Behind the scenes

Since we officially pulled the trigger last month, the folks at S|EA have been diligently working on the engineering and specs of the plans. We met with Rick to go over lighting options as well as to place each light switch, electrical outlet, light and ceiling fan, both inside and out. Thankfully he already had most of it mapped out, because that's a lot of funny symbols on the plan! 

We also made a trip to the lighting store to get a feel for what's available -- all of our lights will be either LED or compact fluorescent (no heat-generating bulbs in our passive house!). After nearly fainting at the cost of LED light fixtures, we realized that we can just put LED bulbs in regular light fixtures. However, LED bulbs are still very expensive, so we may start with some LEDs and some compact fluorescents and transition gradually to all LEDs. (Though this week I discovered that Costco now carries several varieties of LED bulbs, which will be very helpful.)

We have finalized all of our appliances except the central vacuum, which Bryan is still researching. We thought this part of our job would be fairly easy, since we like our current appliances, until we learned that no one makes the oven-and-a-half that we love so much. Fortunately, after much searching we found something similar that we can top with an induction cooktop. Skylar also threw us for a loop when he told us that using a conventional dryer in a passive house requires putting the dryer in a sealed cabinet -- which may well drive me crazy with the amount of laundry that I do. The alternative is using a condensation dryer, which doesn't require an external vent (it contains the moisture within the dryer unit and drains it separately). Alas, condensation dryers are not only expensive, but small -- this is a very European-style appliance -- and so we'll need two. Aaaand the appliance budget goes up again ...

The immediate next steps start with S|EA finishing the detailed drawings (target date: May 4). The team then goes over the detailed drawings, and then Hammer & Hand submits its pricing based on the detailed drawings (target date: May 16). At that point, we can submit the plans and pricing to the bank for final approval, which should take 10-12 business days. At the same time, building permits are theoretically being approved by Washington County. In addition, we have just mailed our application for permits to harvest our trees. If all goes as planned, we'll knock down trees and excavate the week of June 4. 

I don't wake up with heart-racing anxiety every night, but it's more often than I'd like. ("Can we really afford this?" "Did I include a line-item for tree-clearing in my cash budget?" "Where did I budget the money for x, y and z?" "If the new pricing goes up any, we won't be able to afford the house!") And now I'm concerned about how worried I will be later, because at our last meeting Rick casually mentioned that it's a lot more stressful once ground is broken. Just great.

Our upcoming agenda includes the following: picking out plumbing fixtures (we actually bought a kitchen faucet at Costco this week), walking through house plans with the lighting store and picking specific lights/ceiling fans for each room, working with S|EA to design the kitchen cabinet layout, and specifying flooring. I'm sure there is a lot more that I'm not thinking of -- eventually we'll need door handles, hinges, light switch plates. Plus, Rachel is hard at work on landscape plans, for which I am so grateful -- I can barely wrap my mind around the inside of the house, much less picture the outside. She raises questions that need to be asked that never cross my mind, and is making sure that our lighting includes the appropriate exterior uplighting for the trees she's planning. She advises me on what to do with the patio and explains the advantages/disadvantages of each surface. She is the guardian of the exterior beauty -- which is why we're building this house here in the first place. I'm glad she's on board!

I think it's time to go find my zen place. Ommmmm ...