Above 1200 Sq/FT The Suburban Working Garage in VA...now building the Highland House in the Teton Valley

[Nolift911]

I wouldn't worry as long as the architect designed it correctly for the environment. I have quite an extensive working relationship with flat membrane covered roofs in the industrial world and have overseen many repairs over the years and several full replacements. All of our 750k square foot warehouse roofs are membrane covered flat roofs. Some with standard downspouts and drainage whereas others with parapet walls will have scuppers for drainage.

When I first started back in the late 80's most of them were ballasted roofs, but over the years when roof replacements were due, we have replaced them with mechanically fastened, which is what I prefer. I'm not a fan of ballasted roofs personally as I don't think the pros outweigh the cons. There are several manufacturers of membrane for the roofs, Firestone probably being the most prevalent, but the main thing is just routine inspections and keeping drains clear of debris to prevent standing water, which can possibly work its way under a seam, but for the most part I wouldn't hesitate about a few flat sections.

I can add some more details to this as well after replacing the flat roof on our warehouse this past summer. From what I learned in that process, black flat roofs are a rubber EPDM compound. White roofs are either a TPO membrane or a PVC membrane. We went from a ballasted EPDM roof to a fully adhered (glued down) EPDM roof. So rather than the weight of the rocks holding down our roof insulation and rubber membrane that were both just laying on our steel roof deck, we had the insulation mechanically fastened down to our steel and the membrane was glued down to the insualtion. There's pros and cons to just about every material and style of installation, but I decided on our course of action after talking with a roofing specialist at a major engineering firm in our state. It was great to get an unbiased opinion rather than getting a sales pitch for whatever system each particular contractor that I had bid was trying to sell me.

But bottom line, I'd also trust the architect to know what they're doing out there. Snow loads *should* have been taken in to account when engineering the framing. I second what Zmotorsports said about getting routine inspections on it. You can probably handle making sure everything drains properly (i.e. go watch it during a rain, look for puddles remaining after a rain, remove any debris that gets up there) but I would definitely get a professional out there to do annual inspections of the membrane after a few years have gone by. They'll know what to look for in terms of seal integrity and membrane deterioration. With our roof, annual inspections by our contractor are requirement from the membrane manufacturer as part of their warranty. That reminds me, check to see what warranty you may or may not have on your flat roof.

With flat roofs an ounce of prevention is absolutely worth about 10 pounds of cure.

Good point @cs26k about the manufacturer's warranty. The Firestone TPO roof membrane that we use has a 20-year warranty, but that is contingent on annual surveys. We have a 3rd party come in annually and do thermal scanning to look for wet spots in the substrate as well as anything that we may have missed during our monthly and quarterly in-house inspections. These findings are well documented along with an action register to ensure if there is an issue that we as the responsible party followed the proper recommendations to maintain the warranty.

I've had a house with a flat roof for 14 years now without any issues. I believe it's a TPO membrane. I've heard it's not very puncture resistant but you don't have any tall trees next to your house so you'll be fine. Looking out at my neighbors houses it seems most have a white roof but a few have black. Can't say I've noticed a difference with who's roof has snow melt the fastest.

Great set of updates @Nolift911 Since few people will ever notice nor comment, I’ll be that guy: “Damn bro, nice slot drains in the slab.”

Thanks gents for all of the insightful comments...I have no idea WTF I am doing so I am just rolling with most of it...I research, push back on what seems "not" logical or way out of bounds but come the end of the day this is my first rodeo...and I am just a spud.

I do know that the flat roof has a 20 year warranty or the membrane I should say. The architect spec'd a roof with ballast...my builder was like wtf? ... for a homeowner with maintenance etc. as it sounds like these need at least yearly inspections, care and feeding...blah blah blah he was like no, no gravel.

And there was a lot of gravel that was supposed to be up there. My builder is like "how are we going to inspect with all the gravel and if you have an issue you need to remove all the gravel to repair"...so they opted for a glue down membrane - likely PVC.

I do know gravel is heavy - but that is about as far as my roof ballast expertise goes.

The 20 year warranty comes with some caveats, as in who is the owner? - and not the homeowner, like a maintenance person or even an HOA - that does the "yearly inspections" My builder signed up to do that for me as he lives in the valley. At first the manufacturer was like "no we don't do residential non-ballasted systems with a warranty". I am trying to follow along eating popcorn...knowing nuffing.

I think we are good - I trust my builder and the architect. He did say he was going to "flood that mother - f'er" for both weight and leakage once it warms up. This winter will be a good test on weather before things get sealed up for good (drywall) on where the "problem children areas are" I will post some pics of the "hardiness" of the structure...its beefy.

All of this in the name of flat roofs and architectural nuances. I am good...its fine, everything is going to be fine.

His other area of concern was the west side slope of the garage for snow and rain. I have those 10 footer floor to ceiling deals in the garage with like zero overhang and he is like - "rain and snow, rain and snow". We will have snow bars on the roof but a couple of the summer storms indicated even gutters my not be able to keep up given the size and slope of the roof.

Sneak peak of window install - (will post more pics next).



More to come - thanks for the comments and following along...

 

[zmotorsports]

Good call on staying away from the ballast. Not only can you not perform a thorough inspection with rock/gravel on the membrane, but many times you actually create damage by walking on the gravel that is holding the membrane down.

 

[Nolift911]

Good call on staying away from the ballast. Not only can you not perform a thorough inspection with rock/gravel on the membrane, but many times you actually create damage by walking on the gravel that is holding the membrane down.

Ha - thanks Mike...yeah I was like no way in hell, not on my watch - ballast?? Did you say ballast? LOL. I had no idea.

 

[GRN96WS6]

I had no idea WTF a flat ballast roof was until this thread, sounds ridiculous to me haha


House looks stellar!

 

[zmotorsports]

I had no idea WTF a flat ballast roof was until this thread, sounds ridiculous to me haha


House looks stellar!

I would say prior to around late 90's most flat/membrane roofs were predominantly ballasted. It's only been in the last 25-28 years or so that the transition has been made to the mechanically fastened and away from ballasted.

Personally, I think it was more cost and speed driven to do ballasted, but over time results showed that although the mechanically fastened are more time consuming to install and/or replace, that they pay off in their longevity and lower warranty issues.

 

[Trapps]

Beefy is right, it looks like interior walls are all 2x6…

 

[Nolift911]

I had no idea WTF a flat ballast roof was until this thread, sounds ridiculous to me haha


House looks stellar!

You and me both and thanks!

I would say prior to around late 90's most flat/membrane roofs were predominantly ballasted. It's only been in the last 25-28 years or so that the transition has been made to the mechanically fastened and away from ballasted.

Personally, I think it was more cost and speed driven to do ballasted, but over time results showed that although the mechanically fastened are more time consuming to install and/or replace, that they pay off in their longevity and lower warranty issues.

Makes sense...also quality of membranes/materials getting better.

Beefy is right, it looks like interior walls are all 2x6…

Yes!

Couple more pics of progress...

Thought this was cool - how they cut in the fireplace hole -



For the garage pour - I think it was 5 inches all over and then they dug down another 1.5 feet for the lift placement both for the 2 post and 4 post and also ran conduit for each.



This is the utility room or "control center" in the middle of the house, my builder painted it white before all of the plumbing and electric went in.



One of the manifolds for the radiant system - looks like an intake for some motor.



Hardware - so two boilers, these will run the radiant system and hot water for the house. I am a nut about hot water, maybe because my dad was such a miser with electricity and an electronic nerd. He built his own timer system for the hot water heater at our house growing up. It came on at 5PM and went off at 9PM. If you wanted hot water - shower then, plus it was a small tank. Never had any hot water, you needed to get your business done in like 7 minutes.

I like hot water and don't like to run out, especially in the shower - so I was pretty particular with the builder and plumber. I said I want an entire Olympic sized swimming pool of hot water at the ready, whenever. I have 150 gallon, gas water heater now. Its fantastic and have not heard good things about instant boilers I was dubious. He was going to do one and I said lets do two.

So both of these commercial grade boilers should push 300 gallons an hour, 10 gallons per minute of hot water, 350,000 BTU outputs.
Ya'll are welcome to come grab a hot shower anytime - (I am going to power them down when my dad visits)





Couple more from the in person visit in October -










More to come -

 

[zmotorsports]

You are creating on hell of a nice place there Jeff. Well done.

 

[badonk]

Great progress. The house is looking great and the views are sick! Somehow I wasn't getting notifications that you were updating the thread again...

I must have a 'ballast' roof at my house in Denver - built in the 50's. It is actually pretty resilient when dealing with the hail storms we get. But we are about due for a new roof and I'll just go with a modern asphalt tile when I replace it (once the bank account recovers from the new place in the mtns). I have some flat roof on the new mountian house but I think mine is all black 60mil EPDM from Versico, heat taped, drains, yadda yadda. It also came with a 25 year warranty - seems pretty typical. Versico makes white EPDM - more energy efficient from a cooling perspective.

My roof installer specifically said that my standing seam install could show oil canning. If I does I don't notice it - nor do I see it on my neighbors. I think we used Berridge and there are lots of types of 'standing seam'. I like the way yours came out. I watched the roofers install some of mine. They have a little trolly machine that moves down the seam and closes it up. Pretty cool stuff.

One thing to think about is snow accumulation coming off the roof. Those sloped roof areas will shed quite a bit of snow and that will pile up. Without any eaves it could be right up against the side of the house and huge windows? They can put snow retention bars up that'll help - but I'm not quite sure how that works. The snow still has to go somewhere or it just piles up on the roof? We've only had a little snow so far in Colorado and I'm already seeing piles starting (see pic below) from the roof sloughing off the snow we've had. Before my brother had his roof stuff figured out he had to pay someone to shovel the roof.

 

[Nolift911]

You are creating on hell of a nice place there Jeff. Well done.

Thanks!! and thanks everyone for following along!! I think my first post on GJ was about 13 years ago and I have learned so much and gotten so many great ideas. Also, watching everyone else's garage build and projects its great to have "my turn" - even better with all the folks tuning in! So thank you to everyone and the great comments!

Great progress. The house is looking great and the views are sick! Somehow I wasn't getting notifications that you were updating the thread again...

I must have a 'ballast' roof at my house in Denver - built in the 50's. It is actually pretty resilient when dealing with the hail storms we get. But we are about due for a new roof and I'll just go with a modern asphalt tile when I replace it (once the bank account recovers from the new place in the mtns). I have some flat roof on the new mountian house but I think mine is all black 60mil EPDM from Versico, heat taped, drains, yadda yadda. It also came with a 25 year warranty - seems pretty typical. Versico makes white EPDM - more energy efficient from a cooling perspective.

My roof installer specifically said that my standing seam install could show oil canning. If I does I don't notice it - nor do I see it on my neighbors. I think we used Berridge and there are lots of types of 'standing seam'. I like the way yours came out. I watched the roofers install some of mine. They have a little trolly machine that moves down the seam and closes it up. Pretty cool stuff.

One thing to think about is snow accumulation coming off the roof. Those sloped roof areas will shed quite a bit of snow and that will pile up. Without any eaves it could be right up against the side of the house and huge windows? They can put snow retention bars up that'll help - but I'm not quite sure how that works. The snow still has to go somewhere or it just piles up on the roof? We've only had a little snow so far in Colorado and I'm already seeing piles starting (see pic below) from the roof sloughing off the snow we've had. Before my brother had his roof stuff figured out he had to pay someone to shovel the roof.

Yes - I have had threads drop off also that I thought I was "following". Not sure on the snow stuff - likely just trial and error with snow/rain. I am sure there will be "adjustments" that need to be made along the way.

I know my builder has concerns about this side of the garage - lots of rain and snow will come off that roof, and yes it will pile in front of those large windows. I just don't see any way to avoid it -



Windows have started going in, this was to target a mid to end of November "dry in" date. I think I mentioned the windows were pretty heavy so the installer has one of these huge "sucker" deals to install the windows that goes on the telehandler.



Can see the telehandler headed to the back of the house with one of the windows.





My builder has been great at sending pics and keeping me informed of progress...he sent me this and said "until you are standing next to these windows its hard to get scale, these guys are over 6 foot" I think this is actually a slider.



This is the master bedroom that has a "corner" of windows and there is also a 10 foot door that exits to the patio area. (I will try to note what rooms are where, some folks messaged me and said - "I can't figure out the layout of your house to save my life") It's actually just a 3 bedroom, 4.5 bath with a big garage



So here is the back of the house basically, master bedroom with the corner windows, door and then the two spare bedrooms are to the right, each has a slider and a window in the bathroom. They are identical to each other.



This is the window in the front of the house over the garage. As you can probably see the "Zip System" has been zipped with the tape and seem sealer and all nail holes goo'ed up. Temporary plywood over the garage doors. The garage doors are ordered and are being built.

Funny not so funny story on the garage doors. I wanted full window, black doors. There is a 10X20 and 2, 10X10's. So with the wind concerns and the direction the house is facing they need to be basically "hurricane" rated. So not sure where the ball was dropped on pricing or estimating such doors. I think we budgeted $14k all in for 3 doors. LOL.

I probably talked to every garage door manufacturer in the US and some in China for like 2 months for these doors. Conversations went like this: "so you want a 10X20 door, all glass that can withstand 130mph winds, double pain glass that is ballistic rated and fully insulated?" Yes please, and 2 10X10 with the same spec.

Anyway, one company said sure lets do it - so after many drawings and back and forth and signing off on architectural drawings we moved forward. They should be delivered out of Boise, ID mid December.

I won't mention the price and I am not good at math, but lets jut say we were "light" and then some on the garage door budget.

I also told my builder since the doors are anodized black with a light dark tint to the glass - I need all the hardware powder coated black. Everything? Yes - rails, bracing, hinges, bolts, nuts and of course black nylon rollers. Blank stare. If you are going to do a thing - do a thing.



My builder snapped some photos when the aurora borealis was in play a few months back - these were just with his cell so pretty cool shots.





More to come -

 

[zanyad]

So both of these commercial grade boilers should push 300 gallons an hour, 10 gallons per minute of hot water, 350,000 BTU outputs.
Ya'll are welcome to come grab a hot shower anytime - (I am going to power them down when my dad visits)

 

[Krfjkm]

Really great build! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Nolift911]

The garage doors should look like this (minus the palm trees... )



There are a number of monthly inspections that happen both from the architect in the form of a site visit and the bank - who basically own the house.

Anyway I get some really good detailed pictures of the build. Here are some of the "beef" details...

Steel -












Wood -







HVAC, Plumbing and electric guys have been fighting for "routes" from the main part of the house out to the garage - lots of stuff to get through.



More to come -

 

[gba2331]

HVAC, Plumbing and electric guys have been fighting for "routes" from the main part of the house out to the garage - lots of stuff to get through.

I never understood why architects didn’t make better accommodation for these things. A little extra space always helps down the road.

 

[badonk]

I never understood why architects didn’t make better accommodation for these things. A little extra space always helps down the road.

I don't know the specifics around this build but my builder highlighted some of the same issues - the architect designed it a certain way, then structural engineering came in and put some steel beams in. And of course this didn't leave much room for the trades ... so we ended up dropping the ceiling height in a few places to make some space. Not ideal but it had to be done to make it work.

I was talking to Jeff last night and I'm just blown away that between the architect, the structural engineers, and the builder, these types of problems seem to happen on every build. Architect sells you on some cool ideas and you are all excited to build this house. Engineer gets the plans and works their magic to figure out how to pull it off structurally. Builder looks at it and says wtf, this is now a complicated build and is going to cost $$$$. They all get together to figure out what compromises need to be made. And that's based on what they see right in front of them at that point in time...not accounting for any of the other 'surprises' along the way. Maybe it is just Jeff's build and mine, but I doubt it.

 

[jake28]

@Nolift911 for consolation, I made a similar mistake with my “man doors” in the shop. One lesson learned from my place in SF was that a tandem parking set up gets tedious quickly. So I wanted the ability to move cars and other large items side by side. But didn’t have space on the design for two garage doors. And I wanted a man door. So I just asked for French doors that were wide enough to move a car through. That request, combined with the requirements for glass thickness, insulating properties, UV blocking, and all of the other constraints required for code pushed the door from a Home Depot visit into full custom and “small car” territory.

 

[ericm]

Mine was a small design build firm. So the step between architect and builder was in one guy's head. We still had some stuff to move around to get it all in, but not much. I think the problem is just too big and complex for one person to keep track of, especially if they're building more than one house at a time. I had enough of a job just keeping everything for our house in my head and I'm used to doing that from years of being a software architect. Our builder does about ten homes a year so they had a lot more to keep track of.

 

[Nolift911]

I never understood why architects didn’t make better accommodation for these things. A little extra space always helps down the road.

Agreed - custom homes have lots of work to do in this area - almost like 3-D modeling with all wiring, HVAC and plumbing runs included.

I don't know the specifics around this build but my builder highlighted some of the same issues - the architect designed it a certain way, then structural engineering came in and put some steel beams in. And of course this didn't leave much room for the trades ... so we ended up dropping the ceiling height in a few places to make some space. Not ideal but it had to be done to make it work.

I was talking to Jeff last night and I'm just blown away that between the architect, the structural engineers, and the builder, these types of problems seem to happen on every build. Architect sells you on some cool ideas and you are all excited to build this house. Engineer gets the plans and works their magic to figure out how to pull it off structurally. Builder looks at it and says wtf, this is now a complicated build and is going to cost $$$$. They all get together to figure out what compromises need to be made. And that's based on what they see right in front of them at that point in time...not accounting for any of the other 'surprises' along the way. Maybe it is just Jeff's build and mine, but I doubt it.

Same comment as above - I think there would be a market for the said "architected house" to be modeled on a rotisserie and all viewable from all angles for all the trades to weigh in before final sign off.

I think the trade sign off is key. The builder sends out for "bids" but are they really sure what they are getting into. More on my full HVAC for the garage conundrum. "Wait the garage has full HVAC...??" yeah it was talked about form day 1 but somehow folks missed the memo. So it was not included in the build estimate. I hit the floor to hear just the ducting estimate alone...minus HVAC equipment - more to come on that.

@Nolift911 for consolation, I made a similar mistake with my “man doors” in the shop. One lesson learned from my place in SF was that a tandem parking set up gets tedious quickly. So I wanted the ability to move cars and other large items side by side. But didn’t have space on the design for two garage doors. And I wanted a man door. So I just asked for French doors that were wide enough to move a car through. That request, combined with the requirements for glass thickness, insulating properties, UV blocking, and all of the other constraints required for code pushed the door from a Home Depot visit into full custom and “small car” territory.

Thanks Jake - I am sure there or more "oopsies" to come - on everyone's part. Not looking forward to those. In talking with the builder just simple things like light switch placement - "electrician is going bananas, your house has no walls its all windows - where do we put switches?". I dunno - but not my problem bucket -

Mine was a small design build firm. So the step between architect and builder was in one guy's head. We still had some stuff to move around to get it all in, but not much. I think the problem is just too big and complex for one person to keep track of, especially if they're building more than one house at a time. I had enough of a job just keeping everything for our house in my head and I'm used to doing that from years of being a software architect. Our builder does about ten homes a year so they had a lot more to keep track of.

So my guy is just starting - he is a PE that got roped into custom homes when his parents were building a custom house and stuff went sideways and he needed to step in and honcho the whole thing, the rest is history. I think I am number 5 in terms of custom home builds.

He has another going on in the same area as me that is 3-4 times the size and complexity. Plus he is expecting baby #1 here in about 6 months...so lots going on. His attention to detail is awesome and right up my alley. This is not a perfect process and different every time.

So - windows are in and we are technically "dried in"...

 

[jake28]

Re: light switches: Lutron Caseta and Pico for the win. It skips the need for traveler wires between switch and light, so rigging up three or four-way systems, or scenes with multiple lights is much easier. The switches are substantially more expensive than conventional, but the savings come from labor and material savings.

If you decide you don’t like the placement of the switch, you can literally stick one on a wall with carpet tape and it behaves like normal.

Note: if you can spare the time, I recommend a trip to your local box store to see the switches in person. Outfitting an entire house only to realize you don’t like the way the dimmer control works is very annoying.

 

[gba2331]

Re: light switches: Lutron Caseta and Pico for the win. It skips the need for traveler wires between switch and light, so rigging up three or four-way systems, or scenes with multiple lights is much easier. The switches are substantially more expensive than conventional, but the savings come from labor and material savings.

That sounds great now but what happens 20 years down he road when they are no longer available? Wires in walls don’t become obsolete.

 

[ericm]

Note: if you can spare the time, I recommend a trip to your local box store to see the switches in person. Outfitting an entire house only to realize you don’t like the way the dimmer control works is very annoying.

That's a good idea that we did not do. I have a few switches to replace.

 

[Nolift911]

Re: light switches: Lutron Caseta and Pico for the win. It skips the need for traveler wires between switch and light, so rigging up three or four-way systems, or scenes with multiple lights is much easier. The switches are substantially more expensive than conventional, but the savings come from labor and material savings.

If you decide you don’t like the placement of the switch, you can literally stick one on a wall with carpet tape and it behaves like normal.

Note: if you can spare the time, I recommend a trip to your local box store to see the switches in person. Outfitting an entire house only to realize you don’t like the way the dimmer control works is very annoying.

Thanks for that - I need to look into the control side of things for all things electrical. I am meeting with the builder and electrician here shortly and wanted to discuss the options for controls etc. I completely agree with "hands on". For the recessed lights I ordered a couple to get the feel of what they look like etc. and how they operate. LED lighting is all over the spectrum these days - good news is cheap and lots of performance for the dollar.

I posted a separate thread about garage lights. Still on the fence there. Operating room bright that I can dim. Pretty simple.

Here is what I went with for most of the ceiling cans - nothing crazy. My builder has installed a ton of them so no issues. I prefer the "shallow" recessed and so does my better half. The "controller" goes up in the ceiling and is selectable for color temp. I will not do these in the garage. I will need some underlighting for the loft and hoping to push the "industrial" look under the loft area (more on that later, another debacle that will cost more $$)



Under the loft the look will go like this:



I like the look of these -



Couple more updates - as part of the dry in process, the garage doors had to be closed in, along with the 2 main doors front and rear to the foyer.

My new garage doors - Fancy



Entry way for front and rear doors:



Temporary man doors installed - rear.



Front door - so the interesting part about both doors is they will be pivot doors - 10X5 so that whole area that is plywood will be a pivot door. Kinda cool to put that in perspective with a regular door. The side light is 10 foot by 2 foot. Front and rear doors will be left hand swing



So here is the start of the loft area in the garage (my new nemesis) - conversation started like this..."what finish do you want on the loft stairs?" Finish? They are supposed to be metal. What is all the wood for? Supposed to be all steel beams, steel stairs, I-beam for engine hoist...my builder was on the phone 6 seconds later...wtf?



So they had to rip all that out and I now get to pay for more expensive steel that I thought I had paid for already. Anything heavy is expensive. Here is the look I had in my head for the loft:





So that was a fun conversation...

 

[Nolift911]

Trying to get this thread caught up for the holidays so hang in there - but in other news...life goes on...

Here is a mish mash of other project updates -

Appliances - always giving me a run for my money. I don't know if we are hard on them or just use them or what...dryer gets min 2 loads a day and those are full loads. I think waaaay back in another post (interestingly enough getting home from a trip the dryer quit) well...



Peek under the hood...



Once again continuity is everything - so lesson learned on my "buy once cry once" theory - non-factory part on the bottom, new factory part on top. And btw - no dryer in our house is like "no electricity or internet"...said my better half. Laundry and clean clothes are life.



Factory Certified parts...f yes. 3 times the price...but worth every penny. So I went back in time to see when this was replaced last with cheap - non certified parts. Jan 2nd 2023. So 2 years of service. The original one lasted 20 years...big difference even at 3 times the cost.



Next up - dishwasher - this was a rabbit hole.

Dishwasher see's 2 maybe 3 loads a day. It stopped. Its like the world stops. Call repair guy since it is out of warranty. "its your evacuation pump" $245, be here tomorrow - great. Guy comes back installs the pump. Its a bad pump. "Will order another one, be here tomorrow." Guy comes back installs the pump. Its a bad pump. Further investigation reveals its a bad batch of bad pumps from the factory. Yay me.

Going on day 11. No dishwasher. Apparently, after 35 years without a dishwasher you cannot cook without one. Things are getting desperate after 2 weeks on Door Dash. "Just order a new one... this is ridiculous" I hear from somewhere upstairs between doors slamming.



Ordered a new one...installing new one.



What are the odds? New one does not work. Here is the new "old one" ready for pickup since it is defective. Dog is involved at this point.
I hear murmurings along the lines of..."did you hook it up right, is it even getting water, is the drain blocked...and the dreaded - should we call a professional?"



A dishwasher has brought the entire household into societal collapse. Everyone is angry. I am buying dishwashers like they are Pez.

Here is the new old dishwasher with the new, new dishwasher...btw hooking up a dishwasher is like an hour affair minimum. I ignored the "should we call a professional comments" and soldiered on. Surely I can hook up a dishwasher? Delivery guy... "weren't we just here...are you hooking this up right"?

In the end I triumphed. I called KitchenAid and had a conversation about the breakdown of mankind going on in my house and it was their fault. What are you going to do to fix this? I talked about outfitting a new house with all of these appliances..."yes sir we are on it"

Incidentally - why not go with a different brand. We, for once have all of the same brand of appliances, to my better half this is nirvana. In both of our houses growing up we had a miss match of the cheapest whatever is on sale and fits. We soldier on.



Working and going strong - installed... and not by a "pro" (ignore all of the non-dishwasher install tools)



Life goes on...

 

[Nolift911]

Any watch people here...just saw the banner post of the Horologist's Shop - I dig that, those tools are awesome. I have a few old Tag Heuer's that I love and have been trusty companions for 4 decades. They recently implemented a program where you can send your watch in and get it refurbed to brand new. I did it and came out awesome - highly recommend.

No before shots but after - they send it back



Fresh polish - I am right handed and wear my watch on my right hand. Mainly because the bezel does not dig in to my wrist on the left.



My better half bought me this watch in Las Vegas on our 3rd-ish wedding anniversary, no kids just a good time. I was told it was a limited edition Formula One - no matter still love it and it is tough.



What else?

Defender and bumper-ette project. This was a factory option. Completes the look of the "standard bumper". Cheap and fun.

Said bumperettes:



They go here...



Punch - drill -



Hardware to attach - all plastic by the way.



Ridiculously good punch...

​

Even upside down...



Installed. Looking better.



More to come...

 

[Trapps]

Nope. No watch fans here...

Pretty cool on the Tag refurb; I have a 33 year old in serious need of this service.



I've used 9 of those Juno lights and zero issues. Color/temp selectivity is nice too.

Appliances ****. 20 year plus, without need of service, used to be the norm.

Merry Christmas!

 

[Nolift911]

Nope. No watch fans here...

Pretty cool on the Tag refurb; I have a 33 year old in serious need of this service.

View attachment 2459930

I've used 9 of those Juno lights and zero issues. Color/temp selectivity is nice too.

Appliances ****. 20 year plus, without need of service, used to be the norm.

Merry Christmas!

Thank you sir! That is in need of a refresh.

Defender wipers after 30 yeas of Africa sun - faded and tired.



Mod allows for use of "standard" not hard to find wipers...



Old keepers knackered...



Rinse, replace, repeat.



New tire cover -



Food - tot burger bites.





Finish with a watermelon margherita in the hot tub..



Also picked up one of these...




If you meat - you must pro...

 

[Nolift911]

Ok more food - a buddy bet me I could not smoke a 15lb brisket on a gas grill. I love a challenge. New Meater installed...

Start with a Costco brisket...shave off the hard fat parts...use those later.



Season overnight with mustard spices blah blah blah...





Wood...got wood? Taylor does...Apple, Hickory and Cherry...



Soak these overnight...



So you need your smoke station, water underneath - elevated and about 12 hours or some bourbon and a good football game(s) 250 degrees for like forever.





And here you have it...spritz with apple cider vinegar, chili flake, brown sugar and lots of bourbon...



Good enough to eat...



Birria tacos...get in my belly.

 

[Nolift911]

Ok more on Birria tacos from the brisket...more to the story there. Great place in Cheyenne, Wyoming called the "Rail Spur" - if you have ever been to Cheyenne you will get the play on the name - stop in - fantastic.



Changing gears... my GJ contribution for a quick meal time hack...

Quick - order Door Dash Chick-fil-A's - 3 will do...Chicken Parm hack - Step one - Order filets.





Cover in your fav marinara...



Fresh mozzarella...



More cheese...



Broil - 600...add some fresh cilantro and Italian parsley...



Add a salad - like 20 min tops...



Nice night - we ate in the hot tub which you guys hate,



I have been looking at snowcats - some light reading.



more to come...

 

[Nolift911]

Ok so house... where were we...?

Getting chilly in the Valley, electric and HVAC has started...





Electric!







One of the A/C units -











More to come -

 

[Vette60]

Regarding your dishwasher saga - I feel your pain 100%. Just then through that hellhole. I too had a Kitchen Aid. Replaced the drain pump due to the error, clean out the pump motor filter, replaced another drain part and still nice dice. Banging my head at that point and call in the pros. He took one look at it and said, yep, it's the main pump motor and also probably the control board! So, we jettisoned the Kitchen Aid and went with a Bosch. Just so frustrating that none of this stuff lasts. In the 10 years we have been in our "new" house, we have had 3 stinking dishwashers and 2 microwaves and 2 frigs! And our clothes washer has started to pop a control board error every once in a while. Grrr!

 

[Nolift911]

We are just about caught up to present day in terms of progress...











Still lots of drip rail and standing seam to go...





Pella was supposed to take these windows back - not sure why they did not - there were two that were the wrong size - wondering if we can use these for the glass wall from the office to the garage?



Backside of the main control room from one of the spares...



I think these are vent routes for the gas boilers...so each boiler needs two vents, a vent for each "fart fan for each bathroom" as my builder calls it and vents for the hood range and make up air. So there are like 4+5+2 = 10 vents that need to pop out somewhere.



More to come -

 

[zmotorsports]

Looking good Jeff. Quick question, have they given you any kind of tentative move-in date yet? Then will you be moving in right away or will there be a transition period from your current location? Just curious, thanks.


Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

[legenddc]

You sure seem to run your appliances a lot. Two loads a day in the dryer and 2-3 loads a day in the dishwasher? I’d hate to see your utility bills. I dislike appliance repair. The control board in my dishwasher wasn’t a lot of fun to replace. I’ve had to replace my microwave door switches. Also replaced my parent’s microwave door switches after an appliance repair person told them it needed a new computer and they should just buy a new one.

How do you like that Ridgid handheld vacuum? I almost bought it last week but they didn’t have a wet filter in stock.

Next time you get groceries look for Just Bare chicken. They have filets, tenders, nugs in regular and spicy. Tastes just like Chick-Fil-A. You’ve inspired me to make some chicken parm using some of their filets.

New house is looking great. I can’t imagine having to make all those decisions, especially while far away. It will be nice once you move in and won’t have a list of house repairs or projects to complete.

Hope you and your family have Happy Holidays!

 

[DeeDubz]

Is that your first meater? Ive gone through about 4. My experience they're junk. I replaced it with This . It's way more reliable. After thanks giving I got rid of my heaters. Two of them the probe metal part separated from the main thermometer. I took care of them cleaned them made sure they were charged. This last thanks giving Id pull the meater out of the charger, connect it to my phone, having a full charge. Inserted into the bird with in a min it disconnects. I repeated this process through the cook...

 

[Nolift911]

Regarding your dishwasher saga - I feel your pain 100%. Just then through that hellhole. I too had a Kitchen Aid. Replaced the drain pump due to the error, clean out the pump motor filter, replaced another drain part and still nice dice. Banging my head at that point and call in the pros. He took one look at it and said, yep, it's the main pump motor and also probably the control board! So, we jettisoned the Kitchen Aid and went with a Bosch. Just so frustrating that none of this stuff lasts. In the 10 years we have been in our "new" house, we have had 3 stinking dishwashers and 2 microwaves and 2 frigs! And our clothes washer has started to pop a control board error every once in a while. Grrr!

Yep - we really have not had issues with the other KitchenAid appliances. The built in refrigerator has been fantastic, double ovens, microwave and mini refrigerator as well. Dishwasher, I hope was an anomaly. One of the things I like about KitchenAid is it is basically Whirlpool - lots of interchangeable parts across the board.

We have been dealing with Ferguson for most of all of our appliance needs and essentially everything for the new house build. They have a massive showroom in Virginia for all things plumbing, lighting, appliances, fixtures - even door knobs and hinges. (We also get employee pricing discount that helps a ton)

When walking around and looking at the dizzying array of appliance choices - you can get lost. Where we are building is pretty remote so things will break and when they do I don't want to have too much down time for parts and service if I cannot fix myself. For this reason we are staying pretty pedestrian with appliance choices.

I don't need things that are motorized and open on their own, talk to each other or need to be worked from my phone. Some of the more exotic brands use lots of moving pieces, automated opening and closing etc. I need my food hot and my drinks cold. We will have a gas range - not an induction guy, just like I am not an electric car guy .

One thing I am staying away from is mini fridges. We have two now. Drinks in the back that nobody wants to bend down to get are in there for months - then get tossed. We bought them for drinks for the kids when they were growing up since cold drinks for 3 boys dominated all of the refrigerator space.

For the new house just two massive refrigerators - right hand swing and a left hand swing. Plenty of ice for parties and plenty of drink/food space. Other than ice we rarely use the freezer section for anything. We just don't eat frozen foods so we targeted a refrigerator that had the smallest freezer sections we could find. We are installing a trash compactor. I have had one in the past and they really cut down on waste/space. I will not have trash service where I am so I will have to haul things to the dump. This will mean less trips. Also recycling in Idaho is like rocket science. 6 different bins with so many rules on what you can an cannot recycle.

Not going with different faucets in every room, same toilets, shower hardware etc. Not really a cost thing just a one and done same stuff across the board. Simple. I really want this thing bullet proof and easy to maintain.

Anyway - couple more projects before I hit the road and head out west for the holidays. We will be out there for about 2.5 weeks, meeting with the builder and electrician etc. I will be taking some downtime to take plenty of pics and will have lots of questions for the GJ hive mind on certain items.

I have been getting messages "what's up with the Volvo?" Well here are some updates - looks like May was the last update on the brick
So where were we...I had finished the sympathetic restoration of the driver side and flipped the car around to do the passenger side so basically a rinse and repeat.

One thing that has slowed me down is having the Defender in the garage. So 3 cars in a 2 car with lots of tools and storage means something has to give in terms of space to get anything done. I prefer the Defender does not sit out in the weather so I work around "nice weather" to get things done. Can't wait for a 50X50 - serenity now.

Brick is flipped - tear down mode.



Some of this stuff I can restore - some needs replacement so eBay is my friend.





These fasteners take forever to get out...



Under the PO files - don't do this. More silicone and it took FOREVER to get off.







Door panels - easiest way to clean is some 409, light brush and plenty of water - dry in the sun.



These will need to be modified like the other side to accept the bigger speakers and new grills



More to come -

 

[coldh2o]

What's the plan for trimming out the top of the windows? They look awfully close to the underside of the trusses.

 

[Nolift911]

Looking good Jeff. Quick question, have they given you any kind of tentative move-in date yet? Then will you be moving in right away or will there be a transition period from your current location? Just curious, thanks.


Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thanks Mike! The "plan" is for the house to be done early/late fall of next year. We will need to keep the house in VA for a bit so it will not be a wholesale move anytime soon. Being government contractors we need to have a footprint in DC/MD/VA in addition to our youngest still has 2.5 years of high school. We also have family (both our parents) in the area and they will need support from us at some point - the circle of life.

Merry Christmas to you and your family and thanks for following along.

You sure seem to run your appliances a lot. Two loads a day in the dryer and 2-3 loads a day in the dishwasher? I’d hate to see your utility bills. I dislike appliance repair. The control board in my dishwasher wasn’t a lot of fun to replace. I’ve had to replace my microwave door switches. Also replaced my parent’s microwave door switches after an appliance repair person told them it needed a new computer and they should just buy a new one.

How do you like that Ridgid handheld vacuum? I almost bought it last week but they didn’t have a wet filter in stock.

Next time you get groceries look for Just Bare chicken. They have filets, tenders, nugs in regular and spicy. Tastes just like Chick-Fil-A. You’ve inspired me to make some chicken parm using some of their filets.

New house is looking great. I can’t imagine having to make all those decisions, especially while far away. It will be nice once you move in and won’t have a list of house repairs or projects to complete.

Hope you and your family have Happy Holidays!

The appliance use is slowing down gradually but with 3 boys, they generate a lot of laundry. Dishwasher does not seem to be slowing down. We cook a lot. It just seems to get filled up.

Rigid handheld - I had to go back and look I don't really consider that a handheld its relatively bulky. I am hard on vacuums with 2 dogs. Its fine. Is it phenomenal - no. It just works fine if that helps. Got it on sale and relatively cheap. Filter is easy to clean. it could **** more, but it works. Will check out the chicken...are they cooked? Not cooking or dealing with the chicken via Chick-Fil-A is the quick part.

Happy Holidays to you and your family - thanks for following along!

Is that your first meater? Ive gone through about 4. My experience they're junk. I replaced it with This . It's way more reliable. After thanks giving I got rid of my heaters. Two of them the probe metal part separated from the main thermometer. I took care of them cleaned them made sure they were charged. This last thanks giving Id pull the meater out of the charger, connect it to my phone, having a full charge. Inserted into the bird with in a min it disconnects. I repeated this process through the cook...

First one...it is a little sketchy with the charge process and the time to cook fluctuates often so not a huge fan. Also not sure they stand up well to the high heat applications. It works fine for a long smoke at 250. Battery does fine for 12 hours.

More brick:

Looked long and hard for this -

Its an insulator for the gear shift area - keeps noise out.



Goes here - supposed to drop the transmission a bit to get this in...whatever. I did not do that.





With that installed the gear shift bag that I had done by my upholsterer was a little bit tight with a 2nd or 4th gear throw...



So I needed to get that "redone". In addition I found an unobtanium center armrest with cupholders in functional condition - but needed to be recovered.





So off the upholsterer for some love - picked them back up after a few weeks...



Goal was to have the same look as the rear - in terms of armrest.



The color for the front matches the rest of the front interior.



Thanks for looking - more to come...

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks Mike! The "plan" is for the house to be done early/late fall of next year. We will need to keep the house in VA for a bit so it will not be a wholesale move anytime soon. Being government contractors we need to have a footprint in DC/MD/VA in addition to our youngest still has 2.5 years of high school. We also have family (both our parents) in the area and they will need support from us at some point - the circle of life.

Merry Christmas to you and your family and thanks for following along.

Thanks Jeff. I remember reading that your "working garage" is in VA and you were building out west here in the Teton Valley, but I guess I didn't realize it was going to be some time before you actually made the full move as you still had commitments in VA.

The new house is looking great, and I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas.

 

[Nolift911]

Thanks Jeff. I remember reading that your "working garage" is in VA and you were building out west here in the Teton Valley, but I guess I didn't realize it was going to be some time before you actually made the full move as you still had commitments in VA.

The new house is looking great, and I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas.

Thanks! Yes - not sure when we will make the "full time" move out there...hoping sooner rather than later.

More brick - cleaning up and painting trim - messy.



Almost two hours here to get this muck off -



In to the paint both for rocker and beltline trim -







Rear trim thingie doo dads I have no idea what they are or what they do...go Volvo.



Better half was obviously at work this day...







Turned out pretty good - rinse and repeat on the install.

More to come -

 

[Vette60]

Yep - we really have not had issues with the other KitchenAid appliances. The built in refrigerator has been fantastic, double ovens, microwave and mini refrigerator as well. Dishwasher, I hope was an anomaly. One of the things I like about KitchenAid is it is basically Whirlpool - lots of interchangeable parts across the board.

We have been dealing with Ferguson for most of all of our appliance needs and essentially everything for the new house build. They have a massive showroom in Virginia for all things plumbing, lighting, appliances, fixtures - even door knobs and hinges. (We also get employee pricing discount that helps a ton)

When walking around and looking at the dizzying array of appliance choices - you can get lost. Where we are building is pretty remote so things will break and when they do I don't want to have too much down time for parts and service if I cannot fix myself. For this reason we are staying pretty pedestrian with appliance choices.

I don't need things that are motorized and open on their own, talk to each other or need to be worked from my phone. Some of the more exotic brands use lots of moving pieces, automated opening and closing etc. I need my food hot and my drinks cold. We will have a gas range - not an induction guy, just like I am not an electric car guy .

One thing I am staying away from is mini fridges. We have two now. Drinks in the back that nobody wants to bend down to get are in there for months - then get tossed. We bought them for drinks for the kids when they were growing up since cold drinks for 3 boys dominated all of the refrigerator space.

Yeah, I understand wanting keep things simple. The Bosch dishwasher we ended up with of course connects to WIFI. My wife setup the app on her phone and I asked why bother? She said so that she can hassle our kids to empty it when the cycle is done. Fair point I suppose. There's a nice Ferguson showroom here in Richmond - no discount for me though.

Regarding the mini-fridges, I get it. We have one in our basement kitchenette setup and there have been too many time when the door gets partially left open and I need to scrape the ice of the back of it. It is nice to load up for parties though.

Someone mentioned Lutron lighting here before. Not sure what your lighting "control" plans are or even window treatments, if any since you are kinda out there with not too many neighbors. You mentioned not wanting to have things that talk to each other or automatically open and close, but Lutron makes rock solid gear in that category. I used to work for them and can't recommend their systems enough. They have everything from DIY stuff that you can buy at Home Depot for lighting and window treatments that you can order and install on your own to really high end panel driven lighting and shading systems. If you want more info, shoot me a note.

The white brick looks great. Thanks for continuing to share your adventures.