INSTALLING WINDOWS, A "STAYCATION" AND THE START OF ELECTRICAL

As with the other concrete pours we needed to wait for the patio concrete to fully harden, so while the concrete was doing its thing ... just sitting there, the team moved on to installing all the windows except for the big wall of windows on the south side of the house that overlook the patio.  They didn't want to walk on the patio until it was completely hardened so those windows would have to wait.  As we discussed on the previous post, installing the windows in a Passive House is not as simple as one would think.  Not only do they need to be level and plumb, they also need to sealed so there are no air leaks.  The area around windows is traditionally one of the worst areas for air leaks.

The tandem Craft room windows overlooking the courtyard

The northern kitchen window over the sink

The western kitchen window

The main bedroom window

The main bathroom window

The main shower/tub window

The view from the hall window

With the patio concrete fully hardened it was time to install the big wall of windows!  The team did this while Jeff was at work so  we waited to go out and see the finished install together.  It was cool!

The view as you step out the door!

If you're sitting in the living room

The small veritcal windows on the left in the above picture are casement windows.  These windows will have screens on them and will open with the "hinge" on the right (west) side.  Jeff discovered that the US Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Center and National Weather Climate Center had a data base of prevailing winds from Tucson International Airport.  So with that data we determined that we wanted to take advantage of the prevailing SE winds, thus the casement windows open to the east and will hopefully direct the wind into the house when we decide to open the windows.

 

The view that will greet you when you come through the front door

The full 40 foot wall of windows!

We were going to take advantage of the long weekend in January and plan a camping trip but instead we decided to take advantage of all the windows being installed in the house and do a hyper-local "staycation".   First we parked Nancy's car at the east end of Marsh Station Road where Cienega Creek makes a sharp turn to the south.  Then we drove Jeff's car to the new house site.  We then began the first phase of our "staycation" by climbing over the fence on the southern border of our property and making our way down the hill to the wash, past the big cliff, under the railroad tracks and then making a turn to the east at Cienega Creek.  This creek holds many secrets.  For the majority of its length it is a seasonally dry sandy wash, but there are a couple of areas where there is surface flow year round!  We've hiked up stream through some of the surface flow but never all seven miles to the east end of Marsh Station Road.  It was magical!  There were several large pools of water, plenty of areas to get our feet wet, multiple large Cottonwood galleries, a huge stone "throne" and we even ruined a young naturist couple's afternoon of solitude.

One of the large pools of water

We got our feet wet in this section

One of the many Cottonwood galleries

We even found an erosion cave!

Jeff on the throne

After driving Nancy's car back to the new house we began phase two of the "staycation" which involved something we have been looking forward to for a long time ... having a beer on our patio!  Yup, we got to break in the patio!!

The first of many sunsets on the patio!

Not sure you could find two happier people!

The third phase of our "staycation" was the stay.  We stayed in our new house for the first time!  Once again Jeff showed off his creativity and built a bed in our bedroom.  We put a couple of pieces of plywood down on the floor, stood cinder blocks on top of the plywood, put 2 x 4's across the cinder blocks, and then laid sheets of plywood across the 2 x 4's.  We upcycled the fabric from our sun shade (that took a ride in the dust devil back when we were stacking straw bales) to act as a "ground cloth".  And then used our thick Thermarest sleeping pads and car camping foam mattress to complete the set up.  We even ran an extension cord from the main breaker box so we could have a working lamp!

The bed "frame"

Not quite a queen sized bed but pretty close!

The first night in the new house was nice, but if you noticed in the above pictures the wall above the wall of windows had not been sheathed in plywood yet and it was January.  It was a bit nippy which we were ready for with our down sleeping bags but there was some loose plastic that started flapping in the wind sometime during the wee hours of the morning that was a little annoying.  We also realized how efficient our windows are at not transferring the heat of the sun.  Jeff had to open the sliding glass doors and sit in the sun coming through the opening in order to stay warm while he was having his morning coffee.

Within a few days of our "staycation" the team completed sheathing in the house.

Exterior view of the south wall sheathing

In addition to all the taping on the exterior of the windows to ensure they are air sealed, all the gaps need to be filled with insulation to ensure there is no thermal bridging.  To accomplish this, wool is pushed into the gaps with a thin plastic scraper tool.

Our bag of wool

A gap filled with wool

Next up on the agenda was starting the installation of the electrical.  The first step in that process was installing all the electrical boxes.  We began working on the plan for this project with Ray back in the summer of 2018 so one would think we would have figured everything out.  Well you would be wrong.  Nancy spent the better part of a weekend staring at the electrical sheet in the master plans and Jeff walked through all the buildings and together we came up with myriad changes and additions to the plans.  And believe it or not, Doug the electrician didn't bat an eye when we told him everything we wanted to modify or change.  He just smiled and said no problem!  We like Doug.  Of course this is why he hangs all the boxes first.  It is much easier to make changes before all the wiring is run. 

The electrical boxes are hung

Nailing the electrical boxes to the studs is easy.  Installing the electrical boxes on the straw bales is not.  The first step in the process is pounding in a block of 2 x 6 wood that is cut to a point on one end.

Pounding in the electrical blocking

A block of wood fully pounded into a straw bale

Once the block of wood is fully pounded into the bale the electrical box is screwed to the block.

An electrical box installed on a straw bale wall

Once all the electrical boxes were installed Doug and his assistant Ryan began the very complicated and long process of stringing all the electrical wires.  The picture below is from the first day.  This process will go on for many days to come.

The first day of stringing wires

 

WINDOWS, PLASTER AND PATIO POURS

Jeff's mom sends us weekly home made cards, usually associated with a holiday or a funny theme.  Her recent card was very apropos ...

Thanks Mom!

With the building roofs weathered in, it was time to move onto the windows.  Andrew had placed the order for the windows a couple of months ago so we knew they would be arriving soon.  Unlike in the colder climates where one doesn't want to feel the cold outside air when you are standing in front of the windows, here in Arizona we don't want to feel the hot outside air.  So we went with the special triple pane high performance windows from Alpen.  

Tom got the news that the windows were on their way from Colorado and would be arriving in a large semi truck.  There was no way the semi was going to be able to get up our drive way so Tom arranged to meet the driver at the same place we off loaded the lumber truck.  When we saw the truck coming from the east on Marsh Station Rd the crew jumped in Tom's truck and headed down the hill for the rendezvous.

The Window Truck

At first you might think the whole trailer was filled with our windows, but no.  The driver made several stops on his way south from Colorado, including one in Durango, CO to pick up a load of beer.  The driver was a former Marine and with that in mind, Jeff tried really hard to talk him out of a keg, a case, or even a six pack of the Ska Brewery Hazy IPA but the driver wasn't having any of it.

Windows on the right and beer on the left

The driver un-ratcheting the windows

There were over 20 window sets that needed to be unloaded and transported up the hill to the build site.  All the windows came with 2" x 4" wood frames with plastic handles screwed onto the sides, which made the window much easier to carry.  The crew loaded up Tom's truck with the windows and made several trips to the build site.  It was a good thing there wasn't much traffic on Marsh Station Rd as Tom took it nice and slow to ensure the windows made it all in one piece.

A load of windows with Lucas acting as a human "bumper" 

A garage full of windows!

With all the windows safely stowed in the garage it was time to finish up the prep work on the window bucks.  As you probably know by now nothing is "normal" on this build.  We will be doing an interesting architectural design element on all the house windows except for the large "wall of windows" on the south side by the patio.  We won't give ruin the surprise now but look for details in an upcoming post.  The bucks still needed to be sealed with the Quatro barrier, tape and a liquid applied sealer called Viscon.  It seems like a very complicated process but the area around the windows is one of the main locations for air leaks, thus everything needs to be sealed up tight.

First step is brushing on the Viscon

Second step is stapling on the Quatro

Third step is applying the tape

With the buck all sealed up it was time to install the first window.  The small window in the house's spare bath was first up!

 

Lucas and Ray screwing in the window

The first window is in!

While all this was going on, the concrete crew was also on site constructing the forms for the patio, hot water tank shed, and skirt in front of the garage.  The hot water tank shed and garage skirt was fairly straight forward, but the patio was another matter.  The patio was designed with a corner pointed to the southeast.  This design element is meant to focus your attention to a specific area on the horizon thus taking your attention away from what little traffic you can see buzzing along on I-10.  We also designed a set of stairs that wraps around that corner and continues to draw your attention to the southeast.  This set of stairs was a challenge for the concrete guys.  They had to rebuild the forms a couple of times to get the angles right.

Patio forms with the corner pointing to the southeast

Sun setting on the patio and hot water tank shed forms

Patio step forms west side

Patio step forms east side

In an attempt to make sure all the supplies were on site for future phases of the build, Tom also ordered the plaster from France and had it delivered.  We know what you're thinking ... Nancy and Jeff have fallen off the sustainable bus sourcing their plaster from France!   You may think that but you would be wrong.  We considered the carbon foot print of bringing the plaster all the way from France compared to using the plaster from here in North America and when you take into consideration all the extra steps and additives needed to use the Type S lime, the naturally hydraulic lime from France comes out ahead.  This is the same stuff they used on buildings for millennium, so we figured why not use it on our forever house!  Of course the truck it shipped on couldn't make it up the driveway so Tom's truck was drafted into service again to serve as a shuttle.

The first load of lime

The stack of lime takes shape

The day for the final concrete pour of the project finally arrived.  And it might be the most important pour too as we plan on spending a lot of time enjoying the views from the patio with a cold beverage.  With the garage built, the parking has become a little more limited.  We had to park several cars at the bottom of the hill along the road to the well pad. 

A full house!

The calm before the storm

With each pour of this build the logistical challenges increased.  Not only would the concrete trucks have to back all the way up the driveway, like they did for the garage pour, this pour would require a motorized wheelbarrow!  Of course one never remembers everything and so just as the first concrete truck arrived they realized they needed a ramp to get the motorized wheelbarrow into the forms so they could take advantage of it's dumping capability.  But with all the extra hands on deck they quickly took out the southwest corner of the patio forms, built a ramp and cleared out a "road" to get the wheelbarrow around the south side of the patio and into the forms.

Building the "road" and a ramp

The wheelbarrow getting its first load of the day

The first pour of the day!

Doug making his approach with a wheelbarrow full of concrete

Taking the corner

Coming in for the dump

Doug dumping the concrete

 

Doug showing off his wheelbarrow handling skills

Spreading the concrete into the forms

Shoveling the concrete out of the wheelbarrow to fill the nooks and crannies

All of the same things happened on this pour when it came to doing the initial finishing of the concrete just on a smaller scale and with wonkier angles.  They used the screed, the jitter bug and the bull float.

The concrete team using the screed

Doing the concrete Jitter Bug

The long handled Bull Float

There were a couple of differences though which made the finishing of this pour unique.  First the joints had to line up with the ones inside the house.  This was important to us because when you are inside we want our guests to really appreciate the amazing view we have, and by having the joints continue from the inside to the outside it naturally draws your eyes to the outside and thus to the view.

Aligning the interior and exterior joints

Lining up the joints

Putting in the long east/west joint

Another difference was that this pour has steps.  Not only did we have the big set of steps on the south side, we also had a one riser set on the east and west sides.  Above you saw how complicated the forms were, well the finishing of the steps took just as much skill.  They used a bunch of specific tools to make sure all the corners and joints were uniform and square.

Finishing the east steps

All hands on deck for the finishing of the southern steps!

The final difference was with the finish.  The slab for the house and casita were polished and the garage got a brush finish, but we wanted something a little different for the patio.  A polished finish would be too slick and a brushed finish would tend to take your eye in a specific direction, which we had already done with the joints.  So we chose a rock salt finish for the patio.  To get this they spread rock salt on top of the slab, pushed it into the surface and then let mother nature dissolve the salt which leaves behind small uniquely shaped divets.

Spreading the rock salt

The rock salt spread on the slab

Pushing the salt into the slab

And now what we have all been waiting for .... photos of the finished patio!

Looking east

View from the east

How about them steps!