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Saturday, August 1, 2009

Soils Fieldwork

Our soils engineer, Jonathan Miller, came by this week to obtain samples. The samples will be tested and a report will provided to us. We will then take the report to the city for stamped approval. Once stamped we will give the report to our structural engineer. Here is a short clip of Jonathan explaining the process.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Soils Engineer

Today we hired our soils engineer -- Jonathan Miller of Bay City Geology in Santa Monica. So now we have our Civil and Structural Engineer and our Soils Engineer. Hopefully we will be ready to have our preliminary plan check with the City of Los Angeles in about 4-6 weeks. I really need to start working on my take-offs.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Project Sketches and Layout

Here are some preliminary sketches and the final layout. Still adding final touches to elevations. But the house is essentially 2-story, single family residence. 3000 sf. 3 bedrooms w/ optional 4th. 3 bathrooms. family room, dining room. 2 home offices.

We plan on installing solar panels for electricity and water heating, recycled insulation, greywater system (when/if it becomes legal in California). We are taking advantage of sunlight and ocean breezes by strategically placing windows.

There will be a lanaii for entertaining, a vegetable garden, and decorative clothes line for air drying.

Our architect, Jamie Myer has been wonderful in designing a home that achieves our goals.





Friday, July 10, 2009

Books

Because this is a new endeavor for us, I am learning as much as i can as quickly as i can. I'm currently reading "Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies" by Eric Corey Freed and "The Complete Guide To Contracting Your Home" by Dave McGuerty & Kent Lester.

Any other recommended reading? Leave me a comment.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

UPDATE

Okay, with thanks to our architect, Jamie Myer, we now have an approved layout/design of our new home -- 2-story, 2,653 sf. We just selected our civil and structural engineer - Vanik Abedian, P.E., S.E. of Kartez Engineering. We are now taking bids for our soils report. Also we are in the process of selecting a LEED FOR HOMES provider.


Saturday, June 20, 2009

My wife (Joy) and I decided that we needed more space. Our home is too small for our family. We love our neighborhood in Westchester, CA so moving isn't an option. After considering remodeling vs. new construction, we decided to do a complete rebuild. Because we are environmentally conscious, we want to make our new home a LEED Certified structure. This means more than just installing solar panels. We will need to utilize renewable materials, install energy Star appliances, make use of sunlight, and try to keep the waste from our current home demolition to a minimum.

We are not professional builders, but will act as general contractors in this endeavor. We will be learning on the go.

This blog will chronicle the process of building a green home from design through construction.