The blue colored glass that we thought needed to be replaced turns out to be the color that the majority of the other windows should have been.

If you’ve looked at the exterior photos of our house you will note that on the second floor, two of the large windows are a different color from the rest. This was an issue we had noticed immediately after the glass was installed and had pointed it out to our Accurate Drowin Window rep (Above and Beyond Construction) and our General Contractor. They had already made note of this between the two of them and agreed that we would need to change the glass on those windows to match the rest of the house. We decided that based on the extremely cold temperatures at the time we would wait until spring before we tried to replace these pieces and decrease the risk of them shattering.

Over the past several months I have been in contact with my rep about the windows as well as to inform him of some issues that we have had with several of our doors. In the meantime Above and Beyond Construction and Accurate Dorwin have fallen into a bit of a legal battle, that I wish to stay as clear of as possible. However, their strained relationship has meant that we have had to wait to get the correct glass for our windows until now. Our local rep from Above and Beyond has kept us informed that there was going to be some delays in the process and we have appreciated that but it still has been frustrating.

Our glass arrived on Monday of this past week, after our local reps made a personal audit of all our glass and got in contact with the glass manufacturer from our original order who then did a second audit of our glass. As it turns out it wasn’t just a few windows that were incorrect. Almost all the windows on the front of our house should have been a blue tinted Low-e, suncoat glass. The tan glass that made-up the majority of our south facing windows was of a lessor quality than we had ordered and it was the blue glass that was in the minority, that was the correct glass. The installers from Above and Beyond came out on Thursday and began to replace this glass on the big sections of our windows. They will return this week to complete that glass replacement. I am sick to my stomach to see the glass going to waste, as apparently Accurate Dorwin does not want it back. Stacy and I spent much of the weekend trying to figure out where or how we could salvage the glass, but we really don’t have the space and or use for it now.

The doors are a completely different story. Our three panel sliding glass door came and looked great, however it had a very unique feature, it has two operating sides to it. Almost imedialtey we were displeased with how it operated. I am 6′ tall 215lb. former bodybuilder and this door is hard for me to operate, let alone my wife and kids, who are fraction of my size. Additionally this door had issues with water infiltration along the frame in some places and the track froze up as a result. We also have had issues with the front door and the upstairs deck access doors that appear to have warped. Neither of these doors closes correctly and the upstairs door has is warped so that it is almost impossible to close—UGGH. Above and Beyond construction has offered to replace these doors for us with a door from another High-end Fiberglass window and door manufacturer that they now rep. I’m pleased that they are willing to do this, since from my understanding Accurate Dorwin doesn’t appear to be willing to make this right. The biggest frustration with this is that the doors are framed in by our finished siding material which means that we will again have workers at the house replacing this material as well, what an ugly cycle.

As it stands now I feel like our reps from Above and Beyond Construction are doing the honorable thing and replacing everything and anything that is incorrect, and right now at their expense. Accurate Dorwin in my opinion makes a great window (our energy tests showed this) but seems to greatly lack on the quality control and customer service end. I’m glad to be getting our issues taken care of but at the same time I am frustrated that this is the process that has taken place in order for us to get it done. Additionally I can only hope that anyone else who may have taken my research into consideration when selecting their windows and purchased products from Accurate Drowin does not have any of the same issues.

I’ve been working on some sketches lately for a new buffet piece that I was looking to have our cabinetmaker Eastvold Custom build. I had contacted Matt Eastvold to talk with him about some ideas and he was excited to share with me a sneak peak, at some of the new custom furniture work that they have been designing and building. One of the pieces that really caught my attention was an incredible reclaimed Douglas Fir, Credenza. This along with a handful of other really incredible custom pieces will be on display and for sale Friday, July 11th, at the 9th St. Entry Gallery, in the Rossmor Building, St. Paul, MN. I’m really excited to see this and the rest of the pieces that they have to showcase first hand, I’m sure I wont be disappointed.

The reclaimed, Douglas Fir Timber, Credenza, stands 23″ tall, 16″ deep and 48″ long. The wood came from the Duluth Timber Company and was reclaimed from Albina Homestead School in Portland, Oregon. I can’t help but think how nice a similar but slightly larger piece would look in my house.

When I saw my first picture of a rain garden I was by no means enthusiastic about some kidney shaped, cedar chipped  planting, randomly placed in my yard. However our Architect (Micheal Huber) wasn’t envisioning anything even close to this in his head, when he suggest we use them. Instead he designed these beautiful geometric concrete beds that would work as rain gardens but look more like an extension of our homes design. Today the concrete forms were removed and we got our first glimpse at what I have to say is something really incredible looking. The plywood sheeting that was used to form up the sides left a great texture in the concrete and the open spout that was thought of and built into the mouth of the design (by our concrete guys) looks incredible. They were so cool that Fred Lutz (our main concrete guy) took photos of the work himself and then asked us to let him know when they were completed with the plantings, so he could come back and take some more photos.

One of the Lutz boys knocks out the foam they used to create the overflow spouts in the forms.

I loved seeing this photo that Stacy took, because when I went out to look at the back rain garden this afternoon their was no dirt around which means they cleaned it up and laid the sod down along the side of it.

Next step, planting.

I love how neat their forms are and how they used a piece of plywood to shield our lawn from getting splashed with concrete.

Fred puts the finishing touch on the second of two rain gardens, off the back of the house.

Our concrete guys (Fred Lutz and his sons) were back this week to frame up and ultimately pour our rain gardens. Typical rain gardens are kidney shaped, organic depressions cut into the ground. However, in an effort to keep with our geometric theme, our architect Michael Huber had designed the rain gardens to be a series of step downs poured from concrete.

The rain gardens purpose is to manage rainwater run off from the two largest surface areas of our house, the roof, and the driveway. By trafficking the water from these two areas into the garden we help to minimize erosion, flooding and pollution that reaches ponds, streams and ultimately our drinking water.

The gardens had been designed with an overflow spout at the front of the forms but as we started forming them up, one of the concerns we had was that it would need to be very deep to hold a fair amount of water and not dump it back onto the driveway, before they reached the overflow point. In order to do so the overflow spout was starting to look a bit too exaggerated in my opinion. As a solution, one of Fred’s sons suggested we use a piece of rigid foam insulation and create a scupper like opening in the mouth of the garden, an idea that I love and can’t wait to see, once the forms come off this weekend.

The open side yard to the west of our house is a nice 30′x45′ rectangle, that is well sheltered on three sides by trees.

On Tuesday Redline Tree Service came and removed a large dead Oak from our side lot, along with a few piles of scrub brush from our originally clearing. It was the last remaining large Oak that had suffered the devastating effects of Oak Wilt, since we had originally purchased the lot. We were affraid that when they came in to removed the tree and some of the other Buckthorn, that our yard would seem a bit too open. We were pleasantly surprised to see that this was not the case. This newly cleaned up area will now be the home to our children’s playground and rectangular area of turf, perfectly size for badminton, lawn bowling or my (highly illegal but largely sought after) antique Jarts set.

The large timbers for our landscaping arrived early Friday morning but the wet weather prevented anyone from doing any work to install them.

Sticking with the Timber theme, Dustin Halverson (our landscape architect) had the first shipment of landscape materials delivered today—large timbers to frame up a retaining wall and steps. I think Stacy and I both initially had some hesitation when it came to using timbers. We wanted to avoid the 1970’s railroad tie lookk, that we had worked so hard to extract from our previous home. I was please to see that these were actually a really nicely color and nothing like the ones we had dealt with before. Just to ensure that they keep their interest and to add a little something extra, I have an idea that I think will really make them seem that much more different. Hopefully by the end of next week the timbers will be in place and I can add my little touch but until then it’s rock, edging and lots of mud.

Late last week our concrete guy (Fred Lutz and his sons) showed up to frame up our front walk and driveway. These guys were certainly some of our favorite subcontractors on this project and helped us with not only our front step and patio but had also done the excellent tile work in our bathrooms. However, this week they were back at their area of expertise —concrete.

Stacy and I both love working with Fred because he not only takes pride an interest in his work, but he also seems to really enjoy the challenge of working on something different, like our project always working to ensure that what he does matches with our vision. So we felt more than comfortable when the first opportunity they had to pour the driveway and front walkway came while we were out of town for the week.

When we arrived at home today from our little vacation, we were really pleased to see the driveway and walkway were complete. Not only does this mean that we can move onto the next step of our landscaping (the front rock and edging) but it also meant that we could finally minimize the amount of dirt that’s been being tracked into the house on little feet.

the sidewalks steps appear to float away from one another…

…creating the perfect natural path from the front door to the driveway.

A close up on one of the circular forms that will be removed and replaced with turf. This will not only create some interest in the driveway design but additionally help to manager more of the run off. You can see the dark gray color (referred to as “green”) caused from the moisture being release from the concrete as it cures.

Besides the driveway being added I can’t believe how much greener it is. The photo above was taken just a week earlier.