A New House – Episode 17 – Electrical and Stairs

 

The past month or so has been primarily occupied by work on electrical wiring and construction of the stairs. (Ok, there was that ONE trip to Kauai, but other than that, we’ve been hard at work inside the house.)

The stairs are built from 4”x 15” natural edge “stringers” (the angled beams) that were cut from trees on our property. The stair treads are 4”x12” beams with a natural edge on two edges. These we had made at a local mill.

These (above) are going to be the treads. EVERYTHING had to be cleaned up, cut precisely and sanded. Most of the stringers had to be planed as well.

It started in the basement.  First I had to build a platform for the first flight of stairs to come up to.

The trick to building stairs is to calculate the rise and run that you need to get to your top level, then divide by the number of stair treads you plan to have. In addition, according to code, the stair treads need to be at least 10” deep and no more than 7-3/4 high. That tread height also needs to be within 3/8” of each other tread. You also have to account for flooring thickness.

So I start by measuring .. twice … and snapping a line lengthwise down the length of the beam. Three of the stairway heights were about 63”, so that gave me (+/-) 7” x 9 rises and 10 1/4” x 8 runs. Using a carpenter’s square I measure out a 7” rise and 10 1/4” run, using that long line as a guide. You can sort of see my markings on the beam below. I have to measure the same on both sides. The inside of the beam has 1”x2” blocks tacked on to support each tread. The outside of the treads were marked so I could accurately drill pilot holes for the lag screws.

Speaking of lag screws, I used 1/2”  x 8” screws and 2” bridge washers. What is a bridge washer, you ask? Here is a quiz. They are called bridge washers because:

A). they are primarily made and imported from Cuba as a “bridge” in import relations.

B) A man named Francoise de Pont invented them (pont=bridge)

C) They are used to bolt bridges together.

D) They look like buttons that held up old fashioned “britches”.

The answer?  Who knows… i thought you knew!

Starting work on the 1st floor to second floor stairs

Once again, build the platform first. This is a rustic sawn log look made from 4”x8’ beams and 5” x5” posts.

  

We had to use a chain hoist several times to either move the finished stairs to a different spot, or to raise them to get so hidden bolts.

In this shot you can see the temporary 1”x2” blocks I used to hold the treads before they were bolted in.

 

Had to raise this set of stairs about 2’ to be able to get to they four lag screws hidden by a beam.

 

I used my hole hawg with a socket bit to drive the lag screws into the treads.

 

Pretty fancy rigging, eh?

Yay!~ no more ladders to get upstairs!!!!

finished!

Deb covered the treads with heavy construction paper to protect them during work. Tip thanks to Shelley Goodnight!

   

While all that was going on, Deb was busy busy busy pulling wire throughout the house.

 

    So far she has used 2000’  of 12/2 wire, and we just bought another 1000’ roll.  There are also hundred of receptacle boxes of various sizes.

  

   

Below, another thing we accomplished was completing the framing of the fireplace hearth/mantle areas. You can see two sets of posts protruding out that will hold some thick beams as mantles. We need to cover this whole thing with 1/2” concrete backer board before we can mortar river rock onto the face.

Next project will be plumbing unless the weather continues to warm, we will probably dig ditches for the water and electrical.

…but then again golf season is starting this week, and we’ve got that camping trip coming up in April …

A New House – Episode 16… Playing Inside

 

Our last post was November 9th … what the heck!?! Have we been sitting on our butts or something? Sorry, folks, but while we did work on the house, we were also somewhat distracted by holiday family gatherings and a vacation or two.

Plus it was frigging cold in November and December so we haven’t been quite as productive as during warmer weather … (I know excuses, excuses).

But the time has been well used to mostly complete the interior framing and get the electrical started.

The second floor was built pretty much clear-span, so although the roof was on, none of the interior walls were in place to divide up the space. It was time consuming work, because all of the walls were angled. As you may recall, upstairs we have our master bedroom, bathroom, and loft/library/computer area. This is looking from the loft area toward the bedroom/bathroom.

 

Looking from the bedroom out. bath on the left, loft on the right. I am inside one of the closets.

From the bathroom. Loft is on the left, bedroom on the right.

Looking toward the bedroom/bath from the loft. Notice all of the blue outlet boxes up?

 

Basement framing involved putting 2” rigid foam sheets against the concrete walls, and building 2x4 walls in front of the foam. See the can light in the ceiling – we bought 36 of these that Deb has installed throughout the house.

Here I am building out the header going into the TV viewing room, making the wall about 12” thick, which will be covered with castle rock.

 

Basement. the rooms on the right will be laundry, food storage and mechanical. the main open part of the basement will be Deb’s craft area, piano, and an exercise area.

  

The next project will be to build the stairs which will be timber frame. Deb is pealing the outsides of these wane edge beams that will become the steps. 

A New House – Episode 15 – Doors, Decks and a Fireplace

Holy cow I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since my last post on the house.

Since the roof is (somewhat) protected for winter, it has allowed us to slow down the pace a bit. The final “close the place up” tasks are the doors, so that has been a priority. Deb spent many an hour pre- staining the doors so they can withstand the weather. As I mentioned in last month’s post, we were lucky to find surplus fir french doors at a place in Spokane.

Installing the doors takes patience, as you are somewhat at the mercy of the bum who did the framing. Setting it plumb and square and screwing it to the framing using shims is the short version, but the door has to close nice and even against the seals.

Kyle’s room is on the main floor, and will have a deck outside looking toward the lake. His door has internal blinds.

The basement door is an 8-lite fir french door. We had at first planned to put in a double door, (I was planning on a sliding door), but the opportunity to get this door relatively cheap was too good to pass up.

The front door is a fiberglass door that has a nice mahogany grain and finish. We decided against a wood door because this side of the house gets the most weather and we were concerned that the finish would not hold up well.

 

Like my nice porch there?

The last door to be installed was the double french doors for the family room. That roof did not have an overhang because the plan is to have a porch roof. As a result, if we installed that door as-is, the door would get pelted by winter. So…. we decided to go ahead and build the deck and porch roof.

The first step was to pour two sonotubes for the deck/roof middle and outside supports. One end support is a 4x6 treated beam anchored to the foundation and framed wall.

This deck and roof would not have been too hard of a task, except for the fact that we were planning a log theme to match the overall look of the house. So … we had to cut down a couple of trees to get the logs we needed for the posts and beam.  We then had to peel the logs and notch the top of each post to match the contour of the beam.

The log beam is 12” diameter, 16’ long and green, so it was rather heavy. Luckily our plan to devise a boom on the tractor to lift each end into the posts worked well. (scary but it worked). For the next beam I’ll use a tripod lift instead.

A big sigh of relief when it was up and stable. Once the beam was up, we put up the roof rafters, plywood and underlayment. Now we have a dry cover for the new french doors.

Next was the deck framing, all done with 2x6 treated lumber. It should outlast me. The deck surface is “Elite Decking” which is 2X6 high grade treated fir decking.

  

a room with a view.

Lastly, we decided to go ahead and install the fireplace to hopefully keep us warmer during the winter while we’re working. We’re expecting night temps in the teens this coming week, so hopefully, even without insulation, it will take some chill off inside. First step was to prep the chase by installing a fire stop metal piece near the top and then insulate the chase with rockwool.

 

Then we took advantage of Ben and Jen to help us lift this puppy into it’s spot. 430 lbs. Ben took most of the weight.

   

This week we had good weather and installed the flue, cap, and blower assembly … then started our first fire.    Yay!

A New House – Episode 14 – Doors and Windows

Our goal this year is to get the house closed in and winter-ready. Now that the roofing underlayment is on, we’re protected up on top, but still need to get the doors and windows on to make it completely closed up and breeze-free.

We have 21 windows and 4 exterior doors. (That black covered opening on the right of the front door is for a stained glass window that Deb made). Notice that nifty covered porch I made for the front door?  It has spindly logs for posts, but it should last through winter .. or not.

The windows we chose are Milgard Montecito vinyl windows in tan color. These Milgard windows carry a lifetime warranty. We also got the best glass quality we could afford which is low E3-366 Argon made by Cardinal. (Here is a description for those who are interested). Basically they are really good at keeping the house cooler in summer and warmer in the winter.

 

We are installing the windows using techniques we learned from various sources which basically completely seals the windows from the outside elements and at the same time ensures that rain cannot get inside. We  start by laying down flexible butyl flashing material on the bottom of the sill folded over the Tyvek.

 

Then we caulk the inside of the window flange and set the window in the opening, endure it is level and plumb, then nail it in along the sides and the bottom.

 

After installed, we apply more flashing down the sides covering the flange and the flashing on the bottom. Then more flashing along the top flange covering the top edge of the side flashings. Then the Tyvek that was folded up, is folded back down and everything is taped shut. What you end up with is a system that ensures rain will “shingle” away from the window openings.

      

We got all of our doors from a surplus door and window place called Overhauser’s. You have to do quite a bit of picking through his billions of doors on six floors in an old brick warehouse in Spokane, but we figure we saved upwards of $2000 on surplus doors that basically look like new. Three of our doors are full lite fir doors. This one for Kyle’s room does not have grids, but has integral blinds.

 

Basement door on the left and one of two french doors for the family room on right.

 

The other half of the family room french door. We are using a natural color Sikkens Door and Window stain, which is pricey, but we hope will work well in our climate. Deb is putting three coats on and you can touch it up every couple of years as needed (unlike doors that are varathaned or varnished).

 

The front door we chose is fiberglass. After extensive research, we decided against a wood door for the front because it faces exactly the direction storms come from in winter and will get afternoon sun in the summer…even when we complete the porch roof. Even the best stain and sealants can’t fight mother nature. This door is prefinished and has a really nice mahogany grain.

  

One other little task I am working on is blocking off the eave openings, mostly to keep the weather/wind out in the winter until we can get the soffits up, but also to keep bugs out. There is a 1” slot on the top edge of the blocking to allow air flow to the roof ridge above the insulation layer.