It was a full day today.

Al continued working on the roof, trying to stay in front of the forecasted rains for tomorrow (100% probability).  Bryan met with the City of Monte Sereno to review our preliminary lighting control plans, John Rider dropped by to see how the project is developing, Bryan and John met with Nathan Merrill to review the progress on our red front door, and Shane Lothrop provided instructions on how we could make an opening in one of our shear walls.

And our daughter, Kate, was on the winning team for her first AA baseball game with Los Gatos Little League (Kate plays hardball).

Reviewing Progress on Our Red Front Door

During John Rider’s quick walk-through of our project, Nathan Merrill called Bryan and asked if he could move the scheduled time of 2:00 pm forward to noon for Bryan to to review the progress Nathan was making on our red front door.  With John having to go back to his office, it was perfect!  John followed Bryan in his truck to Nathan’s shop on Dell Avenue.

John Rider has worked on our project since July 2008.  John is a LEED-accredited professional and is now accredited under the LEED for Homes program.  John dropped by to say that he wants to complete the preliminary rating review on our project and finalize the plans so we can proceed.  Darrel Kelly, our Green-rater under the LEED for homes program has been encouraging us to schedule another integrated project meeting to complete our preliminary rating.  John is with Jrider + Design.

Bryan introduced John to Nathan Merrill, of American Ornamental Iron and then Nathan took us into his shop.  Nathan had our door hanging from his shop forklift, so he could work on it. 

Nathan explained that he is planning to have the door powder coated and asked Bryan to sign off on the colors for the frame and the door.  Nathan has the original red front door in his shop and will take it to the powder coating firm so they can match the color.

John was impressed with the Valli & Valli hardware and Nathan showed John the details where he will not only be meeting the specifications and finish by Valli & Valli but exceeding them.  For example, Nathan is ensuring that all the edges of the door have the same rounding radius (.0625 inch) and that the stainless steel recessed machine bolts are brushed as per the Valli & Valli finish.  Detail is key …

Making an Opening in Our Shear Wall

The recent earthquake and resulting tsumani in Japan shocked us and underscored the importance of exceeding the local seismic requirements.  Since our objective is to live in this house for the next 15 years, we don’t want to meet code requirements – we must exceed those requirements.  We believe strongly that the San Francisco Bay Area will experience a 7.5 or greater earthquake in the next 15 years.

For our lighting control panels, Bryan reviewed locations in the house and then met with our Building Official at the City of Monte Sereno, Howard Bell, this morning to discuss our proposed locations.  Howard reviewed the alternatives with Bryan and recommended that we make an opening in our shear wall in the upper laundry room to do so.  If we go with that location then Howard requires us to review the opening with our Structural Engineer of Record, Shane Lothrop of Innovative Structural Engineering.

Shane reviewed the proposed location and then sent Bryan written instructions on where and how to make the opening.  Those instructions included requirements on the opening so it will maintain the structural integrity of the shear wall.

Nathan Merrill (left) and John Rider discuss our red front door (hanging from the forks of the forklift).

The door, including sidelights. Nathan is fabricating the components around the door. Note that the piece at the bottom of the door is a brace that will be removed before it is installed.

The door opens in, using four Soss hinges (invisible hinges). Nathan explained that the door will need some cycles to get the hinges working smoothly (the door weighs 246 lbs).

Close up of the Valli & Valli hardware exterior hardware.

Close up of the electrified mortise lockset. The Valli & Valli logo on the inside door handle can be seen, just barely. Nathan's logo and the serial number will be on the top of the door.

Jig for making the wine racks. There is a left and right jig as we will require 76 of the individual supports to be manufactured.

The other half of the jig.

The first of some 24 vertical pieces in each of the three wine racks (left, center and right).

Alan holding the first component of the wine rack in the wine cellar. Note the clearance at the top of the rack, by the ceiling where the radiant cooling will be installed.

Shear wall by Upper Laundry Room. The framed area to the left is for one of three art niches; the stud bay to the right is where we would like the opening in the shear wall.

Shear wall from Upper Laundry Room, showing where we would like the opening for the lighting control system.

The electric cables for the lights in the ceiling will be run up these posts. We will drill through each post to bring the electricity to the exterior fixtures that will light the underside of the upper flat roof.

In order to bring the electric circuits from the West side to the East side, we will have to drill eight holes through this beam.

Our daughter, Kate Mekechuk, in her first AA game catching in the second inning. The Manager and coaching staff are by the fence, with a photographer behind them.

It was quite a day today:

• The forecasted rains arrived, with full force.
• Our Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed and vetoed numerous bills on Sunday evening, which were announced this morning.
• The City of Monte Sereno is working on our proposed sign ordinance.
• Insulspan advised us that we need to complete the shop drawings immediately otherwise our delivery commitment will not be met.

Oh, and Jo-Anne was in Washington, D.C. for the day.

(Yes, Wendy, Bryan did mail the package to you for Elizabeth this afternoon! They said it would take ~10 days or so.)

We Can Be a Net Generator of Electricity!

This was a big, big day for the solar photovoltaic industry in California.  Gov. Schwarzenegger signed bills AB 920 and and Senate Bill 32 that will allow us to generate more electricity than we consume and get paid for that .  On January 1, 2011, Californias will be able to sell electricity to the grid, at rates to be determined.

The impact on us is that we will be able to install an additional 16 photovoltaic panels on our roof, bringing the total to 48.  At 175 watts/panel, this will be an 8.4 kW system.

We need to think through how the changes will affect our strategy.

At first blush, we are thinking that we will set everything up for 32 panels and then, on December 15, 2010, buy and install another 16 panels so we have all of our roof-top real estate in photovoltaic panels that are fully functional on January 1, 2011.  Our thinking is that the performance of panels will continue to increase and the cost of panels will drop, so we will have better panels at a lower cost by waiting.  Plus, there is no incentive to install more than 32 panels until the new laws are in effect on January 1, 2011.

 Monte Sereno’s Sign Ordinance

Brian Loventhal, City Manager for Monte Sereno, called Bryan today with an update on our proposed changes to the existing ordinance.  Brian explained that the ordinance cannot direct the ‘content’ of signs so we need to change it.  He is researching what other municipalities have done with their sign ordinances and hoping that we can leverage their efforts.

It was nice of Brian to follow up with us.

 Completing the Shop Drawings for Insulspan

This has been Bryan’s focus for quite some time now.  We need to complete our shop drawings and have Insulspan manufacture our SIPs.  Well, Insulspand called Bryan today and explained that we need to send in the marked up shop drawings otherwise the committed delivery schedule will not be met.

Bryan worked with Joel Lemons at Jrider + Design today and will complete the shop drawings tomorrow.

Our First Winter Storms Arrive and Pound Us

The first winter storms of the season arrived, according to our Davis weather station, at 3:30 am this morning and dumped 5.75 inches of rain on us by 6:00 pm.

Out site has weathered the storm, so far, in reasonably good shape.  The maximum wind speed was ~30 mph and the forecast is for that to taper off, so we’re probably going to be fine.

The rainfall flooded our basement to the level of our ‘curb’ to the exterior stairwell, where the drain goes to our sump pump.

All in all, we’re in reasonable shape until Wednesday.

Our site was a bit damp today.

This should dry out in a week. Or so.

As part of our remodel of the main floor, we need to meet the structural requirements on the east and west walls.  This requires removing the sheetrock to expose the 2×4 studs and so we can form the concrete wall under the sill plate that the east and west walls will be attached to.

Removing the Sheetrock and Insulation

Bryan had a small crew come in and remove the sheetrock, insulation and sundry other items with surgical precision.  The arrived and were gone in less than three hours.  They returned with the ticket from the landfill, so they could be paid.

Removing the sheetrock and insulation from the west wall.

West wall, looking very

The original studs are looking good. Having a the wall exposed will allow work to progress much easier and faster.

East wall, inside garage, showing electric panel.

Checking in With John Rider and Joel Lemons

We need some detailed design work for the bridges and stairs, so Bryan started working with John Rider and Joel Lemons of Jrider+Design, located on Hamilton Avenue in Campbell, California.

John Rider, working with ArchiCAD in his studio on Hamilton Avenue.

Joel Lemons, also busy working with ArchiCAD.

New Renderings

After Joel did some magic with our ArchiCAD model, Bryan did some new renderings to show the railing and bridge designs that we’re considering.

Rendering showing view from Foyer, across bridge, through the living room to the statue.

Looking back to front door, across the railings.

Looking down from Bridge Hall.

Looking up from under Bridge Hall to Bridge Foyer.

We were delighted to invite all of our neighbors on Via Sereno and adjacent neighbors on Winchester Boulevard to come to our ‘Open Hole’ Party (it is not quite an open house at this phase in our remodel).

Of the other 15 Eichler homes on Via Sereno, 6 neighbors attended so we were very pleased.  We learned that the largest house footprint on Via Sereno is 3,500 sq ft (ours is 3,048 sq ft).  There were several discussions regarding how the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake shook the Eichlers on Via Sereno and how no windows broke in any of the Eichlers.  One question that we will address is to show the actual composition/layers from the finished floor in the lower level to the raw earth.

Preparation and Set Up

Setting up a temporary table using High Load 40 and a tablecloth on sawhorses.

We set out the concrete stain samples, high density foam samples, and the re-milled original redwood decking for everyone to view and give us comments on.

Samples of concrete stain colors, high density foam and the re-sawn original redwood deck.

Temporary mounting for corkscrew (gift from Donna and Mike circa Y2K).

Kate and our Toy Fox Terrier, Lucky Star, waiting patiently for our first visitors.

John Rider (Jrider + Design) explaining the design to our neighbor, Ray.

Our neighbor, Ned, reviewing the site with author Jerry Ditto.

Our neighbor, Eric, discussing the plans with John Rider (Jrider + Design).

Jerry Ditto and Ned reviewing rendering with Bryan.

Our neighbors, Paul and Siri, arriving with their daughter.

Pia and Bryan discussing rendering.

Baby Martin, David and Pia's son, enjoying the afternoon.

View of the event.

Bryan reviewing rendering with Diane and Bill Brown.

Our son, Nikolas, with his good friend Ryan.

We enjoyed hosting an event so everyone could see our progress.

Paul, Dave, Laurie and Robert reviewing the site.

The railing was a nice touch, especially when leaving the excavation.

After securing the site, Robert and Laurie hosted a wonderful, impromptu dinner at their home in Los Gatos.

Thank you everyone for coming to visit our site!

Everyone enjoyed another blue-sky, California day. It was warm and beautiful (for a winter day).

After receiving approval from the City of Monte Sereno, we ordered the rigid insulating foam today and scheduled delivery for Monday (there is adequate space at the front of the project site). As well, we scheduled the shotcrete lagging for Wednesday. This lagging will go on the east and west walls, and on the first four feet of the north and south walls.

With the lagging in place, the 40 psi rigid foam insulation will be placed on the 3/4 inch crushed rock and around the perimeter walls. Then, the waterproofing will on on top of the rigid foam insulation, forming the outer hull of the ‘concrete boat’. With the waterproofing in place, we can pour the three inch working slab.

Yeah, lots to do in a couple weeks. It looks like 10-day weather forecast has rain on Thursday (with 10% chance on Tuesday and Wednesday).

View of south-east corner of site with excavation for plumbing.

With the drains in place and connected to the sump pit, we’re now collecting water. Yes, the cover to the sump pit is screwed down safely.

Water collecting from pipes leading to the sump pit.

We met with our designer, John Rider, to review the exterior plans for the south-east corner of the house, which is starting to look quite busy and complicated. John’s firm, Jrider + Design, is now located in Campbell on Hamilton Avenue so he is only a few minutes away now.

Jrider + Design.

We were addressing the placement of the rainwater catchment system and how the various utilities enter the house from the street. With an underground cistern planned, the utilities cannot go straight into the house. Completing these details required calls to both our civil engineer, Casey Carlson, and our plumbing firm, Wenger Plumbing. As usual, John did his magic on the model (using ArchiCAD v12).

John doing magic with ArchiCAD v12.

Back to the site to button it up. The site is looking safe and secure.

Site secured with holes covered.

The engagement letter was accepted on both sides so we signed the letter and cut a check for John.

We are looking forward to working with John.

Time to get rolling on the construction drawings before the fire sprinkler ordinance becomes effective in August!