Starting to seal up the house

Roofing is now complete. Also, have plumbing vents and kitchen stove vent in place thru the roofing.   Installed firing 2x12s around the cement openings for the windows: complete with sealant and window flashing tape.  Windows are being installed. Almost all the windows installed, including in the clear story.  The windows are recessed in from the outside of the house by about 2 inches. All the time we spent to get the window opening square and true really paid off. The was very little shimming to do when we installed the firing and the windows. We also, oiled the wood that is exposed under the eaves and I am working on sanding and oiling the wood post and beams on the porches.  Another task has been stapling the paper to the plywood that the siding will be nailed to, we are trying to keep the house dry. Having windows in the house makes a big difference in the air flow.  Below are some current pictures.

Enjoy

Roof is Package Nearly Complete

December 21, 2014

The Trusses were all set before Thanksgiving. In the 2 weeks after the crew placed all the plywood and built out the hand framed sections of the roof. Now we are onto applying the roofing material.   Last week on Wednesday, the roofing crew started.  First thing they did was bring the roofing material out and set it on the roof.  Doug and I have been working on the windows to get the rough in completed around the concrete.  This includes the dividers between the windows.  This is where all the close measuring during the building is paying off. The window holes are very square and just the right size for the windows.  Of the 9 windows  in the maim level Doug completed 5.  Below are the current pictures of the house.

Roof Trusses and Exterior Posts, Kitchen Wall

 November 23, 2014 Sunday

We found a framing contractor to work with us to put up the roof trusses and do the exterior and interior framing.  For the exterior framing there are 3 areas that need to be built out before the trusses can be installed. This included the Car port to the North, the Back Door entrance to the South and the Patio to the West. The Posts and Beams in these areas are load bearing and part of the look that we wanted for the house.  The posts and beams are 10"x 10" Douglas Fir.  Each beam is attached to the house with a metal plate that was custom made for the location.  Doug had these made here in Hillsboro.  He painted them a brown to protect them from rusting.

Inside the house the shear wall that will support the stairs and be the kitchen wall  was installed by the framing crew. They also installed the upstairs floor joists and built the stairs.  Pictures below.

Then the Roof Trusses were delivered on 11/21/2014.  Over the next two days the trusses for the main portion of the house were installed.  When I drove home Friday (11/21/14) morning I could see the carport trusses from the highway. That was very exciting. Setting the Roof Trusses took the better part of 2 days.  The Clear stories that we have on the top of the roof were a driving factor. The Clear stories have supporting box around them to support the weight of the Clear story and the weight of partial trusses supported by the box. On either side of the Clear story is  girder truss to carry and transfer the roof load. The distance between the girder trusses  had to be precise as the connecting girder truss was premade. Day one all of the Carport trusses were set and all of the large girder trusses were set.  On the morning of the second day we checked the positions of the larger girder trusses in the main living area. The crew had measured to the outside of the girder instead to the inside, this made everything off by  6 inches. These trusses needed to be moved. By end of the second day with a second crane truck we had  both of Clear stories boxed in and most of the main house trusses up.   

Chimney Rock and Sub Floor

 

November 22, 2014

We have been working on the chimney rock and sub floor. 

After the block chimney was constructed we selected the decorative rock for the outside.  This required several decisions to be made. First we need to select the rock. Then the color of the mortar and next the width of the gap between the rocks and the depth of mortar. We drove around several neighborhoods looking at rock and mortar.  We selected the rock pretty quickly. For mortar the mason made several samples for us. He applied some rock at the base of the chimney so we could make our final decsion. Then he started to apply the rock to the top of the chimney where he needed the tall scaffolding to reach.  We wanted to get this rock work completed so we could remove the scaffolding and start working on the roof.

Pictures of the Chimney are attached below.

At the same  time we were installing the sub floor. The plywood for the sub floor is 1 and 1/8 inches thick.  Marty and Doug placed all the plywood expect for two sheets. This hole will allow us to get under the floor to do all the work for plumbing, air ducts and electrical.

Pictures of the sub floor are attached below.

Floor and Sill Plate

9/21/2014    just installed the floor and joist in the last few weeks  then the inch 1/8 th plywood.    we left a couple of sheets off to help with the crawl space access.   the stone mason installed some samples of mortar color and depth and will start shortly with the chimney decorative rock.    we are now installing the 2x12 around the top of the rastra wall to give the truss work a place to attach.   we have moved more dirt up to the house to make it easier to work on.   

before the floor joist  were installed we built two pony walls the length of the house to help support the concrete floor that will be poured later this winter with the radiant floor tubing in it.  the pony walls have three crawl space openings in each so we can have access to all the underfloor areas.   we attached simpson brackets to the floor ledger that was hung last year, we had to coordinate the bracket with the 3/4 inch anchor bolts that were imbedded into the rastra wall . all the vertical 2x6 pony wall supports had to line up with the floor joist for support.   the floor joist came full width of the house to make installing them easier , just trim to length and slide down into the bracket .  alot of wood blocking and nailing finished the job.

with the plywood down we marked out the walls on the interior of the house so plumping will be easier and after rough plumping will come the heat duct work.   then  we will attach the last sheet of plywood and use the crawl space opening . 

pictures below

Back Fill and Floor Trusses

September 3, 2014 Wednesday

 With the piping inspected we filled the trenches around the house.  Then we continued to back fill around the house.  The carport was filled with gravel that was compacted in lifts.  The dirt line shows in the photos below. 

The chimney is completed with cinder block. Waiting for the decorative  rock to be installed. Doug, Ruth and Helen drove around town to look at rock on houses to pick the color for the chimney.

The floor trusses are going in.  Before setting the trusses Doug built two pony walls the length the house. The trusses will sit on the walls. The trusses span the full width of the house.  The bedroom trusses are shown in the photo below.

Drawing of the HOUSE- Viewed from NORTH

This is the view of the House from the North.