June 2016 - Metal Siding Installed

So on the long east & west facing facades, I chose to use prefinished corrugated metal panels. There was quite a bit of deliberation on the color of the panels, especially since the color is basically permanent. I knew I wanted something in the gray to bronze range to try and blend in with the color of the adjacent trees. I also wanted a more squared off profile to the panel, not just the standard wavy corrugated stuff. We ending up using the M-Loc panel from Central States Manufacturing in Charcoal. The color blends in with the gray of the tree trunks/bark quite well, which I hopes kind of tempers the visual impact of the house some. I think I would have liked the corrugations to have a little closer spacing, maybe 4" as opposed to the 6"; the 6" looks a little wide for the house. Anyway, we are happy with it and it feels good to have most of the exterior cladding installed. For the fasicas, we chose to use Jeld-Wen's MiraTEC trim, which is supposed to be pretty good stuff. It does have to be painted, but it is a small enough area, that it shouldn't be a big deal. And since we are planning on painting it green, if we don't like it we can change it later!

Front (south) facade.

Office/Guest Room

West facade.

Rear (north) facade.

We also got all the roof edge metal from Central States Mfg. as well, and as I write this in early July, we are 95% complete with all of that. I really like the low-slope TPO roofing, but it has been a pain working out all of the details. Considering that we had all the roof membrane in place at the first of the year, and we are still not finished, it is taking forever.

June 2016 - Masonry Veneer Complete

We have finished up the exterior masonry veneer system on the two towers. As a reminder, we are using the Enduramax system that we got from our friends at Adams Products. We showed the foam panels and clips installed in a previous post, so here are a couple of images with the masonry units in place and the mortaring underway. David and Parrish from Adams were kind enough to drive out to the jobsite and bring us a mortar gun to use (and show us how to use it). The mortar gun was a BIG help, I can't imagine having to do all this with a mortar bag; my forearms ache just thinking about it. Adams made the units for me in a standard gray block color, and we are using a stack bond and charcoal mortar here like we did in the basement.

This is the largest panel of masonry units. Here they are installed, but not mortared in yet.

Here is a shot of the front with the front entrance tower mortared in place.

May 2016 - NCSU On-Site Facility Tour

So, I had been really curious about the design of septic systems, and I wanted to make sure I knew what I needed to as far as the system for the new house. The soil in my leach field area isn't great, so I wanted to install the best system I could to avoid any future issues. I was having a hard time finding information about the different type of systems and tanks used, until I found out that NCSU has an On-Site Waste Water Demonstration and Training Facility. Jonathan Godfrey, who heads up the facility, gave me a tour and filled in all my blanks about on-site wastewater systems. The facility is off Lake Wheeler Road in south Raleigh, and they have all the different treatments systems setup where they can be demonstrated in operation, just above ground so you can see it. Here are some photos I took of some of the displays that were relevant to my install.

Traditional concrete septic tank.

Newest technology plastic tank (Infiltrator IM-1060).

One type of pressure manifold.

Another type of pressure manifold.

A third type of pressure manifold.