shikataganai's Mountain House thread

[shikataganai]

Did not spot any killdozers. Cash obtained.

I was thinking anything involving a crane in Grand County would be $1k on its own just to get them there. So I’m honestly pleasantly surprised.

* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

[shikataganai]

My deck contractor guy came around today with the framer. Clarified plans and timeline. 90% likelihood imo that this deck work happens by the 20th as it needs to. He now has a check for $15k in hand to cover initial materials and at least part of the labor.

Many more instances pointed to at how the 2021 rebuild of the deck was a ****ty job. Wrong kind of wood for the exterior ledger, not tied in to the beam away from house, flashing wrong, the damage to the EIFS, etc. This should get it fixed up properly, and reinforced with the two 18” concrete caissons supporting a 12’ long beam under the hot tub area proper. Damaged EIFS near deck surface will be covered up with something else, which will actually improve the aesthetics considerably.

[340Duster]

Originally Posted by shikataganai

Did not spot any killdozers. Cash obtained.

Think you.

[shikataganai]

my electrician made an error on the wiring: I'd initially texted him that I needed one 30A and one 50A line, but he somehow parsed 50A x 2 and thus 6 ga. in reality I actually needed just a 20A + the 50A.

I thus asked the electrician as a make-up of sorts for this extra unneeded cost to drill a hole through the main floor wall for me (for Starlink wiring), as I know he has the tools.

and it turns out the whole house is ICF construction!

https://www.buildwithrise.com/storie...cf-sustainable

in other words, it's all concrete in the middle of the walls. for his two 240V lines he thus had to drill through the concrete of the walk-out basement wall. and for the extra hole that I asked for he also had to bust out the hammer drill and drill through the concrete of the main floor wall! my battery powered tools and Chinesium 1" bits would have had no chance at all...

anyway, it being all ICF is news to me. I knew the basement was all concrete due to it being walk out and the uphill side having rooms underneath the main floor and garage alike. but I didn't know about the other floors also being done the same. this is a nice surprise from the house perspective for a change.

this also has bearing on the deck reinforcement work: the engineer correctly had figured out that the house was ICF and denoted the same on his drawings of where the new ledger should be tied in, albeit in slightly confusing fashion. these 0.5 x 6.5" Simpson Titen HD concrete screws will thus indeed be going into concrete.



so current status of mountain house projects:

- extra 2 ton mini split heat pump with its head in the new master suite: installed

- 20A line to said mini split's condenser: done

- 50A line with GFCI breaker and a disconnect on the wall: installed roughly under where the proper corner of the hot tub will lie. he'll poke it through the Trex into the hot tub cabinet once I get that in place

- request to get the MPEI 1% loan for the PV + heat pump and the $2k check to me for the heat pump's cold climate-ness: made

- deck work: started. contractor has $15k from me to start with so that he's not fronting the costs himself and he and the framer were by during the week and working today. it'll be tight to get it all done by the 20th (when I have a non-stop slew of renters until the second week of August) but they say it's possible.

- hot tub relocation quotes: obtained. I'll schedule with them for Monday August 12 if possible as I'm away the week before and then there's one last renter group the weekend of the 10th-12th.

edit: Aug 12 now confirmed with my hot tub mover guy and the Tabernash-local crane guy. just need to make sure the deck reinforcement work is actually done (by this Thursday!)... I guess they could sneak the final part of work in August 4 - 8 potentially as well and still have Aug 12 be ok.

[shikataganai]

So it looks like the deck reinforcement work will actually get done today. Which is good since renters check in at 4! I made a run up last night to check on its status and drop off/set some stuff up.

https://www.threads.net/@toshi.clark...FhPqW6_4KwjcrQ

Thus we are a go for the August 12 date to relocate the hot tub from here in Denver to up on the reinforced deck.

edit: the concrete piers got done in 10" inexplicably. he will redo them in future weeks with 16" as per spec.

[shikataganai]

It has been moved.



Starlink works, too.

[shiplemw]

Toshi, glad to see you back for a bit. Congrats on the vacation home work. I hope the rental season goes well for you.

[shikataganai]

many thank

summer rental season has been good. petering out now as we approach the shoulder season: only a few weekends booked.

with updating the listing with Starlink and the hot tub in a bit maybe some more business shall come in.

[kgb4187]

I wanna soak there

[shikataganai]

Originally Posted by shikataganai

It has been moved.

And now the swim spa is in its place in Denver. Cranes are awesome

https://www.threads.net/@toshi.clark...bsSie9UVThU9RA

No inline photos because img.nasioc doesn't like modern photo formats

[shikataganai]

I’m thinking post-snow spring will be the time to have the mountain house repainted from its current salmon-box state. Green main body color, brown accents (doors, window surrounds, the faux beam horizontal element on the sides, masonry below deck), then a dark protective stain on the deck’s wood structure to sort of match.

It won’t be this exactly because it’ll need EIFS-compatible paint. But this is the idea.

[lag]

If those are copper awnings that's gonna look great. Is that copper or exposed/finished wood there?

[shikataganai]

Originally Posted by lag

If those are copper awnings that's gonna look great. Is that copper or exposed/finished wood there?

Not sure where you’re asking about copper. Under deck is pressure treated wood except for the bits of concrete caissons and brick at the bottom few feet. House is EIFS all over the outside. Metal flashing up by roof, underside of eaves is wood.

[shiplemw]

I think he is referring to the eaves which appear to be a dark brown. Copper would be an expensive and odd choice for that area.

Are those colors common in the area? No one wants a house that is drastically different than others around them.

[lag]

if copper that alone would be worth more than my house. because I'm homeless!!!! :rimshot:

[340Duster]

Originally Posted by shikataganai

I’m thinking post-snow spring will be the time to have the mountain house repainted from its current salmon-box state. Green main body color, brown accents (doors, window surrounds, the faux beam horizontal element on the sides, masonry below deck), then a dark protective stain on the deck’s wood structure to sort of match.

It won’t be this exactly because it’ll need EIFS-compatible paint. But this is the idea.

No idea what EIFS is... but you have to go with the OTer color because of obvious reasons

[vapore0n]

too much brown. I would balance it out with some other color than brown.

[shikataganai]

Originally Posted by shiplemw

I think he is referring to the eaves which appear to be a dark brown. Copper would be an expensive and odd choice for that area.

Are those colors common in the area? No one wants a house that is drastically different than others around them.

the salmon color is definitely the odd man out. I have no idea how the HOA design review committee originally approved it for the prior owners, in fact. the wording for color choice is supposed to be "muted mountain colors" or some **** like that. here is the house in context of other ones on the same street and visible across the creek:

Originally Posted by lag

if copper that alone would be worth more than my house. because I'm homeless!!!! :rimshot:

ah, got it. no, that's just wood.

Originally Posted by 340Duster

No idea what EIFS is... but you have to go with the OTer color because of obvious reasons

it's non-structural foamboard type panels with a faux-stucco finish. whole house is concrete then these panels go over it and insulate, them being the I part of ICF.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exteri...nishing_system

Originally Posted by vapore0n

too much brown. I would balance it out with some other color than brown.

the brown elements will be minimal, window surrounds and the horizontal fake beams in the from street view. oh, and the front door. tired of it looking all natural-ish wood + the stupid 1980s style crystal windows.



(and yes, the right of the two garage doors is smaller than the left. they made a lot of weird choices. )

[shiplemw]

I like the green and think you should add some detail above the second floor on the front. Giant flat wall of house 35' tall.

[shikataganai]

Originally Posted by shiplemw

I like the green and think you should add some detail above the second floor on the front. Giant flat wall of house 35' tall.

I don't think the HOA will go for a sweet dragon mural

[vapore0n]

Originally Posted by shikataganai

(and yes, the right of the two garage doors is smaller than the left. they made a lot of weird choices. )

Can you even fit a car through those garage doors?
Ive seen houses with small doors like that, like for letting the snowblower out.

[shikataganai]

Originally Posted by vapore0n

Can you even fit a car through those garage doors?
Ive seen houses with small doors like that, like for letting the snowblower out.

you can, on both sides. left one isn't bad at all. right one is tight and then the wall of the garage is right up against the implied line from the right edge of garage. that spot is not very useful... but then again when we go up we're just up with one car.

[shikataganai]

Originally Posted by shikataganai

the salmon color is definitely the odd man out. I have no idea how the HOA design review committee originally approved it for the prior owners, in fact. the wording for color choice is supposed to be "muted mountain colors" or some **** like that.

ah, found the document via the HOA site, once I figured out who the current management company is. here's the verviage:



again, I don't see how "salmon faux stucco" was approved as "earthen tone and similar muted colors that blend into the natural surroundings and landscape".

[shikataganai]

Originally Posted by shikataganai

you can, on both sides. left one isn't bad at all. right one is tight and then the wall of the garage is right up against the implied line from the right edge of garage. that spot is not very useful... but then again when we go up we're just up with one car.

Relevant to the above:

I get to figure out garage door repair tomorrow. Springs either broke or are just detensioned due to a renter pulling the emergency release on one of the garage doors, the left normal sized one. And said renters (or the cleaning crew) managed to switch the right garage door’s keypad into the locked mode.

so between these things neither garage door could be opened from the outside until I flipped that switch. And thus the trash company driver who picks up trash from within the garage on Fridays could not get in earlier today. Thus a good portion of the garage is now filled with trash from the rental group over Thanksgiving, who managed to create a quite incredible amount of the same.

(and due to the left door being the one that is broken I had to wedge the minivan in the small side of the garage at an angle, mirrors folded in and all. It’s very tight.)

[shikataganai]

two updates for you all, surely waiting with bated breath

1) Overhead Door replaced the opener just fine. they haven't billed me for it yet. $1,500 and change from the receipt left at the house by the tech. mountain tax!

2) my snow plow guy/overall handy dude who did the deck reinforcement project finally got around to billing me for the remainder of the deck work--I'd been asking him every month or two but he's not quick on such matters. finally hired an accountant and got around to it. $1,800 more to button up the books, so $16,800 all in. not bad at all, imo. and so far the deck is still standing eh