Finally Bought Some Land

[davids]

Septic field will be a meadow. That's to the north of the house. This company sells high percentage germination seed mixes in amounts of 1000 sq ft or more, and the mix is designed to grow in the sand and gravel of the septic field without adding topsoil. Once established it should reseed itself and has a nice mix of pollinator plants and seed head plants for birds.

We have a second clearing that we are going to build a platform with a screened in area and a fire pit. It will be linked to the house by a relatively short path through the woods. Originally it was the second house site with the property was two separate parcels. One of these days, we might put a swimming pool in there. Seems kind of ridiculous though.

Meadows are really nice. There's a lovely one near my brother in Ann Arbor that's really a pleasure to wander through. A meadow ain't necessarily a lawn, though...

I was embarrassed to find myself wanting a lawn, even a small one - it's so American suburban. But this summer, even as that spot got turned into a staging area for the patio project, it was a really nice evening hang out spot. Now the fence gives that space definition and a bit of privacy. The Adirondack chairs won't be far behind!

[rwsaunders]

Jorn...please don’t blast that rock. Unless of course the excavator lets you activate the detonator while the camera is running.

[ides1056]

[/QUOTE]

That is called ledge.

[Mabouya]

Too bad there isn't a stream nearby you could redirect to run over the rock...

Just tell your architects "Hey, if FLW could build on rock, I'm confident you too can create a masterpiece."

[j44ke]

Hey, ^that's^ a pretty good idea there. Like the water feature. Trout fishing off your porch ;-)

We were up in that area recently, and we planned to visit, but the day we wanted to go, the house was closed for some sort of photographic project. So another time I guess. This weekend we are going to visit Manitoga in Garrison NY. That's the house of Russell Wright. My grandparents' house was full of Eames and Russell Wright and George Nelson furniture they bought in the 50's and 60's. The prices then were definitely not what they are today! So that's where I got my affection for minimal flat linear things.

We now have a schedule of values attached to a contract. Work on the house proper starts Monday. The engineer determined the rock is solid enough no pinning required. Instead, the rock ledge will be (rough) leveled at -2' below ground level back to front and the footing will be set directly on the rock. Then the rest of the slab structure. So we will have a house on the rocks. In 12 months approx. according to the GC, so somewhere in the range of fall 2019 to spring 2020.

It seems like we've been "starting" over and over again during the last year. Which I guess we have. But this is the actual start with full fledged detailed budget and comprehensive drawings and signatures. So today we are going to go look at some furniture. Got to start planning that part. No one has a warehouse any longer. You order the stuff and 12-14 weeks later someone calls you and says, "Where do you want it?"

[Todd Amunrud]

Quote-“So today we are going to go look at some furniture. Got to start planning that part.”

Matt Eastvold (@eastvoldfurniture) • Instagram photos and videos

Eastvold Furniture

This is a good friend who also does custom work. He might fit your esthetic.

[Calgary_George]

Have not waded through the entire thread, but you may want to consider radon mitigation if you are building on granitoid rocks. We live in a radioactive world.

[j44ke]

Have not waded through the entire thread, but you may want to consider radon mitigation if you are building on granitoid rocks. We live in a radioactive world.

Yep, on the list. Good reminder, thanks.

[j44ke]

Quote-“So today we are going to go look at some furniture. Got to start planning that part.”

Matt Eastvold (@eastvoldfurniture) • Instagram photos and videos

Eastvold Furniture

This is a good friend who also does custom work. He might fit your esthetic.

Thanks - bookmarked!

[davids]

Yep, on the list. Good reminder, thanks.

Just FYI, our radon mitigation system is a vent fan in the basement that basically always runs. Effective, not fancy.

[j44ke]

Just FYI, our radon mitigation system is a vent fan in the basement that basically always runs. Effective, not fancy.

We don't have a basement, so this is definitely a good reminder, because that can mean more, not less, radon gas accumulation in the living areas, unless steps are taken in building the foundation & elsewhere to deal with it. Not sure what that would be for a slab, so I've sent notes to the architects (they've put radon mitigation set ups in all of their previous buildings in the area) and the GC.

[NYCfixie]

So today we are going to go look at some furniture. Got to start planning that part. No one has a warehouse any longer. You order the stuff and 12-14 weeks later someone calls you and says, "Where do you want it?"

Thos. Moser - Handmade American Furniture

[Tom]

Furniture can be a slippery slope. We just bought a table and commissioned two from this maker PETER HARRISON | Handmade Modern Furniture and immediately we started saving for a dining table and other stuff not to mention maybe something else for a wall by the artist we met him through... Zack Lobdell :: Home it can be difficult to hold back when something reverberates.

[j44ke]

A lot of the furniture in our apartment in the city is custom made, all of it by one person, my oldest friend from college who is a master carpenter. We really try to live by the "if custom-made is possible, then do it." However, we've not really been motivated to do any custom work for this house, I think because the house itself is so thoroughly custom. The house upstate basically needs a sofa, a couple 2 3 armchairs, a long table and 6 - 8 dining chairs. The beds are either built-ins or "Murphy" beds. We have the sofa picked out because we picked it out for our apartment and then discovered after measuring 20 different ways that it just wouldn't fit into the apartment unless we hired a crane and disassembled a window. Fortunately we figured that out before we bought it.

So the sofa is made by DePadova and is called the Square sofa. Looks 100 years old even when new. Nice contrast to the white interior and a great place to sit and look out the window.

The dining table is probably going to be a Prouvé EM table out of oak with "Japanese red" metal legs in whatever the longest size is.

After that, everything breaks down. We've looked at Dieter Rams chairs from Vitsoe. Some of the Prouvé tubular steel armchairs from Vitra. A bunch of different dining chairs - Hal Armchair, Prouvé Standard chair, Basel Chair, Hem Pocket Armchair, Moooi Zio chair, Eames Molded Chair.

We have some time to figure it out. Which is good. We'll need it.

[ides1056]

Go to a few auctions and see what furniture is selling for these days. Buy used.

We have perforated pipe in the gravel under the slab with an inline fan about eight feet from the roof vent that does a good job on radon.

[rwsaunders]

Have not waded through the entire thread, but you may want to consider radon mitigation if you are building on granitoid rocks. We live in a radioactive world.

Great suggestion and a no brainer.

[marley]

Great suggestion and a no brainer.

Worry about the radon when the house is completed - it may not be an issue - specifically because you are not planning for a basement/underground living space. Plus you are old and will not be living there full time - damage is already done - you live in NYC.

[Calgary_George]

If you are building a tight, well-insulated building it is going to be an issue. Something as simple as a heat recovery ventilator can be effective.Suggest that you design this in to your ventilation system in advance.

[ides1056]

One more time: easy to put perforated pipe under whatever slab you pour with an inline fan- very basic system that uses little electricity to run. Keeps the radon from entering the living space. You can meter it easily enough as well. Definitely design some sort of ventilation- this is de rigueur these days- to remove any interior contaminants.

[j44ke]

Radon mitigation plans filed with the building inspector with application for building permit, which was approved & granted several weeks ago. Evidently this is required. I'll get the actual design in the next set of drawings next week.

Thanks for the reminder though. Always good to have the extra knowledge.

I'll add for clarity - radon had been thoroughly discussed earlier in the process and the likelihood of needing a system for managing it was known. I just hadn't remembered that I should ask for an update during conversations this weekend about starting the slab construction.