Posts About construction
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Planning a Home Server Room and Smart Home
When considering the wires that will need to run through the house, it’s helpful to envision the dream end product. A rough image of that dream homelab is outlined in this post. However, before proceeding, keep two things in mind. First, I’m not a network engineer, so it’s important not to blindly follow my directions. Second, much of this may be considered overkill and can be built up gradually. This project is as much a hobby as it is practical, so I eventually plan to assess the equipment I already have and explore different setups with cost in mind.
Energy Efficient Wall Framing
Framing feels like the true beginning of the build since we’re on our own. No contractor will be helping us out for awhile, so it’s on us to make a building that can stand on it’s own. More importantly, energy efficient details like 3 stud corners, insulated headers and 24" spacing will be a test run for us to see if we like them enough to use on the main house.
An Upgraded Workshop Foundation
Exciting times! We’re now ready to begin working on the foundation for the workshop. This will be our first time working with Stego, Polyguard, and under slab insulation. Even though it’s a sort of trial run for the main house, we’re aiming to hit close to passive standards with this build. The plan is to catch any hiccups and learn from our mistakes now so we can step up our game for the big build. To get started, we had to have plans in hand.
How We Transplanted 30 Trees
We’re doing things a bit backwards with this build. Since the road was near final grade, we decided to plant trees before the house began. The idea is, trees take their sweet time growing. If the whole build stretches out for 5 years, our trees will be five years ahead in the game. Fast forward to when we’re old, and we’ll be sitting under some seriously majestic trees in our backyard.
Building a Quarter Mile Gravel Road
Work has finally begun on the new property! A road and electricity are a must before anything can be accomplished. We breifly looked into costs and considerations a few years ago, and now those are becoming a reality. Even though a long road adds to the expense and complexity of a project, we ultimately went for it, so that we could be tucked back in the trees on the highest point of the land.
Getting Started with a First Aid Systainer
The systainer.store sells a custom, red, first-aid systainer that I’m quite happy with. The package comes with stickers, or you can design them yourself as I’ve done. However, the systainer does not come with any contents inside, and it is tricky to figure out what to buy, and how much can fit. I thought it would be helpful if I did some of the trial and error for you.
Designing and Printing Custom Systainer Labels
Systainers are dangerous. If you’re the type of person who is excited by organization, then an expensive rabbit hole awaits you. I happen to be such a person. Inevitably, I noticed that systainers have labels, and the default labels that they come with are not sufficient. I decided to figure out what it would take to make a labeling system that is cheap, easy to print, easy to edit, and that works for every tool brand or work category.
Ask Your Builder About These Energy & Build Quality Upgrades
In our quest to build a Passive House, we’ve decided to live in the city near our house for 12-18 months so that we can seek out any potential deal breakers. At first, we thought we would just rent, or buy a home that could easily be sold again. But, when you’re dealing with a small town, the real estate market is slim pickings. Fortunately, while we were touring one home, we spotted an empty lot. It turns out that the builder who owns that lot can build us a semi custom home within 6 months.
Making Sense of the Different Green Building Certifications
As an average home owner, the different building certifications come across as a maze of information. Which initiatives are relevant and worth pursuing? Which have actionable information? Which are affordable? It can be overwhelming. While it is clear that architectural firms are the target audience for these programs, we’ve found that quite a bit can be learned about good home building practices just by going through the documentation. We’ve done some of the work for you, and documented our take on the different options. Read on to find our notes, bookmarks, and amateur conclusions.
Flush & Modern Trim : Wall Plates
Determined to question and improve everything we can about home building, we find ourselves looking at trim and the various approaches. At first, we were all in and thought we would remove as much trim as possible: lights, electrical, vents, doors, windows, and so on. As a test, we decided to install a flush electrical wall plate in our current house, and that is when doubt began to creep in. Clean results are far from guaranteed, and may or may not hold up over time. For the added cost and complexity, where should we draw the line? After looking over quite a few options, here is what we have found.
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