27: Ceiling Height

The height of ceilings can have a huge effect on the mood and experience of the rooms in a house. I grew up in the Deep South and have always been attracted to rooms with high ceilings. Here in the Catskill Mountains, I decided to not install central air conditioning, or any air conditioning besides ceiling fans in the two bedrooms. It's rare that there isn't at least a light breeze blowing across Twilight Field and the summers are mostly mild.














Even though the foot print of my house is on the small side, I knew that I wanted to push the height of the rooms as much as possible, which is how I ended up with nine foot ceilings on the first floor, 10 foot ceilings on the second where the rooms are much more partitioned by walls, and a tall house. During the design process, I realized that I wouldn't need an attic with access for storage, because the full basement would give me plenty of storage space. Although the valleys created by the cross gabled roof are steep and cut sharply into the four corners of the house, I also decided to push the second floor's ceiling up to 10 feet and let the roof's valleys cut into the four corners inside. These bump-outs (or bump-ins) are most noticeable in the bedrooms, but they're really not that noticeable. In fact, I think they give the rooms a little character. As you've read before, I was very conscious of trying to incorporate things into the design of the house that would help keep the rooms from feeling like new, perfect boxes. Sometimes that meant letting a few "imperfections" happen and dealing with them logically. In this case, I decided to paint the bump-outs the color of the walls, as opposed to the color of the ceiling, so that they wouldn't create sharp visual points pulling the ceilings down.

22: Tankless Water Heater

I decided to use a Baxi tankless water heater for all of my domestic hot water, as well as the heating needs of the radiant floor system in the house. More and more people are replacing their expired hot water tanks with one of these new models from Europe. Why has it taken Americans (and American manufacturers) so long to catch on? When I first spoke with my local electricity provider, they made me think that it was a bad idea by mumbling something about these machines being very energy demanding. They're not, and I went with a model that runs on propane. I later found out that the local electric company sells tank hot water heaters....wonder why they tried to dissuade me?

Tankless water heaters are extremely efficient in that they only heat water on demand. That means water when you need it for as long as you need it. I guess that doesn't sound very green, but you get the idea. I won't be keeping a tank of water heated 24/7 when it's not needed. Here's a picture of my Baxi. You can also see the faily simple the radiant floor system mounted to the right on the wall. When the interior thermostats call for heat, the system runs water through the Baxi, and these pipes send it to the appropriate plastic tubing that winds back and forth beneath the floors. It's a closed hydroponic system, so it uses the same water over and over again. There is minimal evaporation over time, but the system simply pulls in fresh water as needed. It's all amazingly compact.

14: Exterior Doors

I once thought that I would only use "real" materials for the building of my house, but as I learned about new products on the market—and the realities of my budget—I quickly re-thought things. And, I'm glad I did. In the end, no one wants a new house to become a black hole of maintenance and repairs.

Neighbors across the valley have a really lovely mid-19th century farmhouse, but before it recently sold, I watched the previous owners spend a lot of time (and money) getting things into working order. For instance, the beautiful French doors on an addition to the back of the house are solid wood...and at a certain point had warped and swollen to the point that they wouldn't close completely. Nature can really take a toll on a house, and solid wood doors are not as impervious as you might think. They react to moisture, freezing and thawing—a pretty destructive combination for most natural materials. To get the French doors working again a carpenter had to remove them and plane the edges. And, I'm sure it won't be the last time that those solid wood doors have problems again.

I made a mental note, and when I started specifying materials for my house, I turned to some friends in the industry who know a lot more than I do. One is a former magazine editor who now works for a marketing and public relations firm representing Therma-Tru exterior doors. Their fiberglass doors amazed me. They won't have the weathering and maintenance issues of wood nor will they have the denting, rusting or scratching issues of similar metal doors. While they offer a number of interesting door styles, I decided on their very basic Smooth-Star line, which has the look of painted wood (you paint it the color of your choice). It fits perfectly with my updated farmhouse style, and it comes in two standard sizes. This last detail was especially important for me because I had made a decision to go with 8' doors throughout the house, except for the exterior doors opening to the back and side porch, which are the more typical 6'8" height. In the Smooth-Star line, I was able to get the front door in a very affordable 8' size that adds significantly to the lofty atmosphere of the living and dining room while going with the more standard size in the same style for the other two exterior entries. The doors have been in place for a year and look fantastic. The paint is holding beautifully, and they're incredibly energy efficient. They also have a nice weight to their swing when you're opening and closing them—the kind of subtle detail the is very important to me.

11: Electricity Outlets

I recommend mounting electricity outlets low to the floor, ideally horizontal in the floorboard trim. Electric cords from lamps don't drop to the floor and then climb back up the wall to reach the outlets. And, the walls are simply left visually clean. I may eventually try painting these plates to make them disappear even more.

10: Radiant Heat

Radiant heat systems are really easy to install during construction, and if there's crawl space under an existing house, the system can still be installed without too much trouble. Getting it under the second floor of an existing house would be a different issue, but the installation downstairs and upstairs went quickly in my house—maybe a couple of days for the whole system. I'm utilizing a closed loop hydronic system which means that water is heated and pushed through a network of plastic tubes stapled to the sub-floors of the house. Basically, there are two runs of the tube between each floor beam, and they're covered with a sheet of something that looks like metallic bubble wrap to push the heat up into the floor and house. My system is very basic with one zone for the first floor and a second for the upstairs.













There were a few things that I did learn about radiant heat:

- It works under most surfaces, but it never really makes stone surfaces feel warm. They just feel neutral, which is not bad at all. Upstairs I used engineered wood planks, which do feel a little warm to the touch, especially if something has been covering the surface for a period of time. But, no surface is ever hot.
- The rooms heated by the system feel pleasantly neutral in temperature. I keep my thermostats set at 69 degrees. As I understand the principle, warmth under foot makes you feel warmer than heat blowing around or radiating from above. I find that if the system is set at anything higher it can feel uncomfortably warm–but I guess that's very subjective.
- When I'm away for more than a day or two, I'll lower the thermostats to 55 degrees to conserve energy. It does, though, take six or more hours to bring the house back up to 69 degrees when I return. Radiant heat systems are not meant to change interior temperatures quickly. Think of them as slow, steady, efficient heat.
- It's a blessedly quiet system to operate and the interior air doesn't dry out from forced hot air, which is the worst in my opinion.
- My closed loop system is filled with plain water. Sometimes people will add a little anti-freeze fluid that can be purchased for a system, but with the insulation in my house, I'm not worried about any potential freeze situations.

4: Warm Hearth

We're getting a lot of snow this week, and I've been thinking a lot about how much I like my Tulikivi fireplace. I had originally thought I would buy a wood burning stove for the house, but the wise people at Mountain Flame convinced me to push my budget and invest in this Tulikivi. I'll admit that I had a serious panic attack early one morning after placing the order. I was spending 3 times more than I had planned to spend on a Rais wood burning stove. But, I'm glad I listened to them and found the money to go this route. I think of the Tulikivi as a machine as much as a fireplace. It's so much more efficient than a regular fireplace, and once it's heated it emits the most relaxing heat from the soap stone. There are many styles and designs. I chose one of the more simple ones, and Mountain Flame added a bench that wraps nicely around the corner of the wall in the living room. Stone cold, it takes about three loads of wood to get the soapstone up to a room-warming temperature. The bay front glass doors give maximum viewing from just about anywhere in the living area (even a bit in the kitchen) and allow easy access. I really like the fact that they keep sparks and hot coals from popping out. The Tulikivi features several levers that allow you to control the rate of burn by controlling the flow of air into the fireplace. Internal vent chambers move the heat and exhaust around inside before sending it up the chimney, which really maximizes the heat from the fire. Below the fire chamber is a door with a drawer inside to catch ash. Like I said, Tulikivis are really efficient. The one maintenance issue is with the glass doors, they have to be cleaned periodically depending on the amount of smoke and soot generated by the fire. But, even that little chore is easy with a little spray and wipe.

Fireside

Spring may not seem to be the most obvious time to talk about fireplaces, but here in the Catskills the nights are still cool. In the depths of winter, a roaring fire feels like a necessity of life. On a really cool spring night, it's more of a real luxury. Daylight stretches into later hours, and a glowing fire is just the thing to take the chill off the house.

When I was first working on the plans for my house, I thought I wanted a modern wood-burning stove. I was avoiding a full blown traditional fireplace for budgetary reasons, and I had seen some really good looking wood-burning stoves. I had visited Mountain Flame in Arkville, New York, to look at the Rais stoves but ended up being sold on a soapstone Tulikivi.

All of this was about the time that I was having panic attacks over the reality of what it costs to build a new house, but Marcia Olenych, who owns Mountain Flame with her husband Brian, is a wise, soft-spoken saleswoman. After a couple of conversations, she knew what I wanted (and needed) better than I did. Before I knew it, though, I was committing to a soapstone fireplace that was about 3-4 times more expensive than what I thought I was going to spend on a fireplace...or stove.

A few nights later, I woke up around 3am in a panic that I was spending so much more than I had originally planned. But, when I stopped by the showroom on my way upstate the next weekend, my anxiety had diminished and Marcia's calm demeanor convinced me to relax and find a way to pay for the Tulikivi. It's what I needed.

Manufactured in Finland, these fireplaces operate with the precision of a machine and all the wonderful heat and beauty of an open hearth, maybe even more so. My order was placed in early July, and the "firebox" was here and installed by November.

Marcia had helped me select a simple bow-fronted design that Brian customized with a side bench, which wraps around a projecting corner of the living room. The Tulikivi anchors the room and the soapstone surround gives the house a wonderful sense of permanence and weight.

Back in the winter, 3-4 "burnings" would heat up the stone, and the fireplace would radiate a soft warmth for hours. I eventually learned to close the damper after the last wood had burned to coals, and I'd often find the fireplace still warm the next morning. These fireplaces are really efficient. Last summer during a visit to Mountain Flame, I noticed that the Tulikivis in the showroom actually helped cool the space. Protected from the sun, they'd hold the cool of the night when the day heated up. Their stone mass seem to have many benefits. So, I'm looking forward to seeing if the same thing happens here this summer.

But, back to the operation of the Tulikivi, they take a little getting used to. Unlike traditional fireplaces, they offer a couple of ways to control the intake of air, which allows you to really control the burning of the wood. At first, I wasn't sure about the glass doors, but they help radiate the heat and prevent smoke or sparks from spilling into the room. The doors do have to be washed daily when you're burning fires, but the little tint of soot comes off easily with a cleaning spray. I discovered it works better with newspaper rather than paper towel, and it's now simply become a part of my fire-making ritual.

When I lit the first fire back in the winter, the house seemed to come to life and take it's first breath of air. I don't regret one penny extra that I spent on this Tulikivi. I enjoy every minute it's filled with dancing flames and radiating its soft warmth.

Light My Fire

The fireplace is finally installed. When I first started planning the house, I thought I wanted a wood burning stove, something clean and modern like a RAIS. They're beautiful units that I've thought about for a long time, and they're a lot less expensive than a full-blown fireplace.

A RAIS is what I thought I wanted, that is until I visited the local dealer who also represents Tulikivi. Made in Finland, these beautiful wood-burning "machines" are seductive. Encased in soapstone, they're a much more substantial fireplace...and (surprise) more expensive. The good people of Mountain Flame in Arkville, New York don't have to say a lot about Tulikivi fireplaces. The models in their showroom speak for themselves. They offer the hypnotic allure of dancing flames as the wood burns in combination with a soft, soothing heat that radiates from the fire-warmed stone. I was also particularly impressed and interested in how safely they operate. Tulikivis are designed to burn with their glass doors closed. So I can have a fire with out worrying about leaving it unattended if I need to leave the house or head back to the city before the fire is completely burned out.

I confess that the switch from RAIS to Tulikivi wasn't without few panic attacks. The night after I mailed in my deposit to get the order started, I woke up at 4 am in a sweat thinking I'd lost my mind for deciding to spend about three times more than I had set out to spend on a fireplace. But, the good people of Mountain Flame helped calm me. When I look at the newly installed Tulikivi, though, there's no doubt that I made the right decision. I like clean lines, and Mountain Flame designed a fireplace the is perfect in scale for the house with a simple, solid shape. . It's positioned in the living area of the first floor on the corner of the half-bath that projects into the room. There it's now a visual anchor and an axis for the core of the house.

I love the subtle variations in the markings of the soap stone, but I did have a second panic attack when I noticed (immediately) after installation that the center stone of the mantel was significantly different in shade from the colors of the surround stone. It's just the kind of thing that can drive my Virgo nature crazy. I contacted Mountain Flame last night and owners Brian and Marcia came by the house first thing this morning to double check the installation and ease my concern. I learned that these fireplaces are very much alive—by that I mean the stone might and will change to various degrees over time as the fireplace heats and cools and even from the repeated touch of hands. This is why it comes with a maintenance kit for occasional cleaning and light hand-buffing of any stone that might change shades of color over the years. A few simple wipes of the stone around the mantel with the provided sandpaper and Brian easily blended the shades of the mantel stone.

I haven't lit a fire yet because Mountain Flame can't install the last pieces of stone around the flue until the beaded board is installed on the ceiling, which I'm hoping will get done in the next couple of weeks. I can already see the fire glowing in the fireplace. Visit the Tulikivi web site to read more on these amazing fireplaces. If you're in the market, I believe you'll be seduced like I was. I don't think there's anything else quite like them.

Sheetrock

This morning, a team of guys were putting up Sheetrock. They started yesterday, finishing most of the first floor. I knew it would really change the feeling of the rooms. Before the Sheetrock, they added a second layer of insulation that is a soft fiberglass-type batting. It really makes the house sound hushed. It's being added to all the exterior walls and the interior walls between the bedrooms and on the first floor between the bathroom and the living room to function as a sound barrier.

A bubble wrap-looking insulation for the radiant floor was also installed over the tubing attached beneath the subfloors. The tubes for the system where installed a couple of weeks ago, and the network of pipes were mounted to a control panel in the basement utility room. The boiler, which will heat the water in the system, is surprisingly small. It's not much bigger than a suitcase, and it includes the tankless hot water heater for the kitchen and bathrooms. It's a new system from Italy.

Lightning Protection

From the moment the second floor of the house was framed, I worried about lighting strikes. I'm in a high mountain valley at about 2,200 feet with no really large trees around me. The house is situated in an old stone-walled pasture, and the trees that have started reclaiming the hillside are just starting to get some size. The house looked like a sitting target for a lightning strike.

There have been a lot of big storms this summer. Several times I've headed into the Catskills just as a storm rolled in and was astonished at the frequency of dramatic strikes on the mountain side. Mark had never installed lightning rods on any of his projects, which was kind of surprising, because every barn and house I've seen in the area has lightning rods—so many that you'd think there would be a lot of people in the business of installing them. But, there aren't. I turned to the Internet and found two sources, one in Vermont and one in Delaware. So, I called them to ask for quotes. The Vermont company faxed me a very detailed and elaborate plan, but it was more than twice what they had tentatively quoted me over the telephone. The other company, WB Lightning Rods out of Bear, Delaware gave me a quote about the same as the other company's telephone quote...and that was that.

William Burden turned out to be a great choice. I was a little nervous, because he didn't ask for a deposit (pretty unusual today), and he said that summer is the business' busiest season. But, true to his word, he arrived earlier today and within about six hours had the necessary four rods installed and the chimney also grounded.

I feel a lot better knowing that the system is in place, and I'm going to have my electrician also install a surge protector on the electric panel and the incoming telephone line. I've learned that lightning strikes can travel from telephone poles and public utility wires. When you start looking at the statistics for lightning strikes, you don't want to take any chances.

Insulation

One of the benefits of a new house is the high-tech materials that can make a house really energy efficient and comfortable. The guys have finished with the first layer of insulation in the exterior walls. They've used a product called TUFF-R, which is a polyisocyanurate insulation. (I can spell it, but don't ask me to pronounce it.) This may not be the sexy or exciting side of building, but I'm really looking forward to warm rooms on cold winter nights. I can already feel the difference the insulation makes. Saturday was probably the hottest day so far this summer, and the house was noticeably cooler. TUFF-R's foam core is sheathed with aluminum foil, which acts as a radiant barrier. As I understand it, insulation can only absorb so much heat before it starts working against you by literally holding the heat and radiating it inside the house when you'd rather it cool down. Simply put, the foil prevents this from happening.

All of the seams have been filled with an expandable foam making this layer an excellent barrier against "wind infiltration." Now, the walls are ready for electrical wiring and plumbing to be installed, followed by a layer of insulation batting over it all.