Wyoming House

Unconvetional Chandelier

2012-09-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

In the past I've designed a home and turned my wife loose on the interior design because she is good at it. This time I got a little more involved. Since we had somewhat of an industrial design going, i've had an idea in the back of my head for months. I hate shopping so i never do this type of thing; but one day i was checking out some different things on ebay and came across so old street light lenses for $15 and a walk/don't walk sign for $15. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but i just had to have them for that price. I bought them and stored them in my office for a while. I recently installed them both into the home and these are the results.

To build the chandelier I spent about $80 on various black pipe fittings in 1" and 3/4" diameter. I then purchased some inexpensive black pendants without shades so the cost was pretty minimal. I took the street light lenses to a glass company and had them drill out some holes in the center of the lenses because they had to be done with special tools. I assembled the parts as I ran the wiring, then mounted it to a beam over the dining room. For a little extra style I purchased some stylish filament type bulbs. We also tried large 5" diameter bulbs that also looked pretty cool, but we preferred the shape of this vintage style bulb. Another bonus, because of the fitting I used where the light mounts, we can rotate the chandelier according to wherever the dining table is positioned.

The walk/ don't walk sign I turned into a do not disturb light by my office door. With a little forethought, we wired the office with a switch to control the sign from my desk. When i'm on a call and don't want to be disturbed, I switch the light to don't walk and my family knows to give me a minute. Really it's more of a silly gimmic than anything, but it's a fun little feature and we have the only street lights and walk don't walk signs within 50 miles.

Before and After

2012-07-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

These before and after pics have been a long time coming and I have a lot of filling in to do between the framing stage and these pics. We got so busy working on this remodel project I never got around to blogging about the progress.

First on the list of pics is the exterior. When I started this project, my goal was to design it in such a way that no one would know that it was a remodel. Its always been a peeve of mine when someone ads on to their house without any forethought as to incorporating the addition into the existing design of the home. For us, it was a complete change of architectural style. The way the old home sat in comparison to the lay of the land made this addition very challenging. The winters are long and cold in the mountains, so having a garage was also a requirement. It was challenging to incorporate an attached garage with the addition, working around the lay of the land and the existing home. I've never had a design project this challenging, but it's been fun to see something different than I have designed in the past come together.

The old 'cube of butter with a roof' as I referred to it:

And the new design:

The old Fireplace:

And the new Fireplace:

The old front door:

And what is in it's place now:

And the relocated Entry:

Old Kitchen:

New, relocated Kitchen:

Reclaimed Timbers

2010-11-27T14:04:00.001-08:00

I picked the absolute worst day to go and get reclaimed timbers for our home. We bought them from a place called Trestlewood in Blackfoot, ID. I planned to head up last week before we had any snow at all, but their salesman in SLC told me I had to have an appointment. So, i scheduled one as soon as I could get one, which was the Monday before Thanksgiving. He insisted I get an appointment so that they could find the timbers in sizes I needed, then all i would have to do is choose the ones I wanted from what they had. Monday morning I headed out and the weather was horrible. I called their office to let them know I was running a bit late due to heavy snows and they said, 'no problem, that will give us more time to get ready for you.' I finally showed up 45 minutes late in Blackfoot only to find they had no idea I was coming. Apparently there was a communication problem between their Blackfoot and SLC office. I ended up spending 5 hours at their place sifting through stacks of timbers buried in snow with Pedro and another guy that barely spoke English. They were super freindly and helpful, but it was hard for them to understand what type of post I was looking for. Finally I found Bob in his office who helped me locate what we were after. Once I spoke with him we had everything located and loaded within an hour.

Finally I thought I was home free. Neil was waiting on these timbers for a couple of load bearing walls he was building that day, and I was late. I left Blackfoot at around 2 and should have been in Wyoming in 2 hrs. Due to complete whiteout conditions it took me another 5 1/2 hours to get there. Once I arrived I found I had gotten a flat somewhere along the way. I had a double axle trailer, and since i was driving around 20 MPH and couldn't even see the trailer behind me because the blizzard was so thick, i never noticed. $125 later I had a new tire, but we still had to unload the timbers. It took another 3 1/2 hours to get my truck up the hill and into our place and unload them. The snow was so deep i got stuck twice trying to get in. This pic below was the clearest conditions I had all day.

All in all it was an adventurous day, but the timbers should look pretty cool in the house when it's complete. They are old barn or warehouse timbers that are partially painted with old brackets, bolt holes and whatnot on them. They don't look super awesome in these pics since they are wet and partially covered in snow and dirty road spray.

Started Framing

2010-11-27T13:57:00.000-08:00

Getting to the point we could start framing took much longer than we thought as we had a few hurdles along the way. Our framer Neil finished up another job later than he planned and our foundation guy took longer than he planned so we got a late start and unfortunately for us, winter came extra early this year, and with a vengance. I think we have over 24" of snow already. We just blew about 18" off of the main floor with the snowblower over Thanksgiving weekend, and got stuck 3 times trying to get in to do so. I need to get my tractor back up there so we can use it to clean up the snow. I hoped to get it framed up and a roof on at least before we got too much snow. The last few years we haven't gotten hit hard with snow until Dec. So far though, Neil and his guys have done an excellent job. It's nice to have a framer that wants it to turn out how it should instead of just wanting to get off the job asap.

This is our new basement. Upstairs will have similar window layout directly above with a large deck.

Foundation In

2010-11-27T13:52:00.001-08:00

We recently had our foundation poured with much beefier footings that we're used to. The snow loads up here are much more than Northern Utah, so we had to accomodate.

While the hole was open, my dad and I installed some foundation drains to help get any moisture away from the foundation walls and out to the back of the home. I put in verticals at every corner I thought I might have a downspout. This drain turned out to be helpful since the excavator cut the water main without me knowing so when i turned the water on for a few minutes it filled the hole, the drain helped get it out.

Before / Soon to be After

2010-09-07T08:43:00.001-07:00

Our house now.

And our proposed after - With more trees around the home of course, i didn't have time to draw them all in on this rendering.

Hole

2010-09-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

We have a hole. And a lot of dirt to put somewhere. Surprisingly, no rocks in the soil at all.

New Direction

2010-09-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've made a blog entry. Back in May I had taken my wife with me to Wyoming when i cased out those windows in the previous post. We had been discussing a permanent move to Wyoming over the years, but the timing was not right as our daughter was receiving cancer treatments at the time. Well it's been 2 yeras since her transplant and she is doing wonderful and life has slowed back down to some kind of normalcy. I guess we're not used to that and want to complicate things, so after looking around at our options we decided where we really wanted to be was on this property we already owned. So, a small remodel just turned into a much bigger one as we'll need more space for us, 5 kids, a studio for my artist wife and a private office that I can work out of. The existing home was just not quite large enough since it had no basement. So our 70's style cube of butter with a roof will become something about twice as big and a little more interesting.

Here are a few pictures of the newly cleared area where we will be building the addition and garage. I had some anxiety about clearing any trees as that's what i love about this property. But my wife kept reminding me we have about 500 more so we will survive. We're adding a new kitchen and family room area on the front of the existing home, an upstairs with some bedrooms for the kids and of course a big garage because we have some long winters and I'll need some space to park a tractor i'll be using to clear out our 1/4 mile drive.

2010-05-28T21:36:00.001-07:00

Drywall is all done, started casing out windows today.

Yes, my house is still yellow.

2010-05-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to paint the place, but the inside is priority so I can spend the night while i work on the outside.

We're now getting drywall installed in the additions and a whole bunch of patching is taking place everywhere else to clean up all the holes we made to update electrical and plumbing. We're getting closer.

Found a cool website for door kits, if anyone is looking for a new door idea for your place.

Check out Crestview Doors

New Windows, Finally.

2010-05-05T20:05:00.001-07:00

It's been along time coming. We finally got all of the new windows installed going from 1 smaller window in most of these rooms shown, to large view windows. The new windows have made a huge difference already, letting in lots of natural light and the views are great. We're excited to get them cased inside and out.

Tree Falling on House

2010-05-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

Just arrived this morning to find that an Aspen tree had broken off at the roots and crashed down onto the house, then bounced and hit again further up. Luckily there doesn't appear to be any major damage. We will have to have part of the soffit and fascia redone and several sections of the metal roof have been dented and damaged. Minor setback I guess, but a setback nonetheless.

Insulation

2010-01-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

An finally some insulation. We blew in over the minimal amount that was already in the attic, in the addition walls, addition attic and into the crawlspace walls. They forgot to insulate the rim, but will be back for that. I'm picking up my two missing windows today and hopefully will be able to make it up soon to install them and we can turn on the heat.

Electrical Work Done

2009-12-17T15:39:00.000-08:00

Electrician came up this week and knocked out all the electrical add ons and re-routing. Furnace is now working and keeping things warm which is very nice. Tomorrow the insulation company should make it up and fill up the attic and new addition walls, as well as the crawl space and foundation. Should be a big improvement over the very little insulation that is in the home now. Pics to come, soon as I make it up there again. Might be a few weeks with a baby due any day and Christmas next week.

Early December Progress

2009-12-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

We installed windows on the addition this weekend. Well, most of them. We ordered 1 too few and one of them that we did get is the wrong size. So we're going to have to wait on two more windows to be built before we can finish up. Here are some pictures of the recent improvements.

Here are the new water heaters just installed. I had planned to do inline tankless water heaters, but the plumber suggested electric because they are the least maintenance and less expensive. Since I won't be living in this home full time he thought we'd be a lot happier with the low maintenance of these. I hope he is right.

Hall bath tub. My wife didn't want a 6' long tub, so we opted for this deeper 5 and we'll build a bench at the end. Hope it turns out. Had to put a window in there so you can look into the trees while you have a shower. I wish i had a before and after pic of this bathroom. It was very small. You can see the holes in the floor where the old toilet and shower plumbing was. The vanity was where the clothes hanger is there. Just really tight. This new bathroom will feel very roomy in comparison.

My bro trying out the master bath. I'm wishing those windows were about 6" lower, but no going back now. It will be nice, the shower on the other side of the room will have similar views.

And finally the new master bath addition. We're getting there, but we still have a long way to go.

November Update

2009-11-23T08:25:00.000-08:00

This is why it is nice to have one sub out before another comes in. The framer had not finished the chimney completely so the heating guy left parts for how high he thought the chimney would be. He's a little short and snow is on the way so i had to temporarily cover the top to keep it dry until I can get the heating guy back.

Only the framer and I can really appreciate this photo. I had a few broken trusses caused by really heavy snow load and poorly assembled trusses. Phil jacked up the bottom chords of the trusses on the inside and fixed them according to an engineer friends specifications. The ridge sag is now gone, and the ceiling sag inside is gone as well. What a relief.

New East side addtions sans windows. I'm still waiting on the windows to be finished, but the addition is all ready for them.

I was pleased with how concerned Phil was about keeping my existing trees. They are one of the reasons I love this property. This aspen is within a foot of the new addition, but was not disturbed.
Photo of the East side addition soffit and fascia - built ot match the existing structure.

And finally the west side addition. Soon we'll have a large 5'x5' window next to that chimney and more on the other side to take advantage of the view. Shown in the photo below.

Fireplace and Furnace

2009-11-13T15:04:00.001-08:00

Fireplace installed for master bedroom/ bath finally. Hard to visualize what it will look like, but soon we'll have some nice view windows and a tub in here. Looks like they framed the platform a little small for the fireplace, but we'll be putting in a platform for the tub anyway so it will all be good in the end.

Variable speed furnace installed in the crawl space. Looks like our roomy crawlspace is a little tighter now. It will be nice to have the other heating option.

October Update

2009-10-23T12:56:00.001-07:00

Made it up to the house yesterday to check on the progress and do a little final demo and removal of the old, worn out, water damaged, smelly or otherwise useless junk. Here are some photos of the progress. Still looks like a cube of butter with a roof doesn't it?

Sorry for the blurry pic, all i had was my camera and sorry Google, but the camera on the G1 is pretty lousy. Ironically this remote spot is one of the few places that i get good reception in WY which is great for me.

West side addition, windows to be cut out soon. This is a new master bathroom addition which will have some great views from the tub and shower.

Front view, it was kind of a muddy mess up there.

Another master bath add on view. The windows in this room were unfortunately framed incorrectly and will have to be re-done. Glad I checked it out before ordering windows.

East end addition which is making a much better layout possible on this end of the home. Doubles the side of the guest bath and creates a 4th room out of some dead space.

Another view of the east end, getting closed in that day.

Old fireplace and aweful hearth removed. Looks like the original builder had some combustible material a little too close there... glad i tore this open and lucky for the old owner his house didn't burn down.

Kitchen completely dismantled and hauled away. I think that soffit will have to go as well.

My accomplice for the day, resting after loading the trailer full of stuff.

Windows - Aluminum Clad Wood or Vinyl

2009-10-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

I've built several homes over the years and have always used vinyl windows for two main reasons - they are cheaper than wood, and they cost less. And when it comes down to it, you can see out both windows just the same.

Recently while planning the remodel of the Wyoming House I have been surprised at the cost of vinyl windows. I must have gotten some great deals on windows when I was in the business or prices have gone up quite a bit. I got a quote from several places this last week and just for fun had Weathershield price out some aluminum clad windows for me as well. I was surprised at the cost comparison.

Why would I even consider the aluminum clad for this home? Well I plan to put in some nice big sliding doors to maximize the view. I don't want to go with vinyl sliding doors because I just don't love the look and most that I have seen are not great quality. I want a dark color frame on the doors and the only way to get that was to go with aluminum clad. Since Weathershield has a showroom and manufacturing facility right here in town I decided to swing by and check out the doors that they had available. I really liked their wood/aluminum sliders so I think that is what I am going to get. But, of course I think it would look nicer to have the windows match the doors since they will be on the same wall plane - so, I priced out the aluminum as well.

After comparing prices, the middle range vinyl is pretty close to aluminum clad, so I'm leaning towards the clad. I need to swing by the showroom and check them out again.

Why-oming?

2009-09-08T07:33:00.001-07:00

Because we're right in the middle of this.

Labor Day Progress

2009-09-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

The latest progress on the additions. Hopefully the trusses will come in next week and we'll be able to get this closed up for the upcoming winter. While tearing apart the gable end on the east side, Phil found a nest in the attic. Looks like something larger than a rodent, maybe racoons? I need to figure out how they are getting up there and put a stop to it.

Questioning Myself

2009-08-21T11:37:00.001-07:00

Sometimes i wonder what the heck i am doing. Yeah I said heck.. what can i say i'm from Utah. If i stop to think about this project I have in WY it's a little overwhelming. Its about 2 hrs form home so working on it requires planning. For 2 yrs now I have owned the place and other than the foundation repair (which honestly is a huge improvement) mostly all I have done is tear things apart. To be fair, my daughter went through another round of chemo and a bone marrow transplant when cancer came back - that pretty much put a halt to any plans whatsoever. I really need to start getting into the rebuilding stage so that sometime soon I can actually use this place that I am paying for.

Getting Warmer

2009-08-20T12:30:00.000-07:00

It finally arrived - Our Morso 2040 Stove. This stove has been discontinued but they happened to have just a few left so I snagged one at a deep discount. Discounts are always good. Just need to get my pipe prepped for the new stove, lay a bit of tile or masonry of some kind for it to sit on and we'll be good to go.

Quick Trip

2009-08-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took a quick trip up to WY to check on the progress of the place and meet up with Phil, the contractor helping me out with this part of the project. He was up earlier in the week and touched up the grade around the home. It had settled quite a bit from the recent foundation replacement so it needed some work. Looks great now and he is now hooking up the power, sewer and water lines.

We're considering installing a valve to flush the water out after use so that in the winter months we won't have any water in the home at all. I have a shut off valve up by the well and another by the home just before it enters the house. Hopefully this will eliminate any potential water damage.

I'm about done with the deck design and hopefully next week we'll get some deck footing holes dug and the framing of the two small additions will begin.

August

2009-08-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

Finally some progress on the place. We removed all of the old seventies cabinets with wallpapered insides. They are still usable, we just don't want to use them. I plan to run an ad in the paper in the local community to see if anyone can use them. There are several cabinets that might be nice to use in the garage for misc tools and such so I may bring some home.

While removing the cabinets we found why the previous owner had a water problem in the kitchen. The water line for the dishwasher had been severed and to plug it up, someone had jambed some wood in the end of the tube and wrapped it with electrical tape. Not the right fix for a water line that has water in it.

We also have removed the old woodburning stove which my contractor has found a home for. Good to see some of the old stuff being used. The stove is actually in near new condition, but it's very large and does not coordinate with the style we're shooting for.