The foundation forms were set and the walls promptly poured last week. The foundation contractor did an excellent job pouring a level, square, foundation which exactly matches the plan dimensions. This alone should make setting the SIPS much easier. However, … Continue reading
Author Archives: Mike
Environmental Exploration
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This gallery contains 3 photos.
East Coast Exploration drilled an environmental exploration hole today, which is a fancy way of saying they went searching for water! My 30-acre parcel is quite unique for Maine. It is off of Intervale Road, which literally means a low … Continue reading
Foundation Excavation
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This gallery contains 6 photos.
The driveway went in quickly and the excavator began digging the foundation hole this past week. The house site is quite large with room for construction trucks to maneuver around the house. However, the side affect of a large site is … Continue reading
Breaking Ground
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We broke ground today with the installation of the driveway! I have completed a majority of the planning, endured some last minute bumps, but today we move from planning to construction! The driveway is about 400ft long and is about … Continue reading
DIY Beam Chandelier
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This gallery contains 13 photos.
CAUTION / DISCLAIMER: If you are not comfortable with basic wiring I recommend against tackling this project. I am not responsible or liable should you fail to wire the fixture correctly. I came across the perfect chandelier a couple weeks … Continue reading
Energy Modeling
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This gallery contains 2 photos.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been working with Mark Blake to feed all of the house specs into the RESNET modeling software. The model spit out a fantastic HERS score of 44 and says that it will … Continue reading
Project Progress
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After nearly 7 weeks, on Thursday I finally closed on the construction loan for the project, did a final walk-through of the plans with the builder, and secured the building permit, plumbing permit, and driveway permit. The construction loan process … Continue reading
Air Sealing Detail Drawings
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One of the challenges of the project has been determining how best to air-seal the structure. While SIPS are an inherently tight construction method, there’s no reason not to go a step farther to maximize the SIP performance. Two of … Continue reading
Reclaimed Lumber
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This gallery contains 5 photos.
I had a chance to visit Longleaf lumber in Cambridge, MA today. They specialize in milling reclaimed lumber into beams, mantles, floors, and barn-board for walls. I visited in search of two things: information on their barn-board to supplement some … Continue reading
Selecting Floors
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This gallery contains 1 photo.
Floors are one of the most used and yet under appreciated items in a house. If you think about; you walk on them every day, they substantially affect the aesthetic of a space, and are under foot in some cases … Continue reading