%20(thumb).jpg "Wide Street View, Finished before Landscape")
Winter time view of setting, with finished house (not landscaped, of course).
%20(thumb).jpg "Front View, Finished")
Exterior of house finished.
%20(thumb).jpg "Rear Windows, LR")
After three years of design and building, the premier aspect of the house is essentially complete -- 500 square feet of floor to ceiling windows, most of which are individual lites 7 feet wide by 9 feet tall. The double pane, low E, argon filled, high efficiency glass was hard to get... flat. And it is... flat. Whew! This view is from outside the tubroom looking toward the cafe and living room windows. And note the two cantilevered roof areas, one on the far left corner as viewed, and the other on the near left corner as viewed.
%20(thumb).jpg "Rear Windows, MBR")
And then this view is outside of the living room looking toward the master bedroom and the tubroom.
%20(thumb).jpg "Foyer")
Here you can see the interior trim coming into shape, including the custom built oak columns. They'll be finished natural (spar urethane), the same as the floor, in order to keep the entry doors as a focal color..
%20(thumb).jpg "Living Room")
Here's a view of the living room, taken from the foyer. The windows in back provide a panoramic view outside, and this is less than half of the total view. Regardless of the weather, the view is stunning. In blue sky weather, it's amazing. When the rain and lightning storms move across the sky, it's even more amazing (while you're cozy inside). Then when fog rolls through the valleys up toward the house, it's still amazing. Not shown is the view from the bedroom. We get to watch the color show on the sky from the rising sun each morning ... from bed! Also, note that the window above the fireplace views the ecliptic. We see the rising full Moon every month when it's not cloudy. We also can see the rising Sun, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and other planets.
%20(thumb).jpg "Shower")
This shower is unbelievable. Computer controlled, eight shower heads (five from the sides and three rain from the top), massage feature, automatic temperature control... Yes, the shower has a "nexus", and that's the place to be! Also, it works great with no glass at all. And because you're surrounded in water, you're not cold from any incoming draft due to the lack of glass walls.
%20(thumb).jpg "Literal Walk Through")
You can literally walk through the house....
.jpg "Wide Street View")
Finally, with additional grading otuside, Laurel Brook Lodge is beginning to look like our vision... Here, you begin to see her in nearly her full environment.
.jpg "Composite with shingles")
Here is another composite photo taken from on top of the hill of basement excavation dirt. Compare it to the composite below.
.jpg "Composite with roof sheathing")
Here is another composite photo taken from on top of the hill of basement excavation dirt. Compare it to the steel framing further below.
.jpg "Retaining Wall")
The first retaining wall was straight. It was built half way up and then torn back down because it just wasn't looking right. This curved wall has come out fantastic. It also shows some interesting geometry that comes up all of the time in nature, in things such as a sunflower seed pod or a nautilus shell. From this vantage point, look how the curved lines for each row of block tend to merge together parallel at the bottom of the photo. These make a portion of a spiral alignment like sunflower seeds. Also, look closely at the vertical joints between blocks. On successive rows, these joints also make another spiral that's crossing the first spiral. This is easier to see in person...
.jpg "Exposed truss view")
Here you can see an updated view of the porch and garage gable. The porch steel will be exposed and painted in a rust color. The garage gable will have a faux truss on the front, also exposed steel and painted rust color.
.jpg "Shingles")
The roof finally goes on and we're dried in... except for the doors and windows. The floor-to-ceiling windows in the back are still not on yet, as of this writing..
.jpg "For Lukas")
My new nephew, Lukas, was born during construction. This was the piece of steel structure we were working on exactly when he was born.
.jpg "Cantilever View")
Here you can see an early stage in constructing the cantilevered roof. Note at the very left of the photo where the roof hangs out with no visible support. Running horizontally in the photo is the first of two massive grider trusses that make the cantilevering possible.
.jpg "Moonrise")
By the way, the end-most window seen at the left in the previous photo looks over the landscape and toward the
ecliptic, so that we'll be able to see the rising Full Moon as well as planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars as various times during the year.
.jpg "Cantilever View with Crew")
Here is another cantilever view while we're adding the roof sheathing. (Left to right: Helmut, Alex, David, Tim. Other crew members out of view.) You could describe the house as having only three sides. The back is all floor-to-ceiling windows, providing a view over the rear meadow and into the woods.
.jpg "Street View")
This is the view of the house from the street. As seen in the first (composite) photo, the garage will be in front of the main house, partially obscuring what you see here. The big unfinished cube structure sticking up on this front-left corner is the observation deck. From here, there will be a clear view of the landscape during the day, as well as an unobstructed view of the stars at night.
.jpg "Trusses")
There's a large hill of dirt, still left over from excavating the basement. This is a composite photo of the house, with steel complete for the main roof, but the garage only beginning on top of the garage slab.
.jpg "Trusses")
This photo allows you to see some of the beauty and appreciate the strength of the steel trusses that form the upper walls and roof. While the floor-plan and concept engineering of the house were designed by Helmut and Michelle, the detail engineering that actually makes the house stand up was done by Ralph Perusse of REPco Inc. His residential steel building strategy includes proprietary techniques for thermally isolating the steel to provide a strong structure that's still energy efficient -- this is in contrast to other residential steel construction methods that wastefully substitute steel in an otherwise wood design. In addition, unlike wood, the steel won't warp, rot, or feed termites! Of course, there are on the order of 30,000 self-drilling screws, each individually fastened by one of our crew members using a screw gun (like an electric drill).
.jpg "Truss Template")
In a truss-bird's eye view, you can see here a portion of the template on the floor where each truss was assembled. (Left to right: Julian, Tom, David, Alex, Francisco.) Ralphs' steel designs also include assembly flexibility, that separate many complex alignment tasks, so that each can be done independently and accurately. This house design, however, really taxed that flexibility, by having 10 different truss profiles along the main roof peak. Each was supported at the ends by a different method, making it a significant challenge to get the vaulted ceiling and roof peak all lined up. If you know what to look for, six can be seen in this photo. Instruction from Ralph and his partner/son Jim Perusse was key, as well as lead crew man Tim's remodeling experience. (For more info, see the "Better Construction" section of the website.)
.jpg "Truss Hoist")
The trusses didn't lift themselves, of course. Here you see the full crew (at the time) lifting a truss using a scaffold and hoist. "Monkey sticks" are used to stabilize the floppy truss, while the hoist holds the weight and manpower positions the ends for attachment. (Left to right: Tom, Francisco, Alex, Tim, David, Helmut, Julian.)
Meanwhile, note the wooden cleats on the floor. These comprise a template for building the trusses. Most trusses differ slightly, but have a common roof line and often a common ceiling line. An overlay of all truss designs is accurately drawn on the floor. Then the cleats are placed to hold the primary steel components in place while they're screwed together. One at a time, the trusses are built on the floor, then tilted up, lifted, and placed as seen in the photograph. This concept of on-site floor-templates was also used by masons to build medieval cathedrals.
Note also the straight girder at the left, supported by two brown steel tubes (6" x 12" x 20 feet tall of which 9 feet is exposed above the floor). This girder, with three points supporting it (the third out of view to the left), holds up all the roof trusses at the back of the house. Otherwise, there's no support at the back of the house. It's all cantilevered back there. In the later photographs showing all the glass in back, this engineered structure is what makes it possible. Already, you can see in the background (between Francisco & Alex) where there's a 45 degree corner with no visible means of support.
.jpg "No Superglue")
We used plenty of screws and clamps, but no superglue...
.jpg "Main Level Starts")
Here you can see an overview as the main level construction just begins, taken from the hill of dirt left over from excavating the basement. The structural steel columns can be seen, as well as the tarp covering the ICF forms. The basement excavation has been backfilled, and the wooden corner bracing erected for the ICF. In the background, you see part of the view that will be seen through the floor-to-ceiling windows along the back of the house. The main level ICF stacking is about to begin. (Left to right: Tim, David, Tom.)
.jpg "Michelle")
When she wasn't busy earning money to pay for the project, Michelle worked as well, here screwing down floor decking.
.jpg "Floor Trusses")
Before there was a roof, there was a floor. At left you see the steel floor trusses. These were the crew's first venture into erecting steel. All of the steel, including both the floor and roof trusses, came as straight sticks that had to be located (in the unsorted, poorly labeled stacks) or else cut to length from raw stock, positioned accurately, and then screwed together with self-drilling screws. The floor level was established with a laser line around the perimeter, 11 feet above the basement slab, leaving a 9-foot high garden level living base in the basement. Amazingly, the floor gets hung on the foam PRIOR to there being any concrete inside! The weight of the floor, however, is substantially held up by temporary supports (not present yet in this photo).(Left to right: Francisco, Julian.)
.jpg "ICF")
All that white stuff you've seen is ICF, or Insulating Concrete Forms. This stuff is great. It's expanded polystyrene forms, connected with steel webbing. You stack them like Lego(tm) blocks, with reinforcing steel, then pour in concrete. The forms do NOT get removed, but remain as insulation. The steel webbing embedded in the forms provides connction points for applying drywall on the inside or siding on the outside, directly to the forms. There's no additional sheathing or house wrap required. It's all-inclusive. (Below we can see the reinforcing steel inside, while Tim cuts a form with a hot knife... part of the regular assembly process.)
.jpg "Pump Day")
ICF is great for energy efficiency and confort. It's excellent at stopping all three forms of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. In addition, it provides a large thermal mass to stabilize inside temperatures while absorbing exterior heat or cold. While the temperature inside most houses will go up and down 5 degrees every time the heat or air conditioner cycles, a typical four-sided ICF house might see only a half degree change. This house only has three sides (fourth side all glass), but should still be so much better than a house of traditional construction. All together, ICF means no drafts and excellent comfort. The concrete also blocks out obnoxious noises like the neighbor's barking dog or leaf blower. (See the website section "Better Construction" for more information.)
.jpg "Selected Crew")
This ICF is Polysteel brand -- the best. Training and support from Polysteel Southeast distributor Wil Oliver (owner) and Victor Keller (salesman) have been instrumental in making this project happen. Wil even led our crew on both pump days by actually operating the concrete pump hose. (Left to right: Tim, Helmut, Michelle, Wil.)
.jpg "Sunrise")
Pump day starts very early in the morning (although this photo isn't from pump day, it's just pretty).
.jpg "ICF")
It got a little crowded on the basement slab. We assembled the floor trusses first, in order to have them ready, and then had to stack them all diagonally in the middle while we built the ICF around. This photo shows the basement ICF almost complete, including a band of steel around the perimeter of the ICF. Another band of steel will be added 20" above this one, and this upper band will have anchors cast into the concrete for holding the weight of the floor. (Left to right: Tim, Helmut, Tom, David.)
.jpg "Steel columns")
A major part of what holds the roof up are four 20' tall, steel columns made from 6" x 12" tube. They are embedded 11' into the basement concrete, and stick up 9' in a vertical cantilever to hold the roof both up and firm. The two that frame the front door can be seen below, with the street (cul-de-sac) in the background.
.jpg "Steel columns")
In a marathon day, we used the same extending-boom all-terrain four-wheel-steering fork lift to unload the first truck deliverying the steel for the house, as well as erect the columns. (Left to right: Tom, Tim, David.)
.jpg "Fall View from Living Room")
.jpg "Wide Street View, Finished before Landscape")
.jpg "Front View, Finished")
.jpg "Rear Windows, LR")
.jpg "Rear Windows, MBR")
.jpg "Foyer")
.jpg "Living Room")
.jpg "Shower")
.jpg "Literal Walk Through")
