Day 166: Back Patio

Friday

Yesterday we got some good weather and some good progress. But first, a quick shot of the front of the house to catch everyone up on where we are:

Now to the back of the house. Our flatwork contractor, Vanderford Construction, was out and put in the back patio. The back patio also has concrete piers underneath it to support the posts that hold up the back deck and the roof overhang. We were looking forward to getting the patio poured so we could finish up the framing.

I opted to bring the concrete around the back of the suspended garage to give myself a concrete pad behind the back double door. It'll be much easier to bring future projects in and out of the back double doors with a mini driveway.

Daily Stats		Hours Worked			Cost
	Day	Trevor	Family/Friends	Contractors
Today	166	2	2	0
All Time	166	110	107	1162.5	$13,496.75
Summary of 9/19/2014		Work Done Today
		Cleaned up site
		Materials Used Today
		Who Helped Today
		Reed, Emmy, Abby
		Contractors On Site

Day 164: Framing Nearly Complete!

Wednesday

Well, framing is just about finished! It's exciting to see the house coming along. The last several days we've been able to see progress each day.

Last week we got the floor of the second story installed. It was fun to walk across the catwalk.

Then they started putting in the upstairs roof panels.

They used a Lull to pick up the panels and hoist them up to the roof.

After another day of framing they got the rest of the south side of the roof panels in place.

When they lift the panels, they have to drill holes in them to fasten the lifting bracket to the panel. Once the panels are in place, they fill the holes with foam. Excess foam pieces were found in the upstairs. The boys did what was expected with them.

After the weekend, they then started on the roof panels on the front of the house. On Monday they got in about half of the panels before having to stop for the concrete guys.

Our flatwork contractor showed up and poured the front two porches. We were excited to get those in as they would allow the rest of the porch framing to go in.

While he was there he went ahead and put the piers in for the back porch and deck support.

With the boys' side roofed in, Reed and Will enjoyed their new view.

The next clear day they were able to finish out the roof panels all the way across the front of the house.

The kids all enjoyed going upstairs and standing in their future rooms.

Next we started on the front porch roofs. First went in the cedar 6x6 columns. The roof frame and sheathing will go on top of these posts.

Today, they finished framing the front of the house and porches. I'll post pictures of that tomorrow after they finish uploading on our country-lifestyle-speed internet.

Daily Stats		Hours Worked			Cost
	Day	Trevor	Family/Friends	Contractors
Today	164	0		8
All Time	164	106	105	1138.5	$13,496.75
Summary of 9/17/2014		Work Done Today
		Installed upstairs windows
		Materials Used Today
		Who Helped Today
		Contractors On Site
		Square Cuts

Day 151: Framing Second Floor

Thursday

Guess what we did today? That's right, more framing! Same as yesterday! Framing's fun because you get to see progress each day. We're better able to visualize what's going on with the house and rooms.

On Wednesday, they finished the second story peak on the east side and got one ridge beam up. The ridge beams are "glue lam" beams, meaning they are several boards glued, or laminated, together to form one beam. They're about 5 inches wide by 24 inches tall, and they support the top of the roof panels all along the ridge of the 45 degree pitch roof.

Today, Thursday, they finished the other two-thirds of the ridge beam and got the window wall gable above the kitchen installed.

Here's a view of the glue lam beams. The run horizontally across the top of the picture. They're supported by engineered posts.

Daily Stats		Hours Worked			Cost
	Day	Trevor	Family/Friends	Contractors
Today	151	0	0	50
All Time	151	102	102	790.5	$13,496.75
Summary of 9/4/2014		Work Done Today
		Installed remaining ridge beams and front windows over kitchen
		Materials Used Today
		SIP package
		Who Helped Today
		Contractors On Site
		Square Cuts

Day 149: Framing and Burning

Tuesday

After a nice three-day weekend, it was time to get back to work. Our framing crew was back at it early in the morning and got a good start. They finished up the second story floor, including the bridge between the girls and boys rooms. They also got the east wall up.

After they'd left we went out as a family and did a little clean up. Mandy picked up a burn barrel today and we put it to quick use, burning small scraps here and there. The kids thought it was fun to get to through small boards out the second story window and burn things. Will was in boy heaven. They were thrilled when we all climbed up the ladder and got to stand on the second story floor.

Daily Stats		Hours Worked			Cost
	Day	Trevor	Family/Friends	Contractors
Today	149	2	5	50
All Time	149	102	102	690.5	$13,496.75
Summary of 9/2/2014		Work Done Today
		Finished second story floor and second story wall peaks
		Materials Used Today
		SIP package, burn barrel
		Who Helped Today
		Mandy, Reed, Emmy, Abby, Will
		Contractors On Site
		Square Cuts

Day 145: More Framing Progress

Friday

We've made some great progress in the last two days. Thursday we had good framing weather, hot and dry. We got the remainder of the main level exterior and interior walls up. It was fun to walk through the house and get a feel for how each room was turning out. Here's the progress from Thursday:

Here's the first shot of Mandy in her new craft room. Not sure what Emmy's wearing. Or what's going on with her face.

Here's a view out the back window. You can see the catwalk between the girls and boys bedrooms above.

This is looking out our kitchen windows.

We never think of our house as big. Until we look at it from the back.

Front of the house.

Here's Friday's progress.

Overview - you can see that they've started the second story wall and a small part of the roof panel above the kitchen.

Here's Mandy with the boys' bedrooms behind her.

Here's the bridge leading from the boys' bedrooms to the girls' bedrooms. The stairwell is on the right at the end of the bridge.

Daily Stats		Hours Worked			Cost
	Day	Trevor	Family/Friends	Contractors
Today	145	0	0	40
All Time	145	100	97	640.5	$13,496.75
Summary of 8/29/2014		Work Done Today
		Framed second floor (partial) and second story walls (partial)
		Materials Used Today
		Who Helped Today
		Contractors On Site
		Square Cuts

Day 143: Framing Continues

Wednesday

So last we started framing. It was a short start, as two days into the framing we realized that our SIP supplier, EPS, provided the wrong floor joists. We haven't been very happy with EPS; first they were 4 weeks late on engineering, then 6 weeks late on delivery of the panels.

Back to framing. After finding out about the wrong joists on Thursday of last week, they called in for replacements. While they shipped us new joists, we lost Friday, Saturday, Monday and part of Tuesday. So needless to say we were excited to get moving again. Wednesday we got the floor installed and some of the main level walls up.

Here's what they had by 7:15 am.

Here's the progress by late afternoon.

This is standing in the garage looking into the house.

Daily Stats		Hours Worked			Cost
	Day	Trevor	Family/Friends	Contractors
Today	143	0	0	40
All Time	143	100	97	600.5	$13,496.75
Summary of 8/27/2014		Work Done Today
		Framed main level floor and part of main level walls
		Materials Used Today
		SIP package
		Who Helped Today
		Contractors On Site
		EPS

Day 136: Framing Begins!

Wednesday

It's official. Our house package has arrived and framing has begun! As a reminder, we're building a foam house. Foam, as in, Structural Insulated Panels, or SIPs. These panels consist of a sheet of OSB (think plywood), a 6-10 inch layer of foam, and another sheet of OSB. The panels are pre-cut by a CNC machine in a factory and then shipped to the job site. My panels are from a company called EPS, and were shipped from New York because the Missouri plant was full.

I also purchased all of my other materials from EPS (lumber, BCI joists, floor, etc). All of the SIP sections and other materials arrived Monday and Tuesday on 5 semis. The kiddos were waiting for the bus stop when the trucks started rolling in. Mind you, the driveway is a bit narrower than the drivers would have preferred.

After some finagling, and deciding to come in from the other direction, they were able to pull in. Only one mailbox was harmed in the process.

The panels were stacked around the job site in about five piles the size of the ones below.

Here is me adjusting the time-lapse camera across the way. You can see the piles of panels surrounding the job site.

With the panels now on site, framing could begin. Framing is a bit of a misnomer, since it's not just the frame going up, but the walls and insulation as well. The pictures below shows the back wall of the basement. We're excited to start seeing it come together.

If you look closely at this picture you can see the structure of the panels and the foam inside. You can also see the holes in the foam, which are "chases" for wiring.

Daily Stats		Hours Worked			Cost
	Day	Trevor	Family/Friends	Contractors
Today	136	0	0	24
All Time	136	98	93	500.5	$13,496.75
Summary of 8/20/2014		Work Done Today
		Framed basement wall
		Materials Used Today
		SIP Panels
		Who Helped Today
		Contractors On Site
		EPS