Not done, but in.

And not done in either.

I have been hanging out here at LM since it was the old Dwellmag discussion boards. In 2004 we bought a lot in Suburban Dallas and I started a blog about our attempt to build a modern house despite everything that works against that. For example, in trying to revitalize this neighborhood, the city imposed a zoning ordinance that included architectural restrictions that made it very difficult to do the type of house we really wanted. The thing that tied together all my favorite houses was lots of natural light, so we designed a house where natural light came into every room from at least two directions. Mark Meyer (eamesdadelus) worked with a local architect to refine the plan and get us the design that would work for us... and the zoning ordinance.

That was three years ago. I was blogging about the project until things got so screwed up that I couldn't take retelling/reliving the tale... that, and I was spending every free minute solving problems because no one else was going to do it. At the end of the day, the builder was fired and I ended up doing much too much of the work myself. I still have lots of little things to do in the house, and the landscaping will have to wait for us to sell our old house, but if anyone cares to take a look, here is a link to some pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35850767@N02/sets/72157614533930398/

And I figured I'd give you all the view from our toilet as well as the fiew from just inside the front door... yes it is outside. A friend has already proclaimed the toilet shot the best shot of the house I have taken so far... I am not sure that's a compliment.

Very very nice......do you mind me asking what street you live on? I would like to come by and check it out....not inside...just the exterior

We are on Epps Field Rd in Farmers Branch.

Whooaa . . . you are using that yellow as your final exterior color?

It really doesn't look that yellow in person. I had the stucco guy match Benjamin Moore's Ochre for the color. Joel Efrussy (LM member and architect) helped me install some of the panels and after seeing it in person he said the photos I sent him were way more yellow than the actual house.

That being said, I was pushing for a bluish grey color, but that got vetoed. 

OK . . . I was thinking a nice earthtone or gray would be nice and not so wild. Curious - I noticed all the steel in pictures. The steel looks great but knowing how much it is and what a pain the but it is, curious why you decided to go with it. How tall are your ceilings?

If you ever check out the Ochre chip, you'll say to yourself that it looks pretty muted compared to Rous' house. I had to bring the chip to the house to confirm it was the same. And actually, I like it better with my sunglasses on.

In any case, we are just a bunch of paint away from the Mondrian scheme I had come up with.

As for the steel, early on, Mark suggested steel angle in the atrium and on the outside corners. In the atrium, it gives a very slim frame for the windows and we were going to have all the windows come out from the outside corners. We abandoned that on the outside, but stuck with it in the atrium. We originally planned on wood SIP panels or wood framing with spray foam insullation for most of the house, with steel only in the atrium.

When we looked for a builder, all the framing contractors freaked at the steel/wood combo and the framing costs were really high.

But one contractor built only out of steel and had worked with structural steel before. His bid was much lower and with the steel/EPS SIP panels, we went 100% steel. Now, it turns out that outside of the framing, he was in over his head, but the structural steel erection was actually one of the smoothest parts of the whole process (or would have been if the SIP guys who specified all the steel had had it made the right size).

The first floor ceiling is at 8' and the second floor starts at 86" at the atrium and rises to about 12' at the outer wall. On both floors, the exposed steel beams drop about 8".

Welders are nuts, but if you can find a good one at a decent price, they can do amazing stuff and the cost isn't too much more than wood. And I should note that all the more ornamental stuff was made in a shop in Lewisville. And the parts that were welded to the house were installed by the same guys who did the structure.

All in all though, if I did it again, I'd stick to wood for framing, but I would not hesitate to use steel for stairs, railings and other ornamental stuff.

Yeah having looked into SIPS and have done steel and wood framed houses, I don't think the effort is worth the brain damage and wallet busting. I have found also that buyers could care less and don't appreciate the effort - so we stopped doing it. Of course if you are living there, you can appreciate it. If we have a high end budget (i.e. $200+ a foot) we would go with steel studded frame and foam insultation - no bug damage, straighter walls, and no rotting.

For the most part, we use wood with minor steel structural supports where it makes sense.