Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a Toilet!

Yes, folks, that's right! The place finally feels like a home again, with a brand-new toilet in the master-bathroom. In addition, Ryan is able to save quite a bit of time now that he doesn't have to run back to the apartment to use a toilet! We picked out a toilet made by the company Toto that is super-quiet, low-flow, highly rated, reasonably priced toilet. The same model will also be installed in the other two bathrooms.

In order to have the toilet in place, we obviously had to do some plumbing first. Ryan's Dad Mike popped down for about five days and they roughed in all the basic plumbing. We are running the water through a manifold in the basement, which allows each fixture to run directly to the main water line for the house. This is a newer, but increasingly popular practice that prevents excess water-use, because the water does not have to travel as far as if all the fixtures were hooked to one line. The manifold then connects to a hot-water heater. We have purchased two tankless water heaters, which Ryan is preparing to install. We have one for domestic hot-water, which means fixtures that includes, showers, sinks etc. The other is for our radiant heating system. Traditional water heaters with large tanks constantly hold an and heat water, using energy even if the system does not require hot-water at the time. Tankless hot-water heaters are more efficient because they do not heat the water until it is requested.

In addition to the plumbing inside the house, a new sewer line needed to be tied in between the house and the city system. A private company had been doing road work in the area and since the installation of the new sewer line required some serious digging and removal of sidewalk, Ryan asked if they wouldn't mind doing the job. They agreed and quickly renewed the line and put in a new section of sidewalk for us. When Mike and Ryan were done they called the local water company to come hook-up the water. The woman who came by said she had been working our neighborhood for fourteen years and the water had never been hooked up to the house since she had been working.

In a few weeks, I should have more time to actually spend at the house getting my hands dirty, but for the time being Ryan and I have been spending a ton of time online looking for kitchen and bath furniture and fixtures. We're looking for fairly minimalist fixtures, without a look that is too modern. We've picked out kitchen and bathroom faucet fixtures that complement each other, an almost black, brushed granite sink for the kitchen, simple sinks and a tub for the upstairs bath with very clean lines and shower-heads that incorporate air, so that one third of what comes through them is air instead of all water. This greatly reduces water-usage. Ryan still has to get final prices, before we place our order.

We have also moved ahead on lighting. Denise, an interior and lighting designer in the area, who is in the process of getting LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, came out to consult on lighting. We are waiting for her final suggestions, before we go ahead with all the lighting fixtures and ceiling fans.

In the next few days, Ryan and I are taking a walk down to the local appliance store. We'd really like to go through them for our kitchen appliances and the washer-dryer. There are a lot of different products out there and we're hoping they can help us narrow down our options and get everything ordered in the next few weeks.

As the deadline approaches, about two months until move-in, Ryan has realized that dry-walling the entire house himself, just isn't in the cards, so he's in the process of getting estimates for someone to come in and do the drywall. Meanwhile, the roofers are due in the next week or two and we're finalizing our decision on which insulation installer to go with. It looks like three-inches thick of the high -efficiency, blow-in insulation might be more than we need and more than we can afford, so we are most likely going to go with two inches.

Writing these entries is actually quite helpful in keeping our motivation up. As I write this, I realize that we're really moving along. With progress and all the purchases that go along with it, inevitably come budget issues. We are certainly going to be maxing-out ours, which can be stressful, but I think we're both starting to realize that you hardly ever get anything great out of something without also risking quite a bit to get there.

Ryan is definitely stressed, trying to get the house ready for move-in, while still moving ahead on his other job, but each time we stop to take a second and look around at the progress on the house, it's exciting to see how far we've come. It's not only exciting to see our own house, but also to see the community become more and more interested in Green Construction. Ryan spoke at a recent community panel discussion on green-building that was attended by over 50 people and he's already heard from people interested in having work done.