Building Update #18 - Gluing & Screwing on the Solstice

Jake's parents are visiting for almost two weeks from Chicago to help us get a roof on the house before the winter gets (too much) worse.  We spent the shortest day of the year putting up sheathing around the joists and then we were able to start gluing and screwing the floor sheathing to the joists for our second floor.

Our first Christmas decoration, courtesy of Jake's Mom.

Jake's Dad on the roof.  The only time he came down all day was for lunch.  Jake had again spent the week clearing snow and ice, but he and my Dad were able to get all the floor sheathing up on to the joists. 

A tarp from Jake's parents topped it off and we were finally under some cover.  Still have to clear all the ice out!  

Jake and his Dad making sure the sheathing was as square as possible before they started gluing it down. 

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Building Update #17 - Misery Loves Company

Jake has been working in the cold, snow, rain, and ice for two weeks.  I have been 'lucky' enough to join him on the weekends, and my Dad has helped out several days, too.  Progress has been slowed substantially due to the fact that we need to chip away ice, clear snow, etc. before continuing on the next step of the build.  

We used a liquid flashing product in all the seams between the plywood sheathing. In order to get certified we have to pass a blower door test showing our house is essentially airtight.  This is one of the techniques we need to get there. 

And over all the nails and holes from pulled nails. 

We spent last weekend connecting the plastic sheeting that is under the concrete to the plywood sheathing with a flashing tape (again for air sealing), but Jake has decided to go a different route, so we have to dismantle a weekend's worth of work. 

Chalk lines for (from nearest to farthest) the mechanical room, powder room, and coat closet.

Now with the interior partitions in.

The powder room.

The mechanical room.  Our electrical panel, cable and internet, water entry, sprinkler system entry, and heat pump water heater will all reside here. 

The day before the big storm.  We can't bring ourselves to see what 10-16" of snow on top of this will look like. All the floor joists are in. 

Building Update #16 - First Floor Sheathing and Windows Cuts

With help from my Dad, lunch from my Mom and little sister, and cold but sunny and calm weather we managed to get a lot done today.  We installed protector plates for all of our in-wall piping, finished installing all the sheathing, and routed out the windows.

The view out the kitchen window on the north side of the house.

The west side door and dining room window.

The east side door and window, and the south side picture windows.  Jake finished routing the big windows during nautical twilight...

Building Update #15 - A Turkey and Four Walls

The north and south walls survived the windstorm - luckily our site is sheltered by trees on all sides.  Jake and I spent Thanksgiving day putting up the third wall, and laying out the fourth wall.  My parents scheduled a late Thanksgiving dinner so we could get in almost a full day on site.  Today we put up the last wall on the first floor and started finishing up the plywood sheathing.  

Wall number three.

The last wall is up.  Jake did a great job - they are almost perfectly plumb!

The view from the south-east corner.  We haven't routed out the plywood from the large windows yet. 

Building Update #14 - Two Walls Are Up...Waiting for Wind

Jake and I spent this past weekend getting ready to get the walls up.  The sill plates and bottom plates took longer than expected, mostly due to all the piping penetrations on the north wall and a general learning curve.  It doesn't look like we accomplished much, but all the prep work allowed Jake to frame the north and the south walls single-handedly on Monday, and to put up two walls on Tuesday with the help of his friend Jason and my Dad.

Measuring in order to cut pipe penetrations in the sill plate.

After the sill plates were fitted, we removed them and added silll plate sealer on the bottoms, and then re-installed them. 

The entire perimeter sill plates in place.  Jake would end up removing the side wall sill plates when he started framing the long walls because they were in the way. 

The north and south walls framed up.  The pneumatic framing gun was well worth the money.

The north wall up and braced.

Jake and my Dad raising the first section of the south wall. 

One more section to go today.  There is a wind advisory in effect through tomorrow with gusts up to 50 mph.  Fingers crossed that our walls will hold.

Building Update #13 - Ready to Start Framing

Jake and his intermittent assistants have spent the last week and a half since pouring concrete finishing up the rest of the foundation details - forming up and pouring concrete for our house main and back door entries, digging a trench for and installing the foundation drain, applying perimeter insulation ("frost skirt"), and then covering up everything with crushed stone.  We never imagined how much shoveling would be involved!

Frost skirt on the garage entrance slab.

Our front door slab formed up.

Our back door slab formed up.

The front door entry finished concrete with frost skirt in place.

The frost skirt covered with rocks.  The dog did not assist at all.  

Building Update #12 - Concrete Poured

Jake oversaw the pouring of the house and garage concrete today.  The NOAA weather forecast shows temperatures above freezing through Friday.  Below are pictures Jake took of the pour.

Garage

Garage

Garage

Garage

House

House

House

House

House

Garage

Building Update #11 - The Guest Worker Program

My parents got a reprieve this weekend because Jake's parents made a surprise visit from Chicago, showing up Friday with work gloves in hand!  Jake's college roommate showed up Saturday to help out, so we are seriously thinking about starting an official Guest Worker Program.

We have the foundations all prepped and are waiting for an inspection and then a warm weather window to pour concrete.  NOAA says Tuesday through Friday should stay above freezing long enough to let our concrete cure.  Fingers crossed!

Jake's Mom and Dad.

We shoveled stone to backfill the insulation form work to prevent it from "blowing out" when the concrete is poured. 

We built forms for the concrete apron at the garage entrance. 

We had to slope the stone around the garage foundation to promote drainage.  This is the insulation skirt that is four feet wide around the perimeter.  

The garage all back filled as well.  The black pipe is our foundation drain that we had to relocate to provide the slope for the skirt insulation. 

Building Update #10 - Foundation Prep Progressing

Monday Jake spray foamed the holes in the insulation where the pipes came through and then sealed the pipes to the plastic to make an airtight barrier.

Tuesday morning Jake and Dad finished all the concrete rebar and reinforcing mesh placement.

Tuesday afternoon I joined Jake and Dad to get the garage foundation insulation started.

After setting up the strings again to make the building square, we finished the edge pieces. 

Finishing up the first of two layers of insulation. By the time the sun went down we had started on the second layer.