The Culmination

Many friends have expressed an interest in seeing our new home. Our reply is usually something like "well, feel free to drop by anytime to see it." Only a few have taken us at our word.

To remedy this, we decided to host a "free beer" party yesterday. Thanks to everybody who came. It was a fun time for all, and the culmination of a long and rewarding process for Lisa and I.

At the risk of talking into the wind, here ends the blog. If there is popular demand, we may keep it up as we continue to add details to the house. What do you say?

Anyone who is interested in a Latitude 38 house should feel free to contact me. We have a lot of good things to say about their team.

We're in!

We moved in last Saturday, Oct 31, just in time for Gray to go trick-or-treating. Almost two weeks later, the house is starting to feel like home. We hope to get some professional photos posted here in the next few weeks. Cheers to Latitude 38 for being the first construction company to ever finish one month ahead of schedule.

Lights

Where we be living

Where in the world are the Ryans living? Among cow pastures south of Charlottesville. After we move out of The Breedings basement on Oct 20, we move straight into the house. We close on our old townhouse on Thursday. Busy times.

Lighting project

Lisa and I decided to do something different. We wanted lighting for the satirwell that wasn't something off the shelf. We bought 10 cords, 5 for the two recepticles on the staiwell. We bunched the cords, twisting and coiling them so that the lights would stagger while hanging from the ceiling. The electrician will be installing them tomorrow. More pics to come.

The first two photos: Lisa and I playing tug-of-war to unkink a cord. The third photo: we walked over to MAS (a local tapas bar) for inspiration.

Tile work: included

Tile work is included in a Latitude 38 house. Jeff will even entertain weird ideas, like fake floormats made of black tile.

Concrete

We decided to create a generous parking pad in the back yard. We will also be connecting the pad and the stairway with a concrete path.

Top soil

We've been graded. A plus, Jeff.

The things we don't see

There's a lot of hidden projects in the housebuilding process. This drainpipe takes the run-off all the way to daylight on Monticello Road. I didn't even know we needed it.

Wire

Latitude has started the latitudinal wire.

IKEA

We spent 5 hours at IKEA yesterday. Jeff is a pro at ordering all of the odds and ends of kitchen cabinetry. We also got all of our bathroom cabinets and sinks there, too.

"IKEA?" you ask. Lisa and I would be the first to say that IKEA is more style than substance. Alas, we are a young family trying to afford a good looking house.

Deck

This deck is huge. We are going to stain it the same hue as the mahogany siding. The front porch will have cable railings. We designed a horizontal system of wood pieces at varying widths for the back deck.

Oak floors

We got our wood flooring for Lumber Liquidators. I recommend using them for two reasons: 1. They stock odd pieces and rustic stock (pieces with darker spots) and 2. You can't beat the price. Where else can you get hardwood floors for $.89 a square foot?

Birch Plywood Ceilings

I wasn't around to see the spray foam insulation. Here's a photo of some foam at the front corner of the house before its covered with the ceiling.

One of Latitude's trademarks that originally attracted Lisa and I to their build-style is the use of birch plywood on the ceilings. As Jeff has put it, the birch color adds a lot of needed warmth to such a big and tall space.

They use 4' x 8' sheets and leave about a 1/4" of reveal between each piece. Together, we designed the arrangement of the panels: a subway tile effect, based off of the center of the circle wall opening. Plywood will be throughout the downstairs.

Drywall

The drywall is up!

Siding

Phil on the scaffolding

The siding work continues around to the back. Once the back is complete, the whole crew will be working inside.

Drywall begins

Spray foam insulation was done on Thursday. The drywall started on Friday. This photo was taken through the dead bolt cut out on the front door. Fell free to go peep for yourself.

Siding: check

It's been a while

I've been busy. So has Jeff. Sorry for the blogging hiatus. The house will be looking radically different this time next week. Until then, check out these quick iPhone pics.

Hardie panel siding

the right side of the house

rain screen hardie panel fiber cement "iron gray" siding

detail of mahogany Certainteed fiber cement siding

The hardie panel rainscreen siding is starting to go up. The mahogany siding came in last week. All siding should be done this week! Check back this weekend for more photos. We love the iron gray color so much that we named our first born son after it. Mahogany would be a pretty bad name for a girl.

"The Circle Wall"

From the front, living area

from the back, kitchen area

"The circle wall" is the only inarticulate name for this. I think this feature is going to give the first floor a lot of distinction. From the beginning, Jeff has been 100% behind the idea. He says he's always up for one or two challenges a house.

Lisa found her inspiration for the idea in a Dwell Magazine feature about a San Francisco family that converted an old Chinese restaurant into their home. These gigantic circle openings are found in ancient Chinese architecture, but we think nothing is more contemporary that a circle inside a square.

The Views

rear view

front view

Lisa and I had originally designed the second floor with the master bedroom at the front of the house. However, after seeing the rear view from The Uhl's bedroom, we decided to change the plans. The first photo shows this view of the mountains toward the east.

The second photo shows the view from the front of the house. Charlottesville trademark mountain – Carter's Mountain – is slightly visible toward the southeast in the Fall and Winter. The primary view is Belmont Avenue and Clark Elementary School. Perfect for Gray's room.

More blue board and windows

Windows

The windows arrived on Tuesday morning. The blue boards (exterior insulation) have started going up in tandem with the the windows this week.

Roof Trusses

This house is flying up. The roof trusses were installed in a matter of 2 and a half hours today. The second floor walls went up in the last two days.

Its a lot of fun to get inside and imagine the space. The roof decking goes on tomorrow and the moat around the house will be filled in with gravel to cap off a productive week. Good work, guys. And Joey.

Here's what the house is looking like:

Front

Joey lassoing the roof trusses for the crane

Jeff perched on a truss. Dude ain't afraid of heights.

credit to Lisa

Gray was really excited about today's events

Details... Rainscreens

For a while now, I've been wondering why so many have told me that they wouldn't be able to take on a house building project. Those who have taken it on have lamented about just how many decisions there are to make. It wasn't until today that I said aloud, to Jeff no less, "I didn't realize how many decisions there were to make."

Jeff and Joey took us on a River's Bluff house tour this morning. We were looking at small siding details like lapping verses butting and corner treatments. I think we made some good conclusions.

The biggest decision was how to treat the mahogany siding. We've decided to leave a reveal between each piece (instead of lapping). This will create a black strip between each piece. The skin of the house will protect from moisture. Like many green building features, we just liked the look of it, but there are actually good reasons for the method. For example, the pad of air promotes drying.

Here's an upclose photo of a house we saw today:

This is another example of the reveal lines that the a rain screen creates: