Permit Approval and New Interior Renderings

We received permit approvals today from Okanogan County! Still waiting for the bids but it shouldn't be long now. Maybe another week or so.

Ryan gave us a few interior renderings to hold us over while we wait for the bids to come in...

 

Let the Waiting Begin!

It's been an exciting couple of weeks. Not only did we finish up the structural engineering stuff and receive approval from the HOA, but we submitted the plans for permitting and sent them out for bids! Let me clarify, by "we" I mean our architect. Ryan's been working hard to get this project in motion.

The plans have only been in with the potential contractors and the county for a few days, and we expect it will be a few weeks before we hear anything. Ah well. In the meantime, we have found new things to fixate on. We have been combing through the construction set and now can start making decisions--or at least ask questions--about fun things like light switch controls and electrical outlet placement…     

Latest Renderings

Things have been moving right along, and we are still on target for breaking ground this spring. Once the plans are engineered, we will present the plans to the HOA, submit the plans for permitting with the county, and obtain bids from contractors. In the meantime, we are still trying to nail down the right exterior materials and incorporate the garage into the design.

The latest perspectives (below) show the use of wood siding at the entrance. We wanted something to soften the look of the exterior, but that would still age well and complement the metal and cement. Initially, we thought wood was a bad idea, especially with the harsh weather in the Valley, but with placement on the north-facing side of the house, wood may do the trick.

Just to note, the metal is very orange in these pics. The actual color should be closer to gray/blue. Also, these are the first images of the garage, and we like how it fits in with the house on the site. Ryan exercised his creative liberty by including two snow mobiles in the second photo. Thanks Ryan!

Fun In the Valley!

With each trip we take to the Valley, we get more and more excited about having our own place out there. There is no better motivation to keep the project moving forward. Below are a few shots from our winter excursions with friends and family:

 

Continuing to Develop the Plans

Long time, no posts. Over the past few months, the plans and the process has continued to move forward. (Or so our architect tells us!) The plans are very close to being ready for the next step: engineering. Once engineered, the plans will be submitted to general contractors to bid on, as well as to the Edelweiss HOA and Okanogan County Building Department for approval.

A month or so ago, we were very close to sending the plans out to be engineered. Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to have a roofer take a quick look at the butterfly roof to ensure it could be built in a cost-effective manner. When the roof was designed, Ryan, our architect, called out a membrane roofing system. However, we did not like the look of the membrane roof at all (think duct tape). We preferred a metal roof and asked the roofer to review the plans to ensure a metal roof could be constructed and installed. Unfortunately, the roofer could not guarantee that the roofing system would remain watertight (i.e., we had a problem).

Ryan tried a number of different variations to keep the butterfly roof, but in the end, we decided to go with a shed roof. Below are a few images of the new roof design:

We still need to work out a few of the details, but the above renderings provide a good idea of what the roof will look like.

We are also making progress with the heating and cooling system. We are now leaning towards radiant heating throughout the house, along with a mini-ductless split system for cooling, as well as a redundant heat source. The mini-ductless systems operate two or three interior units that are mounted in separate rooms. Each unit comes with its own remote control that allows you to set the temperature individually in different rooms. Below are a few images of the interior units thoughtfully incorporated into the design of a house:

Updated Renderings

Below are a few updated renderings. The new renderings reflect our recent decision to move away from the orange tones of Cor-ten siding. The steel shown is still not exactly the color we are looking for, but it is getting closer. The new renderings also show metal railings, instead of cement, as well as a metal roof.

1st Design/Construction Issues

In mid-September we had a very productive meeting with our architect Ryan and Joel from Modern Shelter. We were (still are) trying to decide on exterior materials and discussed a number of different options. We are leaning towards materials that require minimal to no maintenance. Cement, metal, and glass are the big winners, but we still need to get more specific on the exact materials and their location on the house.

This is where we ran into the first of our design/construction issues.      

First, the cement wall detailing the entryway may be difficult to construct as it is currently drawn. Right now the cement wall is a shared interior/exterior wall, which means it needs to be insulated. Nice to look at, tricky to pull off. We are tossing around a few ideas, including faking the cement on the interior side, but we may ultimately lose the cement on the interior...bummer.

Second, the roofing system called out in the plans (single ply) is not attractive. At all. It actually resembles duct-tape. This wouldn't be an issue if our roof wasn't very visible, but the roof is going to be extremely visible. The road to access the property is above the building site (i.e., you will see the roof every time you approach the house). We don't want to lose the very cool butterfly roof, so needless to say, we are reviewing other roofing options.

We left the meeting with a few things to think about, but also with a number of nice renderings of the project. The visuals were great--they allowed us to review a number of exterior materials and get a sense of what they would look like on the house. We are really happy with how the cabin looks.