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What kind of wood stove are you looking at?
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Feb 28, 2017 18:21
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| # ? May 10, 2024 12:59 |
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Pigsfeet on Rye posted:What kind of wood stove are you looking at? I think it's this one http://www.vermontcastings.com/Products/Encore-FlexBurn-Wood-Burning-Stove.aspx
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Feb 28, 2017 18:31
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Gounads posted:I think it's this one Good choice. We replaced a 20-year-old Encore (had been regularly over-fired due to a broken air control) with a new Encore two years ago. Top-loading is the best feature, and we can keep ours going overnight with no problem. We can use ours as a primary heat source easily, though our house is only 1500 square feet and is one-story. Are you planning to be able to heat the whole house?
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Feb 28, 2017 18:37
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One Day Fish Sale posted:Good choice. We replaced a 20-year-old Encore (had been regularly over-fired due to a broken air control) with a new Encore two years ago. Top-loading is the best feature, and we can keep ours going overnight with no problem. We can use ours as a primary heat source easily, though our house is only 1500 square feet and is one-story. Are you planning to be able to heat the whole house? We looked at an encore stove, but their wall clearances were 3x the vermont castings so the hearth would have had to be bigger than we wanted. We don't expect to heat the whole house, if we burn 25% less propane, we'd be happy.
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Feb 28, 2017 18:46
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Gounads posted:We looked at an encore stove, but their wall clearances were 3x the vermont castings so the hearth would have had to be bigger than we wanted. You linked to a Vermont Castings Encore, so that's what I was assuming. The Encore does come with additional heat shielding on the back of the stove too.
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Feb 28, 2017 18:51
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One Day Fish Sale posted:You linked to a Vermont Castings Encore, so that's what I was assuming. The Encore does come with additional heat shielding on the back of the stove too. Sorry, got confused. There's a brand that sounds like Encore that I'm not remembering exactly what it is now.
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Feb 28, 2017 19:22
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No plaster, too cold. Good news is we're getting a visit from the electric company today, so we should be able to clear out that roadblock.
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Mar 1, 2017 16:42
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Gounads posted:Good news is we're getting a visit from the electric company today, so we should be able to clear out that roadblock. We'll be there between morning time and midnight, try to be home.
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Mar 2, 2017 01:00
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Astonishing Wang posted:We'll be there between morning time and midnight, try to be home. This is far too true. I'm waiting for someone to come repair my washing machine (under warranty). It's taken three weeks to be able to get someone out and now it's just "twiddle your thumbs and I hope you didn't have anything to do today". On topic, this house build has gone pretty quick, I've helped out on a few renovation projects and they've taken far longer than this. I guess it helps when you're not trying to make good 100 year old bodges.
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Mar 2, 2017 02:16
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Electric trench! Hopefully it gets tied in soon, we heat the place, and then plaster. Also, it was windy yesterday. 
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Mar 3, 2017 13:23
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Talked with builder, we do need to get another pole installed, but since it's on-property, it should be easy to get done. He was waiting on building inspector before he could fill in the trench. I get a call from my father-in-law. He was dumpster-diving and the inspector showed up, so that's all set. Found out we've got $4/sqft to spend on hardwoods, that's pretty decent. Wife likes the look of hickory. Looking at samples on Tuesday. Trying to get my next payment from the Bank, but they're not returning calls again. wtf guys.
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Mar 3, 2017 19:32
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Gounads posted:Found out we've got $4/sqft to spend on hardwoods, that's pretty decent. Wife likes the look of hickory. Looking at samples on Tuesday. I assume that's for prefinished? Might be a bit low for non-prefinished..
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Mar 3, 2017 19:38
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MrEnigma posted:I assume that's for prefinished? Might be a bit low for non-prefinished.. Yes. Doesn't include installation.
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Mar 3, 2017 19:51
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Trying to get the next loan disbursement done. As part of that I need to identify all the line-items that are complete. But these line-items are not well defined. Me: this 'radiation in place' line item on the payouts means the duct-work, right? Bank: No, that's the radon remediation. Me: wtf, we don't even know if we have radon Bank: Let me go check. ... Bank: Yup, radon. Me: 'Rough Electrical' - does the panel need to be in place? Bank: blah blah blah, grey area, blah blah, appraiser decides. --- Me: Hey, appraiser dude who actually checks on these things. What's this 'radiation in place' line item? Appraiser dude: Ductwork Me: Does rough electrical require the panel in place? Appraiser dude: Depends on what the bank says. Me: They said it was a grey area and up to you. Appraiser dude: Weird. Sure, I'll approve that. -- Me: Hey bank dude, appraiser dude says 'radiation in place' is the ductwork, wtf? Bank: (no response) ---- e: Also, since filling in the electrical trench the driveway is temporarily scary-steep. Did not realize this when I started driving down it in my wife's forrester yesterday. Almost didn't make it back up.
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Mar 6, 2017 19:15
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The forester can handle it. Symmetrical all wheel drive, bro.
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Mar 6, 2017 19:37
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A lot of times the plumber will run a pipe from the drain tile up through the roof. Electrician will sometimes add an outlet up there as well if you ever need to put a constant pressure fan on it for radon. We did it since it was a minor amount of money, and our last house triggered radon. If we ever get it tested and it fails we can easily add on the fan. Edit: No clue what "Radiation in place" means though, but it seems closer to Radon than ductwork.
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Mar 6, 2017 20:06
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MrEnigma posted:A lot of times the plumber will run a pipe from the drain tile up through the roof. Electrician will sometimes add an outlet up there as well if you ever need to put a constant pressure fan on it for radon. We did it since it was a minor amount of money, and our last house triggered radon. If we ever get it tested and it fails we can easily add on the fan. Yup, we have that done, ready to deal with radon if it ever comes up. Once everything is sealed up tight, I'll do a test kit. I read 'radiation' as the 'transfer of energy' and imagined it being used to generically refer to ductwork for forced hot air, radiators for old-school steam, or baseboards for hot water. This payout schedule just sucks. Not specific to this build so the numbers don't match up, and very vague so it's hard to know what it includes. Finally a response from bank: > Spoke with management, we will go with rough duct work under radiation.
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Mar 6, 2017 21:33
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I'm amused at the idea that radiation has to be installed before the bank would give you money. "Here's that processed uranium you ordered!"
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Mar 6, 2017 21:54
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beep-beep car is go posted:I'm amused at the idea that radiation has to be installed before the bank would give you money. "Here's that processed uranium you ordered!" Install smoke detectors and insist your radiation is in place and radiating.
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Mar 6, 2017 23:32
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So... maybe not hickory flooring. ~$10k more Ouch. Picked a nice 3.25" Oak instead. Got paperwork today to grant electric company an easement on the property so they can put up a pole. Tub should be delivered today.
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Mar 7, 2017 18:10
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I've been following this thread from the beginning because I went through some of this when I was in high school. My parents decided to build a house and bid out all the individual contractors themselves. Learning the financial problems you face makes more of their build make sense to me as there were slow downs and they fretted about money a lot since they weren't always getting disbursements. Thanks for keeping this updated. It's been quite enlightening.
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Mar 7, 2017 20:38
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After picking out the flooring yesterday, we just weren't super happy. Ended up going to a different floor place last night. Found a beautiful 4" wide hand scraped oak that we like a lot more. They're doing up a quote, but I'm guesstimating an extra $4800 or so since it was about $2/sft more. Hard decisions. A similar product at the first place, we were told it would cost $12k more. I think they just didn't want to do it. Second place is also doing a quote for the exact same product we picked from the first place.
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Mar 8, 2017 15:08
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Amusement for today: Had to get a copy of the sewer permit for the bank. Apparently, the homeowner has to sign it. Whoever actually did, spelled my name wrong when they forged it 
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Mar 8, 2017 15:49
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Stopped by today to drop off doorknobs so they can be installed. They were starting to do the real grading for the driveway, which is super exciting. I'm really interested to see exactly how that shapes up. That'll be done by mid next week. Piers for the rear deck are in. Don't know if I mentioned this about the porch, but they don't pour them. They're using these nifty pre-cast things. Like the square ones here: http://www.diversifiedprecast.com/index.php?n=precast_concrete_piers Drywell is in for the gutters to drain to. Foundation drain is dug and hooked up. Furnaces going in today. The last exterior door is in. Bank did their inspection.
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Mar 8, 2017 21:23
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We used a fancy gorgeous flooring for our entryway and living room that guests will see, and cheaper average flooring for the upstairs bedrooms. The stairs are a different material/maker.
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Mar 8, 2017 23:36
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Any particular reason for the precast piers rather than pour-in-place?
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Mar 8, 2017 23:51
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brugroffil posted:Any particular reason for the precast piers rather than pour-in-place? Don't have to pour and then wait for them. Easier inspection since depth is guaranteed, you can fill them in before the inspector comes out. I think this area is 4' deep footings, these things are 5'. peanut posted:We used a fancy gorgeous flooring for our entryway and living room that guests will see, and cheaper average flooring for the upstairs bedrooms. The stairs are a different material/maker. We considered doing down/up separate. But the cost difference ends up really small because we get discount for ordering a ton of it. These aren't exact, but it's something like: half/half: Normal blah flooring: $4.60 Awesomesauce flooring: $6.99 Or... Awesomesauce flooring: $5.99 or... Normal blah flooring: $4 Gounads fucked around with this message at 14:38 on Mar 9, 2017 |
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Mar 9, 2017 14:35
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I enjoy reading your updates, even if I don't post much in here. Another thought on the flooring, I assume your awesomesauce flooring is the hand scraped oak that you were talking about a few posts up. I know this is 100% subjective, but I'm not the hugest fan of the hand scraped stuff, just kinda trendy I guess. Personally I would rather have a "normal" boring floor that in 10 years isn't going to be like "remember when we used to purposely put bumpy flooring in our house and paid extra for it?" Also, you could consider no matter what you put in, it's going to get scratched up and ruined almost immediately. I'm not a debbie downer, I'm sure you'll be happy with either choice you make. If the savings are substantial going from cool to less cool, is there something else you could upgrade that might give you more of a bang for your buck or maybe something you could enjoy more for the extra ~$1500 or whatever?
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Mar 9, 2017 14:53
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Gounads posted:After picking out the flooring yesterday, we just weren't super happy. Ended up going to a different floor place last night. Found a beautiful 4" wide hand scraped oak that we like a lot more. They're doing up a quote, but I'm guesstimating an extra $4800 or so since it was about $2/sft more. Hard decisions. Hint for others: These flooring places are often the second layer. If you find a product you like you may be able to find a friendly rep for that company who will tell you who bought their stock to "wholesale". Some won't do it to protect the installers that buy direct, and their pricing, but others won't care as they've been paid already. The ones that will talk to you will be able to tell you everyone locally who has the product to price compare.
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Mar 9, 2017 14:56
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dreesemonkey posted:I enjoy reading your updates, even if I don't post much in here. Right now, this is the thing we want to spend the upgrade money on. YOU DONT KNOW ME, I'LL DO WHAT I WANT. I guess I could rationalize it with: If in 10 or 15 years we hate it, we could sand it down flat. We're not talking huge 1/4" divots. But I doubt we'd actually get to that point.xwing posted:Hint for others: These flooring places are often the second layer. If you find a product you like you may be able to find a friendly rep for that company who will tell you who bought their stock to "wholesale". Some won't do it to protect the installers that buy direct, and their pricing, but others won't care as they've been paid already. The ones that will talk to you will be able to tell you everyone locally who has the product to price compare. Awesome. I'll try exactly that. We did go to one other place yesterday. The closest thing they had was a hickory for like $10 Almost forgot to mention, conservation meeting last night was uneventful and we can do everything we want. They asked some questions like "What are you planning on doing with that giant pile of dirt?" and "Exactly which trees are you taking down?" - but the questions felt more like they were trying to show some diligence, not that they really cared about the answers. Lasted less than 5 minutes, mostly due to procedural BS. (do I have a motion to open? seconded? in favor? let the record show...)
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Mar 9, 2017 16:14
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Gounads posted:Awesome. I'll try exactly that. We did go to one other place yesterday. The closest thing they had was a hickory for like $10 No problem. I thought you'd decided, but it totally may be worth spending some time to shoot an email or call the regional sales rep of a flooring you like. I occasionally run into this where we specify a flooring and in between us calling out for it and the contractor purchasing it, "Floors and More" type places clear out the manufacturer's stock. A friendly rep will tell us who did it and that allows us to still get what we wanted. For a homeowner or contractor it can open up options to price compare. If the rep is smart it creates good will and their flooring will end up in other places because you'll recommend them and/or return to them.
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Mar 9, 2017 22:51
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Gounads posted:half/half: But what is the price difference for the full amount? For us, saving $500 on flooring put us $500 closer to awesome built-in shelving.
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Mar 9, 2017 23:42
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Sat down, did up all the finances the other night. Going with the normal hardwoods. This stuff just adds up too fast.
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Mar 10, 2017 15:43
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Gounads posted:Sat down, did up all the finances the other night. Going with the normal hardwoods. This stuff just adds up too fast. We just bought engineered hardwood from https://www.floorstoyourhome.com/ for our house... Apparently it's no longer being produced or something, so we got it for under half price. It came within a few days, looks exactly you'd expect.
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Mar 11, 2017 00:38
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Yes, wood floors are tricky. I have the Costco bamboo which was very cheap but is holding up very well. The biggest risk to it is the dog doing her Scooby Doo thing during play but the finish is strong enough for her. I have wood fill and a touch up pen for when we visit the inlaws because they have special floors that she can mark very easily. Their floors have the lumpy surface with a matte finish and, from my hours spent covering up the damage, I don't see much of a clear, protective layer.
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Mar 11, 2017 18:13
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Upstairs and 1/4 of down was plastered on Friday. They ran generators & bullet heaters Friday night and all Saturday to get it to cure. Windows were dripping with condensation from all that water that dried out. I didn't realize how much smoother plaster was than drywall, it's really nice. Rear deck is framed, needs decking/railings still. Same with the landing/stairs from rear exit from the laundry/garage.  Blizzard on Tuesday, so not sure what today's plans are. Shot of a furnace: 
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Mar 13, 2017 13:38
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Looks good. Goondolences for your flooring choice, I know you were pumped on that other stuff. As for the budget stuff, are you playing it safe because you knew you had some big variable costs coming up? I thought you guys were doing pretty well so far budget wise. You don't need to go into details, I was just curious, I guess.
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Mar 13, 2017 13:49
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dreesemonkey posted:Looks good. Goondolences for your flooring choice, I know you were pumped on that other stuff. Somehow during this, we racked up $20k in credit card debt. Mostly wood stove, appliances, furniture, plumb/elec fixtures, but also a ton of little things. Bank account is currently empty due to the way payments & bank distributions are timed. We should be fine at the end when everything comes in, but a big CC bill and a small account balance add up to a lot of anxiety. One big ticket item left not in the contract is the front/rear walkways - I'm guessing $3k-$5k based off a similar project we had done here, that can wait if it gets too tight. Some smaller things like a water softener coming up too. A smaller factor is the current house hasn't had much interest, so we may be looking at an extended amount of time to sell or a lower price than we wanted. Dropped the price $10k and had an open house yesterday. We'll see how that goes. And don't get me wrong. Overall, we're completely psyched about the new house and happy about the construction process. I'm pretty sure we're supposed to hate our builder by now. Speaking of which, remember ~9 months ago, I visited a work-site of another builder when trying to decide on who to go with? It was an addition that was completely framed & sided & roofed at that time. Turns out it's owned by a friend of a friend, and it's not done yet. Think I picked the right guy. edit: If you're doing something like this, check out a Chase Slate card - 15 months no interest on all purchases is amazing. Gounads fucked around with this message at 14:36 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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Mar 13, 2017 14:06
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Thanks for the insight. I think I'd be a wreck if I were building a house going off of my money anxiety alone.
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Mar 13, 2017 14:48
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Met with propane dude yesterday afternoon. All set to bury a tank where I wanted it behind the house. Looked like the plasterers were almost finished. Got our electric company easement paperwork notarized and sent out so we can get our pole installed. Blizzard today, I imagine work will be on hold today and tomorrow.
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Mar 14, 2017 14:55
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