YAY!!! The North Wall is DONE! and a Panel Problem Surfaces

On the panel progress, you can see in the following picture where they meet (or don't meet) at the top.  We apparently overlapped them more than the house manufacturer 'specified' in their manual, and have replied to our problem quoting from that manual “As you work your way toward the top of the dome, be sure that the next higher panel overlaps the one below by 6 inches.”  They meant EXACTLY 6 inches. 

Well, the garage and the 24 ft West Annex and the tunnel were assembled with a 12 inch overlap.  No problem.  The 40 ft main structure was not manufactured with the same extra overlap.  

We have figured out that we can turn the last set of panels 90 degrees and cut some other 'extra' panels they did send originally. We have bought some burlap and glue as a lot of the burlap has rotted in having the panels sit thru the winter weather. A lot of extra work, but we hope to have all of the panels in place by Thursday.

Progress Thus Far on the House Structure

I took some pictures that show the carpenters' progress on the North Wall and the rebar/panel crew's work thus far.  The pictures start at the South East corner of the house and progress counterclockwise around the house.

This picture shows the South East side where the panels and first layer of horizontal rebar are complete up to the ladder top, and vertical rebar that you see is done. Two more layers of rebar to go (on top of the horizontal and vertical) and the panels to cover the ridge beam (which, in the final picture, you can see are not in place).

 The South side of the tunnel (pantry) has some of the vertical rebar in place.  As you can see, the wall of dirt is very close to the tunnel and has to be removed before the shotcrete process.

The North side of the tunnel is in about the same condition as the South side.  The wall of dirt is OK on this side.  The horizontal rebar on the top of the tunnel becomes vertical rebar on the main structure.

The North end of the East side of the main structure (from the tunnel to the North wall)  has one more panel to be put on.  It has most of the horizontal rebar in place.
 

The carpenters still need to finish the North wall, but we see lots of progress here.




















Starting down the other side, two rows of the four rows of panels are in place.  (There is also a row that covers the 'ridge beam' besides the 4 rows on each side.)  Vertical rebar is on the West-most area of the West Annex.












The Southern West side has the horizontal rebar in place on those two rows of panels.  There is a possible patch job to be done where the annex and main structure meet - the panel in the second row is not laying exactly right.  We will work it out.




 

 The view into the house from the South.

Panel Frenzy and Framing Progress

We have had crews working many hours here.  Mario's trio has been 'putting the skin' on the arches.  Bill, with some help from Waldy, put in the blocking between the I Joists.  Then Vincent's crew framed the stair landing. And then another big day occurred which I recorded in the following video.  (I viewed it with Scott Joplin music playing - try some other background music and see what effect you have.)

More to come in the near future as I need to catch up to all their work.

The Second Floor Installation Event

On Saturday, many people came to help us  erect the second floor of our house.  The bearing walls were installed earlier in the week.  The day's events included:

Installing the main beam which held the smaller I Joists
Moving I Joists from the garage to the house (not a small task)
Cutting the angle on some of the I Joists
Cutting the shorter I Joists to length
Installing the Hangers on the beam (after a run to the supplier to get the forgotten fasteners)
Installing the long (37+ ft) and short (20ft and 18 ft) I Joists and LVL boards

The following movie clip shows some of those installation steps, and was made in thanks for those people who gave of their time and shoulder grease to help in the effort.  We all had a great time and are thankful that everyone worked with safety in mind. 

Those things that still need to be done in the near term, for there to be a second floor are: 
                
                 cutting to length and installing those 3 I Joists that were 'extras'
                 installing blocking
                 installing the subfloor

Again, thanks to all!

Framing Progress

Vincent, Bruce and Eric have made great progress in framing out the first floor.  They are almost ready to set the beam that holds the shorter I Joists in place.

I Joists  in 2 piles on the left are all of 20 ft length and in the distance, you may just be able to make out 3 utility poles lying on the ground

Meanwhile, Bill and Carol and her husband, Steven, worked on the I Joists, stiffening the ends and moving them up to the house from the garage. We are on target for Saturday's Second Floor Installation Event - and the weather looks to be on target too.

The 20 ft I Joists that don't require stiffening

Our subflooring ready to be installed

Another view of those I Joists with a LVL that will find a place in our house

Working on the Second Floor I Joists

Our NEW garage is now full.  (it didn't take long to fill it)
We have 
                     11              38 ft    I Joists  (3 1/2 x 11 7/8)
                     26              20 ft    I Joists
                     23              18 ft    I Joists
                          some LVL 
                    and plywood that is already cut to stiffen the ends of the I Joists
                    and tools to work with them, 
                    and the entry door that also arrived.

Overflowing with long I Joists

On the right are the LONG I Joists; on the left some 20 ft I Joists.  The far left is the stack of bundles of 18 and 20 ft I Joists

In the back is a stack of the 3/4" plywood stiffeners next to a long LVL board

The stiffeners attached to one end of the long I Joists

Tomorrow's chores are:
                             turning the LONG I Joists around to work on the other end,
                             moving the 20 ft I Joists up to the house to alleviate space in the garage,
                             measure and fasten the stiffeners to the LONG I Joists.
The next day's chores are:
                             unbundle the 20 and 18 ft I Joists 
                             move 14 of the 20 ft I Joists to the house as is (no stiffening needed)
                             stiffen the remaining I Joists on one end (8 (20 ft) and 23 (18 ft) I Joists).
All of this while the framers come and install the bearing wall and posts and beam and other supporting walls.  

I'm glad my job is updating the blog.  Bill has the overwhelming job of keeping everything going.  I just support him in lots of ways.  He is doing a tremendous job.

The Landscape, It is A-Changing

Some digging around the house, putting a face on the garage wall, filling in around the garage, and the delivery of materials - all have contributed to a new look as the pile of dirt slowly diminishes in size. 

There was a wall of dirt at the end of the West Annex.  It is now shoveled away and either lays in a new pile of dirt to the right of the picture, or has been made part of a new 'roadway' over a ditch with a culvert pipe.  This area will enable the framers to have scaffolding and a work area just outside the building for assembling the West wall.














Bill and Carol have been diligently working at closing in the garage wall with insulation and plywood. At some later time, stucco will be applied.  The entry door is ordered.  We have the window.





















This shows the back of the garage and how the dirt has partially filled the hole.






















Looking from the hill behind the garage, you can see both how the retaining wall is partially buried, and how the pile of dirt in the field beyond the garage has been chewed away by the excavating equipment.

This side of the garage has yet to be filled in with dirt at least in this picture. Today's project was filling it in;  I just didn't get a more up-to-date picture.  Rest assured, the pile of dirt is now smaller than this picture depicts.









We are very excited.  The I-joists (and other materials) are to be delivered tomorrow (Thursday).  The framers will be here to install the North wall (at least partially) and the West wall starting on Monday, if not this Friday.  The second floor is scheduled for assembly on Saturday 14 April.  And Mario and his crew of concrete workers are scheduled to come Monday thereafter to start putting the panels and rebar on. I will say it again.  WE ARE VERY EXCITED.  We hope we haven't forgotten something.  And we hope everything goes well.