Question time.

I'm gonna post another update soon showing the progression of the block work, but what I really need to get nailed down are my garage floor drains. Next week they will be stubbing in the downspout sewer drain piping and the orientation of my drains will dictate what they do.

Per my original drawing I wanted to do (2) separate trench drains running the width of the garage. Cars pulling in and out would drive over them, and they'd be located more toward the door than in the center of the garage. My builder suggested they be more toward the center, however in the third bay I wouldn't wanna be fighting the grating with jacks or roller stools. Perhaps a happy medium of not all the way centered, but atleast having 3' of concrete between the door and drain may work out best.

Anyone have any thoughts or experiences on trench drains in their garage?

Check with your local Health Department as well as any other local agency over water quality. They are not allowed in many locations due to the possibility of contamination to the groundwater by oil, gas, and other fluids used in a garage environment. Water treatment for garage effluent can get to be expensive.

Just posted another update. Block walls are up!

Sorry for the delay everyone, just got the latest update posted. 1st Floor Framing is done!

Sorry for the late notice but I posted an update to the site last week showing off the rest of the majority framing on 2nd floor, here! It's been a busy week. Gonna start getting into some nitty gritty good stuff on the interior here soon. The 3D CAD model is coming along nicely. 1st Floor is fully modeled, working on finishing 2nd floor.

thanks. it definitely is interesting to see

So the past 3 weeks have been incredibly busy and it was tough getting to posting updates so I've compiled a bunch of stuff into one big update. Check it out here! Let me know what you think.

Posted another update last night. Getting close on finishing the sanitary system which means there'll be some more color in the pictures other than that of wood! Update!

Also filled in some data on the Product's page. Check it out!

Just added an update for the radiant floor heat and there's also a sanitary update from awhile ago that I forgot to make mention of. Check them out!

Good morning! Posted an update over the weekend showcasing some plumbing and ducting installation. Let me know if you have questions!

Happy Sunday everyone! Just posted an update this morning with some pictures of siding, radiant insulation, and snow melt. Check it out and happy Thanksgiving!

We used the same siding color. I love it!

Just posted a BIG update for the holidays. Be merry!

Looking really good. Love the color of the exterior.

Savko13,. How much of a cost difference do you feel there was between a forced heating and cooling compared to your radiant and the unico system??

Thanks Cpartist!

Fred, I got your email and will respond when I've got some extra time. I've been keeping track of EVERY receipt and have tabs in my Excel sheet for plumbing, HVAC, and electrical. My scenario is going to vary from others for a couple reasons:

1. My builder bumped up our HVAC allowance from $10,500 to $11,550 to get some more in there for this system (albeit not nearly enough). The $10,500 was for the typical furnace/AC installation.

2. I'm getting contractor-use deals on a lot of big ticket stuff (ie...I'm buying the boiler for less than what the rep would quote us if we were bidding on a job, which is still less than what a normal consumer would pay).

3. I'm using a boiler that is known to be top of the line, but it's not the ONLY option for combination space heating and domestic hot water.

As it stands right now, having purchased just about all of the pieces and parts (big stuff) that I'll need, we are $16,500 over our allowance. The only labor I've paid for so far has been to some insulators to put up the foil in the joists ($560). Keep in mind too that since my boiler doubles as the domestic hot water tank that I've saved about $1,000 on a water heater in my plumbing allowance. There are also some plumbing items that I've purchased because of this type of HVAC system, like a water softener to help protect the boiler's heat exchanger from scaling, or double check, testable backflow preventers at both the water service entry and for the boiler tie-in since I will be running glycol in the mix. When the project is complete, I intend to go back and compile all of the receipts and get some break downs for each, as well as have my reps re-quote everything if a consumer were to purchase it all to see how much value I've actually installed into the home.

Lovely! How exciting. I'll be following. You're right, it's my daily dose of detailed home building. :)

Just posted a new update showing off the boiler room downstairs, as well as some other stuff happening here and there. Things are starting to come together nicely.

Mike that boiler room is a thing of absolute beauty. When do you fire it up?

Thanks Fred! We actually fired it up this past Saturday, had a small issue with the condensate drain line that kept it from staying on all week until tonight. Had to get a new ionization electrode and ignition electrodes in (5 minutes) installed and she fired right back up no problem. Will have more on that for next update. ;)

Here's a late St. Patty's Day update for everyone. Lots of eye candy this time around.

Nice.

Never knew I could be so impressed with a boiler room! That's amazing!

What are the cabinets in what I think is the master bath? (The stripey wood.) Gorgeous.

Love the kitchen cabinets too. So many great details; it's clear you have put a ton of thought and research into this. Congrats!

Talk to me about the high velocity AC unit. Price compared to typical units? How about for FL? Advantages other than those mentioned on the website? Will the air feel more evenly cool in the sense that with a traditional unit, when the air goes on, so does the sweater. Once the air reaches the temperature, the air goes off, and so does the sweater. Does high velocity fix this problem or am I still dreaming?

Chicagoans, thank you! The master bath cabinets are from Bertch and I forget what they called that "zebra wood" finish but for some reason it doesn't show up on their website. I'm glad you notice :) Details are what set one project apart from the next.

Cpartist, I'm thinking that you'd spend slightly more on a high velocity unit than a standard air handler. I don't have enough 1st person experience with it to tell you how much different it will feel. The reason it's called high velocity is because all of the branch ductwork is smaller than in a normal system, and thus the air needs to move faster to supply the same CFM to the space. Since our Unico unit's main function is air conditioning and circulation, I placed it in the attic so that the majority of the pressurized air will feed upstairs, which tends to get the warmest in the summer. And that's a product of the shorter duct runs off the main...to get to the first floor the air has to travel further, and even further to feed the basement. You can just barely feel air flow down there while in our bedrooms its a comfortable whoosh coming out of the ceiling, but nothing so loud and intrusive that would cause an issue. Honestly if I set up a camera to record the sound level you probably wouldn't even hear it.

Was able to beat my 1 month update span and get one posted sooner. Check it out!

Interesting on the high velocity. Our HVAC is low velocity specifically to have a lot of air moving constantly - but not so much that you feel any blast or air, or it creates streams of either warm or cool air. I have seen high velocity - but more in a retrofit application to take advantage of the smaller ductwork required.

Our (almost) Passivhaus application will be variable speed air handlers, geothermal heat pumps, and definitely a lower velocity / always moving gentle air to really hold a constant temp.

Your cabinet install looks flawless, by the way - it's obvious the planning and care that was taken by the perfect alignment - bravo - nothing drives me crazier than doors all off kilter. Love your idea of leaving HW OFF the uppers to clean up the look. Might just steal that one myself!

Surprisingly enough, this high velocity system isn't really blasting air anywhere I've been in the house unless you are on the 2nd floor and standing directly beneath an outlet. The outlets are all placed at the outside wall corners of the rooms so that they are out of foot traffic. In places like our kitchen and bathrooms where it's hard to avoid small corners, I used the horizontal wall outlets up high that will throw the air across the room up high and mix and fall more gradually. I think aside from placement is quantity of outlets. I haven't even added any balancing orifices yet but so long as you follow the guidelines of X amount of outlets per ton, you shouldn't have much issue with the blasting. There's also software I need to install on our laptop so that I can change some settings of the unit. One of these is that the fan can run at a lower speed during the day and if the Nest ever calls for cooling or heating the fan speed will ramp up.

Thanks on the cabinets. Upon initial install they were all off kilter but the hinges allow for adjustment. Once he got everything in he went back and made the adjustments. And yea, those uppers are gonna have items inside that we only use once a year. My wife being 5'-0" isn't gonna stand a chance even on her step stool haha.

It's been quite a bit but we are moved in and I've finally gotten around to post an update!

Still making tweaks here and there, so I've posted another update to the site!