Yeti's Very Long and Slow NC Home Build

[THE YETI]

What's wrong with them?

a lot. not exactly what we hoped for. I feel like our entire conversation was missed. They did incorporate most of the stuff we asked for, just not the exact vision I had. We are taking a break through the holidays because honestly I am absolutely exhausted with this house design. We are making some notes and relaying it back to them to correct. The house is nice, it's beautiful, just not what I wanted. The second story is on point. But there are a lot of things that got missed or misunderstood.

I know they'll get it right and it's the first of many revisions, but I just had high hopes off the first one.

 

[pwtr02ss]

a lot. not exactly what we hoped for. I feel like our entire conversation was missed. They did incorporate most of the stuff we asked for, just not the exact vision I had. We are taking a break through the holidays because honestly I am absolutely exhausted with this house design. We are making some notes and relaying it back to them to correct. The house is nice, it's beautiful, just not what I wanted. The second story is on point. But there are a lot of things that got missed or misunderstood.

I know they'll get it right and it's the first of many revisions, but I just had high hopes off the first one.

It'll come together. We went through this on ours as well.

Make your notes, do your markups, and expect several revisions

 

[THE YETI]

It'll come together. We went through this on ours as well.

Make your notes, do your markups, and expect several revisions

appreciate that. I think Jen and I just needed some time to process it all. I know it'll all come together eventually.

 

[Grady_Wilson]

Kinda nervous.. didn't really think much about this, but wondering if these freezing temps are gonna F with my plumbing. I did turn the well pump off and hot water heater off before we left in November.

Going back up in January to check on the place.

Extended periods below freezing and you will need to have the lines blown out so they don't freeze.
Any lines under the unit should be insulated even when blown out to protect them.
Only if you have fully encapsulated crawl space do you not need to have the lines insulated.

At least that is what I have learned living in cold country the past year or so.
The condo I rented until I found a house had the crawl space encapsulated, it was pretty tall, I could almost stand up in it, and none of the plumbing was insulated.
I was down there every few months to change HVAC filters and there was very little dust and whatnot under there.
Last winter did see plenty of weeks below zero and we were down to -17* for days in a row.

 

[THE YETI]

Extended periods below freezing and you will need to have the lines blown out so they don't freeze.
Any lines under the unit should be insulated even when blown out to protect them.
Only if you have fully encapsulated crawl space do you not need to have the lines insulated.

At least that is what I have learned living in cold country the past year or so.
The condo I rented until I found a house had the crawl space encapsulated, it was pretty tall, I could almost stand up in it, and none of the plumbing was insulated.
I was down there every few months to change HVAC filters and there was very little dust and whatnot under there.
Last winter did see plenty of weeks below zero and we were down to -17* for days in a row.

Thanks for that info. I figure the place has been around for 40yrs so must be doing something right so far. But I know the well-house does have incandescent bulbs in there to keep it warm during the winter. I am headed up there in a few weeks and going to put the switch on a wifi style switch that I can turn the light on remotely when im not there to make sure things dont freeze when it gets super cold. We aren't normally there in the winter time, so everything is powered down plumbing wise.

 

[Geotrash]

Thanks for that info. I figure the place has been around for 40yrs so must be doing something right so far. But I know the well-house does have incandescent bulbs in there to keep it warm during the winter. I am headed up there in a few weeks and going to put the switch on a wifi style switch that I can turn the light on remotely when im not there to make sure things dont freeze when it gets super cold. We aren't normally there in the winter time, so everything is powered down plumbing wise.

Did you leave the heat on in the house, set to at least 58ºF? That should be enough to keep anything from freezing, including any plumbing in the exterior walls. There shouldn't be any, but I've seen some dumb shit since moving to Richmond that I never would've seen in Colorado. They don't heat crawlspaces here even if they're vented to the outside, and there's exposed plumbing in our unheated garage. Last winter we had several days in a row of single digit temps at night - enough to freeze our pond an inch thick, and the cold water coming from our taps was 34ºF.

 

[THE YETI]

Did you leave the heat on in the house, set to at least 58ºF? That should be enough to keep anything from freezing, including any plumbing in the exterior walls. There shouldn't be any, but I've seen some dumb shit since moving to Richmond that I never would've seen in Colorado. They don't heat crawlspaces here even if they're vented to the outside, and there's exposed plumbing in our unheated garage. Last winter we had several days in a row of single digit temps at night - enough to freeze our pond an inch thick, and the cold water coming from our taps was 34ºF.

Yes. Heat is on. I control it from my phone.

 

[07Burb]

Yes. Heat is on. I control it from my phone.

You fancy

 

[THE YETI]

Had a meeting with the builder and architect today. Cleared up ALOT of communication and got the ship pointed in the right direction. Should have revised plans end of next week. Feeling much better about everything.

 

[89Suburban]

Had a meeting with the builder and architect today. Cleared up ALOT of communication and got the ship pointed in the right direction. Should have revised plans end of next week. Feeling much better about everything.

Is the roof on yet?

@pwtr02ss

 

[pwtr02ss]

Had a meeting with the builder and architect today. Cleared up ALOT of communication and got the ship pointed in the right direction. Should have revised plans end of next week. Feeling much better about everything.

Next round will be closer. If not, fire your architect

 

[THE YETI]

Is the roof on yet?

@pwtr02ss

Our place has a roof. Yes. Please refer back to pages 1 and 2.

 

[THE YETI]

Next round will be closer. If not, fire your architect

There was a lot cleared up on why things were done the way they were done. It was helpful to understand those reasons. But i think everyone is on our page now. There are 2 options we have with the garages at this point and we are going to try one setup. If it doesn’t work aesthetically we are going to move to a plan B

I wouldn’t go as far as to fire him. We have a good rapport and i understand that it’s going to be a process to get it perfect. Especially with me being a perfectionist.

 

[THE YETI]

Spent the weekend in NC. Met with our dock builder. They are starting this week on setting the pilings. Super happy about that.

 

[THE YETI]

now that I am situated back at home, I can elaborate a little more.

We drove up overnight Thursday and arrived Friday morning. The dock builder just happened to be at the house checking on some measurements while we were there, so we got to meet. Went over some last minute revisions. I knew we had deep water, but I didn't realize that at the end of the dock it was 25' deep! Pretty happy about that since it allows us to jump off the second story without worrying. We went over deck color again, and some options for the wave runner lifts. Which I think we might go with electronic lifts on those now as opposed to the float ons.

And as usual.. we couldn't make the trip without plumbing issues. Yep, pipe into the well house froze so we had no water for a good part of the day. It thawed rather quickly. But water pressure was still "meh" at best. We decided since it looked like it was on borrowed time to replace the pressure regulator. Which we did. And we also wrapped the PVC piping in heat tape to keep it somewhat covered. The exposed parts in the well house weren't covered, which led to the freeze. We are going to have the plumber repipe the well house for now and wrap it so it prevents the freezing in the future. Now back to the water pressure... we ended up ordering new filters for the filtration system. When I took the sediment filter out, it was CAKED with all types of nasty orange clay and whatnot. I mean BAD. Someone suggested our well might have something going on down deep. But honestly it's not worth fixing since we are going to abandon the well when we do the new house. I did find out it's a shallow bore (?) well that pumps 15GPM at 85'. The fella that we were talking with said if we drill to about 200' we should hit 25GPM+ no problem and that we needed to move the well anyhow because of all the sediment it's picking up. Anyhow, we replaced the filters and water pressure is pretty damn good now. We decided we will keep replacing the filters when we visit since they are relatively inexpensive.

We also set up a deer feeder on a timer. I love deer and want them to come around. We had a few bucks on the property a month or so ago.

That is all!

 

[07Burb]

now that I am situated back at home, I can elaborate a little more.

We drove up overnight Thursday and arrived Friday morning. The dock builder just happened to be at the house checking on some measurements while we were there, so we got to meet. Went over some last minute revisions. I knew we had deep water, but I didn't realize that at the end of the dock it was 25' deep! Pretty happy about that since it allows us to jump off the second story without worrying. We went over deck color again, and some options for the wave runner lifts. Which I think we might go with electronic lifts on those now as opposed to the float ons.

And as usual.. we couldn't make the trip without plumbing issues. Yep, pipe into the well house froze so we had no water for a good part of the day. It thawed rather quickly. But water pressure was still "meh" at best. We decided since it looked like it was on borrowed time to replace the pressure regulator. Which we did. And we also wrapped the PVC piping in heat tape to keep it somewhat covered. The exposed parts in the well house weren't covered, which led to the freeze. We are going to have the plumber repipe the well house for now and wrap it so it prevents the freezing in the future. Now back to the water pressure... we ended up ordering new filters for the filtration system. When I took the sediment filter out, it was CAKED with all types of nasty orange clay and whatnot. I mean BAD. Someone suggested our well might have something going on down deep. But honestly it's not worth fixing since we are going to abandon the well when we do the new house. I did find out it's a shallow bore (?) well that pumps 15GPM at 85'. The fella that we were talking with said if we drill to about 200' we should hit 25GPM+ no problem and that we needed to move the well anyhow because of all the sediment it's picking up. Anyhow, we replaced the filters and water pressure is pretty damn good now. We decided we will keep replacing the filters when we visit since they are relatively inexpensive.

We also set up a deer feeder on a timer. I love deer and want them to come around. We had a few bucks on the property a month or so ago.

That is all!

View attachment 476519

Really cool to have the wildlife around!!

 

[THE YETI]

Last week the crew started the dock. I think I count 16 pilings in so far. They said 3-4 weeks to finish the pilings and then they’ll start the next phase. I think the snow might slow them down this week tho.

 

[89Suburban]

Last week the crew started the dock. I think I count 16 pilings in so far. They said 3-4 weeks to finish the pilings and then they’ll start the next phase. I think the snow might slow them down this week tho.

View attachment 476968


View attachment 476969

It amazes me the lake isn't frozen over yet.

 

[THE YETI]

It amazes me the lake isn't frozen over yet.

I’m not certain it’s ever frozen over. I don’t think we get that cold for that long here.

 

[89Suburban]

I’m not certain it’s ever frozen over. I don’t think we get that cold for that long here.

Dale Earnhardt JR has a houseboat on that lake.


Water levels:

Catawba River at Lake Norman/Cowans Ford Dam

water.noaa.gov

Temps:

Lake Norman Water Temperature

Lake Norman (LKN) Water Temperature history and current plus water lavel and an alexa skill capability

lknwater.info