Built Totally Green

The silt fence is up around the property. It’s a construction code and a matter of courtesy to keep debris within our property lines. The guys were very nice and knocked out the task in record time!

April 3, 2009

WOW… our property is tough to drill. It took the guys from Florida Geothermal a week longer than expected to get to the depth’s and tonnage required. The wells increased from the anticipated 8 wells to 14 wells due to the solid ground and they laid more than 2,400 feet of tubing to achieve the tonnage required.

April 6, 2009

I can't believe it! After all these months, we learned we have to remove the slab and terrazo flooring to accomodate the piles. We had hoped to be able to leave it under the raised house and just cut into it for the piles; however, it was 27 inches thick!! Over the last 50 years, previous owners had added layers and layers of concrete... three 9" slabs be exact! Time to call Mike at Lockewood Demolition - again!!

He sent out David and the big Komatsu to do the job. AND I got to ride in the cab - when he was lifting huge slabs of concrete and expertly dropping them into the dumpster. It really was loud, fun, and very cathartic - much like driving the Bobcat into the final wall!

April 9, 2009

Shaw’s Tree Service swept onto the site and it was absolutely amazing to watch the crew!

It was an orchestrated dance of men. The invasive, non-native trees were marked by Kevin Songer and the crew was on a mission to remove everything with orange caution tape wrapped around it. One man was what we affectionately call a “tree monkey” – he climbed a huge tree and began sawing off huge branches and lowering them to the ground via rope. The men on the ground carried those limbs and fed the big mulch machine and out spewed tiny bits of ground up timber. That mulch is then used for bio-fuel.

April 16, 2009

Steve took the full permit set to the City of Jacksonville! That’s architectural, structural, MEP (Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing) and Landscaping!

April 17, 2009

Great news! Susan Cleveland, President of the USGBC North Florida Chapter sent out an email with great news! The Jacksonville City Council passes Sustainable Building Program Ordinance - http://citycirc.coj.net/coj/COJBillList.asp?Bill2009-0211

Some of the incentives include:

*Fastrack approval process

*Waiver of certain regulations for purposes of meeting sustainability standards

* New Certification Refund Program - $1,000 reimbursement for the costs of

obtaining certification of sustainable buildings

April 22, 2009

The Dynan Group was on site bright and early. The civil engineering and land surveying firm used their handheld GPS computer to mark each spot where the augers are to be drilled today. Once they “marked the spot” with a wooden stake and spray painted it orange, they double checked the measurements and then kept moving around the property until they’d marked 33 points. And they were off just as we heard the large auger driller coming down the road.

Again a team of workers worked with impressive mission and synergy. Brevard Grouting had about 10 people on site and they knew exactly what to do and how. Charlie drove auger drill and he’s so experienced he can “drill on a dime”, according to his boss. And I thought the auger machine was fascinating. Each 14” drill bit was screwed into the next until the whole thing was 34 feet long and hung from the mechanical box at the top of the crane. The very first drill provided some concern and excitement. As they removed the auger and began pouring concrete into the hole – it didn’t seem to fill up.

It was oozing out under the ground which provided a big surprise when a nearby pipe popped out of the ground and started shooting water! Everyone was confused and thought it might be a septic tank, but we’ve had THREE of those removed and it had to be part of the well. Our well collapsed during Tropical Storm Fay, so there is a void under the ground in that area. Once everyone figured out what it was – they managed to cap the well and redrilled it later.

April 23, 2009

Steve went to the City of Jacksonville planning department to check on the review status of the full set of plans. There was a large group of people standing around the conference table all looking at our plans. Before 4pm, today Steve got an email with about a dozen questions that need clarification – and everyone is ecstatic! Our house has so many unique and non-traditional components - that I think everyone was concerned that the approval process might be a long one! Once these items are addressed, I think we’ll be sailing ahead at full steam! Yowza!

And now we commence building!

March 29, 2009

The site is ready for GeoThermal drilling starting tomorrow. They won’t know exactly how many closed loop drills will be required or how deep they’ll have to drill (150-200 ft each), until they get started and analyze the data. I’m hoping for the least! It’s going to be loud for the neighbors and the process could take more than a week. Honestly, I still don’t fully understand how it all works, (despite Steve’s valiant efforts at explaining to me how we’ll get hot and cold air from the ground), but look forward to seeing and learning first hand from Shawn Hiss of Florida GeoSource.

The Design Charrete last Friday had several new faces. Two weeks ago, we decided to contract with an MEP (Mechanical, Electrial and Plumbing) firm, Turknett Engineers. Robert Bird for Plumbing, Yorgos Gaitantzis, P.E. for HVAC, and Bryan Shaffer, P.E. for electrical. They are amazing – they promised and delivered – the first set of plans in two weeks!

Tamara Baker, P.E, of Baker Klein Engineering, had her structural plans finalized and Steve will pick up the sealed copies for the City of Jacksonville on Tuesday. That means the foundation package gets submitted! Due to the size and weight of the new home it was determined that it will take 32 14”augers drilled at 35 feet each. Arrggh, that’s a lot of steel. Fortunately steel is selling at half what it did one year ago.

Corie Baker, AIA, and Courtney Mangum of C Squared Design, keep having to tweak the designs. We didn’t want to lose the “Bridge TV” view from the house and had to

delete about 6’’ from each room on the west side of the house in order for it to fit within the zoning boundaries. Interior closets are being modified for placing the mechanical and electrical system control centers... and no, I didn’t have to give up any more Closet space!

We got to celebrate Mary Tappouni, Pres. Breaking Ground Contracting. She won two major awards these last few weeks. The first being - SBA Award as 2009 Florida Business Person of the Year! The Jacksonville woman-owned business competed with business owners in 43 counties!

I don’t know she keeps up with everything she has on her plate. In addition to her many jobs, awards, and our home - she also moved her office temporarily in order to expand at the main headquarters.

All the lumber that we will reuse in the new house is being stored in the warehouse at Mary’s office. All the wood that we couldn’t reuse, was ground up by Keith Steffenhagen and Todd Leino, of S& S Waste Management. Most machines are too large to get to the site so they managed to find a new demonstration model – generously donated by Vermeer out of Orlando. The grinder was small enough that it could get down the winding road and do the job. A conveyor belt was fed huge pieces of lumber, and the nails were spit out of the bottom and the mulch spewed out the top. It was unbelievable how much mulch was created. There are more than 8 cubic yards of prime mulch that Kevin Songer, of MetroVerde, can’t wait to utilize in the landscape design.

We got our kitchen and bathroom cabinet designs yesterday. All the cabinets are going to be bamboo – amber in the kitchen, neutral in the other baths and chocolate in the Master Bath. However, as I sat reading the Sunday paper I spotted an ad for a very similar lay-out that actually works better… so back to the drawing board again. Helena Briggs, at DirectBuy, will be doing some minor changes.

I am really starting to see it all come together now… and apparently so are others!!! Great news… Adina Becerra, daughter of Alberto and Ruth Becerra, got engaged to Rudy and they are going to get married at our home on October 24, 2009. We are honored that we will be able to have the wedding and I can’t wait to see Adina descend from the circular staircase. She is truly creative and wonderful spirit and has agreed to help me with furniture lay-out and selection. The good news about salvaging only 4 pieces of furniture is the shopping.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Starting at Ground Zero; minus 3 feet.

Thursday, April 02, 2009

And now we commence building!