The Week in Review

With good weather continuing, Joe and I completed building and sheathing the second floor deck of the main part of the house. We haven't built the floor over the kitchen yet because we decided to build it a bit differently then originally conceived which requires delivery of a bunch of rough sawn lumber. So, we're building up to the point that we can until that delivery happens and then we'll build the rest of the second floor.

In the mean time, we spent time laying out the gable end walls on the deck full size with chalk lines. In other words, we drew the gable walls on the floor as a means of determining our stud lengths where they meet the roof rafters.

We then cut all our wall parts for both walls, north and south. We can't complete these walls until the rough sawn lumber order shows up, so we moved onto other projects.

To keep busy we installed an important structural steel post in the basement, finished building the stairs down the hatch to the basement, and installed the Bilco bulkhead hatch that goes over the stairs. With these complete we started on the porch, located off the kitchen end of the house. We dug, set, and poured the concrete piers and then installed the ledger that will carry the joists.

It was a productive week and we are well positioned to put up the roof efficiently once the rest of our materials are on hand.

Weekend homework

Today I decided to build a set of stairs that will lead down the hatch to the basement at the rear of the house. I've built stairs before with others having done the calculations, but never built stairs from start to finish myself. I though tackling a low profile set would be a good place to start.

I spent a little time this afternoon doing the calculations for the rise and run and then checked the numbers on a story stick at the location in the stairwell and it came within an 1/8", so I was pretty pleased. Math can be very cool.

I then laid out the cuts with a framing square with square gauges attached at points of rise and run I'd calculated. The framing square is then laid against the edge of the 2x12 and each step is marked.

Having cut the first stringer I tried it out and, to my satisfaction, it fit. I cut the other two and called it quits for the afternoon, since cutting the stringers was the aspect I was most concerned about. I'll finish the assembly tomorrow morning and we'll have our first set of stairs in the house.

"Da me los clavos!"

Yesterday morning:

Today:

Joe and I managed to get the framing for the second floor complete by this afternoon. As always, things go a little slower than I might guess, and we worked a slightly shorter day than usual today.

The LVL beams were complete yesterday and we managed to get a few I-Joists in place before calling it quits. Today we completed the I-Joists, and then added squash blocks around the perimeter to transfer load down through the framing. More on this in an upcoming post.

So, the news is that the weather continues to be our friend and we keep plugging away.

I've become accustomed to listening to "the point", a pop radio station in the area. Typically, without others to consider, I'll have NPR on all day, but Joe's not such a fan of talk radio so we go with music. Sometimes I put on the I-Pod which breaks it up a little. Its good for me to break out of my habits a little. To my surprise this music station seems to have delved into my brain and delivers music that I really dig a large proportion of the time. Hats off to any commercial radio station that I feel even marginally complimentary of.

The second floor

Today we got a start on the second floor, beginning with some adjustments to the first floor walls to make sure everything is plumb and square. We then installed the first structural beam and by the end of the day had the secondary beam in place. More to follow tomorrow with the floor joists to follow.

First Floor Complete

Monday Joe and I raised the last wall of the first floor and today we buttoned up the loose ends, including blocking in the basement, completing the wall sheathing, and taping the remaining zip seams.

Tomorrow morning we start on the second floor, first with the LVL beam and then hanging floor joists, just as we did on the first floor deck.

This photo shows the completed walls, insofar as I can capture it from the garage roof.

This shows the view over the house. Joe and I will get to experience this as we start work on the second floor.

The Week in Review

The last few days have been all about continuing building the first floor walls. We've honed the process down to a routine and they happen pretty quickly. The walls weigh a lot by the time they are ready to go up; thanks to Joe's wall jacks the two of us are able to winch the walls up with only a rhythmic work song and some even cranking. Because the plywood runs past the end of the framing to cover the end of the previous wall, we need to build each successive wall out about a foot laterally from its final placement. This means we have to move the wall along the edge of the floor deck to get it in place.

To achieve this we are using some 1" wooden dowels that we place periodically under the wall with the assistance of a hefty crow bar. The elevated wall gets the pressure off the rubber sill gasket and allows us to roll the wall into place.

Another day, another wall (or two)

We finished off the north facing wall of the mudroom this morning and then built the little jog that faces east. More of the same: cut list, cut, arrange, put together partially, check the dimensions, fix the anchor strap, square it up, attach the rubber sill gasket, chalk the lines, lay down adhesive at the perimeters, lay down the the ply and nail it, cut out the openings with a router, clean it all up, lay down the seam tape, roll the seams, cut and attach the battens, move the lifting masts into place, attach them, and then, finally, crank the wall up like lifting a sail.

At this point, the wall is up, but then there's moving it if needed, bracing, removing the lifting masts, adding adhesive where the walls meet, check for vertical and then, finally nail it.

It takes a while, but once its up its ready for siding, so we're doing lots of "prep" for the finish stage now, so the time invested is well worth it. The more we can do while the walls are laying down, the more effiecient we can be.

The mornings are chilly, but its hot during the day.

Here's some pictures:





More walls tomorrow.