Week 10

Attended the Seattle Home Show last Sunday. Walked around for about 5 hours. There were a couple hundred exhibitors. I went primarily with an agenda to visit suppliers of Swimming Pools, Spas, HVAC, Windows, Floors, Counters, Roofs.

I complained to one of the AquaQuip guys at their booth that the rep I was dealing with hasn't contacted me in a few weeks. I said he was suppose to get me a quote on a Pool and Spa, but nothing yet. He took my contact information and said he'd look into it. I received the quote by noon the next day. It was about what I was expecting, $63K for everything but the concrete work, so I am giving it some serious consideration.

I met the Hawaiian Pool rep - Bruce Anderson with Hydro-Tek Pools. I was surprised that Hawaiian had a rep in this area, when I did a search on their website using my zipcode nothing came up. It's good to have a competitor for the pool & spa! I sent Bruce email on Monday asking for a quote, but have not heard anything yet.

One important feature of the Pool Room is that its Eastern wall (which faces mountains) open up as much as possible. I've heard about accordian style doors for patios from a couple architects, so was on the look out for them while there. A local area firm - Cahan European Window Company, in Bellevue - produces Fold & Slide doors, and had them on display. They would work great. They only come in widths up to 12 feet, so at least two sets would be needed across the 30 foot Eastern wall. They offer a variety of wood species - see website - and have about a 14 week lead time from time order is placed. This long of wall would require a vertical post about mid-span of the opening; regardless if we go with the Cahan doors or Andersen's Slider we'll need a post. That probably works better from a structural standpoint anyway. I have relayed this info to the Architect, asking him to place a post there.

I did send email to Cahan on Monday asking for a quote, but no reply yet. I guess the exhibitors are really busy with all the leads they acquired while at the show - hopefully I'll be hearing from them all soon.

Bev and I found a couple of stone veneer suppliers - one we like best (so far) is Eldorado Stone. Their local rep is West Coast Masonry Supply. The veneer we have agreed on is called Monarch in Northwestern Canyon Gray - you can see it on their website. We would install it using the "Dry-Stack" technique. One thing I have to look into with the veneers is how they are used on gate posts - we intend to have a double swing gate across the driveway entrance - so can you apply the veneer under the gate mounts?; they seem heavy and likely to crack a veneer. Stone mason can probably answer this. I intend to build the gates posts myself - some of my sweat equity. BTW: Stone will be placed around the house in what I'm told is called a belly skirt, and around the posts for the porte cochere. Probably same stone will be used for the two fireplaces. I haven't decided yet if I'll be doing the belly skirt myself; Eldorado has a helpful video that makes it seem easy. I like doing tile floors, so this type of masonry should be similar.

Speaking of fireplaces, Bev decided she's OK with a gas unit in the Master Bdrm - she was debating whether to use wood or gas. We saw some nice examples at the show.

We saw a couple different HVAC systems. A water boiler type seemed interesting, it's produced by Conematic Heating Systems, Inc. It's a gas-fired unit that doesn't take up much space in garage, and provides hot water for heating as well as for plumbing. They claim that the majority of heating cost is in plumbing hot water, rather than heating. The Conematic costs about 15% more than a typical heat pump system. I'm leading towards a Trane furnace - Trane's quality is legendary, and their units tend to be good at energy conservation. I've considered a heat pump, over a furnace, but we just don't need the cooling around here. Spending around $12K for a HP, when you can get a furnace for around $8K seems wasteful.

Another big decision to be made is the type of roof. I like the look of a tile roof, but they can be a lot of trouble for maintenance (crack easily). Wood shake doesn't seem right for our style house. I guess a composite using the Presidential TL in the Yosemite color (dark charcoal) would be best. We used Versatile Roof a couple years ago to replace the cedar shakes on our current home, and will probably use them for this house - fair price and great service. I'd like to use a gutter-less design, that lets the rain drop onto a concrete splash barrier on the ground. This may be too expensive, but I'll have it price quoted by a concrete curbing company.

We looked at Granite Counter and Wood Floor exhibitors - didn't come away with much other than brochures because these are fairly standard items and we'll pick the suppliers when the time comes. Our friend, Jim Houtrouw, owns Sammamish Floor in Bellevue. His guys did a great job when we remodelled a couple years ago, so we probably will use them for this house. One thing we do agree on is the type of wood floors we'd like - Brazillian Cherry!

That's it for the major things we came away with from the show.

I heard from Huard Septic on Friday. Dave Huard emailed saying he couldn't open the AutoCAD file I had on my server, so I put 2000 and 2004 versions out there. He's suppose to get back with me Monday letting me know if either of them could be opened. I went ahead and bought ProgeCAD from ICAD Sales (I spoke about this great, low cost AutoCAD compliant software a few weeks back). I bought the $375 Pro version - I might need 3D CAD again someday, and since it was only an extra $125 over the Std 2D version, I figured it was money well spent. I hope Huard can add their septic design to my DWG project file - same with the architect and other suppliers that come on board.