Our LEED for Homes signage, attached to the front of the house.

Our red front door and frame arrived on a trailer. Nathan backed into the project site so we could unload the door and frame easily (and not carry them very far!).

Nathan Merrill is smiling, knowing that the red front door and frame are inside the garage safely.

Ready to pour the tiny concrete pad that will allow us to cover one of the roof downspouts.

The concrete pad under the cabinets for the natural gas BBQ grill on the East side of the house.

West concrete, ready for finishing ...

Poured concrete pad that will be under the BBQ grill. This concrete will be under the cabinets so it will not have to match the exposed concrete around the house.

Vacuum in wall. We will probably have three outlets off this 2-inch line.

The air ventilation is in the steel beam and the central vacuum is in the wall.

Both the supply air ventilation and central vacuum are shown in this photo' Note how the air ventilation wil be hidden once the wall is furred out from the steel beam.

The central vacuum manifold is in the soffit and then goes over the dropped ceiling in the Guest Bathroom.

The vacuum enters some congested space on the North side of the East wall in the lower level ...

Al and Nep set the forms for a concrete pad for our outdoor grill (BBQ). We will pour the pad that will be under the enclosed grill structure so this concrete will not be seen as it will be hidden by the kick. The remaining concrete, which will be visible, will be poured with the pool deck and other hardscape around the house.

After much consideration, we decided to extend the non-structural wall for the sliding glass pocket by 14 inches and enclose a drain from the roof. The drain will, however, be outside our thermal envelope. This will make a cleaner exterior and eliminate a zinc downspout.

We have a ramp for the wheelbarrow to bring the concrete in.

The forms and rebar are in place and ready for concrete.

Examining the Lifebreath HRV, so we can orient and install it in the most appropriate manner.

The inside of the Lifebreath HRV. The unit takes the incoming fresh air and transfers the temperature of the outgoing exhaust air to it.

Ken Martin works the the Lifebreath heat recovery ventilator so it is positioned in the optimal orientation for operation and maintenance.

Emmanuel Zendejas positions the HRV in the West Air Handler room. Note the nifty platform Silicon Valley Mechanical uses to raise/lower/swivel bulky and heavy mechanical components at a job site.

Silicon Valley Mechanical uses low-VOC duct sealants, such as the product in this photo. Design Polymerics' 1010 Duct Sealant has less than 7 grams of VOCs per liter. This amount of VOCs is far lower than the 200 grams per liter required by MR 2.2.

In order to improve the efficiency of the clothes dryers, we used the Dryer-Ell, which is a large radius dryer exhaust elbow. This photo shows where the dryer exhaust comes down from the Upper Laundry room.

There is another Dryerbox Ell where the exhaust comes up from the Lower Laundry room. Also, the ducting for the displacement air ventilation is above the dryer exhaust.

This is the fresh air duct going to Kate's bedroom. Note the low VOC mastic over all the joints.

Two exhausts, one for each of the Lower Laundry and the Upper Laundry, going up, then through the concrete under Kates vanity before exiting the house on the West wall.

Before going through the steel beam, the duct splits and goes up to provide fresh air for the Living Room. We are, finally, using one of the holes that were cut through the steel beam.

Al and Nep have prepared the location behind the swimming pool and statue where the generator will be anchored. There will be a concrete pad in place here for the 100 amp generator.

Our construction cam, is a Panasonic BL-C210. Indoor use only, light duty camera.

The beige epoxy paint looks much better than the gray epoxy paint.

The sewage ejector is connected and ready for inspection.

The electrical components are coming together nicely. The cover for the transfer switch will hide most of the wires here.

Looking from the back of the East Mechanical room shows the better match on the floor colors.

The West Mechanical room looks good with the beige epoxy floor paint.

Were insulating the two steel beams with Aerogels Spaceloft insulation. After the first layer of 0.4 inch Spaceloft, we will use closed cell foam. The layer of Spaceloft gives us R-12, and we will have two layers between the flange of the steel beam and the window frames.

We will be installing a generator in the back, as the City of Monte Sereno requires us to have an auxiliary back up power for our sump pumps. Since the harness will be in 170 feet of conduit, we have to make our own cables. This is one of the two harnesses that Bryan picked up on Thursday.

And, here is the second wire harness. Also included is the legend, on a sticker. There are five wires in one harness and nine in the other. We need two data cables, 170 feet long for each of these harnesses.

Based on advice from Bob Wise, we will be using smurf tubes in our soffits and other locations so we can run cables in the future to keep up with the latest in cable technologies.