The space sounds worthy* of a gorgeous statement light. But we want pics!

*yes I did that on purpose.

No photo?

Use a pro scaffold company

Protect the floor

Do not assume the ceiling box can support more than 80lbs

Check the chandelier weight & make sure the ceiling can support it

Make sure prior to ordering that the chandelier is code approved

I suspect it was omitted for architectural reasons and that the space does not need to be "enhanced" by a feature chandelier. It will probably look better to a small portion of the population without it.

For selling - you probably need something attention seeking on its own.

Here are pics from several angles. In the last two, you can see the outlet cover. It's over the stairs, which makes it a tricky place to reach.

I added the outlet "just in case". I wanted

industrial all-concrete, but the architect here

who specializes in it was unavailable.

It was to be a contrast with the "Persian Excess" style predominant in the area. For instance, the entry in a 12 bath new build across our court now being marketed.

Too Much is not Enough. (Reduced today to C$9.98M)

FWIW, here's the chandelier the first buyer of a previous worthy build added to our traditional style build.

Proably needs something - large but simple. And you know that won't be cost effective - maybe something from Sonneman?

https://sonnemanlight.com/constellation-cosmic-cube-chandelier

And hey the 30" is only $88K USD retail!

When it comes in 23 boxes, it's going to take a few days of skilled electricians (2) time.

So who's starting a Go Fund Me??

I got a quote for $9700 to insulate the lid, walls, and the floors under the hydronic tubing. I don't think I can crew up with my guys and really beat that. What sayest thou?

Ah, memories!

It's a straightforward job if the walls are straight. Calculate how much insulation and your cost. And how young your knees are!

Pumping concrete onto hydronic tubing held in place by wire mesh.

Heated walkup

And get competitive quotes!

The sub I used, as I have before, quoted "all-in" for less than half the price of competitors. The difference is he and his sons are the actual installers not "contractors" doubling the charge for the their "salesmanship." (Is there any other business so filled with this nonsense?)

@worthy did I read right, that your new house is going to be for sale? Was this always the plan or did I miss something along the way?

The 2,600 sf. basement unit was intended for our recently married daughter and son-in-law. But after four years obtaining a building permit and two years into the build, they came up with money enough to buy their own home!

8,775 sf of living space. No grandkids. No relatives. It feels like a Mausoleum. Or an empty museum of bougie aspiration.

We will likely move in though as the Canadian housing market, mirroring the economy, is hanging on the edge of recession, at best. Even our usually upbeat real estate board predicts another "stable" six months. And huge job cut figures just released south of the border are severely concerning.

• However, we will market it as available for film and TV production, which remains a very busy industry here. (I just watched M. Night Shyamalan's hit, Trap, with Mississauga mimicking Philadelphia. And, of course, Prime's Reacher. And my favourites Boys and the prequel Vought Rising, just finished filming here.)

In the past year, productions were underway on our current courtyard and this home

down the street from the new build was a weeklong setting for a major production. (Thornhill mimicking New England probably.)

@worthy I knew it was large but did not realize it was that large. I'm sure there is some disappointment for you all, and the plans you had, but hopefully when it does sell you'll find yourself a beautiful home that is more the size you now want. I can't imagine you wanting to go through this build process again any time soon.

You'd think so. But age doesn't always beget wisdom!

Haha I hear you on that! I guess that's why we are on another custom build after the experience of building my "dream victorian" through Covid. Funny thing is, that was by far, a much better experience than this one is shaping up to be.

I knew a couple with a small farm property north of Brampton, Ontario who loved their ground loop system they put in about 40 years ago.

It was neat seeing the latest heating system warming a mid 1860's farmhouse. Working in the basement they found remnants of newspapers from that era.

I started taming the 4000' of spaghetti today, framing in the chase at the back of a coat closet and furring it out a bit for some clearance from that stack.

@Kelly M read your insulation comments.... yes, it is hard to beat sub trade numbers sometimes unless your labor is free. Most insulation contractors buy more daily than a single big box store does, earning good factory direct pricing.

Hello from TN! Soon to be a third time builder and loved this forum when we built our current house in 2022. I'm delighted (and surprised) that there are still some familiar names here. Kelly M, worthy, Kat.

I do have a question please that I'm over analyzing, one that has gone back and forth for years. We are building a single level, 2,500 sqft home on 2 1/2 acres in a subdivision. We will have 9' ceilings. I'm struggling to decide on door height. I want my window headers to align with doors, but having windows at 6'8" seems so low and doors at 8' seems too high. I havent priced 7' door options, but suspect they would be more expensive than 8'. Does anyone have 9' ceilings and what size door did you go with?

Hi Joy,
Here is a picture of our 9’ ceiling with 8’ doors (and a lot of moulding).
We did 8’ doors because the rooms on the other side of the doors have high ceilings- so when you’re standing in them it doesn’t look as crowded.
We are currently building another house and are using 7’ doors on the second floor where ceiling height is 9’.
I don’t think our 8’ doors in the 9’ ceiling look particularly good from the hallway.

I love my 8 ’ doors with a 9’ ceiling. We did a simple 2.25” moulding around the door and no crown at the ceiling.

@Joy M it's good to see another familar name. It's also good to know we aren't the only crazy ones building again so soon. This board sure was a lot more active the last time we built but guess that was partly Covid related. More people at home and with more time on their hands.

Personally, I wouldn't do the 8' doors with 9' ceilings. I'd either do standard size or 7' unless you are not doing any crown, then it might look better.. We are doing 9' upstairs in our new home and will only do standard. We have the 10' ceilings on the main so are doing 8' there.

Hi AC M, thank you for sharing your perspective and the picture. I saw an 8’ door in person yesterday and it felt huge! I don’t think I’ll go that route. How has your experience been finding 7’ doors? I’m starting to call around for them now and there doesn’t seem to be many options, but this is my first choice.

Hi @Kat, it's nice to hear from you! As soon as we finished our current house my husband was ready to build again. It took much longer to convince me as I was scarred from this one, lol. Finding a lot that checked all the boxes was a challenge as well, but here we are. I appreciate your insight. I believe I’ve ruled out 8’ doors on a 9’ ceiling. Now just have to see if I can find 7' doors.

Hi Joy,
My architect has Trustile (or equivalent) spec’d in the plans. It seems that many lumber suppliers are dealers.

@AC M thankyou, I'll look into Trustile as well.

We have been approved for net metering and need to print and sign the agreement, pay the meter fee, and arrange for testing with the lineman. I need to update firmware and configure the inverter so I am ready for him. Right now I am knee deep in getting the hydronics buttoned up, some fire blocking and little things to get the OK to cover, so I can get a crew in there hanging sheetrock.
I have the master boiler room guy for the company doing the headers and equipment room design, and another plumber coming this weekend to do the rough in on the shower valves and the outside hot/cold faucets.

I will be making power before I can get final inspection :)

I love that you will have power being generated. It is also great to have easy access TO POWER on site. That makes everything easier.

And really nice idea to have at least one hot water faucet outside. Wish I had done that! (to be fair, none of my hose bibs go through the walls or are attached to the house - so would have been challenging to run them under the sidewalk.)

I used the Aquor system instead of hose bids. I really like them.HERE

Those are pretty slick, I had not seen those.

Yes having two 200 amp disconnects outside is nice. I am running a 50 Amp 240 volt spiderbox wire in through the spare 2" conduit I put in for these kinds of things. That way it is not through a propped open door or a window. It is 100' long and I can take it up the elevator shaft to whichever floor makes sense. The house disconnect is on the right with red.

They are identical 200 amp "ranch panels" with 8 spaces for breakers and passthrough lugs on the bottom. In NEC terms, these are "the first means of disconnect"

On the left, top to bottom:

Main disconnect for the future shop green.

50 amp 240V RV NEMA 14-50R in yellow.

Pair of 20 amp GFCI breaker to a pair of outlets for construction and forever, marked blue.

Brown X below is the open spare 2" to the equipment room. It now has the spider box cable through it and plugged into the RV outlet.

I can keep the house turned off and safe and have power.

below the yellow are a pair of 1" for CATV or fiber or what have you.

That strut sticks out to the left for the CATV conduit that is about 25' away to the left, waiting on an excavator to dig it over.

Over the door in the background is my personal transformer that I dug 550' of primary in, and paid 17K for. Easy for me but not for Thee, Whee!

Rather than bring power in to the <FULL> house panel and back out, I put the carport on the house disconnect there about 12' away.

I had brought out a 1/2" conduit for the Rapid Shut Down (RSD) switch for the solar panels, putting it on the front side for ready access by first responders.

Here I am giving it a little heat gun persuasion for a gentle bend to the junction box.

1/2" is very easy to bend that way, and that is about the only good attribute.

Pro Tip: Just use 3/4". It is a PITA to get much through 1/2" with a few bends in it. Not worth the hassle.

If you like copper here you go. I have a master boiler room plumber from my company here working his magic.

It will be a shame to cover it with insulation.

The red tubes are the ground loops for the heat pumps, and that manifold and valves are next weeks project.

West manifolds at the basement landing.

east manifolds at the back of the coat closet. Both sets are behind a 24x30 steel door.

Monday I will land all that red spaghetti and get it under a 30 PSI test.

The platform lift is ordered and the sheetrock will start by the end of the week.

Very neat.

But one-upping. (Not mine.)

Wow, these are some serious mechanical rooms.

Continued here.

I'm hanging around to see Kelly M.'s moat!