Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT The Garage at The Place in The Valley (Garage Condo 45x23x20)

Greg_STL · Jul 5, 2016

I stopped by tonight but it did not look like much had happened. There was this odd sign in the main entrance. I've seen signs like this before when there are union and non-union contractors at the same site. I'm not sure what the problem was but this does seem like an odd solution. One side of the road is for the HVAC contractor, the other side of the road is for everyone else....

I took a bad photo of my unit through the glass of my locked person sized door. No drywall yet. You can see the feed and drain lines for the bar area. It looks odd because they will be routed around the perimeter of the mezzanine outside the drywall in a c-channel under the concrete of the mezzanine floor. The second photo you can see the water lines for the shower, sink, and toilet. You can't see much else due to the angle. I mainly stopped by to see if the drywall was up - not so much.

readhead · Jul 5, 2016

I haven't seen those signs since my union days in San Diego. You are right I'm the guy that does the columns, beams, bar joists and decking. I'm waiting to see what the awnings are like. We would be the crane service also. Iron workers building America.

Greg_STL · Jul 7, 2016

The downspouts are being installed on the center building. It has rained here everyday for the last week so it is nice to see these go up. Don't let the blue sky in the picture fool you - it rained today too. I didn't check behind the main building to see if those downspouts were being installed as it was way too muddy to walk back there.

The unit next to mine had the door open and it was drywalled so I snapped some pictures. The trusses on the side fall completely in the new wall so you can no longer see them. At the back, the main roof beam that runs the full length of the building is too wide to fully encapsulate so there is drywall offset at the top. If you look at the last picture (knowing that drywall is 4' wide) it looks like the offset happens at just under 20 ft.

The front wall is getting drywalled as well except for an offset around the garage door. The electric eyes for the openers are also now installed.

Greg_STL · Jul 7, 2016

I was able to get in my unit and take some final pictures of what will be behind the drywall.

The switches by the door (lights, fans, thermostat).

The mezzanine bathroom (shower, sink, toilet) plus light switches for the track lights above the mezzanine.

The TV wall with electrical, box to route a cable behind the TV, and blocking to help mount the TVs. I'm going to mount the TV mounts to a piece of plywood and the plywood will attach outside the wall but onto the blocking shown.

The bar with full width blocking for cabinets, sink rough-in, electrical outlets (2 above counter - 1 below for a fridge), and switch for a set of track lights above the counter.

You still have to squint some to see what will be there once the mezzanine gets build but it is looking better every day.

Greg_STL · Jul 7, 2016

I was able to snap a few pictures of the clubhouse through the glass. These are not great but the best I could do. The lights are getting installed - both a set of pendants over the bar area and high bay florescent or LED lights. The last picture also shows the wood door mentioned a couple posts ago...

Greg_STL · Jul 7, 2016

I'm starting to see individual HVAC air handlers in other units. I snapped the first picture just thinking that it was just sitting in the room waiting to be installed. When I looked in another unit I realized that it was mirrored and it might be the final location. I know I was told at one point that my air handler was going to be on the floor under my mezzanine. I fought to have it moved into the rafters above my bathroom/closet area because I did not want to lose the floor space. I'm really not sure how this is going to work. If the air handler is on the floor, are they going to run a full 20' tall duct to the ceiling and then ducts along the ceiling? Wouldn't that block the window? Maybe they are planing to run a duct on the wall only 10' off of the ground??? I haven't seen how mine is going to turn out yet but after having seen this I'm thinking I made the correct decision.

The weird part is that the clubhouse has a much larger hole for the HVAC system that is cut in the roof. The air handler appears to be on the roof and the larger hole passes air into the living space. You only see ducting hanging from the ceiling in the club house pictures. On the condo units, the holes in the roof are much smaller. My guess is that is a split system like a typical home system. I expect that they will just pass refrigerant and power lines through the holes with a condenser on the roof and an expansion set of coils in the air handler unit that is mounted inside. (With a heat pump, both coils are technically condenser/expansion depending on which direction the system is running). If it is just lines passing through, I'm not sure why there are two 10-12" square holes in the roof. Wouldn't one be enough? As usual, I'm sure I'm missing something ... but it doesn't look like I will have to wait long to see what it is.

Greg_STL · Jul 8, 2016

They have installed the downspouts on all three sides of the main building and both sides of the center building. The center building got joggles to go around the stone features. I'm expecting something to finish at the bottom but it could theoretically finish here.

Club house bathroom has a sink installed.

The brick is getting a sealant applied. That is more of a difference with just sealant than I would have expected.

I saw two places on the center building where hose faucets have been installed. I saw these on the original plans for washing cars but when the fire hydrants and power panels went in this location too I thought they got removed.

Speaking of power panels. I do not think the condos have power hooked up to the main lines yet but there is at least one meter in place now.

This is a poor photo through the glass of a door window but it does show how the HVAC units that were positioned on the floor have been installed. I was a little surprised to see square ducting at the ceiling instead of the round ducting like was in the clubhouse. I will again state that I am really glad I paid extra to get mine installed in the trusses.

And speaking of my unit ... I was able to take a quick photo through the door glass to confirm that drywall has started to be installed!!

readhead · Jul 9, 2016

Are they going to finish the units as they sell them or do them all now?

Greg_STL · Jul 9, 2016

As they sell. I think the plan was to always sell the individual units without even steel studs in the unit. People would then make a full set of plans to finish and contract out with whoever they want to finish the units. Simple... And I think how it will work for people that buy now.

However, the people that bought prior to last December were given some incentives to buy in. We were given steel studs, drywall, HVAC, 100A panel, a couple outlets, and one light per 500 sq ft (don't quote me on that sq ft). The bank and closing company required all that to be done prior to closing since it was part of the contract. They also required that any work done prior to closing be done by the current principal contractor so that there was no possibility of a lean at closing. This created all sorts of unforeseen issues to the simple plan. The principle is rightly concentrating on the full build and I am a small distraction. It created issues in that I wanted rough ins behind the drywall so I wouldn't be ripping out good drywall right after closing. The HVAC inside unit was being place on the floors but I was going to have a mezzanine that would interfere with the ducts. I had to set up a separate contract for the additions I wanted prior to closing. No one was actively working against me but all my requests have been frustrating to the principal on finishing their main job on time creating conflict and angst. I really think we would have been better off discounting the incentives off the closing price and closing on a blank space. It is all water under the bridge at this point. I am very hopeful that since drywall is going up now that most of my distractions to and conflict with the principal are done now.

Greg_STL · Jul 11, 2016

A single picture post today. I was asked to come approve of the air handler location in the ceiling trusses. I'm not positive it is perfect but I do believe it is much better than sitting on the floor with a 20 foot duct to the ceiling. I forgot to take a picture of that but I did take a quick picture of the canopies that were being installed.

Greg_STL · Jul 12, 2016

Here are some more pictures of the rain canopies that are being installed. I'm not sure why there is a gap - maybe one unit was out of tolerance. It also looks like they drilled into the concrete to attached (dust streaks on walls under canopies). It looks like they put up about 1/4 of the large building in one day.

Greg_STL · Jul 12, 2016

Some topsoil has been spread around the entrance and the turn around area. I wonder if any curbing will be poured. You can see the security cameras have been installed. Also, they poured the small recesses around the storm water grates.

Greg_STL · Jul 12, 2016

So, I have another HVAC post. I still don't think I've seen a complete setup yet - mind you I'm just catching photos of doors that just happen to be open.

So, this photo shows one of the smallest units. You can see the vent that was required by the county due to a motor vehicle being able to be run in the garage. The floor mounted air handler unit and ducting for the heat/air goes up the wall to the ceiling. I'm not sure why it splits at the end .... It is not done yet I guess ...

What is missing in the above pictures is the "make up" air duct. I *think* due to the required vent fan, they had to have a fresh air source that can feed the air handler if the vent fan is on. I *think* they want to feed the air handler directly so that the fresh air source can be heated or cooled rather than just dumping the ambient air into the room in general. That should make temperature recovery time faster. I think the round duct that feeds the bottom of the air handler below is that "make up" air duct.

That all seems quite complicated. I always thought that it was impossible to really seal up a house or garage all the way; that if you vent the air, new air will find a way in. I find it amazing that they were required to do this vent and "make up" air method. So, that is why there are 2 square holes and one round hole in all the ceilings. The round hole is for the vent, the first square hole is for the power and HVAC lines, and the second square hole is for the "make up" air duct.

On my unit, the "make up" air will be a simple L-shaped duct with a damper on it that faces the filter on the air handler. Putting the air handler in the trusses is more complicated in some ways but should result in ALOT less ducting. They are also going to be able to hook into my bathroom stack to drain any condensation from the air handler. I think some of these other units have to pump the condensation up onto the roof. (Something I will have to do temporarily until my stack gets connected to the sewer).

By the way, if anyone smarter that me thinks I've got this wrong, then feel free to correct me. I'm not a HVAC person and could be misunderstanding things.

Greg_STL · Jul 12, 2016

So one last picture post for today. When I was leaving, I saw the power company pull up with two big trucks. I can only hope that means the complex will have power soon - possible already does by the time I have posted this. I know it was in the plans for this week or next week.

Greg_STL · Jul 13, 2016

We had big storms with 70mph gusts roll through STL today. I think there were around 100,000 people without power at one point earlier this evening. The stoplights by our house and on the east end of the valley were all blinking red in all directions. I decided to go check out The Place. There was no damage as far as I could tell and there appeared to be power on. The power company is going to be busy fixing lines over the next couple of days so it was good the power got hooked up last night.

I didn't walk in the mud and I only had a cell phone with me so the pictures of the online power meter is not the best.

They did get another dozen canopies installed along with some lights. I was wondering what the wires were that were on the exterior walls.

I did peek in my unit through the door glass. It looks like all the drywall is up but no taping or mudding yet. The HVAC unit is mounted in the ceiling but no ceiling ducting, make up air ducting or vent fan installed.

Greg_STL · Jul 14, 2016

So we have power!

It was nice to see the meter with power but seeing the lights on in the clubhouse is even better....

Greg_STL · Jul 14, 2016

Three sides of the U-shaped building have the rain canopies. They have started on the center building but only the ends without the down spouts. I am interested in what the canopies will look like where they go around the down spouts.

Greg_STL · Jul 14, 2016

I took some photos through the door glass of my unit. Sorry for the poor pictures but the best I could do. The drywall looks completed and the mud and tape has started. The boxing around beam in the back looks lower than the other units. I'm not sure how that will work with the TVs I'm planning to put on the back wall.

The HVAC looks interesting. You can see the vent fan on the left. The HVAC unit is in the back right and you can see the L-shaped duct that feeds the unit with replacement air.

Bib Overalls · Jul 14, 2016

HVAC looks good. Shoot the entire ceiling to include the trusses and duct work flat black and it will all blend together. Going to be nice.

Greg_STL · Jul 18, 2016

Pictures from today and over the weekend....

The doors for the dumpster alcove have been installed.

It looks like they are getting ready to pour concrete side walks along the front of The Place. They continue to grade and put down topsoil.

More of the rain canopies have been installed including the first ones that go over the downspouts on the center building.

Here is one of the units with paint on the walls, HVAC installed and lights installed. There are total of 4 lights for a unit that is over 2000 sqft. That seems a bit dim too me. I am a little surprised at the color of the walls too. It matches the theme of The Place but since many will customize after closing I would have thought they would have gone with something more generic that would paint over easier. I'm assuming they asked the future owner....

The clubhouse is looking nice. The lights are on, the HVAC was running, and some of the cardboard was pulled up and it looks like the concrete was stained. I knew they had polished but I did not know that they had stained the floor.

I sent the builder a set of pictures showing that the box around the beam in the back of my unit might interfere with getting the TVs on the wall. I sent pictures of my unit and the unit next door where the drywall looks to be a good foot higher up on the wall (covering the same beam). The key to realizing this is to look at the full sheets of drywall on the side wall and see that the transition on the neighbor's wall occurs right at the 5th full sheet of drywall. I also showed a picture from before my unit was dry walled showing there was plenty of room to move the transition up. I offered him an out saying we could just fix it when we dry walled the bathroom. I don't think he even looked at the pictures because his response was that the box out of the beam was to go around the beam and could not be moved.

My unit:

My neighbors unit (we share a wall and the back wall has the same main support truss running behind it):

You can tell by the size of the drywall below the box out that the box is a good foot lower on my unit. I can only guess at why:

1. Someone saw the blocking for the TVs and thought it was for a cabinet and decided to box down to the top of the cabinet. The problem is the blocking is for the TV mounts and the TVs extend above the blocking.

2. Someone decided it would be easier to use a full sheet of 4 foot wide drywall on the top section.

3. The joggle on conduit seen in the right hand side of the picture below caused them to snake the box below where the joggle started on the conduit so they would not have to rework the conduit. This puts it just too close to the blocking.

I'm back to being frustrated again.

pmason0 · Jul 19, 2016

My guess is the conduit is the reason why they dropped it down.

Greg_STL · Jul 19, 2016

If you take a picture in the right place, it looks like it is almost done....

There are still about a half dozen to a dozen sections of the canopies that have not been installed.

The sidewalk in front of the building is getting ready to be poured and the final grading appears to be occurring around the entry drive.

We got e-mails today stating final inspections will start August 8th. Closings are expected starting August 15th. I guess they are not expecting to find anything during the inspections.

A Cars & Coffee event is scheduled for Saturday August 13th from 10am to 8pm that will be opened to the general public. Again, the timing seems odd to have an event open to the general public right after final inspections and right before owners take possession. What could go wrong??

Greg_STL · Jul 19, 2016

So this is cool. I happened to be in Google maps and noticed that The Place shows up for the first time on the satellite images. It looks like an image from late March or early April when the first set of wall were tilted and the bricks had been placed in the forms for the second set of walls. The second set of walls have not been poured yet.

Greg_STL · Jul 20, 2016

I stopped by tonight and the developers (Randy and Steve) were working to get the clubhouse setup. They were setting up the appliances and cabinets behind the bar. It was really nice to see them there putting their sweat equity into the unit. I asked them about a few small items and they already had them on their list to go fix. It really helped me feel good about the project.

So here are some shots walking into the facility. The street side sidewalks have forms in place. Hopefully a pour will occur tomorrow or Friday. The rain canopies are completed around the clubhouse. There are only 4-6 single canopy segments not completed. I imagine these last pieces are being custom modified to exactly fit the final gaps. Also shown is the back half of the bar with a dishwasher, beverage fridge, and either a garbage disposal or trash compactor. I forgot to ask...

With the photos that I took today, I am officially at over 1000 photos in my The Place Construction album on Flikr.

The Place Garage Condo Construction Flikr Album

Greg_STL · Jul 20, 2016

I wandered back to my unit but it was locked up tight. I could see through the tiny window that my lights had been installed. Of course, they are 90 degrees off from how they are oriented on the drawing. It is just funny at this point because I asked them during the last walk through I had with the electrician how the lights would get installed. I was informed they would get set up just like the drawing. I could send another nasty gram to the general contractor point man but it just seems like a waste of time at this point. I have the wifi thermostat that they will need soon and I will talk to them then or when I do the inspection. I could have said something to Randy and Steve but they were working and it really is not their issue.

Greg_STL · Jul 20, 2016

So the unit next to mine had the door wide open so I took a couple more pictures of details I haven't taken pictures of before. You can see the two standard lights that a 45'x23' unit gets as part of the package for those that bought in early. The HVAC vertical stacks, make-up air, and vent fans are not installed here yet. I forgot to take a picture but I did see another unit had two white grills over the two open square ends of the HVAC run. They just looked like grills from a home floor HVAC register - nothing fancy but should keep the birds out of the ends....

Over in the back corner is an emergency light that is also tied to the exit sign by the man sized door. All of the units get these - not sure if it is a code requirement but that is likely.

The garage door opener control is a three button commercial unit. I was a little surprised by the conduit but the front wall did not get full depth studs so the wiring is surface mounted. Now that I look at this photo, I do not know if there is a conduit that runs down the other side of the door for the other electric eye. It is funny what you see and do not see...

Wow - I just realized this is my 150th post of the Garage Journal - Almost all of which are in this thread. 1000 photos in my flikr album and 150 posts on the same day.... I hope everyone has been enjoying these.

55cadillacking · Jul 20, 2016

I hope everyone has been enjoying these.

Oh yes, there is much enjoyment.

pmason0 · Jul 20, 2016

Yes the thread has been great to follow and to see how it has been progressing each day.

djones1a · Jul 20, 2016

Check in from time to time, hope it works out for you. Looks good so far.

1949 caddyman · Jul 21, 2016

We're here!

Greg_STL · Jul 21, 2016

@55cadillacking, pmason0, djones1a, 1949 caddyman - Thanks for the feedback. I was starting to wonder if I violated some special rule about too many posts or general whining...

The outside is almost done but there continues to be little details that continue to get done. The sidewalk was poured today. A small light post was installed by the 3 parking spaces in front of the clubhouse. Numbers for the street address of The Place and numbers for each unit were applied to windows and doors. The posts in front of the power panels have all been trimmed to the same height. The handles on the external water bibs have been installed. The power is up in the units - I saw lights on in my neighbors unit.

I saw Steve in the clubhouse again working on the cabinets getting a few details finished so that they can measure for counter tops tomorrow.

Greg_STL · Jul 21, 2016

One last post today and a general invitation to everyone:

Google Maps Link

jay8s · Jul 21, 2016

Greg_STL said:
One last post today and a general invitation to everyone:

Google Maps Link

I will be swinging by for this. I can't wait to see how it has changed since my last drive by. This has been fun to watch the whole process.

metalhead140 · Jul 22, 2016

Very cool. Can't wait to see you fitout the inside.

md21722 · Jul 22, 2016

This is an interesting idea and I appreciate the pictures. What I wonder is what kind of firewall exists between units? And that meter service looks like it belongs on the side of an apartment building? I would've hoped a place like let folks choose 3 phase and 200A panels? Good luck. My coworker has a hanger in Creve Coeur. I thought the museum there was pretty neat. At the time I thought having an airline hanger to work on stuff would be pretty cool but this may be a better way to go!

Greg_STL · Jul 22, 2016

@jay8s & metalhead140 - Thanks for the positive support.

@md21722 - No firewall per say ... But the drywall is fire rated and the studs are metal. There is also the sprinkler system. The service panels are nuts but there are 36 units with twelve meters on each bank of service panels. The power is three phase. The basic unit is fitted with only 100A because some people will be using these as storage only. I upgraded mine to 200A mainly because I have an electric on demand hot water heater getting installed. I really will only be doing simple brake jobs, tires swaps, and oil change kind of work in my unit. I need to do rotors and pads on my car now and am trying to decide if I can wait or just do it in my current residential garage.

PhoenixRising · Jul 22, 2016

Greg_STL said:
@55cadillacking, pmason0, djones1a, 1949 caddyman - Thanks for the feedback. I was starting to wonder if I violated some special rule about too many posts or general whining...

I have been following your thread for some time; I just never post any feedback. Sorry! I live in Wildwood, and I can't wait for the open house. I will be there for sure!

The information you have provided has been very interesting and informative. I can't wait to see your finished product.

Greg_STL · Jul 22, 2016

We have the start of the fence and access gates installed today. The doors to the clubhouse are also getting access keypads.

They put down these concrete pads under the downspouts. I assume it is for erosion. But they put them by the downspouts on the center building.... so maybe not.

So the lights in the courtyard are interesting. The housing is the same on all the lights but different quantities of LEDs are in each unit.

If they get the fences up soon I may be locked out of taking pictures. It is a good thing that closing is not far off......

djones1a · Jul 22, 2016

When do you close?

tomwalker154 · Jul 22, 2016

Wow, so cool! You are doing a great job!

Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT The Garage at The Place in The Valley (Garage Condo 45x23x20)

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