Building a new house: from foundation to finishing, and all the woodworking

[mreza Salav]

As some of you might know from my lates threads, we are building a new house and I have taken up this as an opportiunity to use my woodworking skills (as a hobby) into some serious work. I have posted several threads about my interior doors builds:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?205854-Building-a-few-interior-doors&highlight=
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?210969-Second-batch-of-doors&highlight=
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?214011-3rd-%28and-Final%29-batch-of-interior-doors&highlight=

The entry door build:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?207022-Building-an-entry-door-%28work-in-progress-%29&highlight=

some columns:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?215562-Built-a-few-columns&highlight=

and posts for railing (to be followed):

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?217053-Stair-railing-and-posts&highlight=

It is a 2 storey house, design is my own.
Here I plan to document this build in one post starting from Sept of last year when we started digging the ground.
These photos show the excavation, footing, and foundation (for basement wall):

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[mreza Salav]

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Then it was weeping tile, water proofing (from inside and outside) and full membrane all around the foundation:

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And back fill:

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By the time we were starting framing (Nov) winter had already started here:

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[mreza Salav]

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The framing was finished right on Christmass eve, the crews were working until 5:00pm that day!

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In the new year, we started working on the roof as well as rough-in for electrical and plumbing inside:

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[mreza Salav]

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We poured the basement floor in the dead of the winter. It was extremely cold that day and I had two heaters running to keep the temp high enough:

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Spring came (and all the slush) and we started working on the exterior of the house as well:

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[mreza Salav]

The exterior siding was finished back in June with only a portion left around the entry door that will be finished after I install the door (hopefully done in the next few weeks):295200295199295202

The curved staris were also installed in May that was 1.5 months later than originally planned! I will try to do the railings myself (hopefully soon again)

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[mreza Salav]

For insulating the exterior walls we used spray foam at 4.5-5" thick, that should give an R-value of about 32.
There were a crew with two big trucks that did the whole house in 5 days. They said they have done very few houses with this much foam in the walls. There is also a main floor bedroom with vaulted ceiling that I have 9" of foam (R60). The second floor ceiling will have blow-in R60 insulation as well. Everybody not wearing mask had to be out while they were working but I managed to get a pic just about when they were starting (and left soon after).

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[mreza Salav]

It was around mid June this year that we poured the garage floor.
While the drywallers were sanding we did some exterior work. They also did the entry steps. These guys do an excellent job (same that did the basement floor). The floor is smooth as glass. Next is to insulate and drywall the garage, and hopefully move to finishing stage inside. I think I'll love that 12' ceiling in my shop

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[mreza Salav]

Now we are at the finishing stage inside and most of my days are spent there as I'm doing a lot of work myself. I have a (good) finish carpenter who will do the standard jobs (installing doors, casings, crowns, etc) but I am doing some major works myself. First thing was to install some arches and those columns I built a while ago (see thread above).

The columns are going to be at the enterance of living and dining room. There are also two arches with corbels on the ends, one between living/dining room, and one for the enterance to family room.

First I build the major curved pieces in my current house; they are 3/4" Maple sheet and I use 1/4" sheet over to make the panel, plus a 1/4" quarter round over (seen later). The first few pics show the little jig I made to get 2 1/4" wide curved pieces. The first cut is made from a template, then a bushing and a circle with a little piece. The radius of the circle attached to the bottom of the router is exactly 2 1/4".

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Then I make some backings for the arches. The pictures should be clear.

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[mreza Salav]

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Since the columns will be close to a wall at one side and would be difficult to stain after they are installed I stain/lacqure them now.

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Here I am installing the columns. A tricky task that took a lot of thinking to figure out how to do to secure them to the floor without any fastneres visible anywhere.
There is a beam right below them (so no way to screw from below either).

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Under the arches I have put bending ply which then gets veneered with maple. Another tricky task that I had never done but they turned out great I think:
Three of them will have lights (that's what the wires haning are for). I'll cut the holes for Push-in lights later.

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[mreza Salav]

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Here are my high tech tools for cutting miters with 1/4" quarter round overs that get applied to the inside of the panels.

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It is almost done and I should be able to move on to the fire place mantel next....

[Peter Hartman]

I don't envy you.

[Victor Robinson]

There ARE people out there as crazy as me. Been looking forward to this thread, Mreza.

[Tom M King]

Looking Great!!

[Pat Barry]

What a project! Its got to be super satisfying and stressful at the same time. Good luck with everything

[Chris Padilla]

Wow...keep the pics coming! This is SO cool to see, Mreza, and fantastic work by you as well!

[Bruce Page]

Beautiful work Mreza, your craftsmanship really shows!
I've been looking forward to this thread as well.

[mreza Salav]

thank you folks. I'll keep updating this thread. Lots to come...

[Victor Robinson]

thank you folks. I'll keep updating this thread. Lots to come...

Hopefully you're writing a book on this that will guide future.....er....adventurers?

[Mike Ontko]

Jaw-dropping to say the least! Nice touch on the paneled arches and column work--especially the corbels and contrasting materials.

[mreza Salav]

This past week we had our drive way poured:


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And while they were working outside I was working inside putting together the entry door I built last year.

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Here I am gluing the lock/top/bottom rail and the mullion in one step (without panels) as it's a complicated glue up to do in one shot:


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[mreza Salav]

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here it is after those pieces glued/sanded and ready to put the whole thing together; as posted in the entry door build thread the panels are floating with a 1/2" foam in between the two (layers of panel).

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Each of these pieces is too heavy to move solo, so I got the help of my FIL. Even for two moving the jamb and sides is not easy so we moved our bench very close to where the final place of the door is so that once the jamb is glued we simply slide it down from the bench to its place:

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And finally here it is standing with all the hardware installed, it opens and closes beautifully with a small tight gap all around:

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I'll be staining it soon and hopefully hanging the whole thing in the next few days...

[Phil Thien]

Very nice work. Love all the attention to detail.

And the spray-in foam.

[Jerry Olexa]

VERY nice work/results!!!!

[mreza Salav]

Thank you. Still lots of work to be done (by me)...

[Silas Smith]

Beautiful house, but the most important question is "how big is that shop (garage)?"

[Jeff Heil]

Very nice to see someone else's home building project come together. We built our dream home a year ago and enjoyed the process. I admire your craftsmanship and I can appreciate working full-time on building a home and working full-time at a day job. Thanks for sharing!

[mreza Salav]

Well we have 3+1 car garage. I have added a wall between the 2-bay and the rest. The two bay will be the garage (for cars) and the other section which is the single (wide) bay plus an extra space at the back will be for the shop. The following shows the measurements and rough placement of machines. Not big enough but I think will be good.

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[John Piwaron]

The entire house, not just the door, looks spectacular. Your work makes mine look pitiful and lame in comparison. I am not worthy. :)

Seriously - great work. I can learn something from how you assembled your door.

[mreza Salav]

Finally, this Sat we installed the entry door. The weather was very good and I managed to get the stain on as well as a couple of coats of top coat but then the weather took a nose dive on Sunday and it has been too damn cold.

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I was also working on a fire place mantel lately. Sorry I didn't take a lot of pics particularly I forgot to take a photo before I wrapped the posts but I have the older photos of the posts I made so you can guess how they look (after stain). Still have to add those 1/4" rounds to the panels and a few pieces around the tiles after the grout is done

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These are the posts for mantel which are the scaled down versions of those pillars I made for the arches.

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And here are the headers for the doors/windows with the return added/glued. The material had a slight variation in width so I am running them all over the table saw to get a consistent result:

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[mreza Salav]

And I am staining some of the crown mouldings. I have decided to have them installed pre-finished as staining them up there (especially at 19' high ceiling) is not something I would like to do.

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[mreza Salav]

With the entry door installed I got into the next project:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?207022-Building-an-entry-door-%28work-in-progress-%29

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Railing for the stairs and beyond:

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I'll post more pics soon (hopefully)...

[mreza Salav]

I have finished the glue-up of all the railing pieces. Doing the 16' long ones was a big of a challenge to say the least. Here is how one of them came out:
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To smooth and plane these 3D pieces I am using 3 routers with flush trim bits at different heights:
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I'm also making 4 small wall sections at the ends of the runs to veneer. here is one of them being made and veneered on from both sides (I have the photo from one side only):

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I have also made this jig to shape the profiles. It grabs the piece between two high tension springs (that can be adjusted with a knob) and the router bit bearing. It works extremely well!

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[mreza Salav]

The rest of the photo of the veneering:

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And here is how one of the long pieces ready for shaping (after smoothing):

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Here is the shaping in action on one of the long sections. I use 3 different size bearings and do the cut in 3 passes:

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[mreza Salav]

This is the cross section of one of the 2D pieces:

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And here I'm using the 2nd bit for the profile (top round over with the crown). Again I'm doing it in multiple passes:

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I have to make the shoes and then drill the spindle holes and start putting things together...

[Bruce Page]

Mreza, where did you learn all this? What is your day job?

You do amazing work!

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Bruce. I haven't had a teacher other than the Internet and forums like this. Most of these things I'm doing are my first times but I plan ahead a lot (lots of thinking and reading) to make sure I know what I'm about to dive into.
As for my day job, I'm a university teacher/researcher (AKA professor).

[James Zhu]

Thanks Bruce. I haven't had a teacher other than the Internet and forums like this. Most of these things I'm doing are my first times but I plan ahead a lot (lots of thinking and reading) to make sure I know what I'm about to dive into.
As for my day job, I'm a university teacher/researcher (AKA professor).

WOW, the result is simply amazing for the first time for such challenging task! University professors are smart, but lots of them lack hands on skill, but you are certainly exceptional. I have no doubt you are qualified master woodworking teacher.

[James Zhu]

Well we have 3+1 car garage. I have added a wall between the 2-bay and the rest. The two bay will be the garage (for cars) and the other section which is the single (wide) bay plus an extra space at the back will be for the shop. The following shows the measurements and rough placement of machines. Not big enough but I think will be good.

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If I had a workshop like this, I would keep the sawstop and add a sliding table saw (Felder or MiniMax), and use a Felder Dust Collector (RL125 or RL60).

[Scott Stafford]

Keep up all the positive writing!

We started a new home last year and I'm now hoping it doesn't kill me before it's finished. Just entered year two and hope to be moved in Summer 2016.

Keep the updates coming!

Scott in Montana

[mreza Salav]

Keep it up Scott. I had a serious accident back in May. Among all the things I have done in the house the simplest one caused it. While walking on a 2' high deck fell down with face on a deck joist and lost two teeth (plus a fractured jaw). It could have been a lot worse but I was lucky (or so the Dr's in ER told me).
It has taken us a lot longer than I hoped for (just entered year two last month) but I hope we enjoy the end result.

[Jim Becker]

Really outstanding, Mreza!

[Scott Stafford]

Noted!

Never let my guard down.

Scott in Montana

[mreza Salav]

still busy with the railing but it is coming to an end soon (or so I hope).
Here are some photos which should be self explanatory. All that is left is:

- install spindles on the main floor to second floor stairs,
- put some trims around the stairs and make panel looking trims on the outside of the stringers
- remove all the railings and sand everything,
- Stain them partially (particularly the shoes and the bottom of the railings as it is easier to do it without the spindles)
and then put them back and lacquer.

I have not put the knuckles on the spindles yet.
Cutting the strange miter/bevel angles at the end of the long 3D railing and adding small parts to the end to join them to the posts was challenging to do solo on a miter saw (I tried a manual miter saw box and it was disappointing). I don't want to admit how many times I cut those angles (little by little, try and error) and went up and down the stairs with that long rail to see how it fits.
You can see in the photos I made two temporary holders/stands from 2x4 on the middle of the stairs to hold the railing while I was measuring the angles at the top and bottom against the posts. Let's just say that it took me a good portion of a day just to cut that long railing and add a piece at the end to joint the post at the top. The one from main floor to the basement was even worse (a 14' long piece that is no made up of joining 5 pieces).

Having said that drilling the holes at the bottom of the 3D rail and mortising it has probably been one of the most difficults part of this project.

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Drilling the spindle holes on the stairs at the basement (BTW that's one part that I made a wall and veneered myself):

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Sharp eyes might notice that the posts at the bottom of the stairs are different from what I initially had made. I changed the 2-level skirt on them to one long one. Then they are cut to the shape of the first step as it sits partially on that.
I also made two smaller posts for the basement landing as the big ones I had made were too massive for that area.
I will post the finial photos of everything when stained.

[mreza Salav]

I had not noticed my thread had moved from the main woodworking forum to here. It is mostly about all the woodworking I'm doing in the new house
(from doors, to trim work, railing, next cabinets, etc). As it is ongoing woodworking I felt posting it in the main woodworking forum was right, and then perhaps posting the final result here
but I guess not.:confused:

[Jim Becker]

mreza, I moved it here awhile ago where we feature both finished projects and WIP threads. It will also be more visible here as it doesn't "move" as fast as GW&PT does on a daily basis. And for this work of art, keeping it all together is a beautiful thing!

Jim
SMC Moderator

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Jim, it's just that many people don't check other forums and those who have been following this thread might not see it. That's why I preferred it there.

[mreza Salav]

Well the past couple of months I have been busy with lots of things. I ended up hand sanding all the trim work myself as I couldn't find anybody doing it. It was a ton of work, a LOT of sanding. Then the next 1.5 months was busy staining and top coating. Then I installed the railings and the past week or so doing some touch ups here and there. So after spraying 4 gallons of stain and over 18 gallons of top coat here are the photos of the things. I know things didn't turn out perfect (e.g. there is a slight difference in the shade of crowns and some adjacent work as I had finished the crowns months ago before they were installed) but I think it didn't turn out too bad either. The effect of natural light, my camera flash, and the projectors that I have give a different tone to the colors in the pictures but they are not that different when you see it in person.

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Doing this strange angle cut on both ends on the main-to-second floor railing was the most stress-full and difficult task I've ever done.
It took me a good part of the day to cut that piece and I was doing it solo (nobody to hold the railing at any point or...). That was difficult.
Similarly for the main-to-basement. That included 5 separate pieces.

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[mreza Salav]

more pics

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[mreza Salav]

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That's it for now. I have now started working on the cabinets. You can see the temporary spray booth I've made to do my staining.
It yet again another big project with many boxes and doors. I have to rush this as my painters are coming to start around mid Feb.
I hope I can get the staining done and perhaps put up the boxes (or at least most of them).

[Rick Moyer]

Absolutely gorgeous. You should be very proud.

[Bruce Page]

Proud indeed! I just keep sayin' WOW! with each picture. When will you be moving in?

[mreza Salav]

Thank you.
Bruce I really like to move sooner but I'm busy at my day job since Jan and can only spend 2-3 days a week (weekends plus maybe an extra day), aside from the evenings when I go after I get home from work. I am gussing spring/summer of this year.

[John TenEyck]

Amazing work, Mreza. Could you explain which stain and finishing products you used and how you applied them? It looks even more impressive now that it's finished.

John

[mreza Salav]

Stain is my own mix of General Finishes RTM stains (basically their #89 and #104 color 50+50). Applied by spraying very lightly multiple passes.
The top coat is their pre-cat Urethane, sprayed twice, then sanded, then applied twice again.

[Jim Becker]

Absolutely OUTSTANDING craftsmanship!

[mreza Salav]

Thanks everybody for the kind words.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Mreza- At the risk of being sappy... This is inspiring, and these aren't $5 words... I read through this thread and it makes me want to do what you're doing... get off my butt, put the computer away and get into the shop, resist my impatient tendencies and work with an mind for the permanence of my projects... do the best job I can even if nobody other than me will appreciate the result, let alone the process... So yeah. Inspiring, man. Way to go and thanks for documenting this. Please do keep it up!!!

[Jerry Olexa]

Again, VERY nice results!!Great attention detail...Remarkable!! Well done...

[mreza Salav]

Well, after almost two years we are ready to move to the new house this weekend. There are a few small things left but they will be done after we move. The carpet (on stair threads only) will be done on Monday. Here are some final pics. As you see I have already started moving some boxes.

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[mreza Salav]

more pics

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[Mel Fulks]

Certainly a giant undertaking for someone not in the biz to take on ,and done well....you have made me think about being a university professor !

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Mel. I wouldn't want to do it again, ever!

[Bruce Page]

HOUSE PARTY!! We'll be right over!

Thanks for bringing us along on the build, I've enjoyed it.

[mreza Salav]

Thank you Bruce. If you ever come up here I'd be glad to have you over for a chat/drink.

[Yonak Hawkins]

mreza, you probably covered this already but what is your favorite finishing method ?

[mreza Salav]

I'm no expert in finishing by any stretch, the product line I used was General Finishes pre-cat Urethane. The stain was a mix of some of their RTM.
These are all WB. I simply couldn't (and wouldn't want) to use solvent based lacquer in such a large scale in the whole house.

[James Tibbetts]

A gigantic undertaking to say the least.
Very classy without being the least bit pretentious. Superbly done!!!

[mreza Salav]

Thanks James.

Today is the moving day. All packed up and ready for the movers to come...

[Raymond Fries]

What a beautiful home. Enjoy it always...

[Mark Stutz]

Absolutely stunning, and clearly a labor of love.

[mreza Salav]

Back to making more things for the house. I have setup my shop in the new house and am ready to make things.
There were a few things I didn't do when finishing the house simply because I didn't want to delay moving to the new house and/or rush building them. One of them being the walk-in closet for our master bedroom. I started this project last week.
The closet is 8'x10' that is bare right now. The shelving will be from maple (and ply maple) and will be stained like the rest of the trim work in the house.

First task is to cut down all the plywood parts.

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Some of the shelves will have puck light LED's. I've made a template for them and route out the spot for them. The wiring will be hidden.

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There will be 4 doors and 8 drawers, they will be built like the rest of cabinets we have in the house.
The parts for doors are made on the shaper and the drawer parts are made on the router table. The parts for the door frames are cut a little wider, they will be ripped to proper width after the profile is shaped.

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The make the panels for the drawer fronts I found it easier to make one large panel to do the profile on the narrow pieces and then cut them to size:

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[mreza Salav]

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The panels for the doors are made on the shaper and here is a dry fit of one drawer and door.

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Glued up all the doors and drawer fronts. Here is the simple jig to speed up making domino holes:

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[mreza Salav]

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I hate sanding and have been busy doing just that for all the parts, mostly done except for the gables.
Did I say I hate sanding? Then will start staining/finishing them all.

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[Patrick Walsh]

Pretty awesome. What a dream!

I am a builder foundation to finish so i understand what you are up against all the way through.

Forgive me i did not read the whole thread. Are you doing all the interior trim, cabinetry and mill work? Or just pieces that matter most to you?

If not and just pieces how is that going over with the other subs you have hired.

I know in the years i have been a contractor the farmer always has something to say about the foundation guy, the finish carpenter something about framer and the cabinet guy something about all of the above, the stone guy something about the cabinet guy and on and on and on.

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Patrick. Here are the things I did myself:
- built the entry door (was challenging).
- built all (31) interior doors and the door jambs.
- Made the stair railing and the hollow posts for them (most challenging thing I'd done was the 3D curves solo).
- bought the cabinet doors (130+ of them) and did everything else for the cabinets myself, boxes, columns, range hood,
- I did the arches/columns/fire-place mantel, the rest of mill work (casing, basebords, closet shelves, crowns) I hired a finisher to do as I had way too much on my hands.
- Did all the staining of woods.

I was the general contractor and was pretty much checking all the subs (and occationally fixing after them myself).

[mreza Salav]

Still working on the walk in closet, it has taken a lot longer than I thought. This is a rough sketch of how it is supposed to look (skipping a lot of details, just to get a sense of proportions):

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I stained/finished all the parts the first photo shows the sheets and the doors/drawer fronts. Started assembling them, some of them were assembled inside the closet, tight spot (it is a 8x10' room).
Still have to put some trims on it but they have to wait until the granite top is installed. Am working on the crown moulding installation and pulling the wires for the LED lights.
Sorry for the bad quality photos. It was hard to try to avoid the light in the camera.

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[Jaccen Stein]

An extreme build. Your resolve to take it on is greater than most.

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Jaccen. Most of the work is done and we have been living in it for 6-7 months now.

[mreza Salav]

Finally our walk in closet is finished as well. I'm happy with the end result.
Sorry about the qaulity of the photos (off my cell phone camera).

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[Andrew Hughes]

Looks great Mr Mreza,You have that finish schedule down pat!

[Al Launier]

Congratulations on an outstanding design & craftsmanship!

I did a very similar thing from design onward, except I had to employ contractors to construct the home. My design oriented around a formal foyer & developed from there. My favorite inside view is from the second level ovelooking several rooms below as it is an open concept design.

Your skills are very enviable. One thing I did, and I see you are doing, is take many, many pictures, especially of the wiring & plumbing. This becomes very useful should a problem occur, or changes are required to the original construction, especially when concerned with the location of the wiring & piping.

Looking forward to the rest of your build. Well done indeed!

[mreza Salav]

Thanks Andrew and Al.

[john looser]

Beautiful work Mreza , The entire house looks great !

[mreza Salav]

After about 8 years moving in, I am now finishing the basement. Did the framing, plumbing and electrical in the fall. Drywall and taping was contracted out. Had to move some drain pipes in the concrete as well.

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Did a trench for wire for the island for the kitchen/bar (to be built).

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Now I am finishing. Built and installed the doors (photos were posted in the other thread). Did some wainscotting in the home theater.
Need to do some closet/storage shelving. I hope I can finish finishing in a week or two and move on to building cabinets.
This time I am doing the boxes AND the doors myself, as the main kitchen in the house it will be walnut and I try to match the profile on the doors.

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[Frederick Skelly]

That looks great Mreza!

[Jim Becker]

The level of workmanship you show is top notch, Mreza!! Congrats on the progress of this big project! That's going to be a wonderful space in your home.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Mreza, great workmanship. Wish i had your energy. Best, Patrick

[mreza Salav]

Thank you all.

[mreza Salav]

Finally finished everything in the basement. Except to put on the under cabinet lights, towel holders in the bathrooms, and hang the speakers in home theatre.

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[mreza Salav]

more photos. Have to buy one more row of seating.

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[Frederick Skelly]

Wow! I continue to be in awe of your workmanship Mreza!

[Jim Becker]

Pretty darn stunning work, Mreza!!!!

[Bruce Page]

Stunning work is an understatement! When do you find the time for that exerciser?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bravo! Bravo!

[mreza Salav]

Thank you all.