A New House – Episode 10 – D&D helps D&D

  

Many, many thanks to my brother Dan and sis-in-law Diane for their help with the house this week. They looped by after the wedding and a mini getaway to Vancouver, Whistler and Victoria.

When they came, we had the second floor side walls up and the gable walls (the pointy ones) framed but not up “aka - on the deck”.

On day 1, we all tilted up the end walls, carefully bracing them as we went. We then started in sheathing the walls as Diane and Deb (the Radon Raiders) caulked the seams around the basement to prevent that evil radon from killing us.

 

Dan is a really hard worker and was uber helpful getting plywood up on the new walls

 

The Tyvek twins dove into putting up Tyvek on the lower levels.

 

Tyvek stapling and taping. We’re using a cap stapler to hold down the Tyvek since it will probably remain uncovered for a long time.

 

Diane doing her Tyvek handiwork.

 

By the end of their visit, we had both gable walls up and almost 3/4 of the 2nd floor walls sheathed. I really hate being up 30’ on a ladder, though.

This is the computer rendering of the front of the house (same view as above) to give some perspective on the final look.

 

Prior to their arrive, we took delivery of the new fireplace. This is an “RSF Opel 2” zero clearance fireplace, capable of up to 70,000 btu output. It will also supply heat to the basement via a duct.

We also took deliver of our 21 Milgard Montecito windows.

Moving a 400 lb fireplace around is a chore. Now how do we lift it onto a 16” high platform once built?

A New House – Episode 9 – I Second That! (Storey that is)

We are quickly approaching THE BIG DAY, THE BIG KAHUNA, That life episode of episodes (i.e., son Ben getting married this week!), so the house project is winding down temporarily.

But in the last two weeks we have layed down the 2nd floor joists and subfloor, started building 2nd floor walls and family room gable ends and chimney chase, and finished fine grading around the house.

The floor joists supporting the 2nd floor span a full 25’ across the house, so they were a little beefier and wider (14” vs 12”) than the 1st floor that had a bearing wall to help with support. While heavyish, we managed a way to get them up there and trimmed in place – learning trick from the first floor.

 

I really like these i-joists – light and straight. But don’t assume the factory ends are square (lesson learned)

 

This an “LVL” beam (laminated veneer lumber) that is needed to create the stairwell opening.

 

Me. In the house. 

 

i built a makeshift “boom” for the tractor to help tilt up the 18’ chimney chase. Worked great!  It would helped with those gable ends for the family room.

 

Deb has become a master with the sheathing nailer. And (unlike me) doesn’t mind the high ladder work.

 

Deb work for days finishing the grading around the house. She did a superb job.

 

The outside part of the chase is done, but we still have inside work to do.

 

We’ve started walls on the 2nd floor. Those taller walls are the shed dormers. The other side will look the same.

A New House – Episode 8 – More Walls

 

It has been a while since i last posted our progress. Been rather busy framing walls, grading, and constructing a mini foundation….

Walls continue to go up.  We’re doing 9’ walls in the main floor.

got to have lots of bracing to hold things up!

 

Deb has been the tractor queen this week, doing a great job backfilling and grading around the house   .. and nailing

 

  

Exterior walls are framed except the right end which we’ll leave open for now so we can bring lumber and plywood for the second floor.

 

Since the “wall incident” now all walls are framed in smaller sections

We have our excavation guy back to remove “mount Reed”  - a big pile of high clay dirt. He moved it to the hill and dumped it over the side.

 

Plywood covering the window openings are cut out afterwards

 

The french drain taking water from around the house .

 

 

We’ll have a fireplace in the family room, so we had to build a short wall to support the chimney chase.

 

Nice lake view from the family room. We’ll have a french door here with windows on each side.

 

All exterior walls are framed and sheathed (except end wall)

now doing interior walls before starting the second floor joists.

 

A New House – Episode 7 - Walls

As the thunder booms over the lake, I thought it would be a good time to pause and reflect. Construction safety 101 – When tilting up a really heavy 16’w x 9’H wall with sheathing, it is always a good idea to have good bracing… otherwise, that big heavy wall might tip all the way over over and nearly crush you as you stand on the ladder beneath it while beating on it with a sledge hammer … hypothetically of course.

Aside from a teaching moment we had today, the project is going well. The floor sheathing is on and 1st floor walls are going up.

The floor sheathing is glued and nailed down with ring-shank nails. The glue is polyurethane foam floor adhesive. Great stuff and easy to apply.

But be careful to wear gloves, otherwise your hands might become one big mass of polyurethane that has to be “mechanically removed”. Dumbass.

 

See of the second day I am smart enough to wear gloves!

 

We successfully repaired the overturned wall and it looks just like new!

The remaining walls will be built without sheathing to reduce weight and simplify and safety-ize the tilting process. The down side is that we’ll have to climb ladders to apply the 4x9 sheets of OSB. Which I hate.