We've been working through our kitchen design, now that the construction plans are finalized and dimensions set for the kitchen. We chose to work with Home Depot's design center. They have some terrific design resources (our contractor recommended we work with Shannon at Home Depot San Mateo, she has been GREAT) and excellent product at very reasinable prices.
First choice was cabinet maker. We liked Thomasville as that was what we had in our previous house. Solid and lasting. We only had one drawer in 5 years that came unglued in the seams and that was because we overloaded it with bakery stuff. We also checked out Kraftmaid which is priced a little less, $1.50/sq ft versus $1.55 for Thomasville. Kraftmaid has more door and stain choices and also more cabinet choices. We're going with Kraftmaid for our bathrooms as we're in need of more flexible cabinet options for the spaces we have there.
For the kitchen, the choice is Thomasville Cottage, simple shaker design. I like the doors better than the Kraftmaid - they are beveled and there is also trim on the drawer doors versus flat on Kraftmaid. We're going with the "light"stain which creates a more even finish versus natural (light is actually darker than natural).
In addition to all the appliances we need to accommodate, we wanted to address these issues in our design:
- recycling bin to hold 2 weeks worth of newspapers and plastics/metals etc (our recycling only comes by every two weeks). Put a slideout unit near the main sink next to the trash compactor.
- dishwasher and trash compactor on either side of the main sink
- drawers and upper cabinets near dishwasher for easy unloading
- mini pantry to hold cereals, everyday dry foods (versus bulkier items going into the main pantry) - next to the fridge
- drawer set for tupperware/ziplock type plastics - in the island
- Lazy susan for big bluky stuff that needs to be close by - put it in the corner
- drawer for cookie pans - put it under the double oven
- cabinets near rangetop for condiments and spices: we wanted a pullout unit but the model Thomasville makes had no flexibility on shelf heights so most of our bottles would not fit, darn. We'll have to use the wall cabinets above the rangetop.
- drawers near rangetop to hold cooking utensils. Two sets either side for symmetry.
- roll out drawer cabinet to hold pots/pans. Under the rangetop.
- second sink back to back with first sink. Often one person is chopping while the other is washing so back to back makes a lot more sense than having to walk around the island.
- small microwave built into the island near the fridge to heat up leftovers easily
- nook area on opposite side of kitchen for the laptop (on the counter next to the freezer) and our two inboxes for mail and paper (tucked neatly in a cabinet under the counter) and side drawer for misc nick nacks like batteries, rubber bands, pencils, tape, etc etc
- larger roll out drawer cabinets for pots and pans. One in the island near the rangetop.
It's all coming together thanks to Shannon! We're using every inch on both sides and a 4' x 9' island in the middle! I had some negotiation to do with Brian our contractor to avoid eating into my space with "spacers" to build in cushion (usually you want to add 1-2" in case the wall is not straight). he said he would reduce the size of the walls from 2x6 to 2x4 giving me two extra inches.
One big piece of advice for you: most cabinets come in increments of 3 inches. If your wall space is exactly a 3 inch increment, you'll lose out on space efficiency because you should build in some spacers. For example, having an 11 foot space (132 inches or 44 x 3" increments means you will lose 3 inches to spacers because there are no off the shelf cabinets that are 1 or 2 inches wider). So my advice would be to build to 11 foot 1" giving you a 1" spacer or 11 foot 2" giving you 2". We got nailed on that issue in several places.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Laundry Sink
I had the hardest time finding a bog deep laundry sink. I'm really sick of those times when you have to clean out a big cooler, fish tank or other big objects without having to go outside and use the hose. I wanted something made of white ceramic or granite, single bowl rectangular, BIG and DEEP, fits in a 36" cabinet, relatively low cost, undermount and flexible on holes (to accommodate a faucet and pump soap dispenser).
The best I found was a Moen - model 25275 in white. It's meant for a kitchen but measures 30" x 16 5/8 x 10" deep. I would have loved to see one 12" deep but could not find one. I picked it up for $385 at www.homeannex.com
If anyone out there knows of a better model please let me know!
The best I found was a Moen - model 25275 in white. It's meant for a kitchen but measures 30" x 16 5/8 x 10" deep. I would have loved to see one 12" deep but could not find one. I picked it up for $385 at www.homeannex.com
If anyone out there knows of a better model please let me know!
Wood Floors
I had a chance to visit a showroom in South San Francisco called Golden State Flooring and check out my contractor's recommendation, WFI (Wood Flooring International). They also had Mirage and BF111 models.
The short of my information gathering:
- All three companies are targeting the same higher end market and make a very nice engineered hardwood.
- engineered hardwood is much more durable and scratch resistant than regular hardwood. It is coated in aluminum oxide which provides extra scratch resistance.
- if you have a concrete floor, engineered is the best choice as it is best glued down. It can also be nailed or glued to a wood floor base but it is cheaper to use thick hardwood over this subfloor.
- you are not supposed to sand the engineered hardwood unless you first remove the aluminum oxide coating with a chemical and then reapply it afterwards.
- very important to make sure your crawl space under the floor is sealed from the ground. If you have a crawl space, best to put a 6 millimeter plastic sheet across all the ground and stapled up the sides with bricks to hold it down. This keeps humidity from hitting under the floor and causing floorboards to bend.
- 1 month leadtime on order for the type I want - American Woods Collection red oak.
- you need to leave the wood a week at the new house to "climatize" - i.e., adjust to the moisture content where it will be installed.
Since my contractor highly recommended WTI, having installed multiple brands, I think we're going to go with this one. Even though it will be attached over a wood subfloor, that should still be ok. Golden State quoted me $10.78/sq ft which is way higher than prices on the Internet at $6.60 sq ft - check out
www.hardwooddirect.com
www.hardwoodinstaller.com
www.fastfloors.com
The short of my information gathering:
- All three companies are targeting the same higher end market and make a very nice engineered hardwood.
- engineered hardwood is much more durable and scratch resistant than regular hardwood. It is coated in aluminum oxide which provides extra scratch resistance.
- if you have a concrete floor, engineered is the best choice as it is best glued down. It can also be nailed or glued to a wood floor base but it is cheaper to use thick hardwood over this subfloor.
- you are not supposed to sand the engineered hardwood unless you first remove the aluminum oxide coating with a chemical and then reapply it afterwards.
- very important to make sure your crawl space under the floor is sealed from the ground. If you have a crawl space, best to put a 6 millimeter plastic sheet across all the ground and stapled up the sides with bricks to hold it down. This keeps humidity from hitting under the floor and causing floorboards to bend.
- 1 month leadtime on order for the type I want - American Woods Collection red oak.
- you need to leave the wood a week at the new house to "climatize" - i.e., adjust to the moisture content where it will be installed.
Since my contractor highly recommended WTI, having installed multiple brands, I think we're going to go with this one. Even though it will be attached over a wood subfloor, that should still be ok. Golden State quoted me $10.78/sq ft which is way higher than prices on the Internet at $6.60 sq ft - check out
www.hardwooddirect.com
www.hardwoodinstaller.com
www.fastfloors.com
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Foundation Prep in Back
Barney and John of Structural FX have been hard at work leveling the back, packing it down and taking measurements for the foundation. With the lines marked out, I can get a really good idea now of how the house fits into the yard and the various views from each window. This picture is the back section of the house, the basement level, which has the media room and two home offices/bedrooms on the lwoer level. The family room and master bedroom will be located over the top of this section too.
Great Big Sandbox
The last few days we've seen a lot of dirt being moved around to prepare for the foundation work. The plan is to finish the digging today and start to build the forms for the back of the house (basement section). The rain over the weekend certainly did not help with the backhoe getting seriously stuck in the mud on Monday. Fortunately it dried out later that day and they have been at it for two days now with a backhoe and Bobcat.
I asked the crew to try to flatten out the lower back section of the yard which they have been doing but I have to say I am a little perplexed on what to do back there. I have yet to get a landscape architect to take a look.
I mentioned in my last blog post the shenanigans at City Hall for approval of the demo of our main house. We're still working through our building plan application and hope to clear that hurdle next week which will allow us to get the demolition permit to tear down the main house.
Follow the link for more photos.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
2 Hours Flat
Finally got the permits sorted out. Today was the big tear down day.
The crew from Peninsula Demolition arrived, what a great team! One fellow, John, operated the crane while two others hosed down for dust control and guiding. There was a parade of 40 foot trucks pulling into the driveway to be loaded up.
They demolished 75% - the back illegal structures - and left the main house intact for phase two of the demolition permit (see my last post on Shenanigans at the City). They will be back again next week to tear the rest down. John the crane operator was itching to rip it all down. He said it would have all been done in one day, but he had to settle for just the back nine.
It was amazing to see it go. Within 2 hours, all the buildings in back were knocked out. That huge excavator was perhaps overkill but wow did it ever rip and haul! A lot of our neighbors came out to see it - most unaware we were planning to demolish, despite their receiving three mailings on this fron the City - go figure.
We're just 4-5 more truck loads tomorrow morning from it all being gone in back and now the lot looks absolutely huge and fabulous. You can suddenly clearly see the potential. The excavator will be taken away tomorrow and they will finish the job with a smaller bobcat and digger next week.
There is NO turning back now!!! Exciting.
Click on the link for more photos.
Shenanigans at City Hall
Once again, the wonderful bureacracy of our city comes into play.
Our contractor called on Friday morning May 12 to say that the city was going to hold up the permit for our demolition, scheduled to start on May 15. The "building" group had not seen the letter from the "planning" group approving our project, even thought they sit 25 feet from each other in eyesight of each other's desks!
In addition, the new demolition permit costs would be $4,000, surprise surprise, because of recycling fees. Luckily our contractor was able to figure a workaround on the fees. If we tear down the illegal structures (aka apartments) in our back yard first, then all that square footage would not be included in the recycling cost. All that we would pay recycling on would be the original footprint of the house, $500, to be torn down in a second phase.
In addition, the Building group through another obstacle in our way that they were no longer granting demolition permits until the construction plans were approved. Luckily these will be ready Wednesday and we'll only lose a week because of this nonsense.
I also had the royal run around trying to meet the "conditions" o f our plan approval that we needed to file a "Notice of Project Restriction" with the county, with no guidelines on how to do this. So off I went to the County (different building altogether than the City) to get guidelines.
Upon arrival, the receptionist had no idea what I was looking for and handed me an 8 page list of their documents - "here, you find it in this list" she said. First I looked under "Notice", nothing, then "Project" and "Restriction", nothing. I scanned the whole list for 5 minutes, nothing. I then told her it was not on the list.
She proceeded to lead me to a computer and said "now you will need to look for a needle in a haystack" and pulled up a list of the last 2 weeks of recordings others had filed at the County. "Here you go, let me know when you find it". Unbelievable.
Fortunately, the second document I pulled up was exactly what I needed and I printed it off (for which she charged me $5 for 4 pages) and went off to replicate it. I noticed on this person's application that the City had filled it out on the Owner's behalf. What the heck, now the City is pawning off this work to the Owner? That made me really mad.
Anyway, I replicated it as best I could, headed to have it notarized the next morning, filed with the County and gave a copy to our contractor for the City Building application. Whew! You have to love the City for throwing obstacles in your way. Needless to say I will recommend they have a copy of what the Notice should look like to give to future Owners like me.
Our contractor called on Friday morning May 12 to say that the city was going to hold up the permit for our demolition, scheduled to start on May 15. The "building" group had not seen the letter from the "planning" group approving our project, even thought they sit 25 feet from each other in eyesight of each other's desks!
In addition, the new demolition permit costs would be $4,000, surprise surprise, because of recycling fees. Luckily our contractor was able to figure a workaround on the fees. If we tear down the illegal structures (aka apartments) in our back yard first, then all that square footage would not be included in the recycling cost. All that we would pay recycling on would be the original footprint of the house, $500, to be torn down in a second phase.
In addition, the Building group through another obstacle in our way that they were no longer granting demolition permits until the construction plans were approved. Luckily these will be ready Wednesday and we'll only lose a week because of this nonsense.
I also had the royal run around trying to meet the "conditions" o f our plan approval that we needed to file a "Notice of Project Restriction" with the county, with no guidelines on how to do this. So off I went to the County (different building altogether than the City) to get guidelines.
Upon arrival, the receptionist had no idea what I was looking for and handed me an 8 page list of their documents - "here, you find it in this list" she said. First I looked under "Notice", nothing, then "Project" and "Restriction", nothing. I scanned the whole list for 5 minutes, nothing. I then told her it was not on the list.
She proceeded to lead me to a computer and said "now you will need to look for a needle in a haystack" and pulled up a list of the last 2 weeks of recordings others had filed at the County. "Here you go, let me know when you find it". Unbelievable.
Fortunately, the second document I pulled up was exactly what I needed and I printed it off (for which she charged me $5 for 4 pages) and went off to replicate it. I noticed on this person's application that the City had filled it out on the Owner's behalf. What the heck, now the City is pawning off this work to the Owner? That made me really mad.
Anyway, I replicated it as best I could, headed to have it notarized the next morning, filed with the County and gave a copy to our contractor for the City Building application. Whew! You have to love the City for throwing obstacles in your way. Needless to say I will recommend they have a copy of what the Notice should look like to give to future Owners like me.
Friday, May 12, 2006
Arrival of the Beast!
Wow, the demolition folks dropped off this massive CAT which is going to make quick work of the teardown on Monday! It's so big it barely fits in the driveway. It's amazing to me how they got it under the electrical wires. I can't wait to see it in action next week.
Follow the link for more photos.
We also confirmed a few other details with our contractor:
- we are adding two fans to the attic which will help blow hot air out and keep the house cooler in the summer. He thought it was a very good idea.
- We are going to go with a slightly higher efficiency Carrier furnace for the upstairs part of the house - 92% instead of 80%. The extra cost is about $800. It's not a great payback - maybe 8-10 years - but we feel better about better efficiency over the long haul if we stay in the house a long time. We are also going to add two air filters, one for each furnace/floor.
- I can tell our contractor is going to be a fighter for us. He called this morning in a very ticked off mood that the City was going to throw more obstacles in our way to get our demolition permit. He said he was going to spend the day down there and would not leave until he had his permit. It's ridiculous since the City has already approved the project and not a single neighbor has said anything about the plans. Sure enough, he got the permit by end of day. We are on for Monday!
Now I just have to get the last of the people in there who wanted things from the old house - one more window in front and the garage door. That should all be gone by Sunday and we'll make one more pass on trying to save some more plants.
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
San Jose Home Show
This past weekend I attended the San Jose Home Show. What great timing! I have to say this was perhaps the best three hours I invested to learn all about a multitude of products. Some of the things I was able to check out:
- heating and air conditioning system: I've asked my contractor to upgrade from the 80% efficiency unit to the 92% efficiency unit. The payback will definitely be there on natural gas savings as we plan to be in the house for the long term. I also asked him to add electronic air filters to the system which will help with all our dust allergies. We're going with a Carrier system. Interestingly enough, Carrier is offering a nice cash rebate on its Infinity line and so is our gas company PG&E. We will be buying our system in May to take advantage of this deal.
- driveway stone: I saw Belgard, Country Cobble, Calstone, McNear and Home Depot. Mcnear seemed best value for $5-7 sq ft installed on the Belgian Cobblestone. The top end Calstone runs $15 sq ft installed, absolutely beautiful. I will check them all out but curious if anyone out there has any recommendations. I like the 3 stone pattern type.
- hardwood floor: our contractor has installed several different manufacturer products and he is recommending the WFI brand. I saw Mirage at the show which was highly recommended by a few vendors. I will check out both.
- garage doors: Martin seems like good value for the money with plenty of choices.
- deck composite wood: I really liked the Fiberon “Tropics” line better than Trex – www.fiberondecking.com Jatoba color. It’s maybe 10% more than Trex at $2.65/sq ft non-installed but looks a lot like our previous real wood deck which was Brazilian Ironwood.
- garage floor: I saw a couple of vendors of epoxy urethane/poly urea chip floor coating. www.thegaragefloorcompany.com is one of them. It's about $4/sq ft installed. My contractor discouraged us from going this route. He claims they are hard to keep clean and don't hold down very well. He is recommending a linoleum tile, more expensive but easier to replace tiles if damaged and easier to clean.
- landscaping architects: I had the chance to see several and samples of their designs and work. Ultimately I think the choice here really rests on your personal taste and how the designer's work matches it. Landscaping is a work of art.
I also picked up a foot thick pack of literature and ideas on bathrooms, kitchens, landscaping, tiles and other finishes. I absolutely recommend any home builder should visit one of these shows and ask lots of questions!
- heating and air conditioning system: I've asked my contractor to upgrade from the 80% efficiency unit to the 92% efficiency unit. The payback will definitely be there on natural gas savings as we plan to be in the house for the long term. I also asked him to add electronic air filters to the system which will help with all our dust allergies. We're going with a Carrier system. Interestingly enough, Carrier is offering a nice cash rebate on its Infinity line and so is our gas company PG&E. We will be buying our system in May to take advantage of this deal.
- driveway stone: I saw Belgard, Country Cobble, Calstone, McNear and Home Depot. Mcnear seemed best value for $5-7 sq ft installed on the Belgian Cobblestone. The top end Calstone runs $15 sq ft installed, absolutely beautiful. I will check them all out but curious if anyone out there has any recommendations. I like the 3 stone pattern type.
- hardwood floor: our contractor has installed several different manufacturer products and he is recommending the WFI brand. I saw Mirage at the show which was highly recommended by a few vendors. I will check out both.
- garage doors: Martin seems like good value for the money with plenty of choices.
- deck composite wood: I really liked the Fiberon “Tropics” line better than Trex – www.fiberondecking.com Jatoba color. It’s maybe 10% more than Trex at $2.65/sq ft non-installed but looks a lot like our previous real wood deck which was Brazilian Ironwood.
- garage floor: I saw a couple of vendors of epoxy urethane/poly urea chip floor coating. www.thegaragefloorcompany.com is one of them. It's about $4/sq ft installed. My contractor discouraged us from going this route. He claims they are hard to keep clean and don't hold down very well. He is recommending a linoleum tile, more expensive but easier to replace tiles if damaged and easier to clean.
- landscaping architects: I had the chance to see several and samples of their designs and work. Ultimately I think the choice here really rests on your personal taste and how the designer's work matches it. Landscaping is a work of art.
I also picked up a foot thick pack of literature and ideas on bathrooms, kitchens, landscaping, tiles and other finishes. I absolutely recommend any home builder should visit one of these shows and ask lots of questions!
Saturday, May 6, 2006
Bathroom Fixtures & AC
I'm finalizing my list of bathroom fixtures. I like the Grohe brand and am focusing on the Seabury line. Grohe makes really elegant, European design and extremely reliable fixtures. Their web site is very nice, easy to navigate and make selections of products and get MSRP.
We're going with a brushed nickel for our master bath and guest bathroom, chrome for kids (lighter granite counter top to notice the mess less, chrome will go better with this) and chrome for our downstairs bathroom. The kids bath will also have an adjustable shower bar with hand shower to make it easier for us to rinse them off. They are still little and this was a nice feature at our last house.
I'm having to combine a few different lines (e.g., Movario 5 way shower head) since Seabury does not have everything. I'd like to get the list in one shot so that I don't have to amass bits and pieces of this order and possible get things like brushed nickel and satin nickel mixed up. I'm finding in general that the deals on eBay for faucets and fixtures are not that great. I can find better pricing across the board by going to Shopping.com, Shopzilla, shop.com and Amazon.
For the Grohe line, shower-faucets.com seems like the most aggressive on price but I like faucet.com which did a great job shipping my recently arrived Franke stainless kitchen sink. So I'm asking faucet.com to match. They also have a free ship promotion which is great.
That reminds me that I am in the middle of also ordering my bathroom sinks. We're going with the Toto LT597G Dantesca undermount in cotton white. We like the Toto sinks because they are nice and deep, great for washing your face or little baby's butt. We debated going with the LT511G Supreme self rimming (over counter) mount which is what we had at our last house, but I think with granite counter tops the undermount will look better and provide more counter space. Toto does not have as many dealers carrying their line, so low price hunting is a little more challenging.
However, I did find the best deal on shopping.com with Amazon pricing at Homecenter.com. They would not do free ship so I typed in Google "Toto Free Ship Price Match" and got a few sites. One of them, standardplumbing.com, seems to be able to match and ship free. You have to love that my toilets are arriving next week on a free ship deal, a 500 lb pallet with 4 toilets on it all the way from New Jersey! That had to be expensive. Unfortunately, I did not find a free ship deal on my Kohler Villager bath tubs. They are on the way now but faucet.com still gave me a great deal with a still subsidized ship rate.
We also decided a while ago to go with Carrier for our HVAC. I've actually never owned a Carrier AC before, we had Lennox in Boston, but our contractor highly recommends it. They also own the Bryant line of furnaces which we had at our last house and were very reliable, zero maintenance. I noticed there is a $1500 cash rebate for Carrier this month in the newspaper and told my contractor to check it out so we're buying it early and storing to take advantage of the great promo.
We're going with a brushed nickel for our master bath and guest bathroom, chrome for kids (lighter granite counter top to notice the mess less, chrome will go better with this) and chrome for our downstairs bathroom. The kids bath will also have an adjustable shower bar with hand shower to make it easier for us to rinse them off. They are still little and this was a nice feature at our last house.
I'm having to combine a few different lines (e.g., Movario 5 way shower head) since Seabury does not have everything. I'd like to get the list in one shot so that I don't have to amass bits and pieces of this order and possible get things like brushed nickel and satin nickel mixed up. I'm finding in general that the deals on eBay for faucets and fixtures are not that great. I can find better pricing across the board by going to Shopping.com, Shopzilla, shop.com and Amazon.
For the Grohe line, shower-faucets.com seems like the most aggressive on price but I like faucet.com which did a great job shipping my recently arrived Franke stainless kitchen sink. So I'm asking faucet.com to match. They also have a free ship promotion which is great.
That reminds me that I am in the middle of also ordering my bathroom sinks. We're going with the Toto LT597G Dantesca undermount in cotton white. We like the Toto sinks because they are nice and deep, great for washing your face or little baby's butt. We debated going with the LT511G Supreme self rimming (over counter) mount which is what we had at our last house, but I think with granite counter tops the undermount will look better and provide more counter space. Toto does not have as many dealers carrying their line, so low price hunting is a little more challenging.
However, I did find the best deal on shopping.com with Amazon pricing at Homecenter.com. They would not do free ship so I typed in Google "Toto Free Ship Price Match" and got a few sites. One of them, standardplumbing.com, seems to be able to match and ship free. You have to love that my toilets are arriving next week on a free ship deal, a 500 lb pallet with 4 toilets on it all the way from New Jersey! That had to be expensive. Unfortunately, I did not find a free ship deal on my Kohler Villager bath tubs. They are on the way now but faucet.com still gave me a great deal with a still subsidized ship rate.
We also decided a while ago to go with Carrier for our HVAC. I've actually never owned a Carrier AC before, we had Lennox in Boston, but our contractor highly recommends it. They also own the Bryant line of furnaces which we had at our last house and were very reliable, zero maintenance. I noticed there is a $1500 cash rebate for Carrier this month in the newspaper and told my contractor to check it out so we're buying it early and storing to take advantage of the great promo.
Last of the Teardown Sale
We just completed our project approval with the City and ended the week with the porta potty and electrical feed being brought to the site. We
also had a high fence installed around the front for security. That was the trigger to call back a lot of folks who had put deposits on windows and doors this weekend. We're just 8 days away now from the scheduled demolition.It was a very tiring day, helping the various folks get their windows out. I had never taken a bay window out but fortunately had some good tools - essentials were hammers, sledge hammer, mini sledge hammer (to break the stucco around the outer side of the windows), a heavy duty wrecking bar (straight with a chisel on one end and a pointed tip on the other, about 5 feet long solid steel, wow was this useful!), crow bar, claw bar (extremely helpful for pulling nails out from the flange that surrounds the window nailed to the outside frame), ladder, sawzall reciprocating saw with demolition blade and 2-3 other people to help ease the window down.
The best way I found to take the windows out was to just remove as many of the 2x4s the frame was attached to (whack them with the sledge hammer or wrecking bar) especially the left, right and lower side. Try to cut the nails along the top. Then push the window outward and bend any remaining nails along the top. A couple of the bay windows we removed needed 4 people to lift. Uuugh!
Well they are all gone now and it's pretty breezy inside with no doors or windows left! I'm extremely pleased that we were able to find new homes for these windows, all of which were still in pretty decent shape.
I also made some great contacts in doing this. One fellow I met, who I gave some plants to, returned to trim my pear tree and offered to help me with our landscaping design on the back end. What a find!
Wow am I ever sore tonight! I never get a workout like that at the gym.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
