after they got the shingles on, we got about 4" of rain in 24 hours.
The rain delayed Renaldo Fernandes from being able to back a cement truck to the garage to pour the slab, but this was done today. Hopefully next week we can make good progress in prepping the basement slab and installing radiant heat piping down there so that Renaldo can pour that slab as well.
The three great room/kitchen skylights arrived this week too and Anilton's guys were quick to install them. Our architect recommended an electronic exterior awning option that still needs to be installed. With this option, we will be able to control the summer heat into the room from above.

Pray with us that progress will be steady over the next couple months. We are really trying to be in by the end of the year.

August 28 - Windows

2008-08-28T18:47:00.001-07:00

The windows arrived towards the end of last week. Courtesy of the K.C. Company and Pella, we were able to purchase some very well featured and high efficiency triple-pane windows for basically the price of double-paned. In most cases they are openable awnings above casements. On the back of the house you can see the bump-out that is in Lydia's room. This should be really nice and give her room a bigger feel. The final picture here shows the very nice sliding doors in the back.

Tomorrow Anilton will finish putting the roofing paper on the area above the garage. The shingles should be delivered as well. Robert Ream, a friend from Ohio is coming out this weekend and will install them during the first part of next week.

We really need to make progress on the radiant floors and HVAC system(s). I pray this happens soon.

Aug. 23nd Update - Now That's a House!

2008-08-23T17:41:00.001-07:00

It's great to see the house take shape! Anilton and his crew are really moving us along. It's also really great to have the house backfilled. Reginaldo had the footers prepared for the columns in the garage and these also went up this week. Next week hopefully we can get the basement slab poured.

Meanwhile, the roof trussses look great from the inside of the house too, as can be seen in the second to last picture. The Great Room should be a very beautiful, comfortable, and serviceable space. The last shot shows the view out the back from the Great Room. Very soon this should be enclosed by French sliding doors, with openable awning windows above. The front door of the house will also have an openable awning window above it. Having all these windows open when we leave the house on errands, should permit wonderful ventilation through the main area of the house, as the prevailing winds come Northwest to Southeast, and should blow nicely through the house.

August 6th - A Second Story

2008-08-06T19:11:00.001-07:00

I worked from home today and was cleaning the deck with Mike until after sunset, so as soon as I could get free, I raced over to the property to see what had happened. Anilton and his guys got the floor of the second story in place (no more sky views from the garage like you see in my previous post) as well as the exterior walls. What a joy to see progress!

In my mind, it's a second story of a different nature - a double entendre of sorts. This story says a lot can happen in a day, and it's a story I'm praying to hear repeated often in the days and weeks to come. The other story has been heard way too much for my liking - delays caused by poor communication or execution on the job. We still slog along with the waterproofing fiasco. The vendor rep from Tremco told me today he's never seen anything like this in the 30 years that he's been in business - a county inspector that wanted detailed documentation on how standard insulation board was installed. For my part, I like the inspector doing his job, but we need a resolution soon. It's holding up the work.

I enjoyed seeing the crescent moon (an overexposed blob in this picture) through the window of the second story. It reminded me of the overarching story of my Christian life - God's faithfulness. Here's a little poem I wrote about THAT story and the moon:

Can it be that daily You return upon me smiling?
I would hardly look for You until the darkness falling
Caused an anxious glance to find Your face - so reassuring;
Ever watching over me, Thy grace, my soul securing.

I know You're watching and that You'll be faithful to help us. Make Your name great on the property You gave us. Amen.

Udate August 5 - Go Anilton!

2008-08-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

What a difference a day or two make! Yesterday the steel girder that spans the garage was put in place as well as a wooden "cap" across the full perimeter of the house. This evening when I went by I found that our framer Anilton Rezen and his crew had framed out almost the entire first floor. I called Maureen and raced home to pick her up so that we could go back out together while there was still some daylight to get our first real "sense" of the rooms. We both did this with a certain degree of fear and trembling. It's one thing to look at plans, and quite another to "feel" the space. In the end, both of us were relieved. Though we might have wanted some parts of the house to be bigger, both budget and reason dictate they not be much different from what they are. The nine foot ceilings throughout make for a nice feeling. The studio and greatroom have even higher ceilings and should be very inspirational spaces. The study was bigger than I imagined it might be; the powder room bigger than what Maureen expected. The foyer seems ample and the bedrooms comfortable, with much larger closets than we have now.

The saga of the waterproofing inspection continues. The inspector rightly wants assurance that the mechanisms and methods used to attach the insulative panels onto the sprayed cinder block walls don't somehow compromise the seal. We're trying to get the insulation contractor and material supplier to provide sufficient documentation to satify the inspector.

July 28 - Update #2 - A Strong House

2008-07-28T18:34:00.001-07:00

Here are three pictures of the concrete columns and bond beam now that the plywood forms are gone. It looks great overall - smooth and strong. There are a few spots where the concrete got damaged a bit by the forms coming loose during pouring. Willy and the CEB crew will attend to them over the next couple of days. Today they were working on the final rows of CEBs that go on top of the bond beam in the front wall of the studio (shown in the third picture) to bring up the height of that wall to match the of the rest of the room. The studio will have a higher ceiling than in any other part of the house except the cathedral celing in the Great Room.

July 28 - Update #1 - Now That's More Like It!!

2008-07-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

Potomac Waterproofing made good on their promise and came back today to fix the basement water proofing that had to be left unfinished until the CEB walls were finished with the concrete pour. It looks great. The yellow board is a 2" thick layer of fiberglass board that's designed to allow water to preferentially pass down the plane of the wall rather than through the plane into the house. It's also insulative, and will help keep the inside of the basement wall warm so that no dampness occurs from condensation on the inside. Once we get the county to reinspect it, we should be able to backfill around the house. What a milestone this will be!!

Udate July 25 - Pour on the Progress

2008-07-25T15:08:00.000-07:00

It looked a bit like a carnival ride, but an extensive pumper truck combo came to fill the columns and bond beam today with concrete. The operation went pretty smoothly overall. Only in a couple of spots were the plywood forms that suspended rebar inside not quite strong enough to hold the weight of the concrete and needed extra reinforcement.

In the fourth picture down, you can see one worker steering the nozzle to fill the form while his helper smooths the top with a board. The workers set hardware anchors at pre-engineered spots which will receive the roof trusses. In the last picture you can see our two anchormen themselves, Chad Hackmann with UBuildIt Bethesda (project management services) and John Spears of Sustainable Design Group (our architect).

It's a relief to have this portion of the project finished. As soon as the concrete dries, the plywood forms can be removed. This will enable the waterproofers to come back and finish their job on the basement walls, and then they can be backfilled, so you won't need to cross a plank to get into the house. Our framer can then also continue his work on the second story area above the garage, frame the first floor and basement and install the roof. We'll get the lumber order for that ordered first thing Monday. It'll arrive by Wednesday or so. We ordered the roof trusses today. They will arrive in about a week and a half.

Lord, give us good weather to continue. Amen.

Update July 21 - Ugh

2008-07-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

A week and a half ago we were encouraged by the parged basement walls and looked forward to getting them waterproofed and inspected so that we could backfill around the house. This, we thought, should enable the CEB guys to finish their last step easier - pouring the concrete for the bond beam and columns.

So the waterproofers came out, but didn't really finish the job because the wooden forms for the columns protruded down over the cinder blocks. So they left parts of the wall uncoated, and much of the insulating board only weakly secured. Then we got 2 inches of rain, and many of the boards collapsed and broke from the weight of the water. So in hindsight, we should have finished the upper walls first, and then done the waterproofing.

The waterproofing company has agreed to come fix everything when the upper walls are finished. We'll then have to get things re-inspected, since the county failed the inspection this first go-round (we weren't able to cancel the inspection in time - and of course the inspector showed up in the morning rather than the afternoon when we scheduled him to come) Double ugh!

We really pray to be able to finish the concrete this week. All we need is one good day with everything and everyone organized. We then can place the truss order with some confidence. It will take about a week and a half to get to the site. Meanwhile, Anilton Rezen, the framer, can work to put the second story above the garage and get everything ready to install the trusses when they arrive.

We're still collecting bids for the radiant heat/geo-thermal system. It's expensive, and it's been really hard to "pull the trigger" on a contract, but we must do this soon.

I'm reminded of the hardships that the Wright Brothers persevered through as they sought to be the first to master powered flight - bad weather, bad help, delayed hardware, broken parts, etc. etc. Yet they could see something in their mind's eye that kept them going. I can see a beautiful, functional house of creative energy, love, and fruitful ministry. Lord, protect what you've begun. Give us knowledge and wisdom in every new decision. Oversee and overcome our weaknesses. Send us those you've ordained to work on the project. Glorify yourself to all though your evident, supernatural help. Amen.

Update July 10

2008-07-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple shots of the parged foundation. It looks really nice to see something that looks semi-finished! Tomorrow the water proofing company is scheduled to come and cover the parged areas with black water proofing goop and then some fiberglass drainage board that acts both to water proof and insulate the basement.

The middle shot shows Maureen doing her first inspection from INSIDE THE HOUSE (taken on Monday). She's standing in the master bedroom discussing the doorway to the back of the house.

The last shot shows the house as it looked this evening. The wooden trays for pouring the concrete bond beam and columns are nearly complete. The yard contains a bunch of CEBs that we plan to use later for things like raised gardens.

I can't wait until the foundation is waterproofed (tomorrow!) and inspected (Monday, I hope). Then we can begin to backfill the moat around the house. This will make everything easier and safer. Lord help us daily. Amen.

CEB: A Day In The Life

2008-07-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a short video mike edited showcasing a day in the life of a CEB (Compacted Earth Brick or Compressed Earth Block). Every brick in our new house has been made "on location" using the dirt from our very own land. Once the blocks are faced with some insulation and stucco, they form walls that carry an R value of 50 and provide "thermal mass" to the building to help keep the internal temperature consistent. They are also fireproof, pestproof, and soundproof -all qualities that attracted us to using them.

The day this video was shot a 6 person crew made a record 950 bricks! This coming Monday (July 7th), will mark the final day of CEB production. This is an important milestone on our way to a new home. The Green Machine™ has done its job.

July 2nd Update

2008-07-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the earlier post, Lyd. Keep 'em coming.

I took these shots today. The first shows the base of one of the columns where rebar is anchored into the cinder blocks with cement. The rebar struture then comes up the column area and gets tied into more rebar that goes across the top of the CEB walls. Once all the rebar is in place, it will be surrounded by plywood forms that will hold concrete that will be poured into them, actually forming the columns and the bond beam.

The rebar has to be inspected before the pouring takes place. This should happen tomorrow, when Bob Fuller, the structural engineer, plans to visit the site. Conduit and wires for electrical switches must also be placed and inspected in the columns before they are encased in concrete. This way we won't need conduit along the inside of the CEB walls running to light switches.

We'll also start parging the basement walls with concrete so that early next week we can get the waterproofing contractor out to waterproof and insulate the basement walls as well as place draintile (really drain pipe) along the footers of the house. Once this all gets inspected by the county we can backfill the moat that's around the house right now making it much more approachable and easier to work around.

We ordered the windows yesterday which should be delivered in 4-5 weeks. By then the house should be under roof. Wow, it will really seem like a house then!

Meanwhile the barn swallows were swooping in, around, and out of the house today through every door and window opening (and of course over the roofless walls). It was cute to watch them land and glean a few crumbs leftover from the workers' lunches earlier in the day. Wow, how can they see those miniscule crumbs soaring and diving around as they do? God's given them remarkable eyes.

I'm reminded of Psalm 94:8,9 "Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, does He not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see?" Lord, I know you see everything that's happening on our project and that you hear our petitions for your help, favor and blessing. Be pleased to glorify yourself through all that's taking place there now and in the future. Our hope is in you. Amen.

p.s. The pump started working again, and no one knows why.

More Photos

2008-07-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's Lydia (Kevin's daughter) writing for a change. Mike and I went to the property about a week and a half ago to document the progress in our own way - Mike with video and me with photos. They were making the good old earth bricks that day so I thought I'd go through a little photo tutorial of how they're made step by step. You can see that at the end of the post. First, here's us and a few higher quality images of house...aka not from dad's camera phone :) Remember this is from nearly two weeks ago so the progress is even farther now! Yay.

Oh and the top two images our from our yard. Umm, yeah, it's gorgeous.

our first picture at the new house!

And ta da!! That's how they're made. Go here if you want a more technical explanation...I prefer to speak in photos. :)

June 24 Updade

2008-06-24T20:59:00.001-07:00

Here are Reginaldo and Chad. Reginaldo Fernandes is our foundation subcontractor. He was responsible for the excavation, pouring the footers, and putting up the cinder blocks walls His group will also pour the basement and garage slabs. It's quite a bit of tough, hard work. His cousin Guina was actually the foreman of our project until he proved unreliable and Reginaldo stepped in to manage the job. Under his leadership, things have proceeded very well.

Chad Hackmann is with UBuildIt Bethesda and serves us by providing a variety of project managment services, chief among them cost estimation and solicitation/coordination of bidders.
Among other things, I really appreciate his encouraging demeanor, positive attitude, and daily responsiveness. I can tell he really wants this project to succeed. Our architect had recommended him. He's worked with him on other jobs. Our construction loan lender, National City bank, was also very glad to learn UBuildIt Bethesda was a key part of our team. They told me that they found his projects stayed on schedule and budget.

We met at the site to coordinate the final blockwork and get ready for the waterproofing subcontractor who is scheduled to come on Friday. the architect and electrician were also out there coordinating things. Tom, our electrician confirmed that the pump sensor seemed to fail, explaining why the pump stopped giving water. Chad will follow up with the pump and sensor provider tomorrow. While we were all there, a large dump truck from the College Park area came with a load of fill dirt. We had solicited for dirt on Craig's list and a number of folks have responded. There's alot of fill that we want to do to allow entry front/back at grade level.

So we need to finish the blockwork this week, clear the debris around the house, waterproof and insulate the foundation, fix the pump, order the windows and exterior doors, order the roof trusses and shingles, coordinate the installation of electrical boxes into the CEB concrete columns, keep the fill dirt coming, and in our spare time research tile for the front foyer, revise our kitchen cabinet order, and keep looking for bathroom vanities, closet organizers, central vacuum installers and acid staining subs. Oh, did I mention finish painting our current home, reorganizing the garage, and taking stuff to our rental unit? Chad will work the stucco quotes, solve a few loose ends in the basement, nag the bidders about the radiant floor quotes, and generally try to stay ahead of things.

Lord, we commit it all again to You. Establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90).

June 23 Update

2008-06-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

The top picture here is of the pump controller and tank. I haven't taken the time to understand why, but the constant pressure pumps use a very small tank. Anyway, I'm glad to report we got our first water from the system a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, what worked in the morning that day, stopped working in the afternoon, and we don't know why. Tom Ondulich, our electrician, plans to check it out again tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile more progress can be seen on the CEB walls, though the day was shortened somewhat by the threat of thunderstorms. Lydia thinks our house looks like a castle - moat and all. She's really quite correct, but I hope that overall look changes dramatically in a couple of weeks. The second picture above shows a view along the east facing wall with blocks removed to redo the garage window openings to the correct size. While no one likes mistakes, the fact that the CEBs are dry stacked gives you the chance to rework errors a lot easier than if mortar was involved.

The third shot down gives the view towards the northwest. You can see the crew has begun placing the wood frames that will help to hold the concrete forms for pouring the reinforcing concrete columns and bond beam across the top. The fourth shot down shows the view looking east with Mike's bedroom window on the left, Lydia's on the right, and their bathroom window in between. Next to the wall, happy as clams in the surf, are a stack of earth blocks. The gentle rain moistens them nicely, helping them cure and come to full strength. The rain, while a trouble on one hand, is compensating for our non-working-at-present pump. Lord, You know all. Watch over our house to make it strong and serviceable. Bless those working on it. Give them wisdom, strength and success. Help us to be in by the end of the year. Amen.

Update June 18

2008-06-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

We had no blocks at all along the east wall yesterday. This evening you can see nine nicely stacked courses. The crew seems to be getting better and better at manipulating the blocks. Progress was also made on the other side of the house in the studio, where you can see the clear story window bucks which will give Maureen her highly-desired northern light in the studio.

The plumber said he'd be out in the morning to try again to install the pump in the well. It's generally thought that the first attempt was hindered by torque clips catching on a section of liner deep in the well shaft. Oh the things you learn when building a house! What's a torque clip look like anyway?? I'll be happy if, by the end of the day, we can use our own well water to spray down the CEBs at night.

June 17 - Post 2 - This One's for You, Dear

2008-06-17T19:13:00.001-07:00

Knowing that you want a new dining room table, and recognizing the CEB crew's very significant carpentry skills, I hit on a great idea - here it is - a low cost, highly functional VERY STRONG, brand new, dining room table! Whad'ya think? It's tall enough that you don't even need chairs - saving both space and money. It'll look good with just about any kind of tablecloth, and we needn't budget as much for furniture!

Now aren't you glad (again) that you married me? What a catch! Love, Kev

June 17 - Post 1- A World Record Set for CEBs!

2008-06-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Aided by the cooler weather, and benefiting from several weeks of learning the art, the CEB crew set a world record today for a single day's production - 950 high quality blocks. Amazingly, most of this work was performed by just four individuals. The other two members of the 6-man crew were up at the house using the bricks (along with some older ones) to make the walls. We are very grateful to God for the crew's commitment to hard work, their efforts to keep the worksite clean, and their obvious interest in being efficient with materials and time - thus helping to contain the cost of this portion of the overall project.

For the next few days, we can use extra hands carrying the CEBs to the walls. Please call me at 301-792-7413 if you can help out.

Update - June 16

2008-06-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

I don't have any real good new pictures today since it rained right before I got to the site and it was so muddy I couldn't easily approach the house. I did go over yesterday, however, and all the bucks were remade to the right sizes and fastened in place. Today from a distance, it looked like the crew had once again encased the window bucks in CEBs, so effectively we're back to where we were on Saturday, only this time the window sizes are correct.

Tomorrow should be much cooler and better for work. Michael will likely go over sometime to get video of the crew working.

The picture above is one I took yesterday of the basement area that Michael will use for his filmmaking business. It should be very pretty and quiet.

Update June 14 - Mistakes Caught

2008-06-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

It looked like we had a good two days of work, despite the heat. Unfortunately, looks were deceiving. Not that the workmanship was poor, but poor communication, and assumptions took their toll. Thursday the architect came by to check the windows. He seemed primarily interested in the height off the floor, which is what I saw him measuring. I had my own tape rule in hand, and purposed to check the windows myself. But John was "on it" and I went over to meet and work with the plumber. And then I got so hot, I decided to not to go back and do my own checking. Today I went out and found that the CEB workers misunderstood that R.O. (rough opening) on the plans did NOT mean the opening in the block for the window bucks, but the inside dimension of the bucks themselves when properly placed in the walls. In other words, the holes for the windows made in the last two days are three inches too small in width and height. Willie was surprised, expecting that the architect would have caught the error, but agreed that they needed to be redone. He's going to have members of the crew there tomorrow correcting things.

Meanwhile, I walked over to look out the kitchen "window." This is what Maureen can look forward to. It may be that the trellis out the back helps to hide the power lines. Oh - we'll move the plastic entagled dirt mound for her too.

June 12 - Post Three - Please Come and Help

2008-06-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

We'll be working a full day on Saturday and can use many hands to carry the earth blocks from the machine to the wall where the workers can concentrate on placing them. As the walls get higher, the workers will also need to be on scaffolding, so getting the blocks up to them becomes all the more important to keep the work flowing well. Please call me (Kevin) on my cell phone (301) 792-7413 if you can come out to help. You'll be part of something historic, as we're the first full house in the state of Maryland to use this particular CEB technology. Remember to bring sunscreen, water and work gloves!

June 12 - Post Two - Pump and Problem

2008-06-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

The other new work done today was running water lines from the well into the house. The first shot is of Herb Dennison. He's our plumber. He and his son, Herb and helper Kevin came out and dug the trench from the well to the house and ran pipes into the foundation. There's two pipes because we anticipate installing an "open loop" geothermal system which runs the well water through the radiant heat flooring and then back down into the well. We can get away with this because our well is so deep - 360 feet (where it's cool) - and so productive- 13 gallons per minute during the yield test. It was nice that John Spears and Herb were there at the same time, as they were able to strategize some about the eventual design of our rain water collection system and how to effectively pipe it around inside the house.

We really hoped to have the pump installed and flowing water available by the end of the day to more easily keep the earth blocks damp. Unfortunately, as the Dennisons ran piping down into the well casing, they hit something that they couldn't pass about 140 feet down. Something (a rock?) has fallen down the well and is preventing passage of the piping. I'll have to call the well installers first thing in the morning and see what we do next. Hopefully they will be able to clear the well quickly and easily.

June 12 - Post One - Overall Progress

2008-06-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

We made good progress on the walls today. Danny Mays and Michael helped from late morning to early afternoon; Ken Woodward and his son stopped by at mid afternoon for a couple hours. The extra hands do make the work progress faster. Image #2 above shows workers building the studio wall. John Spears had just come by to check progress and give some guidance to the crew. Chad Hackmann also visited the site, checking on the progress in the basement where he found one of the window bucks needs some adjustment. The next two views just show progress on the west and east (garage) walls, respectively. I took the final shot sitting in the studio looking toward the door where Maureen's art students will eagerly arrive for class in about 7 months.

Update June 9 - A Blisteringly Hot Day

2008-06-09T18:04:00.001-07:00

Here's how we looked this evening. You can see that the pile of ~5000 CEBs that were made last week is dwindling. Willie told me they'd probably be making more bricks tomorrow. Some progress was made everywhere around the perimeter of the house, but with the afternoon heat index well above 100 degrees, it's not hard to imagine the crew was moving a bit slow today. Tomorrow's supposed to be another scorcher, but we should get some relief by Wednesday.

The second picture shows the progress on the west wall, looking north. The third picture shows the view along the front of the house looking east, toward the garage. The fourth picture shows it's still quite muddy in spots around the work site. We got enough quick winds and rain in the last thunderstorm to cause another small mud slide along the south wall (5th picture). We'll have to have this dug out to place the foundation drains that are part of the water proofing system. Our tent canopy got damaged too - not too surprising with all the winds - but it's still functional.

I asked John (the architect) and Chad (the UBuildIt Project Manager) to hold a telecon with me on Wednesday afternoon to make sure we're all coordinated. There's alot going on, and we need to stay in sync. Hopefully by month's end, the foundation will be waterproofed and backfilled, the walls will be up, the roof trusses will have arrived, and our windows will be ordered. Not to mention the well being activated, the electrician placing boxes in the concrete columns before they're poured, and perhaps the basement slab being poured (not before the insulation, rough-in plumbing and radiant heat components are put in place). We've also got to schedule the septic field folks, get the sprinkler system contractor started on their design, and get the
roofers lined up (and probably a bunch of other things I'm not thinking of...). Lord help us all!!

Next Week a Good Week to Help

2008-06-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

Friends following the blog should know that the coming week should be an excellent one to drop by and help out for an hour or two. The CEB crew will need to be "fed" blocks from the stacks made last week that are still sitting on the ground. Sometime later in the week, we'll be making more blocks. I'll keep you posted daily on when this will happen. It's really fun to watch the machine work, and hopefully we'll take the blocks right off the machine to the wall.

Email me at GburgHnetts@comcast.net or call me on my cell phone 301-792-7413 and let me know when you can help. I'll coordinate with Willie so he knows you're coming. If you work 4 hours or more, let me know and we'll pay you.

June 7, A Good, Hot, Work Day

2008-06-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

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Michael and I (Kevin) along with friend Peter Dunne went out to the worksite a little after 7am. The work crew had just arrived and were setting up for the day. It was very foggy, which was nice, as it kept the sun at bay for a few hours. The first order of the day was to make a bridge across the "moat" to the house. It will be nice when the water proofing and backfilling of the foundation with dirt is finished. Meanwhile, to work on the house, you have to cross a plank which gets treacherous if you're carring anything heavy - like earth blocks.

Willie took a scrap piece of floor joist and some plywood and fashioned a nice ramp (complete with a handrail - see first picture). He also mounded up some dirt with the Bobcat to make the ramp not too steep. It works perfectly.

Willie's CEB crew was deployed all over the perimeter of the first floor stacking blocks. Mike, Pete and I loaded the scoop of the Bobcat with blocks and then parked it at the foot of the ramp where we could unload it more easily. Yes, that's Pete at the controls of the Bobcat. He's used a before, so Willie trusted him to move it around. Truth be told, I dont' think I carried more than about a dozen blocks across. By that time it was getting very hot, and my poor old body couldn't take the heat.

The CEB crew used chalk lines and care in lining and stacking the blocks. Partial blocks, where needed were made by using a strong blade on a generator-powered circular saw.

We stayed until around noon. The crew worked for a few hours after lunch, but were gone by mid afternoon when it got quite unbearably hot. We had a thunderstorm this evening. I hope everything is safe at the site.

2008-06-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

We lost a day of work yesterday because of the severe weather, but thankfully nothing bad happened out at the site. The small shade canopy didn't even blow away. The cinder blocks tied to the corners did their job. No one was there when I got there this evening, but it looks like the two work crews had a good day.

The top picture shows how Reginaldo (I need to get his picture) and the cinder block crew moved up the basement window that was placed too low. The next picture shows how they also prepped the rest of the basement windows to have concrete structural beams poured above each of them (per the architect's specification).

Willie and the CEB crew made good progress building up the garage walls and placing window bucks where the east-facing windows will be placed. You can see the area to the right of the southmost one where they'll pour a reinforcing column. It looks like Willie may have sprayed the walls down shortly before I got there. They were drying unevenly.

The final picture is the same wall viewed from the other direction, but not showing the window bucks. What also doesn't show is that the site was a muddy mess today because of all the storms yesterday.

I decided to take off from work tomorrow to catch up with many things. I hope to go over to the site with Michael in the middle of the afternoon to see whether we can help stack the CEBs. It looks like Willie is planning to finish the garage before setting the perimeter of the house with CEBs. I'll confirm this tomorrow.

Another June 3rd Update - Volunteers Stand Ready!

2008-06-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

We met with the CEB foreman, Willie, this evening at our Cinnabar home, trying to lay out the most efficient, cost effective way to build the CEB walls using a mix of paid and volunteer personnel. It looks like we will be in a place to really benefit from the help of volunteers this Friday, June 6th and Saturday, June 7th. Please let us know if you can help. The task will mainly be carrying bricks to the wall. They're not light - about 20-25 pounds each, so the job is not for everyone. Even if you can only come for an hour or two, please come out and see what's happening. I'll keep you updated with the Wednesday and Thursday posts of this week.

Update June 3rd - A Step Backward; a View Forward

2008-06-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

It was a day of solving self-inflicted problems. Through miscommunication among the members of the foundation crew, one of the basement window openings was set way too low in the wall. This should be corrected tomorrow, weather permitting. Likewise, the architect had decided to add a reinforcing column in one of the CEB garage walls that was finished yesterday. Again, something not adequately communicated, resulting in blocks needed to be taken out of the wall to allow space for the column. We'd love to waterproof and backfill the house to make it easier to work on the walls, but we're delayed trying to get a better price on the waterproofing job. It's almost time to order the windows, and we need to meet with the architect to pick the exterior color of the house, windows and roof. It's hard to know whether we can afford the metal roof that our architect prefers. Oh yeah - still have to get the well pump going so that we can keep the CEBs damp on dry days. Today it just seems like there's 6 things to do and 7 to think about.

So I climbed up onto the first floor deck of the house and dreamed a bit. The third picture above is what the view from the Great Room will look like - minus the dirt mound and plastic. The rye grass is partially harvested and the swallows dive low through the field. We will have a great place to live in and minister out of in just six or seven months. God help us get there.

Update June 2nd - Willie and Watering Walls

2008-06-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

Here's Willie, the foreman of the CEB-making crew. He's standing in front of the first wall made from the CEBs - the north wall of the garage. Actually, the wall's not finished. It needs to go up about a third higher and get topped with a bond beam between two concrete pillars that holds it in place.

In the second picture, Wayne Nelson says "good bye" to the blocks by wetting them down. They need to stay damp for about a week to cure most effectively. Wayne is leaving Willie in charge now to complete the effort. He's off tomorrow to be with his son in College Park as he competes as part of a team from Georgia in the 2008 World Finals of the Odessey of the Mind. From there they head back to Georgia, and then to Brazil where his wife was born. Meanwhile, we hope to have a pump installed soon in our water well to facilitate spaying the blocks down.

We learned today that several correctable errors were made in the foundation - a wrong window height, an offset in the pad location for one of the support beams, and missing headers over the window openings. I'm told these thing are "par" on the building course, but they're never happy discoveries. In this case, we hope it won't cost much in time or money to fix them. Lord help us catch all the mistakes before they're really hard - or impossible - to fix.

Like the Terracotta Army

2008-05-31T21:02:00.001-07:00

Standing like figures from the excavated Chinese Terracotta army, our compressed earth blocks- formed from the very ground around our home- stand ready to be placed into service guarding our interior space from the environmental hazards outside. When faced with foam and stucco, the walls are about a foot thick with an R value of 50. They also provide thermal mass to our house, helping to keep it at a consistent temperature. The top blocks are dark because they were just rained upon. It's good to keep the blocks damp to allow the cement that gets mixed and pressed with the earth to cure.

The Master Mind - John Spears

2008-05-31T20:46:00.001-07:00

Here's a shot I took today out at the property of our architect, John Spears. His company is called the Sustainable Design Group. He's been a pleasure to work with. We seemed to be on the same wavelength with him from the first time we met. Like any good architiect, he's thought about things enough to have informed opinions on things, but he is pragmatic, and has demonstrated a consistent effort to produce an attractive, functional, energy efficient, healthy, and affordable house for us. He loves to experiment and continually find new solutions to architectural problems. He has a very comfortable and energy efficient house of his own, along with a separate office/studio building. It's a real blessing that he's located only about 5 miles north of us in Gaithersburg.

Update May 30th

2008-05-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Here's where we stand today. The first floor deck is just about complete. We should soon be able to move around and build the exterior walls by setting earth blocks in place. The trash dumpster on site is starting to fill with cement bags, water bottles, protective plastic, pieces of cinder block, and now carpentry scraps. We'll have to order a "pull" soon to get a fresh one.

The support columns are nearby, still needing to be installed. They will hold up a pretty heavy house. Tomorrow the CEB crew will be back at it around 6:30am and will work until it looks like rain. Thunderstorms are forecast for the afternoon. We'll work to cover the cover the deck with large plastic sheets before it starts.

May 29 - How Did He Do It?

2008-05-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

Meet Anilton Rezen. He's our framing carpenter. He's been in the business for about 20 years, and has framed various Winchester homes in Hadley Farms where we live now. Could it be that he has actually worked on our old home as well as our new one??!! Very possible and very amazing! What's also amazing is that our foundation guys, our CEB crew, and now our framer are all Brazilian. Maybe Michael can recruit some of them for his soccer team - they really love the sport.

Anilton's assignment for this week is to get the first floor deck on the house. Don't ask me how he did it, but these amazingly large and heavy steel beams lying in the weeds this morning were set in place by the afternoon. As I was standing there talking with him this morning, Smitty's lumberhouse brought by another load of lumber - just what Anilton was waiting for!

One of the other things Aniton's crew is doing is placing window "bucks" in the window openings. These are sized to take the windows. Our new home will have lots of windows, so this I'm sure of: we will definitely need a few more bucks to complete the job!

Daily Update - May 28th

2008-05-28T20:36:00.000-07:00

Here are four shots I took on my way home from work today. The first is of a new Green Machine that was brought to the site today- a more powerful and reliable one than the one we started with, which seemed finicky, and actually broke down a few times. The new one is much better. The crew has learned which soil from the site makes the best bricks too, so today's bricks (second picture) are noticeably more uniform than yesterday's.

The foundation crew was also on site pouring concrete into the cinder block walls. They pour down the holes every 32" or so and drive a piece of rebar down the length of the wall. The last picture shows some of the finished area. This concrete will set up overnight, allowing for the framing carpenters to begin adding the first floor deck tomorrow. Maureen ran over to the site this afternoon to meet and pay the guy delivering the steel poles that will help support the house from the basement. She marveled at how he could back his big rig all the way from the Denit Estates Drive cul de sac. I guess he was afraid he wouldn't be able to turn around once he got to the work site.

Tomorrow the CEB crew will continue pressing out blocks and setting them aside to cure. The team is very efficiently sized for what its doing now, and I have to say that adding volunteers or other paid workers at this time probably wouldn't make the job go any faster. Where we'll need extra help is when the first floor deck is on, and we begin carrying blocks to the wall, while continuing production. We'll know better tomorrow or Friday, but it looks like the first day this could happen may be Saturday.

How to make a CEB

2008-05-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

You start with dirt. It turns out the best quality dirt for making CEBs at our site is a clay layer about a foot thick located just under the topsoil. If you go deeper, the soil becomes too sandy. It's really great soil for growing things - and hardly any rocks - but not as good as the clay for making CEBs. You want the clayish soil to be fairly dry.

Next you break out the sand and Portland Cement to mix with the soil. Cement is about 5-8% by volume, the sand is added to help get the right consistency for the whole mix.

Then you put them all into the mixer according to the recipe. Once thoroughly mixed, the mixing bowl is tipped over and dumped out on the ground where it can be scooped into 5 gallon buckets.

The buckets are then carried to the hopper of the Green Machine, where they're dumped through a coarse screen into the brick-making area. The machine does the rest automatically, pressing out a brick in about 10 to 15 seconds and pushing it out onto the conveyor belt where they can be taken and stacked to cure. They cure best if they're damp, so they're sprayed down and covered with plastic. For now, they're just stacked on the ground. Once the foundation and first floor deck are finished, they'll go straight from the machine onto the wall where they'll cure. They become pretty hard with in two hours, but Wayne likes to give them a full week to really set up completely.

Compressed Earth Block Production Started!

2008-05-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

Meet Wayne Nelson. He's the "guru" of compressed earth block (CEB) production with the Green Machine. He's a good friend of our architect. They have teamed together on other jobs using CEBs for international housing with the Habitat for Humanity. Wayne lives in Americus, Georgia, but came north to train a local crew in the art of CEB making. Normally Wayne would be on site the entire time , but has other commitments after June 6th, so needs to get the team started now while he's available. The crew is just stacking the bricks in a pile. They will be moved onto the wall of the house once the foundation and first floor deck are complete.

A Call for Help; a Chance to Learn

2008-05-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

Pictured here is the Terra Built Green Machine. It is a gasoline-powered device that compresses a mixture of soil and cement to form stackable bricks. This is what we'll use to form the exterior walls of our home. They weigh about 20 pounds each and stack like legos. There's no mortar needed. The walls are reinforced with periodic concrete columns and a concrete bond beam across the top (both containing rebar). Once in place, two inches of insulating foam is applied to the exterior, and is faced with stucco. On the interior, you parge with concrete, or use some other clay product (or drywall). The end result are walls that are about a foot thick, with an insulative value of R50. They are also fireproof, pestproof, soundproof and -if you care- bulletproof! We hope to have the Green Machine doing its thing in about a week. We'd love to have interested friends come join us in the "house raising." If you can work four or more hours, we'll pay you for your time. It's a great opportunity for teenagers to make a little cash and be part of something very GREEN and very memorable. Right now, we expect the house-building effort will take about two to three weeks. Watch the blog for further information and details.

Status: May 23

2008-05-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a picture I (Kevin) took with my cell phone on the way home from work (late) Friday evening. The view is facing West. Our architect calls the basement "cavernous" but we want it to house a guest bedroom and bath, a media room, storage space, a game area, and office space both for son Michael's film making business, and my own (poetry and photography).

Inaugural Entry

2008-05-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

Wow! Already the end of May, and just now documenting our adventure! By God's kindness, after 12 years of looking and praying, we purchased a 2.3 acre property in Brookeville, Maryland. This occurred in September of 2007. We hired the services of John Spears of Sustainable Design Group to design a single level, energy efficient, three bedroom home with an art studio that was also low in outgassing bad smells and chemicals.

Having arranged an 18 month construction loan to purchase the property and build, we hurried to get a building permit application into the county by the end of November when the county's impact fees went from high to outrageously high. Along the way, we also hired Chad Hackmann of UBuildIt Bethesda to provide estimation and construction management services for us.

We received our building permit on March 18th, and after getting our silt fencing in place and inspected, ordering a Jiffy John, and arranging for a construction dumpster, began excavation. Amazingly, the excavation was done in a day. Since then we've watched the cinder block basement walls go up, and are on the verge of starting the most amazing aspect of this house - making the walls from the excavated dirt!!

Above is picture of the site from May 7. The view is towards the south. The house is positioned astronomically North-South to allow for passive solar heating in the wintertime. Shortly after this picture was taken began the rainiest May on record- some 9 inches over the next couple weeks. This obviously slowed us down, but provided time to work on getting our current home ready to sell, and researching the many other decisions we still have to make about our new place.