Month: March 2008

Aaron Mark and I went out there today, We got some fire blocking, home wrapping, and some insulation blocking done. Once again I’ve forgotten to take a picture to show the progress. I’ve attached an old picture to show what house wrap looks like.

I should have paid someone to install the overhead door, I’ve blown the time budget on it. I’ve spent the last few days building an additional frame that attaches to the wall (instructions say to, I’d rather skip this step and fasten it to the wall but the red letters in the instructions scared me). I’ve spent 4 days working on that door, today I finished it. Well as finished as it’s going to get for the next while. I need the correct sized shaft that the springs go on (they shipped me the wrong one), and I need to return the electric opener they sent the wrong style of opener I want a jackshaft style one not a trolley one. One thing I never knew about overhead doors is that you assemble them from the ground up, I put the first two sections up by hand and then I used the block and tackle with some nylon straps to hoist the rest of the sections up. Putting the sections in was easy, the thing that took the most time was putting the tracks up and making sure they were level plumb and the same distance apart all the time.

Today (March 21) Aaron came out to help me, He cut the rough openings for the windows and doors, and did some finishing touches to the overhead door framing, and he put the last sheet of OSB on the south wall. It’s nice in the house with the holes in the walls. I played overhead door all morning and afternoon, the evening I spent packing up the tools that we were done using (roofing tools, sheathing staplers, ect…) to take back to the city for storage, then I repackaged the unused nails and staples for return to the store, and I picked up the OSB pieces and shingles that were scattered around the yard to take to the dump.

Tomorrow I hope to get the first strip of Typar up and the doors installed. I just hope the local building stores are open tomorrow. (It’s Easter)

Today was basically the same as yesterday, except a bit slower (Jen only had one extra large coffee). Wanda got a lot of the fire blocks installed, Tre cleaned some of the yard, and Jen and I finished shingling the roof. It was a bit too cold to work with the shingles, but we made do.

Time for another list of goals for next week and a half:

• Finish sheathing the north wall (Done)
• Finish fire blocking
• Pick up and install insulation stops
• Install house wrap
• Make a final electrical plan and get a permit
• Order the electrical panels (Done)
• Get a electrical mast and attachments
• Find flashing for the windows and the insulation around the grade beam
• Get the overhead door installed (Done)
• Pick up my doors and install them (Done)
• I need windows delivered and installed
• I need to call my plumber (Done)
• Figure out how to vapor barrier around electrical device boxes (Done, Thanks Joe)
• Make a detailed drawing of the bathroom and laundry room for electrical and plumbing purposes
• Pick plumbing items like tubs and sinks
• If I get all this done then do a massive buy of electrical parts for the house

Well it seems that installing shingles isn’t quite as bad as it first seemed to be. Today the sun was out an it melted the shingles and made them soft and very easy to work with. I didn’t know it before but I was fighting with the shingles because they were bent and twisted, and wouldn’t line up very well. I also got the chalk line working today. It was the wind that was making it work improperly today it drew straight lines every time, and since the shingles were warm they didn’t go crooked at all. Jen was on the roof helping me today, we got lots done, When we started I had 6 rows of shingles at the bottom done, when we finished there is only 4 rows to do at the top to do. I think there only half  day left of shingling to do.

Jen runs on coffee, that’s the premium fuel for her, she had two extra large coffees and she ran full giver all day. I went down to fix an air line, Wanda asked if I was ready to eat, I said no figuring I’d eat when Jen was hungry; It didn’t happen. We went non stop until the sun went own and the shingles started getting too hard to work with. When I’d slow down she’d make me get going, it was a super productive day.

Wanda and Tre cut and nailed boards in the walls as fire blocking, they got the first row of 4 done today. Jen opened bundles of shingles, spread them in the sun to melt the ice between them, then rearranged them to allow them to warm in the sun, then she placed them in the rows for me to attach and brought me nails. I did the final placement of the shingles and nailing.

I have pictures to add here but then need reformatting and it’s getting late. I’ll be out there tomorrow finishing the shingles, plus doing some fire blocking and maybe sheathing the north wall

Today started with shingles being delivered to our roof, I never knew how they got them up there, I thought they would be on pallets and place them up there with a crane with a fork attachment. They conveyer them up, it went quickly, I only think it took ten or fifteen minutes to get them up and stacked nicely at the peak.

After that it only got worse, I tried armor-guarding the south side first, and it was windy. The wind made a mess of things, I fought with this roll of stuff that wouldn’t stay where I put it, I finally gave up and went to the non-windy side of the house. I put metal drip edges all around, armor-guarded the north side, put the starter strip of shingles on, fought like crazy with my chalk line.

I couldn’t get the chalk line to make straight lines, the wind made a mess of things, I had to stretch it tight and nail it at both ends, it was stupid. The first row of shingles I put on I trusted the line from the chalk, they’re even at the ends but stick out a bit in the middle. It’s noticeable from the ground, I guess I’m going to have eaves troughs on the north side for sure now. It’s not really a big deal though, I could trim them, or not tell anyone they’re not really noticeable.

I know why they charge so much to shingle a house, it really sucks. I’ve been bent over and kneeling and moving 80 pound bundles of shingles, and freezing. I’m sore tonight, I’ve used a whole new set of muscles that I don’t normally use. I can carry OSB up a ladder no problem now, but this bending over thing is horrible. Next house needs a steeper roof, and taller too, maybe I’ll hire someone.

Well I finished over 1/4 of the roof, plus the starter strip is done all the way around, and armor guard, and drip edges. If all goes super good tomorrow I’ll get the roof done halfway before lunch.

The wind wasn’t too bad, but the rain and snow wasn’t good, I was soaked, and cold. I hope it doesn’t freeze overnight.  The yard is melting a lot and there’s mud everywhere, and standing water. All we need is a gap in our driveway and a drawbridge. it’s going to look like the flood of 97 in our yard in a few weeks. I want to re landscape it after the house is done.

Nothing too exciting today, Curt told me where I needed to do some reworking of a few braces in the trusses where they connect to the gable end truss, I needed to put a block on the gable truss and tie it into the chord braces of the common trusses. I had extra 2X4’s and now I had a use for them. I also put the extra studs in that I needed to make the rough opening the correct size for my overhead door. I took down the catwalk, and I’ve started removing the catwalk braces so that I can use them as fire blocking in the walls.

I called the building inspector and he tells me that I need the blocking installed 4′ on center (I need 4 per space between the studs.) that will be a project for next week.

Today was a good day, Cory and cousin Curt (sorry if I spelt that wrong), Wanda, My Dad, Jen, Tre, and myself were all there. Curt laid down plywood on the roof and tacked it in place, Cory did stapling, My dad and Jen hauled plywood and attached it to the hoist, Jen did most of the pulling, Wanda was doing general work, and she also organized the eating, Tre enjoyed the snow and the ds, I almost did nothing. Well Curt called down for a few two by fours to be cut to a certain length, I did a bit of that, and I ate some hamburgers.

Cory and Curt were good at what they did,  you could see that they had spent some time doing this before. We started all got there at 9:00 am, but after setting everything up we didn’t get really working until after 9:30. These guys had the roof covered with plywood, ends trimmed, stapled in place, fully done by 2:00 pm. and they stopped for coffee. It was interesting watching them work, I’m inexperienced when it comes to working up in the trusses, I’ve put my time in up there, but I still take a long time to get around. These guys just fly, I saw Curt walking on the top of the wall, and to get down for coffee they will climb down from the roof through the rafters to get to the ladder. When I need the saw on the roof I need someone to bring it up, Curt will lay down on the bottom chord of the trusses and get you to throw the cord to him. These guys are good stuff.

The hamburgers Wanda cooked were great, and thanks to my dad for getting more propane.

Everyone left around 3:00 pm, but since I didn’t do too much yet, I sheathed the south wall. It took until the sun was down and I still have one more piece to install, but it’s just about done.

 

Today Wanda, Jen, Tre, and myself went to do some work on the house. Wanda and Jen got the hurricane brackets installed (except 8). I finished building the over head hoist. Then we all started sheathing the roof.

The hoist worked perfectly, and we got the first row sheathed plus a bit. Actually it was 10.5 sheets that we got up into place. Things are looking good. I think we will use 160 sheets of plywood (partial and full) in total, so we are 14.5% done so far. We are going to go at it tomorrow morning with all the people from today, plus my dad, Cory, and Curt. With possibly a special guest appearance from Andrew and Steve. We’ll actually have too many people out there, well as long as they can entertain themselves things will be all right.

Future things to do:

• I need to make a final electrical plan and get a permit
• I also need to order my electrical panel (Done)
• I need to get flashing for the bottom and the drip edge (Done)
• I should order shingles soon (Done)
• I need to finish the rough opening for the overhead door and install it (Done)
• I need locksets (Done)
• I need windows delivered
• I need to call my plumber (Done)
• I have twelve hours to decide how much space to leave for a ridge vent (3″ ,done)
• I got to find out when road restrictions go on (concrete must be poured before then) Done

March 18 road restrictions art %90 of normal axle loads March 25 they are %65 of normal axle loads. I think I have big problems.