Garage and Screened Porch

 October 2008: The garage continues to make progress and soon will be ready for connecting to the house via a covered breezeway. The screened porch off the master bedroom at the back of the house is also now underway.

More Garage, etc...

October 2008: The garage is mostly finished now with the roof connected to the main house via a connector roof over the breezeway.

The front porch roof is also now up. And the roof is up over the screen porch in the back.

Maggie checks out the barrel ceiling going up in the hallway connecting the foyer with the guest bath and bedroom.

Jay, the builder, says the siding and metal roof will be going up soon!

US Green Building Council Meeting at Switzer Green Home!

November 2008: Although there has not been much change to the house since the last posting (hence no pictures today), we have been very busy picking out plumbing fixtures, fireplaces, HVAC systems, solar water heater, etc... We have come to the realization that everybody should build a house before they ever buy one. It is a very educational experience. You have no idea how much is involved until you actually go through the process. And because we're Going Green, there has been even more work. It hasn't been easy researching and deciding on low-flow toilets, faucets, shower heads, direct-vent fireplaces, geothermal HVAC systems, etc...but we are making progress. The plumbing is almost all in now. Next are the fireplaces and HVAC which we should decide on today or tomorrow. The siding should be going up this week, followed by the metal roof next week. Then it will really start looking like a house. Everyone is invited to see the progress that has been made on our home so far and to learn more about green building by coming to Friday's meeting of the SC Chapter of the US Green Building Council at our new home. The meeting is Friday, Nov. 14th at 1:30pm at the Pavilion (Community Center) inside Cobblestone Park, immediately followed by a tour of our house. The builder, architect, LEED provider and Maggie, will all be there probably until at least 3pm or 4pm. All the details can be found at the chapter's web site: http://www.usgbcsc.org. We hope to see you there!

WIS-TV Visits Switzer Green Home

November 2008: David Stanton from WIS-TV in Columbia visited our construction site during the US Green Building Council SC Chapter's recent meeting at our home. Copy and paste the address below in your web browser to see David Stanton's report. http://www.wistv.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3139320&h1=%27Green%20building%27%20hits%20the%20Midlands%2C%20David%20Stanton%20reports&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=114166&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=64341323

December 2008: Everything seems to slow down during December as the holidays consume us. And that includes construction on our home. The siding has been going up however, and we hope to soon be able to upload pictures of the metal roof being installed. Don't worry, the siding is not going to remain gray, it will be painted. To get an idea of what it will look like, just revisit one of our previous posts where we included architectural renderings. We hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

Ductwork, Front Door, Central Vac, etc...

January 2009: Things are still progressing on our new home. We finally made the decision not to go with geothermal as the cost was just too high and the resulting payback period too long.

We are going with a 14 SEER heat pump and as you can see by the pix, the ductwork is going in.

The siding is also continuing to go up.

And the front door has finally arrived and is installed.

The central vac outlets (another green item!) have also been roughed in.

And here is a picture showing the house from the other side of the golf course.

The most important thing now is to get the roof finished, which hopefully will happen soon...stay tuned!

The Rooftop Terrace is now sealed!

January 2009: After negotiating with roofers for a month, we finally found AquaSeal to lay the TPO membrane and seal our rooftop terrace.

TPO is Thermoplastic Poly Olefin sheet roofing using state-of-the-art polymer manufacturing technology. This technology enables the production of TPO membranes that are flexible at low temperatures without the use of polymeric or liquid plasticizers.

Unlike some other popular thermoplastic roofing membranes, the TPO polymer does not contain chlorine and no chlorine-containing ingredients are added during sheet production. This lack of chlorine allows the TPO membrane to be regarded as an environmentally safe, “green” product.

The TPO resin is compounded with other components including a weathering package, fire retardants and pigments for color to create a product that can withstand the elements associated with rooftop exposure.

On top of the TPO will be recycled rubber squares. But before they go on, the metal roof will be put up next on the rest of the house. We can't wait for that!