Cowell Project

Mecahicals continue, painters finish exterior, septic installed, roof going on after historic tropical depression, "Hermine" dumps 12" of rain over three days

2010-09-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

WOW!! When it rains in Texas, it pours!! What a swampy mess the historic event of tropical depression, "Hermine" brought upon us. So we have been scrambling trying to mop up the mess and go forward again. Right after getting all our trenches dug for all our undergrounds all hell broke loose 9/7/2010--almost 12" of rain through to Thursday 9/9/2010. Sure wish the roof would have been on and the house completely dried in!! What a mess! Dale and AJ squeegeed the house of most of the water, but all the floor protection got soaked!! It will take a while to dry, but it will. The painters had almost finished painting the exterior when it began pouring--the paint was dry, and they pulled off for a couple of days. Plumbers had come in on August 30th to start their top-out which continued for the next several days. Dale had a meeting with Mike, Janis, and James from Powerhouse to discuss the Lutron Radio Ra2 system and other electrical issues forth coming on Wednesday 9/1/2010. The electricians started boxing out on Thursday and running a few wires--they worked all weekend and Labor Day!! That's some dedication--or they just needed to work to get paid--probably the latter...nonetheless most of the wiring is complete with the exception of a few small moving targets which will shoot down next week (week of September 20th); Tom Vaughn & company from "Austin Audio Tech" came in on Monday the 13th and knocked out almost 80% of all the low-voltage wiring for the house. Half the crew showed back up yesterday and finished most with the exception of that pesky moving target again! They will have to come back and add some wire for a TV in the Laundry/Sewing room...Tom said it would be a few days before they could get back out. In the next few days, Dale and myself will start to perform our anal retentive punch list to tighten things up a bit before we can call for our frame set inspection. The masonry stone is supposed to start delivery today. I haven't seen it yet, but should be coming...roofers are roofing away as I type...

HVAC rough-in...

Plumbing top-out completed...

Jose the painter--looks pretty excited!!

Roof going on--Yeah!!!!

Media closet with low-voltage wiring.

Back Porch stained...

Mama-Jama 300 Amp Service panel!!!

Framers back/Mechanicals start 8/26/2010 thru 9/1/2010

2010-09-02T04:31:00.000-07:00

Thursday (8/26/2010) framers show back up to finish up some work while the HVAC contractor, Airtron, get started roughing in their systems as well. Framers finished up most of the major items needed to be in place for the HVAC to be implemented. HVAC crew continued their rough-in Friday (8/27/2010); Dale had a meeting with Mike, Janis, & James with Powerhouse Electric to go over lighting systems; Dale had a busy morning with the meeting and then John, with Christianson Plumbing showed up to start laying out for their top-out crew set-up for Monday 8/30/2010--many questions to be answered. I visited with Mike & Janis on Saturday just to make sure I was on the same page as everyone else; Cornice crew showed back up and finished up most of their work on Saturday as well--we ran one rafter short at the front porch and need more cypress for the front porch as well. Painters started to prepare the exterior for painting Saturday. Larry & Lester starting implementation of the septic system--lots going on Saturday! Monday came and the top-out crew from Christianson began their top-out--they continued thru Wednesday 9/1/2010 and finished up. All plumbing lines and stub-outs were neatly anchored--nice job Christianson! I walked the house with Kyle Bacon, with Airtron to discuss a couple of slight modifications to get air into the Eating Nest and adding one more register in the sitting area; Their rough-in crew did a very nice installation with tight spots to run duct work--this was not an easy job. Looks good guys!!

Cornice Continues/Concrete Staining 8/19/2010 thru 8/21/2010

2010-08-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

Double A framing, Louis & company continue to install all the windows, exterior doors, sliders, and exterior siding work as well; back porch started to get the cypress installed, but had to clear off for Bryan Thomas of "Thomas Family Stained Concrete" whom came in Thursday morning to start cleaning and applying samples for selection--and Mike & Janis showed up Friday morning for a selection, and low and behold after buffing off, most of the color seemed to have disappeared! Bryan and family applied another pass of stain on a couple of samples which we all liked--imagine that!! So that afternoon (Friday) a decision was made, and staining commenced. Saturday morning I ran out to check on things and had a small melt-down with the rolling of the Zip tape and flashing--or better yet, lack thereof. We still needed more Zip tape & window flashing tape (Fortiflash) after the 100 rolls we have been through already--that could be slightly exaggerated!! Enough of that...Mike graciously recognized I was not a happy camper and offered a ride to Stock Building supply to pick up MORE Zip tape and to cool-down. Prior to us leaving it was decided to hit the stain one more time with Walnut I believe to warm it up just a bit with some more gold/brown enhancements. Janis and Mike were to return at 3:00pm to throw some holy water on before the sealing would be applied Janis just "absolutely loves it"--I think Mike is OK with it as well except the zebra strips in his office, laundry, and master bedroom (these were created by some framing material laying on the floor apparently and suspected it got wet momentarily--staining concrete is Voodoo!!); rugs, beds, etc are probably considerations for some of those areas--its really just MORE character. Here is a shot of the entry with one of Janis's treasures...after the floor stain was applied...


Geode at entry with concrete stained & curved scoring.


Geode at back porch after concrete stained.

Here are a few pictures of the exterior cornice work and windows...


Rear view of Janis's studio & Yoga room upstairs.

Outside view of master closet area.

Exterior view of side media room.

The combination of staggered lap siding integrated with the board & batten above a freeze board is a very nice architectural feature that Janet Hobbs' of "Hobbs' Ink, Custom Home Design" incorporated. After exterior paint and masonry are installed it will really have some great diversity of textures and architectural uniqueness!! Way to go Janet!! I have also been following a parade home in Rough Hollow that Janet as well designed...It is one of the best designed from and architectural standpoint (my opinion); it has a little contemporary flare to it which I aspire to. I took my wife, Cynthia out to the Cowell Project for the first time last weekend, and she absolutely loves the layout of the house!! She said she would mind something like that--that's when I walked back inside so I would not hear the complaining of living in the same house for over 11 years!!

In addition to the layout, and the exterior finish-out we have some interesting ceiling treatments going on as well. After stopping in at an open house I had in Belvedere early this year, Mike & Janis had Janet incorporate some dropped floating back lighted ceiling treatments that have some organic curves to them--we are not 100% complete with them and we are tweaking and augmenting slightly for a little more WOW factor.
Here is a picture of the framing of some of the ceiling treatments that interface at the sitting room to the kitchen...

Dropped floating, back lighting ceiling treatments at frame--not 100% complete just yet.

Floor covering will commence Tuesday morning, and we will start to get mechanicals installed thereafter.

Windows get delivered 8/17/2010

2010-08-18T17:19:00.000-07:00

We finally got our window and exterior door package--all 3000 of them--maybe slightly exaggerated, but they were and are very heavy, and many of them. The target is starting to move AGAIN. Janis found another window to install and yet she has another idea of some means of light coming in from a different type of window that I won't mention because Mike may not know about it just yet (that just happened today (8/18/2010). When the windows showed up it was like doing Chinese algebra figuring out where they all went, since it had all changed from the original plan more of less; Dale, AJ, Pedro, and myself placed every window were it was to be installed. Luis, the cornice crew jefa started installing yesterday late in the afternoon/evening. The roof deckers also showed up to finish the roof decking and it is know completed. Austin Star Roofing showed up and started the dry-in process as well, but returned today 8/18/201 to finish. We have pushed off Bryan Thomas the concrete staining guy until we can finish up the inside; tomorrow cornice crew will be back to continue their work, framers may show up to continue some additional work--more to follow tomorrow w/ pics...

Cornice, Framing, Mayham, & Rock Samples 8/13/2010 thru 8/16/2010

2010-08-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

Friday the cornice work continued at a slow pace...the heat is taking a toll on everyone. The crew started as six guys on Friday morning but dwindled to three after I had picked up five pizzas for lunch! We generally feed the crews that are there for an extended period of time in appreciation of their hard work. The other three crew members apparently went back to finish up a previous job. Fortunately, my mason, Crispin Tejada showed up with my favorite masonry crew leader, Jose, to implement the first selection of a stone sample, Texas Mix, in a long linear pattern utilizing 2", 4" and a few 6" cut both sides to maintain tight grout joints. Then my roofer showed up, Taurino of "Austin Star Roofing" with his son, then Dale, so we were able to put a small dent in the pizza stockpile! But with the heat as bad as it has been, no ones appetite was very large...

The cornice crew used up all the sheathing and fascia, so we ran short; more was ordered and will be out Tuesday morning so we can finish up all the exterior trim work. The windows and exterior door package was also released for the job to drop on Tuesday as well. Additionally, the cypress and rough sawn cedar were ordered for the exposed soffits at the porches.

When showing up Saturday morning a little late ( I was getting another job lined out in Rim Rock), I could have sworn there was a party going on when I showed up at 11:00ish--parking was getting tight!! Cornice crew, framing crew, masonry crew, management crew, side-kick crews, and Mike and Janis were all there, but were was the cocktails and hors d'oeurves!!!

After some fielding some questions, which Dale had already worn Mike and Janis down a bit, or rather they probably wore him out!! I could not find him for a little while--may have been hiding catching his breath and/or sanity!!; Janis drug me to her car to get a window out she wants to add at the upstairs wall opposing the upstairs landing--she's a window girl, but that's OK because I like lots of windows as well--I would just rather have it figured out on the front end and ordered at the same time. But Janis needs to maintain her relationship with Craig--that would be Craig of Craigslist.com; more on that later. So unfortunately, or fortunately--depends on what side of the fence your on it was too large to fit...more on that later as well.

We then pondered the stone sample(s); Jose had returned to provide a different stone sample, Austin Brown, in 3" and 6-1/4" cut on top and bottom in a long linear fashion with tight mortar joints and different color of mortar, Texas Tan and some other color; I could not understand what he was telling me, however, there seemed to be a general consensus that we all liked it--maybe a little tweaking on the mortar color.

After all that, the mean old builder re-advised Janis of the need for those distressed beams she had been working on to go over the Dining entry, and the Eating Nest entry needed to be complete by Tuesday morning--well low and behold she had them ready for the most part (drying remained) on Sunday morning. And here is the happy little camper...

Doesn't she look pretty excited and thrilled that she has complete two of the major beam finishing!! Like I said, it has been really HOT lately, and I know she is about to pass-out from heat exhaustion!!

More to follow on Sundays events and revelations...

Cornice continues 8/13/2010

2010-08-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

The new cornice crew started Wednesday 8/11/2010; Louis and company arrive around 10:00am and get the grand tour and the lay of the land. Louis and one other guy get started applying the fascia and drip mold while the rest of his crew finishes up a job in Lakeway--they should be in full swing on Thursday--and by golly they were in full swing yesterday. The Zip tape still seams to offer some challenges for some of the crew so we ceased their efforts in installing yesterday, and we will be giving an instructional overview of the proper application this morning. Roof decking should start to get installed today and tomorrow. A dry-in has been tentatively scheduled for Monday--Torino with Austin Star Roofing, AKA, "Mr. I can't wait to start the job!" Windows will be delivered Monday and installation will commence. The mean old builder is cracking the whip on Janis to get her beams distressed or better yet I would say STRESSED! It was Janis's birthday yesterday as well! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! We got her a happy bouquet of flowers to match her happy personality!! Then we put her back to work with her arsenal of tools of destruction--I thought this was supposed to be a construction project--NOT a destruction project--What's up with that anyhow!! I told her we need them by Saturday--I think she nearly had a heat stroke. Now that she is back the target is beginning to move around a bit as well--things were running real smooth last week--MORE WINDOWS--NO WINDOWS--MOVE WINDOWS--MOVE TUB (oh yeah I convinced her to leave the tub were it was originally planned); still belaboring over those pesky column designs as well--we're going to put her into cranial overload soon with all the decisions she will have to make like right now!! Dale and I failed miserable in our attempt to talk her out of the funktified barrel roof at the eating nest--she is steadfast she wants the funky roof that does not go with any other lines on the roof--I have a feeling my attempts to persuade her on many things are dimensioning quickly--I'll be buckling under soon, and just do what she wants...It will be OK though--I'll just be a zombie saying, "yes dear whatever you want", but then Mike will be going, "but what does that cost!" Better re-up that prescription of Valium! Her are some pics from yesterdays progress...

Saturday 8/7/2010 Cornice Crew begins sheathing

2010-08-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

It was planned for the cornice crew to start the exterior wall sheathing on Saturday. We are using the "Zip Wall System", by Huber Engineered Wood Products: http://huberwood.com/main.aspx?pagename=zipsystemwalloverview; We install all our sheathing horizontally with staggered joints--this provides approximately 40% more racking strength as apposed to the vertical application of the sheathing--this is just one of many advantages to using Integrity Builders--we are constantly searching and researching for improvements on building materials and practices that are forward thinking and innovative in this arena; we are constantly exercising best practices on all facets of the construction process. OK, I am getting off track a little bit, but we HAVE to interject sometimes that we are better than the competition--because we feel we are! OK so about 1/3 of the house got sheathed Saturday, and proceeded Monday 8/9/2010--personally I had some concerns about their ability--I will elaborate on that the next blog...but long story short we have a new cornice crew starting Wednesday 8/11/2010. Details to follow...

Framing Continues week of July 26th thru July 31st

2010-08-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

Sammy and company continue to frame diligently; Sammy is a very good proactive framer always thinking ahead and making necessary modifications to make everything work to the plan. He is a pleasant individual, and it has been a pleasure to work with him and his crew; they are a framing crew from "Double A Framing". In appreciation of most crews that work for extended periods on any one job for us, we like to show our appreciation by providing them with lunch on Friday...Dale has been graciously providing them with a few cervezas as well at the end of the day--THANK YOU DALE!. It has been extremely HOT these past weeks--100 degrees plus, but the crew continues to work all day to almost 7:00pm everyday. Janis has been coming out and taking pictures of the progress about everyday--We have not seen much of Earl & Rose lately, Janis's parents whom live behind the Cowell's new residence under construction--probably been too HOT! Here are a few pictures of the progress thus far: Click on each picture to enlarge--just a tip for the technically challenged...

Framing Begins 7/26/2010

2010-08-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well--frame I material dropped Monday morning so framers could get started. Janis showed up around 9:00am I think to meet with Brian Thomas--their stain concrete guy (I had worked with him many years ago at an ultra contemporary house off Thurman bend--I had suspected I knew him)...we figured out what scoring would be done at the entry, and Janis and I left on a journey all day! We went from Del Valle to Spicewood and everywhere in between in search of distressed beams for the interior--we found lots of stuff not worth hauling home and stuff worth hauling but pretty pricey. One of the first places was a demolition company in Del Valle--we did find some utility sinks that could work in Janis's studio--we believe they were from the Texas Stadium that this company had imploded and demolished.

Popping LInes for Framing--Saturday 7/24/2010

2010-08-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday after the Wednesday pour we had the framers popping lines to start framing for Monday...I was tied up in a 7 hour and 45 minute budget meeting with some other potential clients--called Dale around 6:15 pm and said everything was great...Hmmm--he sounded pretty confident. I went by Sunday to check the lines and noticed a few minor issues which I pulled out a tape measure and plans and ascertained all the things that appeared to be a problem, but were not--lines were just placed at the wrong spot--we're on it!! No Pics just yet--sorry!

The Big Day--Foundation pour 7/21/2010

2010-08-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

Janis lost some sleep last night in anticipation of the foundation pour. This was to be a scary day for her! I told her to take a valium and drink a few glasses of wine and she would be fine. I arrived about 6:45am with TACOS for everyone!! Janis finally shows up (quite excited!!) about 8:00am with her fossils and gem-stones to be placed at exact locations as specified by her. She methodically labeled each stone as to where it would be placed. The day before Shane, the boys and myself measured off each location and applied a rebar stake with the appropriate number for each gemstone and or fossil. During the concrete finishing process one gemstone broke, but Janis quickly furnished us with replacements! What a girl-scout! One of the anchors broke off one of the fossils and we tried to JB-weld it back on--good luck! No wanno! We even had another consultant standing by--Mr Mike Cowell with some words of wisdom and other rhetoric which at this time I cannot remember--but I know it was clever--or maybe sarcastic humor! We just stuck it back in the concrete and said if it falls out will just epoxy it back on. It was a long and hot day, but the pour went well. We started watering (Dale, Myself, and Janis) the slab to slow the cure down since it was a HOT day. At about 4:00PM, Pedro with Texas Curb Cut showed up for the control joint cutting on the right side of the foundation. We set the sprinklers up at about 5:30pm and left the water running....Dale returned later in the evening to move the sprinklers and left it running all night long--THANK YOU LCRA, and to the cheater connection made by an anonymous individual.