Exactly what we needed- One week of rain!

Abe has been working hard to finish the masonry work by this weekend because there's one week of solid rain in the forecast- and by Sunday 4PM it had already begun. The site looks like a local Cristo Project- again- and we probably have to wait a full week before we can resume construction again.
This means a one week break in the schedule- but it also means that the concrete can cure and develop the required strength before the walls can be waterproofed and backfilled.
In the first week of February then, we estimate to start with the wood framing- basement interior walls and the first floor framing will start to go in place.

Going up fast

We're now eight weeks into construction and with the foundation and slab poured 2 weeks ago, the CMU walls are almost up to full height now. The photo shows the shot blasted wall in the basement recreation room that will be left exposed as a decorative element. The other CMU walls are even higher at this point in time. Abe, our contractor hopes to finish the masonry today, because the forecast has a full week of rain coming and thus there won't be a lot of activity possible in the next couple of days.

Selecting a Green Rating System

I hope everyone had a good start in 2010- The construction on the Nob Hill Haus has progressed as planned- more to that in the next post.
We also finally opted to get our project certified as a green building- and out of the options available on the market, we selected the Green Point System by California based "Build it Green". This rating system originated in the Bay Area where it has become the number 1 rating system for homes- and mandatory in many cities. Some of the many advantages over the LEED for homes system are: more cost efficient (and therefore better for custom home builders), more direct verification (rather than 3rd party verification) and a more project oriented point system that allows to select from a variety of possible features rather than a lot of mandatory measures, that would drive up cost without having a significant positive effect on the environment.
Summarizing, the Green Point system offers less of a boiler plate and more of a project specific rating and would accommodate our needs the best.
More information about the rating system can be found here:
http://www.builditgreen.org/greenpoint-rated