I am going to start posting pics and progress reports of my house building project here as well as on the blog shown below in my signature so that people can comment and ask questions easier than having to go to the blog.
The project is a 30 x 57 single story, built over a crawl space. One end of the crawl space is 3 feet above ground, the other end is 8 feet above. At the 8 foot end, there is a 12 x 22 basement room that contains a tornado shelter. The foundation walls are concrete block, built in the dry-stack fashion and coated inside and out with surface bonding cement. The crawlspace will be sealed up (ie unventilated) so it can be heated and air-conditioned like a basement.
I am just starting the wood construction phase. Previous pics and progress reports can be found in the blog.
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My front porch will be a concrete slab, about 5' x 7' and sit atop the block wall foundation, which will be filled with dirt and leftover concrete rubble from pouring my concrete footers.
Collecting all my concrete rubble from around the worksite I came across four black widow spiders. They were in four different locations and were always found under some piece of concrete or inside a concrete block. None of them were found on wood, always concrete.
It was pretty cool the days I was collecting the concrete rubble, like maybe 45 degF, so none of the spiders were moving around very fast. That's good because it made it easier to photo them.
I always knew that black widows had the familiar red hourglass shape on their bellies, but I didn't know that some of them have a row of red diamonds down their back. The largest of these spiders I found had a tail bulb 3/8" to a little larger. I'm thinking a widow of this size could put a pretty good bite on you. Yes, I was wearing good leather work gloves when doing this work. I wear gloves when doing most any work. Still, I don't know if a black widow this large could bite through the gloves.
Hi n74tg! Glad things are moving along. I don't like you little friend, though [scared] I was walking up & down one of our hills collecting quartz rocks to put on a hillside for landscaping where one of our walkways is. Anyway, I had been doing this for a couple hours & was getting pretty tired so decided to sit down on some rocks. I looked to my side after sitting there for a bit & saw something red - I looked closer & it was a huge black widow spider! Yikes, I was standing in less than a second! Those things give me the hebejebe's! :P
THe good news on Black Widow Spiders is that the ones you usually run into are males or juveniles. The males bite is much less severe than the female. In fact the male, once he's mated with a female, has his venom sacks dry up. Juveniles aren't yet venomous either. The female does not normally leave her nest which will be right there with her web.
Even though the Black Widows venom is very toxic, a bite injects such a small amount it is highly unlikely for a healthy adult human to die from a bite. Maybe painful, but not usually deadly.
More info
http://www.desertusa.com/july97/du_bwindow.html
http://www.pestproducts.com/blackwid.htm
I still don't like 'em. >:(
More About The Porch
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Here are a couple of pics about how the porch will be built. I wanted a splash guard across the back of the porch so that rain will not get on the mudsill and rimjoist. To make that work I added a four inch extension on the block wall on the back side of the porch. I cut holes in the wall for the rebar that goes in the slab to go into.
The dirt is only 3" deep or so, beneath that is a LOT of concrete rubble, four dead black widow spiders (see previous post), and one discarded lawn mower (oil and gas drained out).
A more detailed writeup on this is in the blog (address below).
Looks good, Tony. Great use of unnatural resources. Thanks for posting this here.
Mudsill and Rim Joist
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Building the subfloor comes next, but the first part of that job is putting up the mudsill and rim joist. I'm using 2x10 floor joists so my rim joist is also 2x10. The mudsill is 2x8, which is about the same size as the top of the concrete block foundation wall. With the exception of the front porch area, the mudsill and rim joist are up all around the perimeter.
Every contractor I've ever seen toe-nails the rim joist down to the mudsill. It's a lot quicker this way, but I don't like toe-nailing because I've seen it done wrong too many times. Done wrong the wood splits which compromises the strength of the connection. I like screws much better than nails and am willing to take the extra time they require to use. To connect the rim to the sill with screws required that I build everything upside down, then pick it up, flip it over (upright), carry it over and place it on the foundation wall and finally then bolt it down. Not having a helper, I could do all the steps myself except hold the sill and rim together (properly aligned) while at the same time putting the screws in. For this reason I built a jig to hold the boards straight (Pic 3). Using the jig freed up both my hands which made it a lot easier to put the screws in. If you can't read the text on the pic, you lay the rim joist across the 2x6 blocks, and put the sill against the 2x4 blocks. The two boards now line up, which allows you to run the screws in from the left side. If a board is warped, then spacers below the rim joist (sitting on top of the 2x6 blocks) lines things back up straight.
Buying all those screws would be expensive, but one day at the local building supply center I found a drastically reduced price table with a 25# pail of 3" exterior grade wood screws. I weighed the pail to make sure it was full (it was). As these were the same screws I was going to buy inside I felt like I had really come across some good luck.
My mudsill boards are 14' long, the rim joist are 12' long. That means there are lots of overlapping in the boards. Everywhere there is an overlap I have to do some sort of toe-nailing, but I'm doing it with screws. To avoid splitting the wood at the toe-nail I used a ¾" spade bit to drill a pilot hole (1/4"-3/8" deep). Putting the screw in the pilot hole means there is more wood there for the screw to grab, which lessens the tendency to split the wood. I also pilot drill down through the pilot hole with a 1/8" bit. This further reduces the tendency for the wood to split. (Pic 2)
It seems most any wood you buy, even if it was straight as an arrow when you bought it; letting it sit stacked (even in a dry garage) for any length of time guarantees some of them will warp. But, I found that using the ¾" pilot hole trick could also be used to connect and align the top of two rim joist boards that didn't want to line up perfectly. (Pic 1)
Solvitur Ambulando - latin for "finding solutions as we go". Maybe that's what this blog should be named. I'm finding "lots" of opportunity to solve problems doing this project, more than I ever expected.
There are some places the inspector may give you a bad time about screws. Seems they will shear upon shrinkage of the wood or expansion / contraction. I've heard its not code due to that.
Glenn:
I'm building "out in the county"; so NO inspectors; also NO building permit requirements.
And lastly, the way these screws are put in (ie from the bottomside of the sill), they are all in tension, except the "toe-nailed" screws, which because my angle of installation is greater than 45 degrees also puts them mostly in tension as opposed to shear.
Still, thanks for the thought.
My pleasure, Tony-- just wanted to make sure you had no problems.
Glenn (and John, and PEG, and anybody else who wants to weigh in on this):
Since my last post I've been thinking about this some more. The only way I can see that shear could come into play would be if I get differential shrinkage or expansion between rim and sill; ie one expands (or shrinks) more than the other. Then, I agree, shear forces would exist. If the rim just wants to "bow up", then the forces created would be almost pure tension, something that screws excel at.
So, maybe my question for you is, have you ever seen differential shrinkage or expansion sufficient to shear nails or screws. To be fair here, along the walls where floor joists will butt into the rim joist there is one 3" screw every 24" lengthwise along the rimjoist. In other words, in a twelve foot long segment of rim joist there are 6-8 screws. And then, finally, these screws are roughly 1/8" shank diameter, coated exterior grade screws. We're not talking drywall screws here.
Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.
An example of deck screws vs nails and a problem. I'd take a photo but the subject is all covered with snow. We have a mostly concrete brick patio paver sidewalk that the preschool kids ride bikes around. There is one section that is a board/plank affair. PT 4x4 lay on the ground. Thirty-two inch long 2x6 planks are laid across them. The planks are secured to the 4x4s with deck screws. The walk has been in place for over 15 years. I used screws because I wasn't sure how long it was going to stay or if it would do the job. Well, it has lasted without any serious problems. The PT wood has lasted with only a piece or two needing replacement due to splitting or severe cupping.
But, the screws keep shearing off. I believe it's due to a combination of slight shifting of the 4x4 timbers with wet/dry freeze/thaw cycles and the constant tricycle traffic. Add in the planks themselves getting wet and then being baked dry in the summer sun. There's no movement I can see, but the screws shear off. :-\ It's not a terrible problem for this situation. Not bad enough to warrant doing bricks or poured concrete. When one end of a plank starts to wiggle I check and find several spots that need replacement screws. But it's given me pause for thought about replacing conventional nails in general construction. #8 x 2 1/2 or 3 inch deck screws.
Why don't I nail them with spiral or ring shank nails? There's possibility of even them working loose and I don't want any heads rising above the plank surface for kids to trip on or fall on. Those nails are hard to remove and I may want to recycle the boards later. And it's temporary. ::) ::)
The deck screws are much more brittle than nails. Drive a 3" deck screw into timber about 1 1/2". Hammer in a 16D nail about the same distance as well. Give each a sideways whack with a hammer. Usually the screw snaps off and the nail bends.
The outcome of using deck screws structurally really depends on if there's the wrong type of movement. Shear.
Quote from: MountainDon on December 16, 2007, 04:34:25 PM
Why don't I nail them with spiral or ring shank nails? Those nails are hard to remove and I may want to recycle the boards later. And it's temporary. ::) ::)
Well it is temporay sort of , all things are , in ways :)
As far as using the screws I wouldn't for the reasons Mtn D and Glenn have stated, the sheer factor.
Not knowing exactly where you are in your build Tony I'd suggest at least when you sheet your box sill you try to get a positive tie some how between your wall and PT plate . Or at least as wide and long a strip of plywood / OSB that ties the PT plate to the box sill .
I know the code wants a 16d nail every 8" driven toe nail style between the box sill and PT plate , it's written that way , IMO , because it's easier to police than saying lap your wall sheathing down to and attached to your PT plate .
I know in my military / old carpenter mind that that type of sheathing lapping is way stronger than toe nailed LSL or solid wood rim joist / box sill members toe nailed , BUT that "common sence" "good building " practice is hard to police / inspect / code-a-fy!
That's the reason I prefer running wall sheathing horizontally and stagger the 4 foot vertical joints with a 4 foot offset. The reason we don't do thatis the stupid, IMO , code that says sheathing must be nailed at all edges , which if you run sheathing horzintally you add more labor , as in more blocking . So we soldier the wall sheeting for less seams .
It's all about code -a-fying things by the giststopo , opps building dept.
So end of rant , hope it answered your question , as it got convoluted sort of :-[
Quote from: PEG688 on December 16, 2007, 05:33:44 PM
Well it is temporary sort of , all things are , in ways :)
All too true. :( Including myself.
Quote from: MountainDon on December 16, 2007, 05:40:33 PM
All too true. :( Including myself.
Yes we (our bodies) would be considered in that "all things" comment.
I wonder where all the time went [noidea'
of course I've [toilet] many hours down a rat hole right here , jeesh I HATE that hour meter on this forum d*
I'm going to say the same thing about the screws. They may break off. I've seen it too many times. I'm at the same point in my construction so this topic catches my intrest. I'm going to put 2 nails to the foot toe nailed and put sheating conecting the beam to the rim joist since I agree with peg that this makes a much stronger connection than just nails.
My front door is put together with screws and when it shrunk it broke about half of them so I put more in. As Don mentioned, Screws are much harder and have a better grip so break rather than bend.
That said, I always use screw nails or ring shank nails in my nail gun per Ken Kern's recommendation and statement that they hold around 9 times more than standard nails. If I want them out I'll get the wrecking bar or sawzall.
Thanks guys for all the opinions; I guess I'll add some toe-nails and sheet the box.
Solving Problems
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I am writing this blog as much to help others build their homes as I am to document the building of mine. Therefore, if I figure out an unusual or innovative way to solve a problem, something that I think may help others I want to post it in the blog.
Just such a thing occurred yesterday as I was building the girder beams that hold up the floor joists. My girders are three 2x10 nailed (and soon to be bolted) together. As I mentioned in a recent post it seems that for me wood warps in storage, even if that storage is nice and dry and the wood is packed tightly together.
Long story short, one of my 2x10 was a little warped and needed to be pulled down about 3/8" to line up with the others. To set the stage here, this girder is up about 5 feet in the air; roughly shoulder height for me.
I tried the standing on a step ladder and mash it down with my body weight method; that didn't work. Then an idea popped into mind. Could I somehow use one of my many C-clamps to bring these two boards in line and in the process free up both hands for nailing them together.
The pic is what I came up with. It's two pieces of a discarded bed rail, each about 8" long. I have a metal cutting chop saw, so cutting them wasn't hard. And as a bonus, the holes were already drilled in about the right spots. So, I grabbed a couple of #12 screws, mounted the angles, put the clamp on and voila, lining up the boards was easy.
This little jig idea might not be that impressive to a professional home builder, but I'm not a pro; so anything like this I think of, I'm proud of, especially when I saw how easy it was to use.
That got the job done. Good thinking. :)
Another method is a little simpler IF you own a good bar clamp or couple of them. You need a bar clamp that's big enough to span the width of the joists/girder parts. Sometimes you can do it without placing a scrap 2x on the top and bottom edges (third hand or a couple nails required). Sometimes you might need the scraps to clamp on.
I have a number of Bessey bar clamps (http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=3715) 18, 24 and 36 inch, some were my Dad's... now almost as old as I. :o Lots of uses for them.
I am NOT necessarily endorsing that web site as a supplier. There's was the first site I came up with that had good pictures and the whole range. Check your prices, check everything out yourself. The Bessy Clamps are very good though.
Well, I do have some bar clamps (big enough to span the lumber). I'll try that next time...thanks MD
Finally, after much bad weather I've made some progress on the house. The columns in the basement are finished. Actually, all the columns (ten of them) are finished, but it was the two columns in the basement that were holding everything up.
One column is wood and one column is concrete block. Originally, they were both going to be wood columns, but I would have had to buy another wood beam/column for the second one and I had LOT's of extra concrete block around; so I went with block. Both columns are anchored down to the slab with 5/8" Parasleeve (expanding) bolts.
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There is a more detailed writeup (and more pics) about the columns in my blog (address below).
Thanks for posting that, Tony. Progress is good-- you can move forward now:)
I knew I hadn't posted anything here in awhile, but I didn't realize it had been that long. Needless to say, a fair amount has gotten done since last post. At least "I" think a fair amount has gotten done.
All the floor beams are in; each of which are three 2x10's. Beam span is 10 feet.
A little over half of the floor joists are in. These are also 2x10's on 24" spacing. Where the ceramic tile will be I modified joist spacing to 16".
And finally, about 1/3 of the subfloor has been installed. Each day I get more subfloor installed, I give it a good coat of exterior latex to help protect it as it will be awhile until my house gets to the dried in state.
Here are a couple of pics.
Looking northeast toward the lake
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Looking northwest toward the street. For scale, that is a six foot step ladder.
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Quote from: n74tg on June 01, 2008, 09:31:07 AM
#1: At least "I" think a fair amount has gotten done.
#2: (https://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/Lovett1/DSCN8948.jpg)
#1: That's all that counts, your the boss , your happy , everyones happy ;D
#2: Now if it was my job and grass was growning inside the foundation we'd have a problem [shocked]
I'd be having a talk with the lead carpenter on the job rofl rofl
Only grass, PEG. Some of mine has trees growing in it. [rofl2]
All that grass inside the foundation has been sprayed with a RoundUp clone (1-2 days ago), AND what is not in the pics has been covered with black visqueen for two weeks; so everything under it is dead.
Once the spray is finished, all that ground will get covered with 6mil black visqueen.
In case anyone's interested, the blog has been updated. There's a little more detail there than here in the forum.
Blog and floor looks good, Tony.
Perhaps Glenn can send his building inspector over to clean the plants out of your crawl space. Baaaah ;D
I used to be able to, but living in the California wilderness, she became a meal for a mountain lion or bobcat. urvival of the fittest around here. [crz]
Finally, putting up the outside walls has begun. These walls are a little over 9.5 feet tall. That height matches the height of the garage, which the house will tie too.
The walls are 2x6 on 24" centers and "stack framing" was used; ie every stud sits directly on top of a floor joist (except where windows go; and there at least one stud is on a floor joist). Likewise, the roof trusses will sit directly on top of the wall studs.
The walls are built in 10' long sections, because with the 2x6 studs and the 9.5' height, that's all I can stand up by myself. There are two sections shown in the pic and they are tied together with 3x7 Simpson StrongTie plates as is shown in the books from BuildingScience.com (and is also accepted by the IRC Building Code).
There is still some framing to be put in where the two windows go, but that comes tomorrow.
As getting this thing in the dry will take longer than normal (I'm working alone), I've primed the bottom and side surfaces of the sill plate.
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Thanks for the update, Tony. I assume you put the stud at the joint of the sections after you stand them?
Glenn -
I sent you a personal message...thanks
Got it.
All the exterior walls are up now, and I've got about 1/3 of the OSB sheathing on.
Here is the east wall.
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And here is the south wall (and part of east wall).
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And here is the lifting jig and block and tackle that I used to lift the panels into place. There is a guy wire that comes off the backside of the jig that is attached to a floor joist to resist the tendency for each panel to try to pull the jig off the wall top. The highest panel tops are 18' up in the air, so I made it a point to never stand under any load on the block and tackle. Actually, in almost every case, I had cradles clamped to the walls that the bottom of each panel would slip into as it was raised. That way it was always supported in three places before the nail gun went to work.
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That's great, tony. Thanks for the pix.
Pour the Concrete Front Porch
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Okay all the wall sheathing is up, so it's time to order trusses...well almost. I needed to pour the 5 x 8 front porch first so the column that holds up the beams and roof trusses would have something to sit on. We mixed our own concrete; 11 mixer loads worth and the project took about 3 hours, but we're done and it looks pretty good.
It was quite an adventure doing and is written up in detail in the house blog (address below) if you're interested.
Thanks Tony. Looking forward to the next installment.
The Trusses Are Up
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It took three of us three days to complete, but all the trusses are up and temporarily braced. We had to hand carry the trusses in from the street and lift them up into place.
A much more detailed description and more pics can be found in the blog below.
Wow - great! It is so satisfying to make visible progress!
[cool] way to go! Sounds & looks like it was a lot of hard work!
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Purlins:
I haven't posted any updates in awhile, so here goes.
Most of the 2x4 purlins are on. I hurt my knee right after the trusses were finished, torn meniscus the doc thinks. So, I'm not as mobile as I was before. The decision to do arthroscopic surgery (spelling?) is rapidly coming as I'm tired of this lack of mobility, and the subsequent weight gain that comes from not exercising.
And, I've made the "plumb cuts" on about half the truss (heel) ends, so the fascia will go on parallel to the house walls. I found a little video on YouTube that shows an ingenious way to line up all those cuts. It involves using two strings. The pic above does a pretty good job of describing it. You can also see the cut marks I made on the first three trusses.
In the second pic, that board sticking up in the middle of the upper string is not part of the method. It's just an extra board leaning against the wall on the inside. I should've removed it before taking the pic.
There's more info in the blog at address below.
Sorry I don't get the pictures. Just the usual outline w/red box "X". I went to your blog and saw what you are trying to describe. I generally just snap a line on the top of my rafter tail. Then take a scrap piece with the correct plumb cut and line it up with the top of the rafter and the chalk line then strike a line with a pencil transfering it to the rafter tail and cut. It is a little easier if you figure the off set of your saw and clamp that scrap to your rafter tail then using the guide of the saw against the block there is little margin of error.
I just read your reply and I'm seeing both pics just fine.
I checked this post this morning, and I too am getting the "red X's" instead of the pictures.
I redid the post, and the pics are showing again. Could someone else look at it and reply whether the pics are showing or not.
thanks
They're showing as of this post...
yup - got em
Metal Roof Started
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Yes, I finally got it started. It's K-Panel, 26 gauge roofing, hunter green in color. What you see installed is 21 pieces, or about 25% of the whole roof.
In the beginning, each piece took what seemed like a really long time to get installed and screwed-down. But, later I realized that if you've never done it before, that it just that it takes awhile to get the most efficient methods figured out and implemented. On the last two days I've gotten about 8 panels installed per day. If the weather holds I could get finished in as few as 7 more days. Now having said that, I'm sure it will take at least twice that long.
There's a lot more detail in the writeup at the blog address below.
The first sheet on each side is the most important. After that it is just one after the other. I use a blocked out string line at the bottom edge. If it fits into the channel and is on the string line you are good to go. Every so often pull your tape at the top and bottom to make sure you are running correctly at a 90 deg. If it starts to wonder a little you can "tweak" the sheet (in or out) to bring it back in line.
If not windy I like to just stitch the sheets together with only the first one fastened to the purlins.- maybe 3 or 4 then adjust at the eaves or string line and then fasten them to the purlins - -
Glenn:
Describe this stitching process a little more...thanks
Sent PM - copied here. gk
Hi Tony -- yep - I've been out of town a lot and much more to come - working on apts.
I first square and line up the first sheet and screw it down to the purlins.
Stitching is the screws theat fasten sheet to sheet only in the top edge of the first overlapping rib. Our building had a stitch screw every 4 feet along that edge. The second - third maybe fourth sheet were stitched only with the bottoms lined up perfect at the edges. We didn't worry about racking too much at this point (sheets sliding down the slope slightly but edges still together.
Steeper pitches are harder but it looks like you have a pretty low pitched roof.
After you havethe amount of sheets together that you can handle - with only the edges stitched except the first one, you measure the bottom of the sheet back to the eave purlin. If it is an inch too far down you push it back up at this point and it will then make everything line up well without the jagged looking edge if you get a bit out of square doing one sheet at a time. Screw it down to the purlin then put enough purlin screws in to hold the rest in place
Line up the next sheet perfect with that one and stitch it to the fastened one then stitch the next amount of sheets you can hnadle and repeat until finished.
I hope that is clear - if not I will check in again tonight and answer your questions.
Glenn
Do you have a floor plan? I'd love to see how you utilized the space.
Thanks,
Melanie
Hi Mel:
Sorry it took so long to respond
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The Hardie plank siding is finished on two walls. The paint color on the 2nd pic is more like the real thing.
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Looking good. A friend of mine used the same color for his cabin. Prepainted?
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Since the weather is lousy with rain, and all the walkboards are too slick to walk on, I guess I'll update the project status.
The final wall to be sided is about half finished.
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That green paint on the corner trim board is just primer, not the final color that it will be.
That 4x4 column will be encased in something better looking later. I don't know just what yet, but it won't be staying looking like that.
Don't ask how I did this, but somehow the laps on the porch siding line up with the laps on the side wall. Until I got the first porch siding piece installed I had worried that they wouldn't and would be noticeably different; but I got lucky.
Pic 2 is what I used to push the scaffold top away from the wall so I could slide in the siding for nailing.
(https://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g73/Lovett1/DSCN2010.jpg)
You can see a roughly 2" gap at the wall joint so the siding could be installed. After I get the next row of siding in I will untie the rope and release the scaffold to lay back on top of the siding. Then I will likely have to move this "pry-bar" down to another scaffold to install the siding there. All this stuff is made out of 2x4 and the bolts are all 3/8 diameter. That vertical 2x4 in the pry bar is about 4' long. I need every inch of it's length to get enough mechanical advantage to push this whole rig away from the wall. If I were actually standing on the walkboard (adding my body weight to the push) then this board would need to be about six feet long; and in some places it would then hit the walkboard.
Thanks for the update, Tony. It's looking good.
North Wall Finished
Finally, some good weather, north wall siding, trim, paint is finished.
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lEoVxw8AB0Q/S63wOWQmY6I/AAAAAAAAAP8/5aLhZMbZeSI/s320/DSCN3561.JPG)
More pics and details in the blog.
You place is really looking nice!