F.O.O.L.I.S.H. Project Update: Big Money, Bigger Joy!

Back in November, I wrote about the F.O.O.L.I.S.H. Project:

F*&^%$# Obnoxious Ostentatious Luxuriously Irreverent Silly House

Mindy and I are doing something I NEVER thought I’d do; scrape a home and build a new one. Time for an update.

F.O.O.L.I.S.H. Project: Update!

This project started back in 2024. Mindy and I had purchased a decrepit home in a really great location. Our goal was to renovate it and then move into it eventually. It was about half the size of our current home, so it would be a good size space to live in post-kids. After much deliberation and planning, we scraped it and started over. Read the story here: https://www.1500days.com/the-very-big-f-o-o-l-i-s-h-project/

It’s been 140 days since I published the previous post and much has progressed. Here is what the home looked like back then:

And here is what it looks like today:

Here’s is what has happened since the last update:

Fancy Heat: To heat the home, I wanted hydronic floor heating. This is a system that uses warm water in PEX in to heat the home. The tubing is underneath the floor. However, hydronic systems are uncommon which makes it difficult to find an installer. I managed to get one quote and it was about $120,000. No thanks! I decided to take on the project myself. It took an immense amount of planning and a lot of labor, but I got it done for about $18,000.

I’m using an electric boiler which will use a TON of electricity (80 amp circuit!). But a huge photovoltaic array (24 x 450 watt panels) will more than offset my voracious electron consumption.

Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV): This home is super tight, so I need a way to bring fresh air into the envelope. An ERV does this by continually exchanging air, but capturing the heat and humidity.

Similar to the floor heating, ERVs are obscure and expensive to have installed. I had someone ballpark the system at $40,000. The materials were about $15,000, so I saved $25,000 by DIYing it:

It was a fun job. A big part of the joy of life is solving puzzles. MMM calls it voluntary hardship. It was a lot of work figuring out all of my runs, but it was also very rewarding.

Windows/sliding doors: I don’t like noise. I also don’t like drafty homes that waste energy. For windows and sliding doors, I went with fiberglass, triple-pane windows from Alpen. Alpen is a local manufacturer that has a great reputation.

Rough electric: I had contemplated doing this myself, but am really glad I outsourced it. The electricians did a great job.

Rough plumbing: I had also thought about doing this myself and am glad I didn’t. It was a lot of work and the plumber was a pleasure to work with.

Insulation: I had a layer of foam sprayed to coat the envelope of the home. Then the cavities were topped off with fiberglass. The foam will make the home tight.

Deck: The home doesn’t have much of a backyard, but compensates with an expansive deck.

Cladding: The home is mostly stucco. But I’m also adding a PVC based product that looks like wood to the front facade. Real wood gets cooked here in the Colorado sun, so I’m avoiding that.

The Big Bad Heat Pump

Not everything has been great. I wanted a heat pump to provide cool air in the summer and also provide backup heat. A floor heating system takes a long time to bring a house up to temperature, so a mini-split system would be a great way to supplement the floor heat.

The system was installed back in January and still isn’t working. I won’t go into details because I’m not sure what went wrong. It could have been a mistake from someone who worked on the system or a lemon of a unit. But it’s been over two months and the thing still isn’t working. I’m out almost $30,000. I should have gone with a simple air conditioning system or used a more experienced installer.

What’s Left

Metal roof: This is going on RIGHT NOW. I just walked past the home and saw this:

We have hail here frequently which destroys asphalt shingles. I’ll never have to replace my roof. If the roof gets dented from hail, it doesn’t matter since you can’t see it.

A metal roof makes installing solar panels much easier. Instead of prying up shingles to install mounts, I can clamp them to the standing seam.

Solar panels: This home is all-electric. Because I’m DIYing solar, it will cost around $8,000 for the system. $8,000 is a small price to pay for a tiny utility bill ($20 monthly service charge) and free EV charging (we have a Chevy Bolt and a Tesla Model Y) forever.

Interior Painting: The home will be mostly white. Easy and simple.

Flooring: The home will be all tile. This is slightly weird for a Colorado home, but:

• I don’t like carpet! Yech! We’ll have rugs to make the home cozier and quieter.
• The tile will act as a big heat sink for the heated floors.

Trim: Simple design, painted white.

Kitchen and vanities: I would have been fine with IKEA, but Mindy wanted to go a little bigger. The home will have a mid-century feel, so the kitchen will look something like this:

Concrete: Driveways and a walkway.

Landscaping: Xeriscaping with some raised beds.

Big Money

We have spent about $685,000 so far. That’s a lot of money. However, Mindy and I will get a lot of joy living in this home for decades. I believe that in a couple of years when we reflect on the project, we will consider it money well spent. The home:

Has a floorplan that is efficient and pleasing. The kitchen, dining room and family room are one big flowing area. I don’t need a living room to put random souvenirs on display. The bedrooms aren’t small, but aren’t large either. You’re unconscious most of the time in a bedroom, so they are as big as they need to be and no bigger.

Is quiet. I don’t like noise. The triple pane windows will minimize noise from the outside. In the inside, many of the walls have mineral wool in the walls and a layer of sound absorbing material:

Is in a location that we love. We have a great community in Longmont. We also have a great group of friends in our little neighborhood. I’ve always thought that living in a great neighborhood is more important than the house itself. Here, we have both.

Has low maintenance systems. I’ll never have to paint the exterior or replace the roof. The boiler is a big resistor; much simpler than a modern, multi-stage furnace. I don’t want construction and home repairs to consume my life anymore.

Has one floor living. I love stairs now. Free exercise! In two decades, my knees may not feel the same.

Will be great for hosting people. We designed the basement to be a great guest area. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a dedicated entrance. Good friends and interesting new people are frequently passing through town and we look forward to hosting them.

Will be great for travel. We will xeriscape the yard and have no grass. This will allow us to be away for long periods of time.

Big Joy.

I’ve always been fascinated about how things get made. Even as a kid, I loved walking through structures as they were being built. I paid no attention to Keep Out signs and explored freely. This was one of my favorite books as a kid and I still have it:

Designing and working on this project has been a joy and very fulfilling. It’s also really nice to work with skilled tradesmen who really care about their craft. I haven’t been so fortunate in the past.

I had deep reservations about building a home. But now that the finish line is in sight, it has been one of most fun projects I’ve ever worked on. I expect that when I’m old and decrepit, I’ll look back on this time with fond memories.

Amsterdam!

Mindy and I are taking a brief break from home construction and heading over to Amsterdam for a river cruise in early April. Let me know if you’re in the area or have any suggestions for us!

Life is good.

More 1500 Days!!!

You can also find me (and the dinosaurs) at:

• YouTube: My channel is mostly devoted to home improvement, but I have some other material coming up soon too.
• Instagram: Pretty pictures of dinosaurs, sunsets, and nail guns!
• Twitter: Spontaneous, often insane, ramblings
• Coworking space: On the surface, MMM HQ is a coworking space. Look a little deeper and you’ll see that we’re really building community. The members of MMM HQ are some of the finest people I know
• Buying a Tesla? Use my referral code to get some perks!