A roof

Written by karen on July 25th, 2009

Most big projects have some big unforeseen challenges that seem overwhelming. This was our week for that, and it left us logistically, financially, and mentally taxed in a big way.

But we got through it, and now our roof panels are finally up. It wasn’t easy, but we are thrilled that it is done, and we are no longer praying for no rain (and feeling panicked when, in fact, it does rain).

The first step was to get the panels up to the roof.

A new kind of bobcat to help with that. (We ended up doing it this way instead of with a crane, which worked out great.)

Then the panels had to be slid into place in their proper position…

and foam cemented into place.

Of course, it was a hot day.

And then the clouds started rolling in….along with looming thunder and lightning…

Fortunately, it all got done before the sky opened up.

Afterwards, Brad and I put up plastic sheeting to keep water out until we get the final roof up. Standing up on the roof with a large sheet of plastic with gale force winds blowing was an experience. Several times I thought I was going to be sailing off to Lordsburg.

 

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What we did this Saturday

Written by karen on July 18th, 2009

We got all 32 I-joists up today.

The joists arrived on a truck on Tuesday. (Thank goodness they brought a forklift…unlike the panel folks…video of the cool 4WD forklift to come.)

Before we put up the I-joists (beams that span the width of the house to hold up the roof), Brad put up a 2×6 sill on top of the panels. He also had to level it a bit with a belt sander to even things up. (The panels were not all cut perfectly even.)

Then we put up hangers all around the top of the walls.

Then for the joists…First, we had to trim the joists to be the right length. Then we carried them into the house and walked them up a ladder, one end at a time. (They’re quite heavy but manageable. I think we’re both going to be in better shape at the end of this all.) The beams dropped into the hangers and were pushed down. A couple were a bit too long and had to be trimmed again on top of the roof. (That was fun.)

There is a slight slope to our roof to allow for drainage. The next step will be to put panels on the roof. Then building a parapet, putting on the roof, windows and doors, etc.

 

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We have walls

Written by karen on July 13th, 2009

four of them…and I’m too exhausted to write anything more right now.

 

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Wall are coming

Written by brad on July 12th, 2009

KC Panels is going to deliver our SIP walls tomorrow. The roof panels will be delivered a day later.

We’ve spent the last week preparing for the walls.

  • We finished up the staining and sealing of the slab.
  • We drilled holes in the slab for anchor bolts to hold down the 2×6 sill.
  • We put down sill-seal and the 2×6 sill.
  • We put down plastic to protect the slab while we work on the house.
  • We ordered miscellaneous materials from the lumber company.

Drilling the holes for the anchor bolts was a much bigger deal that I thought. Years ago when I was doing this kind of work we bought a hammer drill that was amazing. When I saw a hammer drill for sale (cheap) at Lowes, I bought it. It was a lot smaller than the one I remembered, but technology moves forward while you’re not looking… err maybe not. It’s a fair hammer drill, but it would never have done the job. It took many minutes to drill one hole; sixty holes would have taken ages. It also started coughing up grease chunks within a few minutes. We had to go clear to Sierra Vista to rent a serious hammer drill. We got a big old Hilti hammer drill (about 15 seconds per hole). It was as just as a remembered.

Here Jonathon drills through the sill plate before drilling into the concrete.

Here Harrison mans the big old Hilti while Jonathon helps keeps it aimed straight.

Karen and I cut the bolts down to make it easier to put up the walls

Karen really took to the grinder!

Here is the slab prepped, covered and ready for walls!

The first order of business tomorrow will be to unload the truck, then we should start putting the walls up! How far we’ll get, I don’t know.

Once the walls are up, we will put hangers for the IJoists followed by the IJpoists and a row of blocking between the Ijoists to firm it up. As soon as this is done, we will schedule a crane/boom to come out and lift the roof panels onto the IJoists. At this point, we’ll have walls and a roof. After this comes details like parapet walls, stucco, metal roofing, etc.

brad

 

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Eight hands are better than four

Written by karen on July 8th, 2009

We are getting some good work done this week. Here is the progress report:

  • The septic rework is done.
  • The panels are due here Mon., July 13.
  • IJoists, lumber, and other supplies should be delivered early next week.
  • The floors are finished.
  • The slab has been trimmed, and the sill is going in today.
  • The driveway has been mostly moved to accommodate the new house.
  • The greenhouse is making significant progress and should be done by week’s end.
  • We’ve built a holding pen for cleared brush next to the composter.

We’ve worked out a schedule for while the boys are here that includes all four of us getting to the property by 6:30 or so (thankfully, Brad has taken the task of getting them up) and working until 9:30 or 10 (while it’s still cool). Then Brad runs me home to do my “other job,” and then he and the boys come home around noon or so. After some rest, Brad and I have been going back to the property to do a little more work from about 6 until dark, weather permitting.

I can’t wait until the panels get here. Then we’ll really be moving along.

 

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A big event in town

Written by karen on July 7th, 2009

July 4 is a big day in Rodeo. They have a parade, a community barbecue, and a dance. It’s quite an event; they even close down the one paved road here for it. Here are some scenes from the parade.

The boys opted not to go. Here is what they did instead.

Our house now is filled with the sounds of Jimi Hendrix, NBA basketball, and machine gun fire.

 

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They’re here!

Written by karen on July 4th, 2009

And work on the new driveway has begun. (Part of the existing driveway goes through where our new house will be so it needs to be moved.)

 

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Big equipment on the ranch today

Written by karen on June 25th, 2009

This is a part our septic rework in process. Should be done in a couple days.

 

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Rush hour traffic

Written by karen on June 24th, 2009

Playing with my new HD camera (for work, of course)….

 

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The slab becomes a floor

Written by karen on June 21st, 2009

As much as things went badly yesterday, today they went splendidly.

We got up 5 again to stain, and today the weather was clear. We set out to the property and began work. I’ll let the pictures and movies tell the story. (One minor sidenote: The rain seems to have brought up some of the Quikrete. We had to scrape and wash down the slab *again*. So Quikrete wasn’t the perfect crack patcher either. Maybe there isn’t one. Anyway, it’s good enough.)

[coolplayer width=”600″ height=”400″ autoplay=”0″ loop=”0″ charset=”utf-8″ download=”1″ mediatype=””]
Staining the Slab
[/coolplayer]

(The color on the movie is a bit dark and orange. This picture shows the actual color.)

More pictures are here.

We just love Soycrete. It was so easy to work with and gave beautiful results.

We also did the final stucco coat on the greenhouse columns. This came out really nice too. For me, a lot of this was a practice run for the house. The color turned out really nice, and I would definitely use something similar for the house. (We will be going with a slightly different stucco, one that is plasticized, which we discovered since we bought this first batch, helps prevent cracking).

I finished the stucco two different ways. The first was more of a rough finish. The second was smoother (achieved by misting and sponge troweling it pretty aggressively). While we liked both, I think we’ll probably go with the smoother look. We may do either a different texture or even color on the “architectural details.” (Those are the parts of the exterior walls that stick out a bit to look more interesting.)

 

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