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.

Overhead Door Installation

Today, the garage overhead door was installed. Here are two BEFORE pictures, taken even before the retaining walls and shotcrete were done.

And here are two AFTER pictures, so you can see the wall from the exterior and from the interior.

 

Many Small Accomplishments and One Completion

The INSIDE of the Garage was shot with mortar last week.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Other MAJOR accomplishments, though taken singly, small things, are that the erosion control is still under control; one of the earth tubes was extended to within one connection of the retaining wall;  a lot of chipping away at shotcrete that adhered to the garage floor, scaffolding and tools created a better, safer environment; garage overhead door was ordered to be installed within a week or two, hopefully; of the many stucco procedure possibilities, we decided on one for the garage South facing wall; our excavation man, another Dan, visited and work was discussed and agreed to start next week; the burlap 6x6 panels awaiting installation have been moved to accommodate excavation; a path was created on the East side of the garage to enable ease for backfilling to occur; and we enjoyed the spring weather; and we are in the process of getting contractors lined up to work on the house.

 

WE ARE ROLLIN'

The shotcrete crew came back Wednesday and cleaned the surfaces of the shotcrete and of the retaining walls. They also took off the form over the parapet.  Thursday, they applied the first coat of waterproofing.  Friday, after 0.4 inches of rain during the night, they applied the second coat of waterproofing.

From this angle, it kinda looks like the Sphinx

Dan made the suggestion that we could use the waterproofing, SikaTop Seal-107,  on the interior, masking the steel arches and then spraying on the waterproofing; that it would give a good finish. Any other finish, he thought, would need a better surface to adhere to than the burlap and 6x6 mesh - which would mean an additional step.

The Garage has a PERMANENT Roof

On Thursday, the shotcrete crew got set up, and started shooting before 1 pm.  Jeremy was the main nozzleman.  Dan handled the switch on the pump and PR with the owners.  Chris and another helper were handling the hose, scaffolding and anything else so the job got done.  The owners were offered a chance to man the nozzle, but both declined.

We had some rain the day before (about 1 1/2 inches).  The job site was quite muddy.  Behind the retaining wall, you can see the water that sits on the foundation of the retaining wall, waiting to dry up or be bailed out. The area that looks like a smile above the white pipe, is the french drain up against the slab footer.  It will be further extended along the retaining wall after the waterproofing is completed.

 

Within an hour, the crew had shot around the back and were on the other side. to a height of about 4 feet.  Where the shell is connected to the slab is the thickest shotcrete - 12 inches thick. 

Here is a 3 minute video of Jeremy making it look easy.  He wears motocross shoulder pads to rest the hose  on, a hard hat and visor for protection from any aggregate that bounces back at him, and controls the heavy hose and nozzle to ensure an even 4 inches everywhere else.

When they completed that height, they came back to the East side, and added another 3 feet.  About 16 cubic yards of shotcrete was applied on Thursday.

Friday, Bill and Carol hurried to install the second earth tube so that both earth tubes could be securely in place and covered with shotcrete.  The crew arrived around 9:30 and did preliminary work.  At about 1, they started applying shotcrete around the building again and then shot the parapet (vertical wall).  Then they came back and shot the earth tubes, and then progressed more on the 'roof'.

It started to precipitate - a gentle mist that was definitely rain by 4:30 pm.  By 5 pm, they ran out of shotcrete and couldn't finish as the concrete company had sent everybody home due to the weather being so wet, and it being Friday I suppose.  The rain got worse, and the disappointed crew cleaned up and enjoyed some hot split pea soup, bread and crackers. They had an hour and a half drive back home with the thought that they had to return on Monday.  The total shotcrete was about 14 cubic yards Friday.

Monday came and so did more precipitation, this time snow and snow mixed with rain.  No obvious progress.  Bill dug a ditch to let the earth tube under the retaining wall (that white pipe mentioned earlier marked it) act as a drain and let the water go somewhere. Tuesday the crew did finish our roof so we can no longer see all that rebar. But we can remember all the labor to tie the rebar ties.

 And there's a great deal more rebar tying to do yet on the house.  I believe the shotcrete used on Tuesday was 2 cubic yards. 

Next, Wednesday, the shotcrete crew is back again  to waterproof the structure.