HVAC – Electric

Rinehart Services began work late last week on the air ducts. Its a slow process partly due to the fact the home is custom and we cut back on the size of the home which took some places away for chases. A couple small areas in closets will be framed up to hide ducts from the basement up to the main floor and some floor vents might have to be carefully located but things should work out by the end of the week. I worked in the heat over the weekend myself cutting out a 3″ drain line that blocked us from getting into the basements rec room with AC duct. Spent another 2hrs relocating the pipe myself and will have the plumbers check my work and glue it back together if it looks good to them. The extreme weather in the Fort Worth area isnt helping either. The top floor was 109′ and the basement was 101′ by mid later afternoon. It was nice to see the future wine cellar which is encased in concrete was only 88′. Im really feeling once the home is completed the basement will be very easy to control room temperatures without a lot of effort.

Electrical, Dean and I met a second time with Larry Foil who is the manager for M M Electrical Contractors Inc. last Friday. We talked about the plan and my request for installing sub panels in the basement and pool pump room. It looks like were going to bring in 400 amp service and supply the panels with 200 amps each.

Im having them install dedicated sub panels in the basement (pool pump room & main living) will mostly help with having the breakers local and not having to run upstairs for any electrical issues. Larry’s crew should show up later this week and wire up the main and top floors. I will wire up the basement myself mostly to save a little money and because I enjoy it. They will check my work before inspection.

Solar Power System, We are still looking at installing a 6KW Solar electric system on the south side of the home with the ability to expand its capacity at a later date. Texas took away our rebates some years ago, Im blaming the coal and natural gas sectors for that one, but were going to do it aways. Since nobody really installed solar electric in North Texas due to lack of interest and also the one of two quotes I got back was over $55K I’m going to do it myself for much less and have the electrician do the final connect. So far I have a good quote for the 6KW system with a battery option quoted and pending any other discounts I will list there name on the homes web site soon.

Garage floor

June 10, 2008

Today the last of the concrete was poured, Garage floor and the two caps for the front pourch and under the study.
With the hot temps Im wetting everything down every few hours for atleast 3-5days so the concrete doesnt dry to quickly.
Lumber is scheduled to start showing up on Thursday of this week and then the framers on Friday. Work will begin in the basement
then the 20″ floor truss for the main floor.
Last concrete pour

Basement floor update

June 8, 2008

The basement floor was poured Friday the 6th using just over 6 trucks. Floor was very polished and has been kept
wet since with the exception of a few hours. The drainage system is already working as water seeps out between the wall and slab draining to t$

Basement floor ready, Geo well produces water

June 5, 2008

Radiant floor plumbing was installed between the rebar in the basement today.
5 zones will be controlled for the bedrooms, bath, rec room and unfinished areas.
Tomorrow the basement floor, back patio and garage footers will be completed.

Bennett Water Well came back and installed a multi speed Goulds pump at 260′. Temporary power was run to the well
and connected. Once the house is finished the controller will be moved inside the garage.
Water presure is about 52-58 psi. Temperature was 70′ and some quick water tests showed soft water but I have to let the pump run for 24hrs so$

Basement plumbing, Radiant flooring

June 4, 2008

Rough plumbing was completed and inspected yesterday.
Toms crew covered the dirt with gravel. 2 – 1/2″ R3 insulation panels
were placed on top of the gravel for moisture barrier and to insulate the
radiant floor heat system going in. The gaps are the footers for the
load bearing walls. 5″ of concrete will be poured for the final floor.
We are going to stain the bedrooms, baths and rec room areas and most likely
the outside patio.

Basement pictures

Tomorrow Radiant floor plumbing goes down topped with another layer of rebar and possibly the concrete.

Basement french drain, Plumbing & Security

May 31, 2008

Stone was filled around the outside of the walls to complete
the french drain system on the home. More will be delivered Monday.

Plumbing work was started in the basement with the drains. Since we are going to install water retension the Tubs/Showers will use
a second drain system to the underground tank.

I installed a Toshiba network cam on the site for time lapse and security. Its working pretty good.

Basement walls

May 29, 2008

Yesterday was our third pour of concrete. All the basement walls were completed and most of
the garage footers. Today the forms are being removed and the plumbers will begin the drain lines for the two basement baths and sewer pump. W$

Basement walls, Geothermal water well

May 21, 2008

Work on the wall forms for the first pour is about completed. Concrete should start tomorrow morning.
About 1/2 of all the walls will be poured and the remaining will take place next week.
Concrete wall gallery

A Water well be drilled just in front
of the garage for the geothermal open loop system. Our driller thinks we should hit the aquifer around 260-300 feet. A multispeed
pump will be used to keep the presure steady. Its a little more costly but will help in the long term with any issues.
All the water will be piped to the reclamation tanks in the backyard then over flow down our hill into the creek.
Still waiting back on revised quotes from the Geothermal contractors since 12 closed loops will not be used.

Basement footers poured

May 16, 2008

First of the concrete footers was poured. Rebar for the walls also was placed.

Footer gallery

Footers ready

May 15, 2008

This week was setting up the footer forms for the basement. Tom with North Texas Basements was in and out all week
with his crew getting things ready for tomorrows 1st concrete pour at 7am. I also located the city water line after nobody would dig for it.