Beam me up!

Oct 22 2016 Beam and wall framing

One man - SOOO many boards

After a brief hiatus we are back at it! All the walls are framed up to 10'. The wall in the center of the house separating the living space from the bedrooms is 90% complete. Wall sections above the 10' height are being completed now.

Photo of center wall. The ceiling in the living area is a cathedral ceiling. The wall up to 10' was built in sections and lifted up and bolted down and to the adjoining sections and floor. Above 10' is a work in progress.  An opening on the left will remain there until the A/C and plywood attic flooring is completed.

The last two days we have focused on our 24' foot exposed I beam in the center of the living area and preparing it for rafters. First we attached a 2' x 10' to the top and bottom of the metal beam. These 2 bys will make installing the 40 rafters easier and more stable. Then we added two metal straps for just a little extra support. The straps will not be visible once the ceiling boards are installed. Finally, we added 24" wide plywood on both sides of the beam.  Our final vision is for the beam to be finished off with a nice finishing wood. It is way up there!

While waiting for the sun to rise high enough to work inside, we installed our first set of shutters. We tested out a few ideas and finally have this set installed with supporting block between the shutters and the exterior wall ridges. We think it looks great! What do you think?

Month No 2 ends: walls

Walls, walls and more walls

Moving right along on this one man job.  The walls are going up pretty quickly and easily. We are due for a cool front and it can't come fast enough. Without insulation it can get pretty hot in there. Here are a few photos of the additional walls which completes the Master Bath, Master bedroom and almost the hallway. Sam is in the first photo.. trying to take some credit for all the hard work.

Photos from atop the scaffolding

It's no easy task climbing up there! and it is way up there. 

CHANGE:  decided to move the hot water heater to the attic to improve on the installation and run pipes to exterior back side of the house.

UPDATE: Shutters are 80% done.  They are all built, but ran out of polyurethane.

INTERESTING: the El Camino - The Texas Gravel Adventure bike race ran right by us. On a 90 degree day, those brave riders had more than gravel to contend with.

Being as hopeful as we can for nice cool Fall weather

DAYS 57- to month No. 2 Interior walls

Here we are at DAYS 57-58

The builder, Huff Welding, finished most of the outside. The underpinning for the side porch looks great! They also installed the wind vane for us. So glad we didn't have to figure out how to get up there!! They will come back when we have the front porch ready for underpinning and wood burning stove stack ready to install.

LOOKS GREAT!!










We are pre fabricating the walls in sections inside the house and have installed the two 6" wall sections for the laundry room and the small 1/2 bath. Not as heavy to lift as we thought. Laundry wall includes cut outs for dryer vent to outside wall. All walls will be bolted to the foundation.

Bathroom and laundry walls - 6"

Next,  the framing is complete for the interior walls within the master bathroom. There are two interior 8' walls separating out the shower and toilet. These walls are 8' leaving ventilation space to the remaining areas of the bathroom. The ceilings will be 10'. Door for master bath is a 80 x 30 opening. We will be fabricating a sliding barn door with reclaimed wood and barn door rollers for opening and closing off bathroom.

Now we can see shape of master bedroom(lft), master bath and 2nd bedroom(rt)

Hummingbirds are passing through town!

The cedar shutters are coming along. Using cedar fencing to reduce cost and increase ease of construction. All will be covered with a clear polyurethane which adds a nice color to them.  Here are a few photos. First photo is of back side.  Each shutter will have 3 panels and angled cross support. We are still working on the process for attaching them to the house.  Note: scorpion stings HURT!

Next up: hallway walls, finish shutters, getting really close to contacting electrician and A/C man!
9/18/16

DAY 50-52 Scaffolding and so much more

DAY 50-52 Scaffolding, plumbing and interior framing

Finished installing all support boxes inbetween the side wall beams to support the ceiling.  We received some scaffolding on loan for the duration of the build. We put together one large 14' section with two landings. The wheels are coated so hopefully we won't damage the floors that will be eventually stained. That should help us work smarter and not harder.

 In the center photo you can see we started the interior plumbing. These pipes make up the vent from the master bathroom that will go up and vent out the cupola. We are using 2" pipe for that section and metal straps to hold them in place in a slight upward angle.

Break time in the hammock on a hot day

DOORS!  Finally, no rain and time to polyurethane the doors. One coat complete. We will lightly sand and put on another coat to seal the deal!
That's Bailee photo bombing in the right photo.


















Ended the day with leveling and adding sand around
the foundation that had washed away with all the rain.

BTW, these 5 apple trees are doing great!

Can you pick them out? hint, there are cages around them.

NEXT:

For Gary: more plumbing & interior walls

For me: finish cedar window shutters, boards have been cut

DAY 43-44 Installing interior framing - more changes

DAY 43-44 Interior begins

Now the real work begins!  For us anyway. The builder has almost finished exterior framing, roof and walls. We are just missing a few minor finishes.  So now begins our two man (one man, one woman) interior construction job.

Day 43-44 was spent putting up about 30 framed boxes that will hold the ceiling joists giving us 10' walls through out the house.

The boxes were originally going to be fewer and larger, but the exterior frame went up in such a way that we had to change plans. With teamwork, my husband and I made them all and they all fit! It took quite a bit longer to make all the boxes, every one a different size. But they are done and installed. 
 

Sam loves that the windows are just his height so he can keep watch!

MORE CHANGES:

After checking measurements for built-in kennels in laundry, we decided to move the 6" wall back a foot. This will give us about 2'+  space from the door framing to the wall. At first thought, with the plumbing pipe already in the foundation, we thought it would not be possible. But it will work out great and opening the laundry room a bit will really help. Since the back entry will be through that room, it just made since to make the change.   It will take a foot away from the large second bedroom, but that won't be missed. We will be adding one wall that will enclose the pipe, but we will gain a much better floor plan.

Planning the exterior lights we decided not to put any electrical wiring in the underpinning over the porches.  So we called the electrician and put him on hold.  We will be installing wall sconces along the porch and beside each door. There will also be one antique gooseneck light above the front door for additional available lighting.  No ceiling fans on the porches.. just don't make since when it just circulates the 100 degree heat.

Addition:  Needing a project (to keep me out of his way??) I have begun design and fabrication of shutters for the windows.  Still in the planning stages, looking at cedar with stain or clear coat to maintain a darker brown color over time.  Here is the test. He is checking my measurements! color is way to lite.

DAY 40 - All walls up and roof is on

DAY 40

We have a roof!

Today the 3rd and 4th walls and roof were installed. Next few days will involve installation of the ridge cap, underpinning and more trim.

The front, better known as the "nightware wall" by our builder.  But, they are doing a fantastic job! Thank you Huff Welding.

DAY 38 - Exterior walls - antique barn door hardware

DAY 38

Every day we have rain, lots of rain. Today was first chance to start install of exterior sheet metal. Looks like a good match to the coupala.

Got a great deal on some antique barn door rollers through Instagram! These will be used on door to master bathroom.

8/22/16