20 X 36 1 1/2 story in north Georgia

[Redoverfarm]

MtDon I am curious about that skylight. A friend who is a builder and I got onto this conversation and he said if you have a metal roof don't put in a skylight. Well another friend was determined he was going to put skylights in his cabin/house. Well he put in six and has two more to go.  He has one that he cannot get the leaks stopped. And the others have probably 3 tubes each of chaulking.  He had his own idea about how to flash. I didn't interfere as it was his house.  

Was there a flashing kit approiate for metal roof as some say they checked with various companies who manufacture skylights and there is none. Hadn't checked myself.

The chimney is pretty easy and the boots for the vents had progressed since the old style for shingles and I wouldn't worry too much about them. As for the boots I am undecided about that for my vent line. I might just vent through the last course of logs and 90 it up some from the eve to prevent gas from getting sucked back down.  Will have to wait and see what my thinking is as I get closer to that bridge.

[MountainDon]

The skylight has to be a curb mount type. There are special flashing materials available from some roofing manufacturers. I'm not sure how they are used. The roofing contractor told me they were available. But Velux, the skylight and roof window people have this type availability for their products. I probably mis-spoke when I used the word caulk.

[glenn kangiser]

We put tons of fiberglass skylights in steel buildings and they never leaked, but they were not clear.  They were special skylights that matched the rib pattern of the building.  Of 1800 or so I did, I don't ever recall one of that type leaking.  Probably not useful for a house though.

[williet]

My dad'sstorage building has two like you're talking about, Glenn....but they're clear. Lotsa light and no leaks. I can't see why they couldn't be used in a house?

[John Raabe]

There may be fiberglass sheets that can be fit into the pattern of a metal roof and will not protrude above the roof plane. These can work in a garage, workshop or other largely unheated building.

For a home (outside of Hawaii  ) you would want at least a dual glazed skylight with a thermal break frame. Otherwise you will likely have condensation problems - not to mention higher heating bills. These skylights are best done in a well flashed curb as Don mentions. For long term life use glass rather than plastic as the glazing for the skylights. I put in both glass and plastic skylights in my house in 1984. In 2004 when we redid the roof we replaced the plastic skylights with tempered glass. The plastic ones were hazy, the frames had cracked and they had lost their seal.

[music1]

No school today (snow day!) so I spent the day on the forum catching up.  Love this house!  I'm considering 20 x 30  1 1/2 story for a project in a couple years and have learned a great deal from your experiences.  I am so glad you're over the hassle with inspectors (fingers crossed).  I'm waiting with anticipaton for your interior work...it's obvious it's going to be terrific and inspiring.  When I bought my retirement property 10 years ago I put in the power and septic right then...I'm so glad as prices are so much higher now.  Like you said, there's nothing you can do about it, the power company doesn't negotiate.  I hope your driveway work wasn't too taxing...seems to me your contractor should have helped a bit---I have a question about your photos...when I went to the site I had to register, but the site indicates I need to pay $$$ to see the entire album...It goes up to image 700 something now, is there more?

[CWhite]

I hope your driveway work wasn't too taxing...seems to me your contractor should have helped a bit---I have a question about your photos...when I went to the site I had to register, but the site indicates I need to pay $$$ to see the entire album...It goes up to image 700 something now, is there more?

Hi there, and thanks for the encouraging words.
The driveway was an unpredicted expense, and my builder has come into my county, where he is unfamiliar with some of the county's differences at my request, because I really do trust him.  He has saved me more money than he has neglected to predict, and I'm very pleased with his abilities.  The house will realistically have 1644 to 1800 square feet when I am finished with an additional 560 square feet of porches under roof. 
At the usual $100.00 per square foot that is predicted generally for the cost of new housing in this area, I will have a house that should have cost around $164,000.00, for only $100,000.00.  I know it sounds high compared to owner-build homes, but for what I've got, that's kind of a builder-system-shock.  The builder has really come around to believe in many things we've done to keep the costs down and the quality obvious. 

I believe the snapfish.com photos are absolutely free to look at, but give you the option of purchasing them as prints for money.  I don't know why they make folks join, but it is free.  Lots of my friends use it, so I look at their albums easily through that site, and it was easy for me to use.   and, yes, the numbers are up to 0712 so far.  I'll add more by the end of the week, as we are now waiting for the sheetrock crew to come in. 

I have photos of the boom truck putting over 50, 10 foot sheets of sheetrock through the upstairs window.  That was fun.  OH, and my builder, convinced the guy in charge of the sheetrock crew to go ahead and cover the ceiling in my little hobbit room upstairs for no additional charge.  He originally quoted a $400.00 price to do it, and I said, no, just leave it.  I don't know why, but that is an example of how Bear, my builder, has been well worth his fee.

Christina

[williet]

Ya done with the rockin yet??

[CWhite]

Hi there WillieT,

The sheet rock is in, and most of the taping and mudding is finished.  I've noticed 2 corner beads missing.  The finishing crew is going back and forth from the job they are doing here and another job, so mine is left to dry right now.  The house and porch are complete disaster zones from scraps, dust and mess.  I don't want to take pictures until they get out of there. They are doing a very good job, and after the mess is gone, it will be my turn to get in there and paint, and finish the floors.

It sure does change the look of the house.  I think it makes the rooms look taller, and smaller some how. 

Our power line is buried and hooked up to the power pole on the road too.  We now have a transformer on top of the ground half way down the driveway.  The machine that did the final 200 feet of that job was an earthquake slicer thing that really shook itself with an enormous force and pulled a kind of blunt edge line feeder through the earth.  It also shook my whole building that it ran down the side of.  The operator said they were being nice and only ran it at 50% capacity so he wouldn't shake my building off its foundation.  I believe him.  Super cool machine!

I just loaded a few new pictures to my snapfish account of the cool machine, the boom truck loading sheet rock into the upstairs, and the ditches for the power and plumbing. 
Christina

[Sassy]

Movin' right along, Christina!     how about putting the link to your pictures in your signature line so we don't have to go back all the time to find the link on this thread?   

[CWhite]

Gee Sassy, that was a fine idea. 
Hope it helps.
Christina

[Sassy]

Thanks    Although I do enjoy browsing through your thread 

[Redoverfarm]

Looking good.  You will always have a mess of sorts until you are finished.  If you never get done you will always have a mess   By the way Christina what color is your roof?  It's hard to tell from the angle of the pictures.  Sometimes it looks green, then brown and then white or tan.  I assume it is probably green to match your green trim.

[CWhite]

The roof is the galvanized tin color.  I really deliberated between the green, and red, both of which I like very much, but finally decided that I wanted no limitations for trim colors decided by the roof color.  The tin color is really pretty and reflective without being dark and absorbing heat as much.   I'm very pleased with it. 
Christina

[Redoverfarm]

Christina the acid stain that I am familar with does not have those two selections. There is a stain that comes as you indicated but I don't think it is acid stain. I may be wrong.  I have several sites for this procedure and once I take the feed bag off I will look them up and send them to you.  From everyone I have talked to the "acid" stain is more permanent than those of H&C brand and others.

[CWhite]

http://kemikogeorgia.com/color_chart.html

This is the link of the color chart that I'm using...the color I am wanting is called "Green Lawn Stain".  I misquoted the name of the color..sorry about that. 

Their application tips page seems pretty straight forward, and doable. 
Christina

[Redoverfarm]

Christina Here are the sites that I have concerning "acid stain" for your concrete. The first link is a company that handles "True Etch" acid stain. There is four basic colors.  I believe they have a formula for multi colored by repeated application and mixing.  Normally the more applications the darker it gets. The price is probably a little less than at a retailer. It is sold in 5 gal with the ($125-190) application rate of 150-200 sq ft per gallon The others are sites associated. I never really went into depth as to the availability of their products.  Probably a lot of good info if you took the time and went through them. 

John

http://www.bontools.com/


http://www.acidstain.com/
http://www.elitecrete.com/
http://www.scofield.com/
http://www.concretenetwork.com/stained-concrete/index.html

[Sassy]

I really like the lawn green - I was picturing a green color like the indoor/outdoor grass carpeting when you 1st mentioned the color & was thinking what a hassle it would be to keep clean beside, too much green.  I shoulda known you would pick a good color 

[CWhite]

I have sheet rock!
The last folks are here today sanding, and putting up a couple of corner beads that were left off.  The dump truck just left with all of the messy scraps....of course there is a lot more to clean up, and right now there is an ominous white cloud of dust hovering around the house. 
I hope to start the interior primer paint this weekend if the weather permits. 

Christina

[wingam00]

That is great news about having your sheet rock up.    Now it is really starting to look like a home.

About all the dust, just take a water hose and wash the walls and floor down and let the water run out the front door. 

[Sassy]

Good idea Wingam!     Christina - looking good!  I love how the windows are set low & tall - gives you great um, shall I use the banned word?  VIEWS   

[williet]

This house will really be beautiful.....

[CWhite]

Thanks for the kind words.  I'm working today on getting the resin paper up from the floors and trying to remove as much sheet rock dust as I can.  The paper tore in many places, and it's a mess. 
Christina

[pioneergal]

Thanks for the kind words.  I'm working today on getting the resin paper up from the floors and trying to remove as much sheet rock dust as I can.  The paper tore in many places, and it's a mess. 
Christina

CWhite,

I am very familiar with the area of  Georgia where you live. DH and I lived there for 10 years in Hall and Habersham Counties and loved every day of it.
Beautiful country!
Helen, Sautee, Elijay, Hiawassee.....we hope to get back to the area for a visit in late September.

Oh yes, your home is beautiful!

[sab]

Hi Christina,

I'm new here. I've been planning my house for about the last year now. The last of its many incarnations is very similar to yours so I've been reading these posts with interest and was a bit sorry when I got to the last one. I'm amazed at how quickly it all went. It looks beautiful.

My original plans were for 25x36 feet - though we're all metric now here in Australia. It took me ages to start thinking in millimeters (as that's what all the builders use) and now it's a bit tricky trying to change it back to feet and inches. But I've read on another thread that the extra width requires much stronger beams. (or something like that) How large are your upstairs rooms? This site has inspired me to think smaller.

I've been using google sketchup to draw up plans. The country plans look great and are a fraction of the cost of the cheapest plans I've found here in Aus (http://cheaphomedesigns.com). I'm wondering if the Aussie councils would pass them... (something for me to research at this end)