The Color

From amidst the 1000 colors available, I've selected a color that's (1) close enough to my house color, and (2) compatible with white, which is what I've decided on for trim, so it will match white roof somewhat harmoniously (I'm hoping for synergistic).  Resulting color light yellow beige color has just a bit more pop compared to house color, so it doesn't become bleak looking next to white.

Resulting color choice is named Lyndhurst Estate Cream.  (Other choices included things with Woodrow Wilson or Churchill in the name, glad I didn't have to choose those.)

So what is Lyndhurst?  Originally built by the 1826 Mayor of New York City, one of the occupants was the infamous railroad robber baron Jay Gould, in fact he was the one who changed the name from Lyndenhurst (after the nearby Lynden trees) to Lyndhurst.  Now, it's a museum open to the public (it was donated by Gould's daughter).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lyndhurst_Tarrytown_NY_-_front_facade.jpg

The designer, Alexander Jackson Davis was one of the most influential architects of the 19th century, mainly associated with the Gothic Revival style.

Breach of Contract

I had been very pleased on Friday night, but on Saturday morning, when I opened my blinds, I was horrified to see that instead of the contract specified 30# felt going up on the sheathing, Lowes brand housewrap was being used.

A little research (I got samples) determined that Lowes housewrap is not Tyvek or something like that.  It is a perforated house wrap.  Generally this is considered inferior to name brand products like Tyvek and Typar which use engineered plastics.  However, right on the Lowes website, it says "meets code".

I had chosen felt because it is a time proven material that many contractors online say lasts longer than the plastic wraps (75 years, for example) and which many contractors choose to use on their own homes, if not the ones they build.

I called the Supervisor and he said he would make a call to change it.  Seeing no change after 45 minutes, I called again.  He said he would call again.  Then I noticed that on the north side they were putting up felt on top of the Lowes wrap.  I'm not sure that's for the best.  They stopped using the felt, however, after wrapping around to the west side.

So the result is the north side has felt over plastic wrap, and the other 3 sides have just the plastic wrap, so far as I can determine.  I took a careful look at the south side, and it's clear because no felt comes around the corner, it has plastic only.  I didn't get a chance to look at the west side before it was trimmed, but I suspect it has felt just in the corner that wraps to the north side.

Rafter spacing uneven

On Friday morning, the Supervisor pointed out that the rafters had been installed to 24 inch centers, instead of specified 16, and weren't long enough to support 18" eaves, so both would be taken care of.

On Friday night, there appeared to be too many rafters even for 16 inch centers.  I was wondering if they had simply added new rafters, leaving the old ones in place, but on quick inspection, I couldn't tell.

I suppose this means the roof deck has even better support, which is a plus in my view, but the downside would be degrading the thermal performance by thermal bridging.  More of the under deck is filled with wood rather than more foam.

I texted the Supervisor on Saturday morning asking about whether this would be a problem for the insulation and he said he would have the foam people look at it.

I think it will work, but with slightly compromised energy efficiency.

Not a big deal, but not exactly what I wanted.  Worse was to come...

Just the right size after all

Coming home late Friday night (actually Saturday am), I took a look at the now completely plywood sided building.  It was beautiful!

Looking from Bedroom window, the view is awesome, but not overwhelming.  Laying all the way back on the bed, I can still see the sky over the rooftop.  If the buidling were any larger, which would have to mean it would come closer to the house, it would entirely block the sky view.  Alternatively, if the building were made larger by rotating on my lot, making the long side parallel to the back of my house, the roof ridge would block the sky view.

So the building is just as large as it can be without blocking the sky view.  Also you can still see (from the bed) the side view to the north side, including neighbor's trees.  If it were significantly wider, that would be blocked.

Small is beautiful

Now that I've conceded (in previous post) that I should have made building bigger, maybe, I want to add some thoughts about the house bigness obsession of most Americans (and perhaps others).

Big houses give an ego boost.*  I've been to quite a few, and always feel envious, and can imagine the reverse feeling.  But that may not be actually worth the cost (unless you are figuring on swapping...oh wait people don't do that anymore) in itself, and there are actually lots of downsides:

(*ego boost if you're completely comfortable about the costs...and who does that apply to actually?  Everyone is worried about some aspect of the costs, the risks if nothing else, such as the risk of losing huge money when you sell!  So the ego boost is partially, entirely, or more than completely canceled out by the worries!)

1) Larger environmental impact in acquisition (ok, up to 3000sqft or so I wouldn't feel too guilty) just in the house materials, labor, and land coverage itself.

2) Larger environmental impact in climate control and maintenance (I start to feel guilty about that quite a lot actually, it was a major consideration in the design of my workshop, even though calculations might show #1 larger for a big house in a temperate area).

3) Larger monetary cost of acquisition.

4) Larger monetary cost of climate control, maintenance, taxes (the unending cost flows).  Somehow people don't often consider these costs.

Living in San Diego, for example, no one seems to consider the cost of climate control, though I would at least need heat some portion of the year.  But here in central Texas, no one ever forgets the need for climate control.  If you don't have some kind of climate control strategy you don't survive long.  And it's quite simple, a larger building (and particularly one with more windows, which typically larger buildings have in abundance) costs more to heat and cool.

5) Larger personal effort in maintenance, including cleaning.

But what about the upsides (other than ego boost, which I've already discounted quite a bit):

1) potential appreciation (well, that's kind of shaky now, and was disasterously in reverse between 2007 and 2010).

2) More place to put stuff (how much stuff do you actually need?  If you aren't using it, why not sell it or get rid of it somehow. I have lots of junk myself, and I already know I would probably be better off without most of it, but given the ways I think and do things, it's just too hard to get rid of.  More space lets you put this off, perhaps not for the best!)

3) More space for entertaining.  (Somehow people I know with the biggest houses may not actually do the most entertaining.  Maybe the least because they can't afford it.  How many people meet my level of one party per month?  I'd love to have about 50-100% more space in living room for my parties.  Most other houses I've looked at would make me get lots of extra rooms I don't need in order to get that.  And the comparatively small space in my living room (about 15.5 x 13.5 feet and 30% filled up with stereo equipment) may help weed out spurious guests and keep my parties more personal.)

Many people are into the small as beautiful chic.  Sometime I remember reading about multimillionaire Steward Brand living on an 82 sqft houseboat parked in Sausalito.  Of course he promoted the "small is beautiful" idea.  It's a lot easier to live in small space when you can just step out into one of the nicest communities for restaurants, entertainment, and such, or hop on a jet for something nicer.  Most of us can't afford to live in Sausalito or hop onto jets at whim.  Still, it's obvious small living space works, and some people even prefer it.  I think previously I may have linked "Tumbleweed Homes" for example, for which someone can pay $50,000 or so for a glorified 100sqft trailer (for code reasons they are towable, they say, but also they are built on mobile platforms) and some gladly do.

My 165 sqft workshop is about the same size as my master bedroom (and twice as large as Stewart Brand's houseboat) and slightly smaller than my living room.  It does increase my climate controlled space about 15%.

Bigger would have been better

165 interior sqft, 187 exterior.  I'll freely admit, I should have built this building at least 100% larger.  Beyond that, I would start to get into problem with using up too much of my yard, and not to mention cost.

It wouldn't have been too hard to go to 100% larger 320sqft.  Guessing this would require about 360 exterior sqft, I could increase it to 20x18.  About 5 feet longer (it's currently spaced about 20 feet from house, so that would make it 15, still plenty of room for my dreamed 12 foot deep patio), and 5.5 feet wider.  Not much loss in the useable yardspace to the north.  Biggest aesthetic issue is that then the workshop would be pretty much *all* I could see from the master bedroom, other than sky.  Maybe that's not such a problem, though I would probably loose some tree views, and I think it would be ever so slightly claustrophobia inducing, like the "views" from the small bedroom windows of my house which view nothing but the neighbor's house 10 feet away.  That might be a fairly minor loss.  I rarely open master bedroom window anyway.

How much more would this cost?  The slab size and roof size double, of course, while the sidewalls only go up about 35%.  Worst case would simply be to apply these factors.

Additional Slab cost: $6600
Additional Roof cost: $1800
Additional Wall cost:  $600

I figure, all inclusive (!), I will ultimately pay about $28,000 for the current building and basic amenities.  That's including lots of stuff not paid to contractors (total contractor bill is only around $22,000) like AC unit, french door, Fleetwood window, and tile.  For $38,000 I could get double the interior space, still built to the same specs, and still subject to the same misjudgements on my part (like dealing with my first contractor, I should have spent about $2000 less for what I got, I let him steal from me).  Of course I'm already pretty strapped paying for what I am.  Perhaps a wiser person could have gotten the larger size built just as well for the same price.  But that's not something we can assume.  Instead, about 30-40% additional cost for 100% more space is the safe assumption.  It would be worth it in the long run, maybe.  Or another alternative would be lower standards, and bigger for the same price, but I don't think I would be happy with that.  Having nice stuff is more important that having more space to me.  This building isn't a big barn or metal shed, it's the jewel of my estate (built nicer than anything else) and to me that's the most important thing about it.

It was interesting to do this estimate, and makes me feel a little less bad about what I am getting.  $10,000 additional cost...I could do a lot with that.  And that would be about the limit.  I'm SURE I wouldn't want to spend more than $38,000, even if it did reduce my cost per square foot.

Anway, coulda shoulda woulda.  It can't be changed now, and in fact I was pretty well locked in by the time Ronnie got the engineering and dug the hole, sometime in June, psychologically if nothing else.  I had paid $4000 and was hoping to get the job done for about another $4000 (now I know it would have been unlikely, and wouldn't have been sufficient either, since it didn't include electricity or A/C).

How I happened to choose the current size is a long story, which started with the original 10x12 plan from Tough Shed in 2009 which would have cost about $10,000 two years ago (counting amenities again, the actual estimates added up to $7500, including upgraded slab and siding, but didn't include french door, AC, etc).  That size was suggested because back then it was the max size w/o permit.  Then Ronnie convinced me to go to a larger size, within the new no-permit limit of 200 sqft.  Then I was afraid to make length longer than 15 feet for fear Ronnie wouldn't build the slab strong enough, and 15 feet is about the limit for no-expansion-joint slab, and it couldn't be squarer for acoustical reasons, given one side 15 feet the other simply has to be around 12.5.

I could actually get a cheap 10x12 metal shed to store garden tools, fertilizer, and such.  Stuff that people normally put into their sheds that don't have climate control or even very good insulation.  The only problem would be where to hide the shed (I'm think about putting it onto the easment, since it could be moved if needed anyway, or simply tossed).  Another alternative is a plastic shed placed right behind the house...so it can't actually be seen from the house windows.  Those options would give me more space in the workshop for the stuff that needs climate control.

Photos after first day of construction

The diagonal beams are just temporary braces until sheathing is installed.

The following photos were intended to show stud spacing for later reference.  I also recorded measurements from front.

Friday December 9

Supervisor called me for a meeting at 9:45 am.  I had texted him at 3am that I wanted AC unit mounted 14 inches lower so I could easily reach controls.  He asked if AC had remote, and if so, suggested the approx 6 foot height he had chosen for AC was good, better air circulation and efficiency, as well as being out-of-the-way.  I decided after a bit to go along with that since AC does have remote.  Later I determined that AC has filter that needs cleaning, so I will need a stepladder for that.  I checked blogs and that seems like standard advice for wall units with remotes.  In fact my builders did what is now typically done, mount AC so top of unit and top of nearby window are at same level for neater visual appearance.  Some suggest AC should not be too close to ceiling to cause condensation on ceiling.  That is not a problem because I have 9 foot ceiling and insulated roof deck so attic (small anyway) is basically at room temp.  And I plan to keep room temperature controlled, not blasting AC just during occupancy.  I'd just as soon leave the controls set to one setting with timer.  That way, it won't be accidentally turned off or to some other setting.  If it's not cool enough, people can open windows.

Also noted he was getting the plywood for everything (as contract specified).  I asked about if there was an issue of the weight of the sheathing.  Framing supervisor then said it was no problem.  I also asked if sometimes Hardipanel was mounted w/o plywood sheathing.  He said that yes, that was sometimes done, but it was not the best way.  Plywood sheathing was the best way, but not always done because of cost, he said.

Supervisor had noticed that eaves had not been extended to 18 inches as contract specified, only 12 inches (common cheapo practice).  He also noticed that roof framing had not been done on 16 inch centers as specified, only to 24 inches (standard practice). So for both reasons, the roof framing would have to be redone.

Strangely, my cheapo house seems to have 18 inch eaves.  It has slanted soffit however.  Framing supervisor asked if I wanted it that way.  I said whichever way is best, and he said flat was best.  (So many issues I've never even though of, after already having read 10 books worth of internet posts and written my own book as well.)

The Fleetwood window was carried by supervisor and one worker from junk room inside house to back yard where the box was finally opened.  It is beautiful and flawless.  Screen was removed and put back in junk room, window was measured by framing supervisor.

I needed about 3 hours more sleep at that point.  I rested at least 3 hours but didn't sleep particularly well with all the sawing and nailing noises.  But I was very glad that so much progress was being made.  By 4pm the building had the sheathing and the fascia board was being installed.  The plywood is beautiful and looks like it would be decent siding on it's own.  The little building looks like a chapel from the bedroom window.  I've come up with a new nickname, "the museum."

I saw the french doors arrive sometime in mid afternoon.

December 8: Framing Up

The workers arrived with correct 2x6 framing around 11:30am and by 4pm (they were still working) the sidewall framing was up and they were working on the roof framing.   (Above photo taken by supervisor before work had finished.  By the end of the day, the roof framing had also been done.)

After months of delay, it's moving fast.

It's very impressive looking from the master bedroom window.  I'm glad I went with 9 foot sidewalls, it's not too high to block sky views from master bedroom as I feared it might be.

Supervisor texted me with photo and asked me to buy french doors I wanted at Lowes and tell him which store they could be picked up at on Friday.  I did so during my dinner break and texted Supervisor about location, and also bought a keyless entry lockset.  I'm going to have to extract my Fleetwood window from my junk room tonight also.

Before leaving for work at 4pm, I noticed the sheathing on my front lawn was OSB.  I had intended not to use any OSB, only real 5/8 plywood because according to many plywood is better.  In fact, the contract (which the contractor read aloud to all assembled this morning) specifies 5/8 plywood.  I mentioned this to Supervisor when I called at 5pm.  I told him the roof decking, at minimum, must be real plywood, because I am concerned about long term sagging.  He said he would check out the cost, it was no problem to do so, but he wasn't sure if it had been figured into the estimate.  His excuse: OSB is often called "plywood" and that was what he had assumed.  (The contract itself says plywood, however I have a long paper trail of emails where I insisted on "plywood not OSB.")  (See update at bottom.)  OK, minor error, shows you have to watch every step.  It does basically bug me that even top rated contractors are always looking to save a dime on materials.  My approach is that I always look for the best quality you can get, without making the price astronomical.

One can guess that even the fanciest homes (I was just looking at a $10M home on Zillow) are full of second class materials underneath the super fancy surfaces.  Well I can't afford the super fancy surfaces, but having good quality all the way through just makes me feel good.  It turns out, it's not extremely expensive to add extra good quality materials to a project.  Often it's amazingly cheap.  It's just a hard to get a contractor to actually use them because they're always trying to save a dime here or there with slightly inferior materials, and that is what they are so used to doing it's very hard to get them to do otherwise.

I have a paper trail of emails in which I repeatedly asked the contractor to use "plywood not OSB" and the contract was revised twice to remove the word OSB.  Plywood gets written into the contract, but the construction supervisor interprets it as "OSB, just another kind of plywood."

If I were building something for myself, I would not only use the higher quality materials, I would drive an extra 40 miles to get nicer looking material of the same general kind.  That's the kind of thing I do (and moreso) in my audio equipment.  I'll spend days online trying to find the best capacitor, within reason, for a given project.  It's like being a master chef, though I don't much cook as such.

But I don't get many projects like that done (most often, the nice parts just sit around), and if I were building a building it might never get done.

Update:

The supervisor brought plywood (nice looking too) on Friday morning, no more questions asked.  I intended to send email showing paper trail of discussion about plywood, but never figured out how to get the wording right.  And best of all, it wasn't necessary anyway.

December 8: New Construction Begins

During October, I interviewed 4 contractors.  In November, I selected one and hammered out some additional details, signed contract, and paid $500 deposit.  After he had been selected, the contractor said he would begin work around December 8.  On December 7 I got an email saying he would meet me at 9am on December 8.

And today, December 8, the contractor, supervisor, framing supervisor, and 2 workers showed up. We went over construction details, selected and marked positions for door, window, and A/C.  Window is now to be 8 feet from front inside wall, with AC unit closer in, separated by 18 inches.  I paid $2500 additional deposit.

They plan to start work today, but it is quiet now because they have gone back to lumber yard because contractor got 2x4 studs instead of the 2x6 specified.  They plan to work on Saturday.  Supervisor suggested I make appointment with electrician for Monday or Tuesday to do electrical rough in.  I've made appointment with electrician for Tuesday.

Temperature is 45 degrees.

Heater Controller

Here is a very nice thermostatic heater controller.  It features a thermostatic relay made by Johnson Controls (their factory just a few miles from where I live!).  It is intended to control heaters to keep cold blooded reptiles alive.  (A reptile can die if it gets too cold.) My application is keeping all my antiques in the workshop from getting damaged by cold.  I will turn on a small radiator heater set to 600W and a small fan to help circulate the air.  A controller will prevent the heater from running at all on warm days.  (The thermostats on portable heaters are bad about that, they often run just a little even on warm days.)

Solar Metal Roofing

I'm not planning to do this anymore, but solar metal roofing is discussed here.

The Best Climate Control Option

I need 5000 cooling BTU or less to maintain temperatures below 82 degrees in my supremely well insulated 165 sq ft room.  Generally through-wall A/C start around 6700 BTU or more, and don't include heat until you get to 7500 (lowest I've found, but old fashioned mechanical control model) or 11900 (top of the Friedrich line Kuhl with auto changeover) BTU.

So I'll have to forgo built-in heat, and supply heat separately.  The lowest BTU through-wall unit I've found is actually very nice, a 5500 BTU commercial grade Friedrich XStar XQ05M10 with digital controls, MoneySaver auto-fan (fan is off unless compressor is running), and other nice features.  The XStar is the 2nd in quality and features only to Friedrich's Kuhl line, but nearly as nice and sophisticated.  Instead of 7 day setback system, it features 24 hour timer, actually I like that better anyway, much easier to set.  It has auto adjusting SmartFan and Comfortwatch temperature monitor and remote control.

For heat, I'll use my Delonghi radiator, set to low (600 W).  It's very safe, only getting touchably warm, and I believe 600W is high enough to get the job done (assuming it's online all the time, and not simply turned on for a blast of heat, which it doesn't do well anyway) and low enough power draw that even if, due to malfunction, it ran simultaneously with the above AC, it wouldn't come close to overloading even a 15 amp circuit (my intention is to get 120V 20A circuit).

The problem in this application is that the Delonghi, like most portable electric heaters, has a horrible thermostat.  No matter how hot or cold it is, it cycles on and off.  So it cycles on during the hottest days, wasting energy, and cycles off on the coldest days, especially if you've set it low enough to minimize on cycling.  The solution is to get some sort of remote thermostatically controlled AC switch.  I'll look for that.  In the worst case, in principle, I could build one with conventional thermostat and relay.  Then an additional fan could plugged into the same thermostatically controlled switch to help circulate the air.

Then, with AC and heat through separate units, I've achieved both low cooling BTU for max efficiency and auto-changeover.  That's what I want.  Set it up and forget it.  I hate being turned into a slave to operate my climate control systems semi-manually.

*****

At Amazon, the XQ05M10 air conditioner gets a lousy review from some guy who complains about the noises it makes.  The XQ06M10A gets great reviews.  The "A" suggests it is a slightly revised model.  The difference is only 300 BTU (from 5500 to 5800) and it uses only a few hundred milliamps more of electricity.  So I think I will get the XQ06M10A.  Seems like Friedrich would have intended to make 5000 and 6000 BTU units, but somehow it didn't work that way.

Roofing lifetimes

Turns out steel roofing does not last forever, though it almost sounds like steel roofing manufacturers make that claim.

The longest life roofing may be some kind of tile.  According to Eagle Roofing, modern metal roofs have a projected lifetime of 45 years.  Of course, that is a projection, galvealume and modern PVDF coatings haven't been around that long.  Top quality roofing manufacturer Berridge only guarantees the finish and the roofing panels for 20 years.  Meanwhile, Eagle claim tile roofs have a 75 year lifetime, and their tiles are guaranteed for a "lifetime" (lifetime of what or whom?). Tile roofs have on historic buildings have been around for centuries (however not without maintenance).

Concrete tile roofing is available in highly reflective colors, all the way up to a white with SRI of 96, exceeding the reflectivity of PVDF white coated steel.  (Eagle makes that color, Hanson tiles only do a light colors with SRI up to 45.)

Two shortcomings of tile: (1) it rarely has the highest impact resistance.  Hanson tile is only rated to class III.  Most Eagle tile is rated to class III also, the exceptions are the flat tile which is rated to Class IV.  (2) Freeze/thaw cycles, though concrete tile manufacturers claim their product is fully resistant.

But the different lifecycles themselves of different roofs need to be considered.  Tile, especially of the non-flat variety, randomly breaks from hail and other weather events.  Thus it needs to be inspected periodically, perhaps annually.  The cost is not in replacing the tile, which is either cheap or lifetime warrantied.  The cost is in the work of replacing tiles.  Metal roofing does not require annual breakage inspection.  What happens first is that the coating deteriorates.  Thus, repainting is required in about 20 years.  Since externally applied paint probably won't be as good as factory coating, future repainting could be 5-10 years.  If you're not fussy about appearance, it could go longer.  But failure to recoat could lead to premature failure (though that seems doubtful for galvalume, one would think it would be OK without coating).

Thus the maintenance story goes like this: tile roofs require frequent, but relatively inexpensive maintenance, to maintain water shedding performance.  Metal roofs require infrequent, but comparatively expensive maintenance, largely to maintain appearance and long term lifespan.  Then, the metal roof will need to be replaced entirely sooner.

A third type of material shows up as well as metal in Eagle's roofing lifetime charts.  Polymer shingles.  I need to check those out.

Foam Insulation; Metal Roof

So far, I've interviewed two new contractors.  They had very different styles.  The first, a licensed general contractor, arrived exactly on time, asked questions, said little, left in 30 minutes, and delivered a written estimate the next day.  The first estimate included metal roof and foam insulation.  I suggested those, and the contractor didn't debate them at all.  Actually, a little more discussion would have been nice.

The second contractor I interviewed last week was very reluctant to do foam insulation, so I said I would also accept fiberglass batts, as on my written specs (because that was what Ronnie wanted to do, and he convinced me it was OK).  However since then, I've decided I must do closed cell 2 lb foam insulation as mentioned by the first contractor (though strangely not included in his estimate, apparently I agreed to 0.5 lb foam because of better acoustical properties).  Foam insulation is by far the best, and 2 pound foam is the best of the best (see below) for thermal insulation, though 0.5 is somewhat better for acoustical insulation.

Here's a great link recommending 2 lb spray foam insulation.

Here's an even better link with all the technical data:

Open cell (0.5 pound) vs Close cell (2 pound):

R Value per inch:
Open   3.9
Closed 6.9

STC (Sound Transmission Class)
Open   51
Closed 43

Noise Reduction Coefficient
Open   0.7
Close   0.2

The really relevant number is the STC, that's a complicated measure of how sound is attenuated as it passes through a structure, very roughly speaking, the dB's of loss in transmission.   The NRC is a measure of how well a material prevents sound from reflecting, therefore it is more applicable to surface treatments (studio foam panels, traps, acoustical ceilings, drapes, etc.) than wall structures.  Normally STC needs to be evaluated as a complete structure, because leakage through any part (such as, the studs) can compromise the whole, so it's not entirely clear what the above specifications mean (were they evaluating a pseudo-wall of nothing but foam, and if so, how thick was it, or were they evaluating a real wall, and if so, what were the other materials and how thick?).

But it seems both types of foam have excellent STC.  The STC of a standard uninsulated interior wall is 33, the STC of a typical insulated exterior wall should be above 40. 44 is the STC of a cinderblock wall 4 inches thick.

Although no doubt 0.5 pound foam is better for acoustical insulation, 2 pound foam is not shabby, and it's hard to know how much difference it would make inside a wall structure.

All spray foams have one thing in common, unlike old fiberglass insulation (which gets worse over time in this regard) they much better seal against airflow.  But in that regard, closed cell foam is the best.

Contractor #2 also didn't like the metal roof idea, and tried to convince me to use composition shingles instead.   It's cheap now and cheap to replace in 20 years.  No, that's not what I want to have to do, I don't want a roof of rotting shingles.  So I gave him some links.  Here's a great list of metal roofing manufacturers in Texas, several in or near San Antonio.

Here's one in San Antonio, Berridge, which seems to make top quality 24 gauge Class IV galvalum roofing.  Here's the Berridge color chart, showing that both natural white and almond meet Energy Star and LEED 2.2 requirements for low slope roof (2:12 or less).  Natural white has higher reflectivity but almond has higher emissivity.  Combining the two in SRI, White is naturally the best overall at 93 but almond close at 82.  Above 2:12 slope, actually most colors qualify for Energy Star and LEED, despite typical SRI's in the 30's.

Another roofing manufacturer with branch in San Antonio, MCBI, also has white and almond colors.  However, they only offer almond in their higher end Signature 300 series which uses Kynar and/or Hylar.  In the Signature 200 series, which uses a proprietary siliconized polyester, the SRI's are generally lower so that the white (a non-pigmented polyester) actually has lower SRI than the Almond in the 300 series.  And it has no almond, only a similar Light Stone which brings the SRI significantly down to 58.

Updated Workshop Design Plan

Synopsis: Shed workshop built to exceed quality standards for residential housing, especially wrt energy efficiency, durability, and low maintenance.  Exterior size: 14'10" by 12'6" with 9 foot walls.   Best available materials and construction techniques.

0.  Already done: Concrete Slab: engineered and inspected with #6 and #3 rebar grid and wire mesh and 27 inch beams, 4000psi concrete, wet cured 1 month.

    a) Needs removal of forms, cleanup of scrap concrete, removal of unused rebar.

1.  Exterior dimensions 14'10" length, 12'6" width and 9' height or higher exterior walls.

2.  4x8 Hardiepanel vertical line siding (not plank!) painted to match house.  30 pound felt or Typar on 5/8 plywood backing.

3.  Hardietrim, Azek, Miratec, or real cedar wood trim on corners, around window, door, and A/C.

4.  2x6 framing on 16" centers.  Optional: 2x4 framing on north and east walls (for better acoustic internal dimensions).

5.  6 foot wide coated steel double french doors with internal blinds, Energy Star, facing east (toward house).  Lowes  ReliaBilt #289766 ($698).  Flexible pull screen system in front of door.

6.  One 29x47 Fleetwood Westwood 250 casement window (already obtained).  Facing north at 5 feet (min) from front, 36 inch minimum height.

7.  5/12 slope 2x8 framing for roof support.

8.  Eaves at 18" depth with (suggested) HardieFascia boards with drip edge.

9.  24 gauge galvealume steel roofing with hidden fasteners and white Kynar (PVDA) factory coating.  Class 4 hail resistant.  Strongest and most permanent seam design: Berridge Z-lock 180 degree mechanical double lock or equivalent suggested.

10.  Roofing rests on 5/8" plywood with radiant barrier facing down.  30 pound felt or Grace.

11.  Lowe's Valspar Premium exterior paint (top rated consumer reports), tinted to match house.

12.  6x2 foot concrete ramp poured on compacted soil with 3" gravel base.  Not attached to foundation for minimal effect on foundation integrity.  Some settling and drift is expected and tolerable.

13.  Two pound closed cell foam on all walls and under roof deck to fill maximum depth available with shaving to fit sheetrock.

14.  All 5/8 sheetrock:

    a) 5/8" Fireguard (tm, available at Lowe's) sheetrock on side and back walls.  This relatively expensive sheetrock also has reasonably good acoustical properties.  (optional: double sheetrock.)

    b) 5/8" QuietRock EZ (SeriousMaterials) on ceiling at 9 foot (flat) height and front wall.  I figured 8 pieces leaves plenty of margin for both, available through Building Specialties in San Antonio, quoted $58.38 per piece.

15  Electrical connection and wiring to be done by John Jones Electric if possible.

a.  Center ceiling fan with switch near door, remote control and screw in lights.

b.  Side outlets and light/fan switch by door.  10G copper wire in exposed conduit for all circuits.  Industrial grade switch and GFCI outlets, unbreakable nylon Decora plates.  All wiring in interior exposed insulated conduit to avoid wall and ceiling penetrations and enable future modification.

c. 220V AC connection with building panel and shutoff.

16.  24" deep shelf at back of building, minimum clearance of 6 feet.

17.  Two rows 16" deep shelving on sides past back shelf at 6.5 foot and 7.75 foot height.

18.  Porcelain non-slip freeze resistant tile, (suggested) Marazzi "Brazilian Slate" available at Home Depot.

19. 5800 slide-out BTU Commercial Grade Air Conditioner with digital controls (already obtained) mounted through wall on north side.

20.  Best quality interior white paint.

21.  optional: Marking to show location of studs and electrical wiring.

Siding Costs

Better Homes and Gardens lists the costs of each type of siding.  Unfortunately, some they choose to list the uninstalled cost, and others they list the installed cost.  Anyway, you can guess that in most cases installed cost is at least double the material cost, and more for cheap materials like vinyl.

Seen in this kind of presentation, real brick is not out of line.  But it doesn't count costs like extra foundation strength, and wasted interior space.  Brick and stone veneer are about as expensive as real brick (assuming installation cost about the same as material cost).

Stucco is (or at least can be) surprisingly expensive.  Even the material cost can exceed that of installed brick.  Both the house I grew up and and the only house I bought in California were stucco.  I thought nothing of it at the time, but less of brick and much less of wood, especially horizontal strips of wood which made me think of poor hillbillies who couldn't afford better.  Now that's back in style, big time, with fiber cement boards.  But I like fiber cement panels better somehow, perhaps partly from childhood prejudice, and that is how my house exterior is finished (vertical simulated boards in panels, originally "engineered wood" but now fiber cement in front).  Somehow that looks more modern to me.

I lust after the faux stone veneer in the front of my workshop, to make view from bedroom window nicer.  But I'm worried that pieces adhered to the side with special bonding mortar (and not nailed or bolted on) can fall off and hurt someone, especially perhaps under the stress of opening the front doors.  I suppose the probability of that happening is very small, but the fact that it could happen makes me think I'll just stick with Hardipanel.  Besides appearance, the only advantage of the faux stone pieces is that they never require painting.  But you can't get hurt by peeling paint.

The problem with faux brick and stone in fiber cement panels is that eventually the embossed coating wears out.  25 year warranty is typical.  And then you have terrible choices.  You can either replace the siding entirely, or paint over by sandblasting or chemical etching first.  At least that is my guess.  You cant just scrape off the loose paint and repaint, as you could with painted panels.

Bottom line is that painted fiber cement seems like one of the best choices of our time.  Yes it is fake wood, but superior to most wood in most respects as a siding material.  So you might consider real wood to be the overpriced imitation.

Veneerstone...I like the look

Taking a walk through a Home Depot store recently, and then again, I came across the Veneerstone display.  My first thought was "well this is nice, but I certainly can't afford it."  I figured it was real stone, it sure looked real, just sliced thin.

Well now I've checked it out online, and I think it is very nice, and affordable too.  It's not real stone, but concrete pieces cast to look like stone.  They are fairly lightweight (though they feel solid) and they attach to the plywood or OSB sheathing of a building exterior much like tile with a special grout and lath backing.  No special footing is required as with brick, and no extra thick wall (giving up lots of potential interior space, in my case around 22sqft) is required as with brick (or real stone), though the pieces do project outward from the sheathing a bit.  It's hard to know exactly how long lasting Veneerstone is, but there is a factory warranty of 75 years.  No painting is ever required.  Installation is said to be fast and easy, with instructions provided.

Actually, I think it looks better than brick, and I'd love to have this on my shed (which I've decided to start calling my "Workshop" as the engineering company did, since it is intended to have finished interior like living space).

Back to long lasting...I suspect the pieces will look fine for my lifetime, but thermal cycling over many years might cause some pieces to fall off an require re-attaching.

The material price might be no less (or even slightly more) than brick, but brick installation is a huge amount of work, even getting the many pallets of brick I would have needed into my back yard was worrying me.

Probably the main issue is finding someone who could do this installation.  This is kind of a niche product, so there may not be that many professional installers, and how many of those would be able to build a entire workshop as well?  On the other hand, Hardipanel is a mainstream product, and anyone who does any kind of construction probably knows (or at least think they know) how to install it.

Interestingly enough, the website does show a shed, and even a dog house.

Anyway, next time I go through Home Depot I might ask if they know any professional installers who could also build an entire workshop, given that the slab has already been constructed.  The Veneerstone website only lists Home Depot stores as the dealers in this area.

BTW, it's too late for real brick, as I did not get a brick footer.

solar roof mounting

This is looking pretty complicated.  It's not surprising that the standard recommendation is that you get experienced solar installer.  OTOH, such installers are used to installing 3-6kW grid-tie systems with dozens of panels, not something rinky-dink 230W system with one panel that I'm kinda doing just for fun.

Anyway, there are lots of brands of standard rails for mounting typical solar panels.  Then what do you mount the rails to?  Well, some kind of mount.  And the typical mount that comes with the typical rail assumes a real roofer is doing the job, and knows how to do appropriate flashing.

Here's a company with a better idea.  They have mounts designed for quick installation which include precut flashing to go with it.  It's more expensive, but intended to be fast and not requiring roofing professionals, just solar installers.  Looks very nice, but they don't make one yet for metal roofs.

http://quickmountpv.com/index.html

Another possible contractor

CD's Remodeling and Home Repairs.  Scott Dunlap.  One of the few more A rated shed/garage builders on Angie's list.  Also from Hondo.  Sounds like a neat guy, but long distance, and not of the ratings are for a particular new garage/shed project.

Building Durability Analysis

So many mistakes have been made.  And generally making something like energy efficiency better has made durability worse.  But now we've got the answers.  Or have we?

http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-144-increasing-the-durability-of-building-constructions

July 30 and 31, putting up the canopy

On July 30 I began putting up the canopy frame to shade my slab from the intense solar irradiation which combines nowadays with 100+ degree heat in the daytime.  That cannot be good for my poor slab, which was not designed as a patio and does not have any expansion joints.  I'm thinking now that building will not be resumed until sometime in September.  I have to find another builder, get estimates, and I have other things to deal with now also.

 Just a couple days before, I had quickly moved all the canopy parts from the backyard patio (where I put them shortly after arrival) into the house and garage.  Each pole (and there are about 50 of them, because the fit together to make larger poles) had to be shaken and carefully inspected for bugs.  I did not want to be bringing bugs into the house, or even the garage which is attached to the house through an often open door.  The forecast had been for rain on July 29 and 30 resulting from a tropical storm.  Well, false alarm, there was no rain.

But having all the poles inside the house in the cleared out living room (after party previous weekend) made it easy to start putting the poles together as required.  With the comfort of air conditioning.  And that was helpful because although I didn't start until around 11pm, it was still above 90 degrees and very hot, humid and uncomfortable outside.  It was hard to imagine ever getting it up, but once started such projects seem to drive themselves, and I had the frame assembled before 2am.

Then on July 31, after I had been doing yard work and gate repair all evening since about 7pm, I began putting the cover on the canopy frame at.  It was even more hot and uncomfortable, but I got the canopy frame braced with stakes and the cover put on before 2:30 am.

Then on August 1 I got some pieces of wood to cover the portion of the slab not covered by the canopy.  I had a 4x8 sheet of the cheapest plywood available cut in half.  I was a little afraid that I would not be able to fit the full 8 feet of plywood into my car, so I had one foot lopped off one end.  Then I used that extra piece to bridge the gap (mostly between the two sheets of plywood.  There is still a small gap which can be filled with one of the pieces of 2x4 Ronnie left behind.  The plywood sits on 4 cement pavers that sit on top of the plastic on top of the slab.  I has still not removed that plastic.

July 23 -- Lucky Day?

On July 23 I rented a climate controlled 5x10 storage unit near where I live and began putting stuff in it.  I had actually reserved a 10x10 unit without climate control online before, but once I saw the larger unit, complete with gaps under the door, and facing the southwest sun, I decided that maybe a climate controlled unit was a better deal after all, and maybe I could make do with just 5x10.

This had to be done.  It was just getting too difficult to get around my house and prepare for my monthly party on July 24.  I expect the Shed/Workshop, when finished, will eventually meet all my exterior storage needs, but at this point it's getting hard to know when it will be finished, and I don't want to feel pressured to finish it quickly rather than doing things the right way, and building quality in every way, as I would like to do.

I have had bad luck with storage units before.  After paying thousands to store extra junk from my previous house in San Diego, I had to quickly abandon everything to Salvation Army or garbage when I was clearing out my current house out for a rental (which never happened) and the storage unit to save money (which I didn't have) when I had moved to San Francisco in 1997 (and then came back a few months later).  Thousands of dollars for nothing but hassle.  And the place got extremely hot and occasionally leaked too, damaging stuff that had been left there since 1992.  And I got socked with extra charges on leaving, just to add insult to injury.  That was in Kirby about 2 miles from where I live.

The new storage location is much nicer, and it's only about a half mile from where I live.  Uncle Bob's Self Storage.  The climate controlled unit is behind a door in a hallway in what seems to be a new and fairly robust steel building.

One funny thing about all this was that my odometer turned 77777 just as I arrived at the storage unit with a load of stuff.  That seems it would be a lucky omen.  And further, the storage unit is marked "7" also, although it's actually number 407.

Then again, there is that loop of wire under the door, which looks a little like a noose.

A couple of good links

I think I've posted the invasives one before, but here it is again.

http://www.texasinvasives.org/plant_database/index.php

Here's an interesting one about expansive soils, which ends up showing how you could do a swimming pool in such a place (yes, it's complicated!).

http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/expansive_soils/DAMAGE%20TO%20FOUNDATIONS%20FROM%20EXPANSIVE%20SOILS.pdf

Another builder

Angies List recommendations for Garages/Sheds/Barns is rather short.

One builder that looks pretty good is Miller Custom Garages.

Their 3 most recent grades are straight A.

One very old report gives them a B because the reporter had a problem with one thing on the roof.  It's not clear what or how important that "one thing" was.  You would think if it were leaky or something very important, the reporter would say that.  It could be "one thing" that simply had to be done that way.

Online construction guides

HUD wrote some of the best and most comprehensive guides to construction ever written.  Very large PDF files:

http://www.huduser.org/portal/publications/destech/rehabgds.html

I've been looking at the foundation one, it's mind boggling.

Here's a Green Building Advisor blog about venting roofs.  It starts out "simple" but then a lot of builders get into an argument in the discussion part:

Speaking of which, the main Green Building Advisor website is always interesting.

Interesting security gadgets

Though I now have very nice Swann surveillance system, I stumbled upon this outfit that sells lots of interesting looking security gizmos.  Their stuff is expensive, for example camera inside AC adapter for $199 (that was one of the best looking deals), or inside alarm clock having Ipod adapter: $500.

http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/

I already have one of these cheap ActiveEye motion sensors outside the front door, was thinking of adding one near side gate, only $29.99:

http://www.x10.com/products/x10_ms16a.htm

Solar Blog

Here's an interesting post on solar power charge controllers I haven't had time to read yet.  It's part of an interesting series also.

http://blimpyb.com/diy-solar/mppt-charge-controller/3880/

Maximum Span Calculator

http://www.awc.org/calculators/span/calc/timbercalcstyle.asp?species=Alaska+Cedar&size=2x6&grade=Stud&member=Rafters+%28Roof+Live-Load%29&deflectionlimit=L%2F360&spacing=24&wet=Yes&incised=No&liveload=20&snowload=-1&deadload=20&submit=Calculate+Maximum+Horizontal+Span#answer

I'm not quite sure how to set all the adjustments, but it looks to me like 2x4's at 24 inch spacing would be very close to safety margins, if not beyond.

2x8's are probably too much...I doubt I could get builder to go there for such a small building, though they work exceptionally well for having vaulted ceiling.

2x6's seem to work nicely, and I think 2x6's at 16 inch spacing would be the kind of over-engineering I'd like to see.

QuietRock EZ Snap

I can get QuietRock EZ Snap for ceiling and front walls from local branch of Building Specialties in San Antonio.  No drive to Austin needed (in fact, Round Rock dealer didn't have any in stock.  The San Antonio dealer has 77 pieces in stock, price quoted is $58.38 per piece (actually, that was price quoted at Austin dealer) no minimum.  764-1110.

Shed Workshop Specifications

Synopsis: shed workshop built to meet or exceed standards for residential housing, active solar design.

0.  Already done: Concrete Slab: engineered and inspected with #6 and #3 rebar grid and wire mesh and 27 inch beams, 4000psi concrete, cured 1 week.

    a) Needs removal of forms, cleanup of scrap concrete, releveling adjacent soil.

1.  14'10" length, 12'6" width and 9' height exterior walls.

2.  Hardiepanel siding to match house.

3.  Hardietrim or real wood trim on corners.

4.  2x4 framing at 16" centers.

6.  6 foot wide coated steel double french doors with internal blinds, Energy Star, facing east (toward house).  Lowes  ReliaBilt #289766 ($698).

7.  One 29x47 Fleetwood casement window, already purchased for delivery on August 12.  Facing north at 5 feet (min) from front, 36 inch minimum height.

8.  5/12 slope roof with 2x6 (or 2x8) rafters on 16" centers and braces mounted 3" above sidewalls for 9'4" ceiling mount.  (Finished ceiling intended to be between 9' 3" in main central region for acoustical optimization; rises 3" from 9' at sidewalls.)  Acceptable alternate approach is to have 9'3" walls and flat ceiling.  9'2" is absolute minimum ceiling height (above finished floor) for good acoustics.

9.  Eaves at 18" with HardieFascia boards with drip edge.

10.  Continuous soffit vents, side vents above ceiling, and full length ridge vent.

11.  24ga galvalum steel roofing with white polymer factory coating.

12.  Roofing rests on 5/8" OSB with radiant barrier facing down.

13.  One 3" diameter stainless steel interior vent with 11" tube (already purchased) for battery hydrogen venting; mounted just below maximum ceiling height.

14.  Lowe's Valspar Premium exterior paint (top rated consumer reports), tinted to match house.

15.  6' concrete ramp poured on compacted soil with 3" gravel base.

                         Interior (Phase II, may be done simultaneously or separately)

1.  All walls and ceiling insulated with maximum sized fiberglass batts.

2.  All 5/8 sheetrock:

    a) 5/8" Fireguard (tm, available at Lowe's) sheetrock on side and back walls.

    b) 5/8" QuietRock EZ (SeriousMaterials) on ceiling and front wall.  I figured 8 pieces leaves plenty of margin for both, available through Building Specialties in San Antonio, quoted $58.38 per piece.

3.  Center ceiling fan and side outlets to be connected to off-grid solar system.  Fan must have wireless remote control and exposed lamp(s).  Exposed insulated metal conduit might be preferred for easy modification.

4.  4x12.5 foot loft at minimum height of 6', supported by 4" square metal beams.

5.  Two rows 16" deep shelving on sides past loft at 6.5 foot and 7.75 foot.

6.  Interior light beige paint tbd with brown trim marking for all studs.

7.  Flooring options:

     a) porcelain non-slip freeze resistant tile, Marazzi "Brazilian Slate"

     b) polished stained and sealed concrete floor with anti-slip additive.

8.  40 inch wide workbench at north side underneath casement window.  35" height.

                Off-grid solar power system (to be supplied/tested by homeowner, contractor needs only to install panel on roof and wire to inside and provide internal AC wiring, 12g, in exposed metal conduit).

1) One approximately 200W solar panel mounted on south side near roof ridge at roof slope (5/12), with adjacent mounting brackets for second panel.

2)  Programmable charge controller

3) 100+ amp hour AGM sealed battery.

4) 2000W peak true sinewave inverter.

5) 0g or better wiring from battery to inverter 6 feet away along south side wall.  Inverter rests near floor, battery elevated 2 feet in open top enclosure.  Tie-in from inverter to ceiling fan and outlet at workbench on north side.

Nice Tile

I took a look at porcelain tiles at Home Depot, and liked this one, called Brazilian Slate, by Marazzi.  It meets all specifications I have in mind, including wear resistance PEI IV (commercial grade), COF 0.7 dry and 0.6 wet, and Freeze Resistant.  The design has a 3 dimensional sculpted (faux naturale) surface to provide slip resistance, instead of the tacky holes found in lesser tiles.  Moisture intrusion has the highest rating, Impervious, with specification <= 0.5%.

The other manufacturer of porcelain tiles at Home Depot, Daitile, did not seem to have any tiles with the Freeze Resistant icon.

This being said, I've actually been leaning toward getting polished concrete with slip-resistant glaze, but I'm undecided, and this tile looks as good or better.

Here are pictures of some of the porcelain tile displays at the store I visited:

Polished Concrete vs Porcelain Tile

I've gone back and forth on this.

I like the idea of getting tile because tile has very specific ratings on such things as imperviousness and coefficient of friction.  So if you read the fine print, you know exactly what you are getting.  In contrast, each polished concrete job is like a custom made cake by a new baker.  You can ask for what you want, but he only knows how to do what he knows how to do, and there are no ANSI specifications applicable to the final product.  Or, using a different metaphor, it is a crap shoot.

Another thing that bugs me a little about the concrete cutting/polishing business is that it may release silica, shortening the life of the concete polishing crew, and possibly covering the surfaces of your room with silica also which you may breath in later.  Now, as I understand it, some if not most concrete polishing equipment uses water, which keeps down the release of silica dust into the air.  But I still fear it is something worth thinking about, and asking the installer about.

On the other hand, the grouts used to cement tiles together contain silica also, and silica is relased when tile is cut (as it always needs to be around the edges), and since the problem is smaller, the installer might not take any precautions at all, while the concrete polisher probably knows they are playing with fire.

But with tile (yes, Porcelain tile) there is a fundamental tradeoff between cleanability and anti-slip.  The more smooth and polished the surface is, the more prone to slippage it is.  Since my shed is an outdoor building, people will be walking in from the possibly wet grass and mud, or from the hot tub (if there ever is one), the anti-slip factor is an important one.

Anti-slip tiles are now required by law in kitchens, bathrooms, and public spaces.  The downside of anti-slip tiles (having Coefficient of Friction above 0.5) is that they get harder to clean.  There are often grooves, small depressions, or other features of the tile surface that give it that high COF.  And complaints about cleaning such tiles are legion.  And as with any kind of tile, there is also the matter of the grout between the tiles.

Now basic polished and sealed concrete is also very slippery, like slippery tile.  But what they can do to give it higher COF is add certain additives into the sealing glaze.  One particular additive is microscopic balls of polyethylene (a very robust polymer) which become imbedded into the glaze.

I get the feeling that such a glaze would still be easier to clean than tiles with groves, depressions, etc.  It's uncertain to me now, however, how well it would do on COF, whether you could get COF above 0.5 with glazing additives, or if you wouldn't also need to make grooves, etc., in the concrete.

Another issue is how well the polished and glazed concrete surface would hold up compared with tile.  Concrete polishers claim to produce even better longevity than tile, but I personally have my doubts.  Eventually, a glaze will wear off.  Of course, eventually tiles may look worn out also, but at least with tiles you get a wearability specification, and you can look for Type IV (commercial) or better for long life.

Great article on tile!

http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/porcelain.or.ceramic.htm

They say to ignore "porcelain" or "ceramic".  They are basically the same thing.  In European use, porcelain means lighter color, in US usage, porcelain means higher quality.  But one manufacturers "higher quality" may be another's rejects.

The real information is in the ratings and icons, if the box has any (if not, they recommend avoiding it).

The "Grade" is how well it does in visual inspection.  Grade 1 is best, Grade 2 has visible inspections, but may be fine for use.

The PEI is the wear test.  III is about the minimum for flooring, IV or V is better, especially for outdoor or commercial use.  Should be at least 3/16 thick and 1/4 is better.

Water penetration...Impervious is best with 0.5 or less, especially desireable where it might freeze.

Also look for the snowflake frost icon.

C.O.F is coefficient of friction.  0.5 or better required for kitchens, 0.7 is better, for wet aread 0.85.

Tone is how well tiles match, V1 is best, leave V3 and V4 to professionals.

Here's a quality tile from Home Depot, with PEI IV and COF 0.6.

15 tons !

That's an estimate of the weight of my concrete slab.  And that's not counting a few tons of base material underneath.  It used 7.5 cubic yards of concrete, minus a little waste, plus a considerable amount of heavy gauge rebar, 4 #6 bars in each beam, and a matrix of #3 on top.

Each cuyd of concrete weighs 3915 pounds, about 2 tons.  With a few hundred pounds of rebar, that brings the total to nearly 15 tons.

Flooring at Home Depot

Two flooring types seemed best suited for my workshop at Home Depot: Ceramic and Porcelain Tile.

The stone tiles, in addition to being much pricier, were very shiny.  That makes me think: slippery.

(Though current plan is to have gripping doormat to help prevent sliding on entry, and tracking in dirt).

The vinyl, laminate, and wood flooring types don't look durable enough to be appropriate.

Some other builders, and thinking about fiber cement trim

Now is the season for finding the next builder.  A friend highly recommends one who sounds excellent, but I wonder how willing he will be to make drive 60 miles out and back every day.

One issue I've been thinking about a bit is the issue of trimming with fiber cement.  Now that the brick option is history (long lost in disappointing contractor experiences and cost overruns) I'm back to planning on fiber cement siding, which had been the plan for years since the shed idea first bubbled up in early 2009.

I have already replaced a starting portion of the very troubled fiberboard siding on my actual house with fiber cement.  I began doing that in 2002.  But when that was done, and when it was continued a bit by Ronnie in 2009, in both cases the old builder trim boards, which are some kind of wood, were retained.  So the front of my house and the chimney are covered with fiber cement siding but trimmed with wood.

I understand now that is fairly common.  Although fiber cement trim boards have been available for some time now, many if not most contractors are more comfortable using wood for trimming over fiber cement.
That was what I was expecting Ronnie to do, and my thoughts were best to let him do what he is comfortable and experienced with, rather than having him do his training on my job.

But now that I'm starting over with builder selection, maybe I should seek out the top fiber cement installers and get one to do fiber cement siding and trim as well.  I think that has some advantages, the fiber cement trim is engineered to go with the fiber cement panels, and may do so with less issues of paint deterioration and sealing.  I notice that the old rim boards in the front of my house quickly loose paint at the seams where they are joined or where they join the fiber cement board.  This may have something to do with differences in thermal expansion.

Here are some discussions of whether fiber cement trim is a good idea:

http://www.contractortalk.com/f33/installing-hardie-trim-what-drawbacks-other-than-dust-94022/

It's not clear that it is.

Anyway, one place to start might be with the installers recommended by JamesHardie, if one can be found that actually does general contracting as well, or at least framing.  Chances are they would know how to do the HardiTrim.  In my area, JamesHardie recommends 3 installers:

Structure Builders

Southwest Exteriors

Amazing Siding and Windows

Slab curing continues

Today is now the 6th day since the slab was poured.  My plan has been to give it at least a week's cure (instead of industry standard 3 days), but slab can continue curing for a month, and since I'm going to need some time to find new builder anyway, I might just do that.

Today I noticed that the overlapping flap of the upper plastic cover had blown loose again, so I re-secured it and added several more small non-metallic items on the flap (only two of which are shown in photo).

You can still easily see the moisture trapped beneath the plastic everywhere.

The Wire Mesh story revisited

I previously told the story of how Ronnie dropped off nice clean shiny looking wire mesh on Monday July 11, but then started to install very rusty looking wire mesh just before the concrete pour on Wednesday July 13, but I immediately called and convinced him to use the cleaner mesh (for which I had already prepaid $330 including installation, two weeks beforehand) by agreeing to pay yet another $100, which he later told me not to worry about when I ultimately wrote him a check for $100 for the upgrade of concrete to 4000 PSI (which should only have costed <$20).  The whole affair looked like bait-and-switch, extortion, etc.

Now it turns out that rusty wire mesh is actually pretty commonly used in concrete work, and might have actually been the "correct" kind of mesh, whereas the shiny mesh was actually galvanized fencing material which could be claimed to be an incorrect choice, or perhaps a better choice, depending on who you talk to.

Of course, if the galvanized fencing were an incorrect material, Ronnie should have never dropped it off in the first place, and simply explained the fact that it was incorrect, whereas the rusty stuff was the correct material.  He did say that the rusty stuff was "exactly what you get at Home Depot" (but see below), but he never said the shiny stuff was wrong.

Anyway, I did indeed see very rusty looking wire mesh sold for concrete reinforcement not at Home Depot but at Lowes on Austin Hwy:

Meanwhile, at the Home Depot near Evers Pkwy, I saw much less rusty looking mesh sold for the same purpose, but it was dark colored.

The shiny material is actually galvanized wire mesh, commonly used in fencing.

 So now I actually might wonder whether putting the shiny stuff in the concrete was a bad thing.  However, my best research suggests that it was probably not a bad thing for several reasons, and probably a good thing overall.

First it has to be remembered that the wire mesh was merely a supplement to already over-engineered rebar system.  The rebar system keeps the slab structurally sound, while the mesh simply serves to minimize superficial cracking.  So even if the galvanized mesh is not as strong as the uncoated stuff, it doesn't matter much.  The galvanized mesh is also "welded wire mesh", just like the rusty stuff.  I don't know if the gauge of the galvanized material was larger or smaller, it looked about the same, but even if it were slightly smaller gauge, it wouldn't matter much.  Sometimes in small patio slabs or walkways people even use galvanized chicken wire as the main reinforcement!

Now as suggested by the casual use of galvanized chicken wire in some cases, the galvanized coating is not known to be harmful to concrete.  But sometimes the claim is made that a chemical reaction between the coating and the cement over time releases hydrogen, which can embrittle the steel.  So, over time, the steel in the mesh might become less strong.  Once again, this is not a huge issue because in my application the mesh is not providing the primary reinforcement, only a secondary reinforcement to minimize visible cracking.

But this very embrittlement hypothesis is greatly disputed by the Galvanized Metal Industry.  They say the released hydrogen dissipates through the concrete and doesn't affect the metal at all.  In fact, they claim that galvanized metal would generally be better than "black steel"  for all concrete reinforcement purposes because of its anticorrosive properties, and is especially useful in preventing corrosion in chloride rich environments.

http://www.galvanizeit.org/aga/about-hot-dip-galvanizing/how-long-does-hdg-last/in-concrete

It appears that corrosion of rebar is a major factor in the deterioration of reinforced concrete structures over time.



This is especially an issue for chloride rich environments, such as near the ocean.  In most environments, the calcium hydroxide of cement itself (having pH of 12.5) pretty well inhibits concrete corrosion, though that can effect can be negated by intrusion of salts or other chemicals.

So by insisting on the cleaner looking galvanized mesh, it looks like I made a good choice, even if it is not the industry standard.  It is superior to the industry standard.