Rough-ins, exterior paint, and finish grading

Framing materials that have been third-party certified by the Forest Stewardship Council are far more prevalent today than just a few years ago.

By buying domestic products we ensure our plumbing fixtures are made to American standards in regard to environmental laws, adequate wages, etc. 

Interior framing continues.

Professional staircase model.

As soon as the finish grading was completed we mulched and seeded the landscape.

Air handler for a 17+ SEER Heat Pump.  This HVAC system greatly exceeds energy star standards.  It does this with a 2-stage compressor.  We'll discuss this when we install the outside unit.

Our plumbing stack is roughed-in.  We stacked the bathrooms back to back and on top of each other which ends up being a mixed blessing.  We had a lot of waste and vent pipes, PEX supply lines, etc. crammed into one small space.  This is preferable as we're limiting material use, and ultimately limiting distances from the water heater. 

HVAC is roughed in.  By keeping all of the duct work and air-handler inside the conditioned space we ensure the system is exponentially more efficient.  All of the ducts are sealed with mastic and insulated.  We're anxiously awaiting the results of our duct blaster test.

Our bath fans are more efficient in three ways.  First we joined two fan's flex ducts together to limit the number of penetrations in the building envelope.  Second the fans have a back-draft stopper preventing outside air from backing into the building via the fans.  Third, the fans themselves have super efficient Direct Current (DC) motors.  Note the Energy Star label.

This is our Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV).  All homes need fresh air for a healthy indoor environment.  Usually this comes from a thousand random leaks throughout the house creating an inefficient, uncomfortable situation.  Our home is so well air-sealed and insulated that we need to exchange outside air mechanically.  This may seem against the point but it offers several benefits, both for comfort and efficiency.  Fresh outside air is brought in, blown through a heat exchanger picking up thermal energy (without mixing the air) from outgoing interior air, and dumped into the HVAC's air return to be evenly distributed throughout the house.  This means every room in the house has a little bit of fresh air coming in throughout the day that's been pre-heated (or pre-cooled) closer to room temperature.  Energetically, this is all accomplished with a fan.

Exterior paint!

We are using a combination of insulation materials to get the highest possible thermal efficiency for the lowest possible cost.  This photo shows spray foam on the roof deck.  Spray foam offers two benefits: insulative value (millions of air pockets) and air sealing (fills gaps and cracks).  The roof is the most crucial part of a home to insulate.  It also has complex framing and penetrations that make other types of insulation unsuitable.  We applied 8.5".  The pros tell us that spray foam in our climate is 97% efficient at 6.5".  We went a couple inches thicker as a hedge against solar heat gain through the roof.  This may have been overkill but at least we'll sleep easy. 

The floor band was also a tricky area suitable only for spray foam.

Electric gets roughed in.

The project manager sleeps on a toilet.