A House In A Field
The story of a house. In a field. And how it gets there.
Ebbs and Flows, Rocks and Metal
We’ve mentioned this before, but it seems that the building site has its own rhythm. Some weeks hum right along. Others — like the last couple — can’t seem to get out of their own way.
This week is definitely the former. Though a combination of sub-contractor availability, good timing and difficult conversations, Dash Landing bears a striking resemblance to Grand Central Station. We’ve got landscapers, finish carpenters, garage door installers, cabinet builders, masons, contractors, nephews, and an occasional electrician.
Lots of progress across a number of areas, but it’s the masons that are really knocking out the awesome. Sam and Dennis are finishing up our patio and the assorted steps. We mentioned the latter briefly, but they pulled these out of a local quarry in a “cash only” deal — a true Maine tradition.
As an added bonus, they’re also setting our incredible new fire pit. This was made by the husband of one of our co-workers and is just about perfect. It’ll sit about a foot deep on a base of fire bricks. The big flange will then sit right on top of the bluestone. Truly a work of art and a great addition to our project.
Dennis and Sam setting the 2nd set of steps. Each one of these is 8′ feet long.
Sam, 2,000 lb of granite, a backhoe and a really expensive porch. What can go wrong?
Steps leading to the porch
New firepit. The back is 4 feet long and the front is about 2 1/2 ft across
“It has come to my attention, that air pollution is polluting the air!” – George W. Bush
Remember that whole “tight is right” insulation discussion? Multiple blower door tests in the contract? C-R-U-S-H-I-N-G our 2nd standard on our first try? Little pigs?
The good news is that we’re well on our way to an incredibly efficient home. According to a couple of our geothermal engineering estimates, Dash Landing’s heating bill for the average Maine winter should be right around $800. Words alone cannot convey this amount of awesomeness, nevermind the most excellent karma of a lower environmental footprint. And that’s before we add solar PVs.
But there’s a potential downside of a tight house — air quality. Between people, pets and everyday living, there’s a high likelihood that things could get “stale” — at best. Even unhealthy.
That’s where our heat recovery ventilator (HRV) comes in. One of this week’s projects was the completion of our mechanical air exchange system. There’s a fantastic article here about HRVs with more detail than you’d ever want to know, but this drawing explains the basics :
Stale air circulates into the system where it’s exchanged with fresh air from the outside. In the process, the heat is recaptured and warms the incoming air. (There’s something magical in that square core. We suspect unicorn tears. Maybe leprechaun wishes.) We don’t believe these are part of the building code in Maine yet, but there’s no doubt that a mechanical air exchange requirement is coming eventually. (And please don’t email us with nitwit things like “As soon as we finish fighting the incandescent light bulb ban, we’re going after these things.” Life is far too short for that nonsense.)
In our case, we’re installing an Imperial 7.15ES HRV made up the road in beautiful New Brunswick, Canada. It’ll run continuously at a low-speed, but each of the bathrooms will have a timer switch that will kick the HRV into high-speed mode for a fixed amount of time — typically in 20 minute increments.
Together with the air purifier and humidifier that are spec’d in the package and we’d like to think that Dash Landing will be a pretty comfortable place.
Even for W.
…And then we realized that we both own Kindles.
Cabinets and bookshelves for the living room. 
These will go across this wall : 
Finish work.
Beyond the delicious irony of the title relative to our “October or November or December” move-in estimate, the finish carpenters are now on site and doing their thing. Window frames, door frames, nickel gap walls — Tom and Dick (seriously) are responsible for them all.
The sharp-eyed among you might also notice something a little different in the door and window casing — they’re just a bit narrower than you’d typically see in a new home. Given the high ratio of windows to walls , Rob thought that standard width casing would be a bit “overwhelming.” Definitely different, but we’re liking it.
Router bits.
Bedroom window on the 2nd floor.
Closet door on the 2nd floor. Notice how the sides are just a bit “skinny?”
Work station.
Wooden clamp on a window apron.
“Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.” – Richard Lovelace
Our mason will be the first to admit that stone walls aren’t his favorite way to spend the day, but — wow — this looks fantastic. Between the fireplace/chimney and this stone work, Sam has a big role in the overall aesthetic of Dash Landing and we couldn’t be happier.
You’ll also notice his next project — four big pallets of bluestone were delivered to the site today. And our fire ring is under construction. With a little magic and hard work, this is going to turn into an awesome patio…
View from Mt. Debbie.
It’s a “loose” wall, but still really important to seal the top to limit the amount of water getting into the center — especially in the winter.
“I think we’re getting into a weird area here.” – Bill Murray
We understood the 800% growth between March and May. The kids finally obliged us and logged on to the site. Our relatives visited. People from the office. The “nice” parents in Sweden. In-laws. All the usual suspects…
But when we checked the WordPress statistics during a rainy Maine Monday (Boredom takes on all forms…), we were a little surprised to see that our August visitors grew another 20% over July. Which had grown 18% over June. Which was another 15% over May.
It’s amazing. Never in a million years, would we have expected this amount of traffic to the site. We’re humbled and honored. It’s probably also safe to assume that wordpress.com has technical issues and we’ve notified the proper authorities.
In the meantime, we’ll follow the advice of our blogging spiritual guides — Snack Girl and Divine Glowing Health — and simply welcome all forty-nine of you to ahouseinafield.com.
We hope you enjoy your time with us. Feel free to ask questions. Wander through the archives. Check out the links to some of our biggest contributors to the project — they’re amazing talents. Share the site with your friends.
And know that we’re going to shut this thing down like a bad party after the October November December move in date.
Welcome!
“I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” – Douglas Adams
Before many of you were born, we kinda sorta made a promise to pause between Dash Landing’s building “phases” and bring everyone up to speed. With interior carpentry starting tomorrow, this would be that post.
As of tonight, the entire interior has been primed and the ceilings painted. Window trim and finish carpentry will start on Tuesday.
- Cabinets have been split between two local builders. Greg Soper is going to do the kitchen and pantry. Ben Susla is doing the living room/television area, mud room, office and 2nd floor bookcases.
- The garage doors are being painted and will be installed on Tuesday-ish. Ditto with the loft doors and garage windows.
- Sam is probably 80% done on the stone wall and will definitely finish up this week. He’ll then start the bluestone patio and walk. We’ve decided to add a small fire pit on one end of the patio. Given someone’s penchant for large fires, we’re quite certain that this will end badly. (Our kids were raised with the instructions that “If Mommy starts a bonfire today, call my office and tell them that it’s an ‘E-M-E-R-G-E-N-C-Y.“)
John has been wandering around old quarries and come up with some awesome steps that will go across the front of the house and the bridge. Our plan tells us not once, not twice, but three times that — quote — “foundation” granite step curbing is not acceptable.” Because we’re apparently a little slow on the uptake….
- The front door is being painted red. We hope you’re all satisfied.
- Speaking of painters, we’re trying to move up the exterior landscaping in terms of getting the topsoil, grass, etc. in place. We’ve come to understand that there’s a fairly steady breeze that runs across the field and whenever they start painting, they find themselves doing battle against sand. Which makes them absolutely crazy.
But the most frequent question we’re hearing is – understandably — “When are you moving in?” One piece of paper says “October.” Another says “November.” Still another definitively states “December.”
So there you go….
A House In A Field 