Sights of spring

Like clockwork, it seems, the first week of February brings the first buds of new leaves on the trees of my soon-to-be-former neighborhood.

1 week for the price of 2

This past week was mostly inspections, so there's only really been one week's worth of work.

On the plus side, there's been an update in Google's maps. They are now aware of our street number, though they misplace it one house over. They also updated the photos. These must have been taken some time at the end of November or the beginning of December. That's when they had the forms with the fill in place. If you look closely, you can see that the distance from the forms to the lot line is the same on either side of the house; that was not what it was supposed to be, and it got moved. That makes it even easier to pin down the time of the photographs (though this post is going to be wrong the next time they update).


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The maps update also shows the new elementary school they built that will serve our neighborhood (and others). It's the large building just south of point B. The big construction site east of that is a new athletic complex that will serve a large part of the school district. East of that (outside the frame, but you can pan) are the middle school and high school.


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Starting at the front as usual. I don't think there's any visible change.

 

There's some more stuff sticking out the side of the house. Oh, I discovered that those insulated copper pipes are not for condensation. Well, they're not for the traditional kind; those will go out to the condensers for the central air conditioning.

 

Backyard hose bib.

 

I don't think the door was painted before.

 

Got stuff sticking out over here, too.

 

Like this. I have no idea what this is for.

 

Water coming in and another hose bib. Not sure what the black and blue wires are, and the wire coil at the top is of course still power entering the house.

 

This here is something interesting. Texas is generally a warm place, and that means critters. Nobody likes filling their house with dangerous chemicals, plus it's inconvenient.

This a new thing that some builders are doing to avoid that hassle. This thing here is the access point to a pesticide distribution system. From here, the pest control company can inject whatever critter killer is necessary. It gets distributed throughout the house via a network of these little tubes. The best part? It all stays inside the walls. There's no need to spray the living areas or drill into the walls or anything like that. Of course, this house is going to be a lot more tightly sealed than the house we live in now, so hopefully, there will be less need, but if and when, this'll keep it convenient and precisely targetted.

 

I asked them to set aside any big rocks they found for landscaping purposes. They're obliging.

 

Here's the pest control tubing coming in.

 

We con-du-it, yes we con. Ok, so I don't much trust wireless networking. Wired is much more secure, not to mention a lot faster. But which wired? And where? As I've mentioned a number of times, we plan on living in this house for a long time. 20 years ago, nobody would have foreseen wiring a house for Ethernet. Doing that kind of thing after the fact is a big pain.

In anticipation of that, I've had them install numerous runs of conduit. They go from a low access point up to an accessible area in the attic. Then I can run whatever wires (low-voltage) I want to back to the structured wiring panel. I figure if it saves me just 2 rewiring jobs, it'll have been worth it.

 

There it goes into the attic.

 

Notice all the caulking in the seams. This builder constructs all their houses according to the Energy Star standards, which, among other things, means making sure the house has as few air leaks as possible. Throughout the house, they have sealed all the cracks and joints between exterior structural members, as well as filling in around any wires, plumbing, and ducting penetrating the exterior walls or ceilings.

 

 

Conduit in the front study.

 

There's a whole lot going on over the utility room. Note all the sealant. Those metal plates are there in case I get reckless with a hammer; they're there to prevent accidental penetration of electrical wires or plumbing. I have no idea how they decide where to put them.

 

The white wires are for the security system.

 

Connectors for the washing machine. Also more stupid homeowner plates.

 

Oh, I think I'm figuring out the system. They do it where these things intersect with the framing, figuring that I'd be most likely to nail or screw into the studs.

 

 

This is a conduit run in the wall shared between the master bedroom and the great room. That side of the great room has a niche for an entertainment center, as well as all the wiring for surround sound etc. Over the master bedroom is an attic space, which will be accessible via the unfinished media room (need to consult the plan again?). So it's up that wall, then there's easy access to the conduit run to the structured wiring panel (as shown in the previous update) on the other side of the master bedroom.

 

Those grey things are baffles to prevent the loose fill attic insulation from covering the soffit vents.

 

There's the conduit run from the structured wiring panel.

 

Master shower with bench. It has water in it for two reasons. One is to make sure everything is sealed properly. The other, as told to me by the construction superintendent, which I thought was clever, was to prevent workers from stepping inside it.

 

Double shower, along with more stupid homeowner plates.

 

Gas hookups for the stove.

 

The connections between the central air and the external condensers.

 

Ducting over the entrance to the partially-finished media room. They've since framed that in at an angle; you'll never even notice it. Well, you will notice it because I've pointed it out, but the average person won't think of it.

 

Conduit from the upstairs game room into the attic.

 

Bath tub in the main upstairs bathroom.

 

Bath tub in the smaller upstairs bathroom.

 

So this is an interesting thing. That was supposed to enclose the fireplace exhaust* all the way to the top of the house. The installers for the exhaust pipe realized they could vent out the roof over the first floor which saved on ducting and avoided having to penetrate the roof at the top. As a result, there's a lot of empty space there. I asked if they could build a niche or bench or something there, but it's too late to do it without a lot of hassle. I'm going to remember that empty space, though, because it seems like a great place for a little closet.

I hesitate to call a metal outlet for an electronically controlled integrated gas fireplace a "chimney."

 

Lots of wires over the master bedroom. The white ones are for the security system, and the blue and/or black ones are phone (I think).

 

Gas connectors in the attic. They're conveniently labelled.

 

Part of the home security kit: a board with nails in it. Don't mess with Texas.

 

Ending on an especially boring note, the furnaces have gas connections now.



For the record, if anyone knows how to post this many pictures through Blogger without it being a complete pain in the ass, please tell me. This post took 45 minutes.

Plumbing ain't dramatic...

... but it sure is a lot of work. I was there during the week, and it was a bustle of activity. It's not a whole lot to see, but they were working.

 

 

They moved the bricks to the back....

 

Trim paint.

 

Ceiling paint.

 

 

Some pipes sticking out of the walls.

 

Where the water comes in.

 

Pipes in walls.

 

Pipes in the ceiling.

 

 

 

 

 

Pipes in the walls. I assume that the green spray is some kind of moisture or mildew repellent. It's there throughout the ground floor up to the same height.

 

Pipes in the ceiling.

 

Pipes in the island.

 

 

Back to pipes in the walls.

 

A short break for pipes in the ceiling.

 

 

And some pipes in the walls to finish strong.

 

Attic water heater.

 

 

(over the) garage water heater. I couldn't get up there because we have walls now, and I can't fit a (sufficiently large) ladder in the Corolla.

 

Pipes in walls! Boo!

 

And some more trim paint.

Wires and energy

From this past Sunday, as usual. This time I went by myself, which allowed me to indulge.



It doesn't look very different in the large, but there's one important thing: we have shingles (not varicella). The lighting makes them hard to see in this picture, but further down is one from the back so you can properly admire them. In an ideal world, we would have a tiled roof, but it was not meant to be.




Soffits. I assume the grid of holes is for ventilation.




Some electrical wires. And I've figured out what those pipes with the black insulation are.




See the chimney near the upstairs window?




We will have power outside.




2 can lights and a mount for a ceiling fan above the patio.




Water supply, I believe.




Something "in here." Presumably that's where the power comes in the house, since there's a crudely sketched meter next to it.




From the other side.




Breaker box. Lots and lots of wires.




Master bedroom. If you look closely, you'll see the boxes that will hold the wall sconces.




This is another wiring panel, but for low-voltage wiring. We'll have a single point where TV, phone, Internet, etc. all enter the house and then get routed to the various rooms.




Privacy glass above the shower.




We have a fireplace. I know, what's the point in Texas, right? But it would have cost not to have it, because it makes the house harder to sell for the builder if we flake out. Pointless or not, people expect it.




The other side. It's a fully-integrated gas fireplace, with (I assume) electronic control. I'll have to rig up a speaker for crackling log noises or something.




That's a lot of switches. It's going to take me years to learn what they all do.




Call me old-fashioned, but I'm pretty sure the door shouldn't do that.




Oh man, more switches?




2 can lights and a ceiling fan in the breakfast room. Gonna have to make sure the blades are short.




6 cans in the kitchen (it's hard to see the furthest pair). The middle pair will be controlled by one switch, the other four with another one. That way we can have 0, 2, 4, or 6 lights on, depending on what we want, and also pleasing symmetry.




The dining room will also have wall sconces.




I have no idea what those things are. We probably don't get to keep them.




This gives you an idea of how much easier it is to route things through these engineered trusses (you may have to click through to the larger size). No need to route around or drill holes and compromise their strength.




These beams still impress me. They'd be more impressive if they were solid instead of composite, but no doubt much more expensive and probably not as strong.




The attic over the breakfast room. This won't be (easily) accessible when the house is done. However, it'll need to be semi-accessible because....




... I may be running cables through here. That's over the family room. On the far side is a similar attic space over the master bedroom, where that low voltage wiring panel will be.




Dunno if I ever showed the bench that will be at the top of the stairs.




Hmmm... I wonder what's up there...




Climate control.




A maze of ducts.




These must be for condensation to drip safely outside.




They go out to where I showed in the picture way at the beginning of this post.




The cinder blocks were an upgrade.




More switches!




Lots of bricks. We definitely picked the least of evils on the exterior. I can't stand mixing stone and brick, and none of the stone looked good. The brick selections were oddly limited; we managed to find almost a dozen houses in the neighborhood whose brick we wanted to copy, but they were all from a different builder. Ah well. After seeing it, I think it'll be ok.

That's a lot of ball moss

All our ducts in a row

This was as of Sunday (January 10th) as usual. I've just been lazy.

 

That there's a shot of the engineered trusses that form the structure of the first floor ceiling and the second floor, um, floor. It saves time on site, they're stronger, and I'm sure it's much easier to route plumbing, electrical, ducting, and the like.

 

Some of the ducting they put in.

 

We also have sheathing.

 

Our dryer will be vented to the outside.

 

Our fancy house will feature a window in the family room (I cannot bring myself to call it "great room").

 

A fixture and duct for an exhaust fan, I presume.

 

All ducts lead to Rome.

 

There will be a phone there. I think. I should know this.

 

Some kind of.... pipes.

 

A lot of ducting.

 

A shot of the trusses between floors (this is from the staircase looking at the dining room).

 

Window on the dining room, and further development of the front patio.

 

Our front walk. You can also see right in the middle the dryer vent duct. It would have been nice if that had gone to the side, but I guess that wasn't practical.

 

We also have a driveway. I would have liked for it to be perfectly level, but alas, that was not to be. No doubt it's something to do with drainage.

 

We have chimneys. At least, I think that's what they are.

 

The whole shebang.

I find it a little amazing that in the 21st century we're still building houses out of wood.

A reason not to paint outside

 

 

It didn't have a chance.

Blue stuff

I believe it's called "house wrap" or "vapor barrier." Steady progress...

 

 

 

Rapid progress

 

 

 

 

As of yesterday afternoon. This was a bare slab just 4 days before.

Trophy wife as described by Wikipedia

The term trophy wife appeared in a 1950 issue of The Economist magazine. It referred to the historical practice of warriors capturing the most beautiful women during battle to bring home as wives, even if most modern trophy wives are acquired through other means.

source

Foundations

They poured our foundation earlier this week. Luckily we got there before they started framing, so we could catch it in all its concrete glory.

They also cut the curb for the driveway.

This here is the garage (duh). Behind it on the left is where a study, the master bathroom, master bedroom, and powder room will be located; behind the single bay on the right is where the utility room will be, and beyond that part of the family room (consult the plan again?).

More garage, this time showing towards the opposite corner of the house, where the breakfast room will be. Moving towards the front along that far edge will be the kitchen and the dining room; next to the garage will be the formal living room, which we will have enclosed like a study. You can also see the entry patio, of which more later.

Back patio. This will be covered, but not enclosed (by the builder).

Plumbing stack for the kitchen island. Also some people you might recognize.

Standing in the dining room looking at the living room/study and garage. The triple pipe set will be for the utility room.

Entry patio. The front door will be at an oblique angle at that Battlestar Galactica-style cut off corner. I tried to convince the builder to cut off all the corners of the house, but they mumbled something about structural integrity.

Again with the front patio and garage.

5' on this side....

15' on this side. When they had the forms in the wrong place, they had 10' and 10'. That matters because the road bends here, so shifting it 5' to the side enabled us to move the house forward 1' and gain an iota more backyard. Also, 10' seems too narrow to be useful, so instead of having two useless side yards, now we'll have one really useless one and one maybe useful one.

Two floor outlets in the family room; I hate visible wires.

Standing in the study.

Utility pipes. I saved the most exciting for last.

Waking up

You stumble out of bed, half-asleep and bleary-eyed. You need a pick-up, and fast. Try this: eye drops. You feel a lot more awake when you get the sand out of your eyes.

Being pretty good can be a dangerous thing

You've looked at different ways of doing things and can confidently dismiss them. After all, you're pretty good at this. Maybe when you were new, these ways would have helped you get started. You don't need training wheels anymore. You've been doing this for a while. You've smoothed out some of your rough edges, gained some new skills, and become more seasoned. You've got a number of successes under your belt; this isn't just your ego talking. Clearly you must know what you're doing, right?

Sure, you make a few mistakes from time to time, and sometimes you bark up the wrong tree, but you're only human. These things happen. You've read about structured, formalized techniques for avoiding those errors, for making sure yours efforts aren't wasted. They seem all right on paper, but in the real world? In your world? There's just no way that would work for you. It's not like it would help that often, either; you're pretty good at this. And it would just slow you down. And besides, they sound so boring. They take all the craft and artistry out of it, and if you're not a craftsman and an artist, you're just a cog in a big machine. Those things are for people who aren't naturally pretty good. It's for little people, people without vision, who are fine with being cogs in big machines. You've got a knack for this, a real instinct.

You know what? You're right, people who aren't naturally as good as you probably need those things to be as good as you. That does not mean you should not also do them. You're pretty good without them, but you'll be even better with them. And who doesn't want to be better? Oh, right; the people who'd rather live comfortably in the delusion that they're already as good as it is possible to be.

I've seen this in many different places in many different ways for a long, long time. It makes perfect sense. It's not human nature to fix what isn't broken. Introspection is not in most people's natures, at least not in a moderate sense. They are plenty of people who introspect unproductively, of course, and get caught in the quicksand of depression or narcissism or any number of things. There's a small region of sanity between insufficient introspection and too much. That's where you need to stand.

Sure, you're pretty good. But are you perfect? Obviously not. So open your mind. You can be better. Once you get to be pretty good at something, you stop having such frequent conflicts with reality. You stop getting forced to change by external things. Most people find it hard to replace that with an internal drive. Once they're no longer forced to learn, they don't learn at all. Lots of people think of themselves as open-minded constant learners, but that's easy and not all that valuable. This isn't learning in the sense of acquiring additional information. This is about changing how you think and how you operate.

Try something different. Try it for real, without judgment. Fully immerse yourself in its modes and idioms, so you can see it from the inside. You can't speak German by translating an English sentence and translating it word by word. It'll get you there, but it'll be awful. It's not enough just to have surface knowledge of it. You can learn HTML in 21 days, but it's going to look like Geocities circa 1997.

Now, as we've discussed, you're pretty good. You're especially good with Thingamabangle. It's great at frobnication, but not so hot at dezmodessing. That's not a big deal because you don't do much dezmodessing. You can usually make do with frobnication, and maybe a little bit of chamazote. It's not like dezmodessing is all that useful anyway; you were forced to do it a couple of times, and it was so much harder than the frobnication and chamazote you would have used otherwise. So what if Thingamabangle is bad at something useless?

One day you're lunching with a friend, and he's raving about this Whizzaboo. He's just going on and on about it. So you give it a try. Wow, Whizzaboo sucks at frobnication. It's okay at chamazote. The big selling point is that it's great at dezmodessing. But you've seen dezmodessing; it's just not a useful technique. Whizzaboo is a waste of time; it's not nearly as good at Thingamabangle at the stuff that matters. Who cares how well the pointy-headed ivory towerians can make it dezmodess? You can't waste your time with this. So you stick to your Thingamabangle. You never even learn about Whizzaboo's benbillying. You never learn how dezmodessing with a little benbilly can do everything your frobnication and chamazote can do, but in half the time. You never learn that nobody who uses Whizzaboo cares about its poor frobnication, because they never ever half to deal with it. You just looked at the surface, which confirmed your prejudices.

You can't just dip your toe into learning something new. You have to embrace it fully, for weeks and even months. You have to be in there long enough that you think in the new way at every level instead of translating from the old way. Otherwise you're going to come to the wrong conclusion. It's quite possible that your snap judgment was right, and it's not the right thing for you. And even if you're wrong, nothing terrible will happen because of that. You won't get fired, you won't lose your house, you won't be embarrassed by your peers. You'll just go on the way you've always gone, until one day the way you've always done things just doesn't work anymore. Maybe that's okay with you. Maybe you're fine with being good enough. Maybe you're fine with putting off change until life slaps your face and kicks your ass. That's your choice. But you could be missing out on something great.

Plastic and rough waste plumbing

 

 

 

 

Maybe the foundation happens this week. I dunno, they don't tell me anything.

Those cables look like some kind of prestressed concrete system. They're enclosed with the steel pipe almost the whole way, I assume to protect them from corrosion.

What the hell is this?

 

I am so glad I never encountered this when it was alive. I neglected to include a reference for scale, but this thing was huge. The body was 2 inches, the wings even larger.

Arboralopecia

We had a freeze last night. Our pecan tree reacted strongly. When I straggled out of bed this morning, I saw it dumping its leaves on the ground. The leaf fall has basically ended because there's nothing left to fall. I didn't see it start, but I don't think it took more than a couple hours. The lawn under it is now under many layers of leaves. You can hear the leaves falling.

Gotta rewrite the song: "Leaves are falling, loudly falling, tumbling to the ground. Yellow yellow green brown yellow, tumbling to the ground."



ISN'T THIS EXCITING?!?!?! I'll bet this is totally what Chen, Hurley, and Karim had in mind when they founded YouTube. I am at the forefront of 21st century journalism! I'm gonna be on Oprah!

Forms and fill

 

 

 

My house is going to be built on dog food?

 

See that? The distance between the forms and the fence is just over 11 feet. It was supposed to be 6 feet. That matters because the road in front of the house is angled, so shifting the house over means being able to shift it a little further forward, thus embiggening the backyard. It's not a huge amount, since the road isn't angled that much, but we've been through a lot to get it right, and it's annoying that it's wrong.

Bowing Barack

For the record I also think Barack Obama shouldn't have bowed to the Emperor of Japan. Nor should he kiss the Pope's ring, if that ever happens. Of course, I also think both of those men should be up against the wall with the Queen of England, but that's neither here nor there.

We have clearing

 

 

 

 

What I did Sunday

 

First time in probably 15 or 20 years. Once I got it out of the low air into some steady breezes higher up it was pretty smooth. And then I got bored of it.