Blog

GarageDominium framing was set to begin on April 7, but the framing crew backed out of the job.  Lumber arrived on April 6, so we are ready if we had a crew.  Turnkey Builders has contacted another framing contractor that can start on April 11.  I think this will be a constant theme.  Turnkey is having trouble keeping cabinet makers also.  Additionally, our appliance contact at FBS quit so we have a new appliance representative.

On April 10, my mother fell and broke her hip.  We headed to OK on April 11 to see about her and stayed there for a week.  While there, framing on the house began.  We visited the site on April 19.  Wow!  Framers made lots of progress while we were away.  Most of the stud walls are up and we are able to get a much better sense of the house.  It was really amazing to be able to walk the rooms of the house. What we had drawn on paper and planned for so long is starting to become an actual building. 

Unfortunately, some of the LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beams have not arrived.  The LVL’s are used where there are large load bearing spans such as in the garage.  The framers used some temporary framing until the LVL’s are available.  By April 22 the rough framing was complete.   The cornice work begins the week of April 25 and includes roof decking, wall sheathing, soffits, and other details.   

Like contractor availability, material availability continues to be a theme of this build.  The interior decorator let us know on April 12 that they can’t get the carpet we selected.  She found some good alternatives and we’ve made a different choice.  There are hundreds of decisions to make on a custom home build and U.W. does not like making decisions.  Carpet is one thing. But we must also decide things like whether the roof panels are flat, ribbed or striated (we chose striated by the way).  So having to re-evaluate stuff we’ve already decided frustrates her.  Fortunately, Turnkey is very good about managing and working through all the changes.

Airtron, the HVAC contractor submitted load calculations in April.  I reviewed them and had several questions, of course.   They seem to have done a good job.  But I want to know more of the details, so we’ve traded several emails to discuss design temperatures, code requirements, equipment sizing, and duct sizing.  It is important to properly size the unit, in this case the heat pump, so that it can handle the load, but not be oversized.  An oversized unit not only costs more initially, but also cycles more.  Running a lower capacity unit more often provides the best comfort (humidity and temperature).  Airtron will install Carrier heatpump and airhandler units and an Aprilaire whole house dehumidifier.  We scheduled a walk through with Airtron to determine equipment and duct run locations.