Sunshine House General Description The property is slightly larger than 54 acres. The house is 8,000 sq ft. There is 4,000 sq ft of porch that completely wraps around the house. The porch is a great place for Children to ride bikes and skateboards. 2,000 sq ft of the porch is covered and the other 2,000 sq ft is open deck. The total amount of concrete in the First Floor porch is 171 yards (19 trucks with 9 yards each). The porches and basement walls are all poured concrete for low maintenance. There is also a lower porch that wraps around half of the house on the East and South and is approximately 2,000 sq ft. The house design is that of a Western Lodge. The footprint of the house is and X or cross to provide the maximum window space possible. Below the grade of the front everything is concrete covered with Loveland Buff. Above the grade of the front the house is mostly Cedar with Redwood and Barn Wood trim. Out Buildings There are three Out Buildings. Two of the Out Buildings are 10 ft by 10 ft and are used for Children s Play Houses or general purpose storage of yard tools. The third is 16 ft by 24 ft with a garage door opening. This is where all the well equipment is housed. This building may be used as a garage or shop. Well and Well Equipment The well is 650 feet deep and has a flow rate of 22 gals/min. There are 2 cisterns tanks each of 2500 gallons, thus giving a total water storage capacity of 5,000 gallons. There are two 1 ½ inch copper lines to the house, one entering the house under the front porch, the other entering the house under the Nanny Suite. There are 2 high pressure and high volume pumps that deliver water to the house with a total aggregated capacity of 60 gals/min at 100 psi, basically enough water pressure to run everything in the house simultaneously. There is a pressure regulator in the Mechanical Room that drops the house water pressure to 70 psi. Gas and Electric The house is completely electric with 1,000 Amp service. The house is wired so a generator can be added at a later date. What that means is the generator will run the heat or air conditioning, refrigerators, a minimul amount of lighting in each room, and one wall outlet in each room. There are 2 propane tanks each 1,500 gallons buried next to the Well House. Propane is for the stove in the kitchen and gas outlets to all the fireplaces. Therefore the house uses very little propane and the tanks need to be topped off once a year.
Timber Framing The house uses Timber Framing throughout. Timber Framing is the art of connecting beams and structural elements without the use of nails or fasteners. Beams are cut with tongue and grove and connected with 1 inch Oak dowel. Some of the beams in the house are as large as 12 x18. In 1997 there was a large blow down area in Steamboat Springs Zirkle National Wilderness Area. Only about 5% of the Ponderosa Pines and Lodge Pole Pines were harvested. We bought these trees and shipped them to the property as trees and actually milled them in the meadow as you enter the property. Ceiling Heights The ceilings on the first floor are 10 feet to the bottom of the beams and almost 11 feet to the flooring above the beams. The ceiling height in the Living Room is 28 feet. The ceilings on the second floor are 8 feet, but because of the vaulted ceilings, give the appearance of being much higher. The ceilings in the basement are 8 feet. Fireplaces There are four fireplaces in the house. There is a fireplace in the Living Room, the Kitchen, the Upstairs Sitting Room, and the Master Bedroom. All fireplaces throughout the house are real fireplaces they also have gas connections for either gas logs or gas starters. Stone Work There is extensive stone work throughout the house. The chimneys and walls are all Loveland Buff. The floors are Flag Stone. Floors The floors are all Antique Heart Pine cut from old factory beams from the Industrial Northeast area of the United States. Heating and Air Conditioning The heating is radiant in-floor heating. There is a zone is each room with a thermostats, so each room can have its own temperature. There is no hot water tank, there is however, a hot water storage tank. There are 4 boilers that engage in series as the demand for heat or hot water increases. Since these provide the hot water on demand, the house never runs out of hot water. Because of the extensive insulation the house is relatively inexpensive to heat. The average heating bill is about $700.00 per month. The air conditioning has 3 zones, the East side of the house, the Center of the house, and the West side of the house.
Insulation All the walls, exterior and interior, are 6 inches thick. The ceiling insulation is R-49 and the walls are R-38. There is insulation in all the interior walls and ceilings to reduce the transmission of noise from room to room. All the glass windows and doors are double pane. Computers The house is wired using a cable called Future Net, a fat orange cable. This cable contains two coax cables, two fiber optic cables, and two Cat V cables. Along side the Future Net Cable is Speaker wire. There is a little over 2 miles (10,000 feet) of this cable in the house. There are 48 network drops throughout the house. There are some spares for future expansion. All the cables terminate in the Computer Room wiring closet on the First Floor. There is high speed Internet access through Flat Panel microware just to the North of the houseto the Lee Hill tower. This is provided by the ISP ionsky. Speeds up to 2 mbps are available. There is a patch panel to connect any room s network connections to a 24-Port Switch for the internal house network and to the Internet. Satellite TV There are two satellite dishes just West of the house. These also terminate in the Computer Room. There is a patch panel that allows any coax connection throughout the house to be connected to a satellite receiver. Currently there are 7 satellite receivers which means, 7 different channels can be viewed simultaneously on 7 different TVs. The system will support up to 8 receivers in its current configuration. Intercom There is an Intercom in every Bedroom and throughout the house in convenient locations. The Intercom System may be used as an intercom or may be set to monitor Bedrooms with small Children. There are spares for expansion. Alarm System The Alarm System has 2 key pads on the Second Floor, 5 key pads on the First Floor, and 2 key pads in the Basement. It has sensors and monitors for Fire, Carbon Dioxide, Gas, Motion, Glass Break, and all the doors and windows are monitored. Fire Sprinkler System There is a Fire Sprinkler system throughout the house. Central Vacuum
The house has a Central Vacuum System with two vacuums that exhaust to the outside which minimizes the noise inside the house when in use. Children s Playground The playground area is approximately 4,000 sq ft and is encircled by a Flag Stone walkway that holds a 5 inch deep p-gravel playground surface. All the playground equipment is galvanized steel and is commercial playground equipment. There is a 4 bay 12 feet high swing set, a 10 feet high slide made from stainless steel, a see-saw, and a very large Jungle Jim set with a 16 ft horizontal ladder. There are climbing rocks and a picnic area with a picnic table. Second Floor On the second floor there is a Master Bedroom, 4 Bedrooms for Children, an Upstairs Sitting Room, and a Computer Work Area. There are 4 full Bathrooms. These Bedrooms are all accessed thru the Upstairs Sitting Room. There is a Computer Work Area for Children to study and access the Internet. Master Bedroom The Master Bedroom and Bathroom occupies one wing of the houses and has a 270 degree view. The Master Bedroom has a fireplace. The Master Bathroom has a double shower and a Jacuzzi bathtub. Children s Bedrooms 3 of the 4 Children s Bedrooms have full baths. The two bedrooms in the West wring of the house have access to a sitting porch. Upstairs Sitting Room The Upstairs Sitting Room is located in the center of the house and has balconies overlooking the Living Room. There is a fireplace in the Upstairs Sitting Room. Computer Work Area There is a Computer Work Area with 5 work spaces. There is a total of 6 Cat V connections for Computers or Peripherals to the internal house network in this area. This area is also has its own 20 Amp circuit to support multiple Computers. First Floor
On the first floor there is a Living Room, Dinning Room, Kitchen, Music Room, Art Room, Bathroom and Closet Area, and Computer Room. Living Room The Living Room has a 28 feet ceiling. All the beams are Timber Framed. The stained glass windows came from church in France. The Fireplace is a large 5 feet wide by 4 feet tall. Dining Room The Dinning Room is located just inside the front door in the center of the house. The chandelier is the Dinning Room is an exact replica of the lighting in the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. Kitchen All the Kitchen appliances are Viking or SubZero. The stove is a 6 burner with a griddle and two ovens. There are two sinks both with garbage disposals. There is a dishwasher and a trash compactor. There are two refrigerators. The main refrigerator is a 48 inch SubZero and there is an under the counter SubZero for drinks. The counter tops are black granite. The floor is flag stone. Music Room The Music Room is just east of the Dinning Room. Art Room The Art Room has 3 built-in drawing tables that open for storage of paper, drawing and painting materials. Bathroom and Closet Area The Bathroom has a shower. There is a closet area with hangers for Children s backpacks and coats. Computer Room The Computer Room is wired on three 20 Amp circuits. There are cabinets for Server Class machines. The cabinets all have air conditioning. There is a wiring closet with air conditioning. There is a lot of surface area work space. Basement
In the Basement there is a Home Theater, a Gym Area, a Bathroom, a large Seasonal Closet, a Fire Proof Room, a Laundry Room, a Mechanical Room, an Unfinished Wine Cellar, and a Nanny Suite with Bathroom and private entrance. Home Theater The Home Theater uses a real 3 gun CRT projector, not an LCD projector, with 7 Speaker surround sound. The screen is 120 inches. Gym Area The Gym Area is designed so that the walls can be mirrored. All electrical outlets are in the baseboard. There are two coax connections for TVs in either back corner located in the ceiling as is the thermostat for this area. Each wall has its own 20 Amp circuits to power Gym equipment, like treadmills, that draws more than the typical 15 Amp service usually wired in houses. Bathroom This Bathroom is located between the Gym Area and the Laundry area. This is a half Bath. Seasonal Closet The Seasonal Closet is located just at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Basement. It contains three walls of clothes hangers and shelves. It also contains the access door to the Fire Proof Room. Fire Proof Room The Fire Proof Room is concrete on all sides including the ceiling and has a steel fire door. There is also a Fire Sprinkler System in this room. Since Wild Fire is always an issue in the Mountains, this room is use to store important papers and photographs. Laundry Room The Laundry Room is equipped with 2 washers and 1 dryer. There is a rack for hanging ironed clothes. There is a built-in folding table and a deep sink. Mechanical Room The Mechanical Room contains all the mechanical controls for the house. This room is roomy and well organized and has easy access to the equipment for maintained.
Unfinished Wine Cellar The Unfinished Wine Cellar is similar to the Fire Proof Room in that all wall and the ceiling are concrete. It also has a steel fire door. Nanny Suite The Nanny suite has a full Bathroom, space for a Bed and a sitting area. There is stubbed out plumbing in the wall the other side of the Bathroom so a full kitchen could be installed at a later date. There is a private entrance with an Alarm keypad.