Victoria Cottage NE TN

[NavyDave]

rdzone,
Thanks, that link led me to a page that shows quite a few different connectors. I'm gonna talk to a Simpson rep on Monday about using their SD screw #10 2 1/2 incher.

I woke up this morning thinking that today would be an off day because of the heat but something made me get to work and I got my last 4 concrete piers poured and finished the floor framing. There are 2 floor joists that are bowed that I don't like so i'm gonna rip those out and rework them. Once those 2 joists are fixed and I replace the screws in my angle brackets the floor framing will be finished. I'll be moving on to the framing of my wrap around deck next. I figure this will give me a nice stable place to work while the walls and roof go up.


I don't recommend concrete work when the thermometer looks like this!

[CjAl]

thats funny. my last day of concrete i also had four to pour and it was 105. the day before we did 8 and it was a cool 95. and we hand mixed it all.in wheel barrows

[NavyDave]

CjAl,
You're a brave man hand mixing. I've done that and it isn't much fun......at least with the heat the pores stay clear My dad actually talked me into the cement mixer before we started our build and it's proven to be the best investment yet. I am glad that the concrete work is almost done though.....once my deck posts are finished i'm putting the mixer away for awhile!

[CjAl]

i dont have power out there yet. i run a 2500watt invertor of my semi truck for power and i didnt think a mixer would work on it. 15 piers four foot deep and a 18" square8-10" thick footing, all by hand. i think it was. 50 or 60 bags.

i am lucky i have a strong wife who is not afraid of work. she mixed one bag and i mixed the next. wasnt too bad except the heat.

[NavyDave]

Well we've finally got our share of rain around here so I've had to take a little time off from building and deal with garden weeds and yard work. It's amazing how fast a garden gets out of control when you don't give it the attention it deserves. I've started to mulch with grass clippings though and i'm hoping that will pay dividends in the form of water retention and weed suppression though.

Anyway now that I am back building i'm working on the wrap around deck to give me a level place to work from during the rest of the build. I've spent the last 2 days building the square 16x16 bedroom addition deck frame. The joists are 2x10s given the 16 foot span and the decking will be 2x6s. The posts are 6x6s that run through the deck and will serve as railing posts also. I was originally going to try to make rustic posts out of a stand of pine that needs to be thinned on the property but saw a nice design at a menonite barn builder's place using 4x4 railings. That's where i'm leaning now.


Ledger board is resting on the house beam and lag bolted every 20 inches. Bending the flashing was interesting!


Lag bolts on side ledger.


The bedrock was pretty shallow where I dug (approximately 12") so I pounded 12 - 3" #10 nails to the bottom of each 6x6 to aid in uplift resistance. 2 80lb bags in each hole.


used my ladder and block and tackle to hold the frame level and the post approximately 2" from the bedrock while the concrete set overnight.


all 6x6s will be notched to accomodate the 2x10 band joists.


finished flashing


Decking will hopefully be completed tomorrow.

[NavyDave]

It took me about half a day longer to deck the first deck than planned. Not bad considering that everything else has taken twice as long as planned.  d*Decking for the 16x16 bedroom deck complete.






I wanted a space between my flashing and the edge of my boards to give water a channel to flow so I used a 7/16" piece of OSB as a spacer. I used my carpenter's square as a spacer for the boards 1/8" (all were still quite wet so they'll shrink a bit more) and used the wedge shown to take the bow out of the boards when I tapped it, all were fairly straight though.


spent 3 bucks on a tube of flashing adhesive/caulk and sealed up the ends

[NavyDave]

Going has been a little slow on my project this month. My 4 year old daughter visited and I spent considerable time getting ready for her by pulling poison ivy vines out of trees and spraying every one of those evil little plants I could find. Took several days to clean the property to minimize the bugs also.


She's worth all the hard work, she can't wait to see her new bedroom in the loft.

Anyway now that I'm able to get a little work done I've started on my L shaped deck that will wrap around the house. I originally figured it would take me 6 or 7 days to complete it but I'm 5 days into the project and am probably half way done. The way I look at it if things take me less than twice the time I originally plan I'm doing pretty good. This deck is a bit more complicated than my simple 16X16 on the back and I've had to rework a few things to get them right. I'm not cutting any corners though and think I'm doing a pretty good job all in all.




The deck design makes the footprint of the structure exactly 36x44.




Will have a pretty nice view from the covered front porch.

[NavyDave]

Some of these 6X6's have been taking almost an hour to put shoulder notches in 


On the home stretch with my 6X6 posts!

[mountainlady1956]

I'm enjoying watching your build in TN. Your daughter is cute too! Lived near Knoxville for several years while I went to college. We built our house in Florida and are now remodeling a home in San Antonio. My husband and I have decided that whatever amount of time we think it will take-just double it! (or so...) 
Cathy

[NavyDave]

Cathy
We are about an hour outside of Knoxville, in fact my wife works there. She went to school at UT and we both really enjoy the higher elevation here. As far as the time goes all I can say is UUUUGH....lol....I figure the way I've been working it's taking me about 30% longer to do everything than I expected. No complaints though, we have a comfy place to lay our heads at night and the work is very fulfilling to me. I've gutted and remodeled a home in the past as well and will say that hands down I enjoy starting from scratch much better.

[NavyDave]

My cement work for this house is finally DONE and I'm finally out of the dirt for good! 39 bags for the 14 deck posts all poured in one very tiring day. I'm please with how this deck turned/is turning out. It's a bit more complicated that I'd anticipated but I worked (and reworked) through it and i'm finally on to the decking part. I was able to get through almost half of the decking so far. I'll get most of the rest done tomorrow but will have to order 18 more 2x6's to totally finish. Looking forward to getting onto the next phase of insulating and sheathing the floor then framing the walls.

Question for some of the experienced guys out there......I'm considering using Zip system sheathing for the roof. It's a bit more expensive at 21 bucks a sheet so I'm wondering if there's any experience with using it? I haven't seen any on this site use it so there may be issues?? Any info will help, thanks.


The side that is decked is the South side of the house that faces our pond.


East side.

[Mike 870]

Nice, this is going to be sweet.  Looking forward to seeing how a wraparound looks on the victoria.

[rdzone]

NavyDave,

just an fyi this build may be small but used the zip system.

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=9422.0

[NavyDave]

Mike, The wrap around has taken almost 3 weeks to complete but I think will be worth it in the long run.

rdzone, Thanks for bringing that link to my attention. I remember browsing at that one awhile back but didn't remember that they used the Zip system. I'll have to dig through it when I get a little time to see if I can pick some info out of it.

Well today I was hoping to make it through my remaining decking boards but some of the cuts around the posts took a bit to get just right. I worked all day and have 8 - 16 footers left to work through. I figured it was time to stop after I cut a piece of decking over a foot short! 


I have about an 8x18 piece of deck left before i'm onto the next phase.

[rich2Vermont]

NavyDave - regarding the Zip system for sheathing. We used it in Vermont for a couple of reasons. I knew it'd be at least a year before I'd get siding on the place (it's been 15 months-- so far). The sheathing stands up to the weather very well. Looking at the cost, it's really only marginally more expensive than using CDX plywood (I'm not a fan of chip-board) combined with house wrap. Plus, I didn't want Tyvek/Typar/what-have-you flapping in the wind all that time. I had used it when siding the addition to my house in Mass., and found it difficult to deal with, especially without help to install it. There are other plusses too. The boards are all printed with dots every 16 inches, at a recommended nailing distance apart. It's like paint by number. With an inexperienced crew, it's ideal. That said, I didn't use it for my porch roof for other reasons -- I was putting down 1/4" beadboad-like plywood first, and was content to put 1/2" CDX on top of that, rather than the 3/4 zip roof sheathing.

You've obviously put a lot of thought into your place. I'm looking forward to seeing it evolve. Very nice!

[Redoverfarm]

Dave good looking (sturdy) foundation.

[speedfunk]

Smart thinking on doing the deck before walls to work on!!  Tripping over a ditch and uneven ground for the whole build is half the fun!

[NavyDave]

Rich2Vermont, Thanks for the info and the compliment. I may have a few more questions for you about the zip system soon. I'm trying to weigh the benefits of cost and time (both instalation and time of weather exposure) from what I know about it so far It really isn't much more expensive at all if all factors are considered. I'm going to work up a material list for using foth the zip system and also one for using OSB with felt paper along with a pro and con list soon. I'll post it for others to see also. I haven't even considered using the Zip system for my wall sheathing but may put a material list together for that as well. probably will go with regular 7/16th OSB and a weather barrier (leaning toward felt) for that though. Thanks again!

Red, I'm definitely happy with my results. Thanks for the kudos! There is one benefit of my sloping property that I realized today. The whole time I was building my deck I didn't know that I was building a motorcycle and equipment shed also. The tallest pier is about 5 feet off the ground and is the perfect height to park some equipment under (although it may be better suited for the neighbors' 12 dogs to lay under). I'm anticipating being the envy of this little country town very soon  This won't be permanent though, eventually i'll have a garage and a barn/equipment shed and my deck will have a nice critter proof enclosure.

[highlandva]

Dave, your project is comming together so nicely.  You spend great time on detail and I truly appreciate all the pictures.  As you know I will follow soon with my build.  I am close to getting the block foundation started so I can come up out of the ground.  My shed deck is done now I just need to put the walls up.  I like the deck/porch on your Victoria, I may have to consider the same.  Are you going to put any decking off the living room (I think the "back" of your house) that will wrap the entire house?  I guess everyone here knows or will soon learn that most projects take longer than calculated, mine sure has.  Keep up the great work!

[NavyDave]

Highland,
Thanks for the positive feedback. I'm trying to document my progress well for a couple of reasons. First so family and friends can follow along closely.My dad (who is in Florida) and I talk over details almost daily. Second, so folks who haven't done this before, even the simple stuff, can learn from my journey. I'm by no means an expert but close documentation allows the experts to chime in if i've made/am making a mistake and this usually leads to good discussion on this forum from what i've seen.

In reference to your question about putting decking off the West (living room) side - I plan to expand in the future by putting a 12x12 room there and continue the deck around that addition to meet the back bedroom deck, I'll have a TON of outdoor living space with lots of tiny microclimates so there should always be a sunny or shady spot when we want one. That's a ways down the road though.

I'm glad you've made progress on your shed, I can't imagine trying to make progress working just on the weekends like most on this forum do. I'm working full time on my place and it's taken almost 5 months to be at a point where i'm ready for walls! Tedious at times but very but fulfilling work.

I've made more progress in the last week but more importantly I have my daughter again until the end of October. I have the floor done finally and she decided that it was a great place to do an art project, which I was fine with.




I know it's tradition to dance on the completed floor but I recently danced on the shed floor that I built so I let the little one do a portion of her recital for me (and you).

[mountainlady1956]

Your works looks good as well as your beautiful daughter. She's about the same age as my youngest when we built our log home in Florida. We built our house on week-ends and it did take quite a long time (but worth it in the end)! She looks like she's having a great time. Makes me want to dance too! Cathy

[NavyDave]

Cathy,
Thanks for the kind words. I told my daughter that we were going to put the walls up soon and she wants sooooo bad to help daddy! I told her that there were 2 very small walls that she could help me with but keeping her away from the house/build is next to impossible....she's just as excited as i am!

I ordered my interior beams and loft decking today and it will be here in about a week. I'll be using yellow pine for the beams and spruce 2x8 tounge in groove loft flooring.

I got my wall framing material delivered along with the decking material required to finish up the deck and i finally got that done. I coated my advantech flooring with a gloss polyeurethane exterior porch paint for 2 reasons. 1 because we are going to live with unfinished floors until we can afford to finish it off with hardwood and 2 because even though advantech is good stuff and withstands the weather I will sleep better at night with a good protectant. Besides it's easier to paint it on without having to work around wall framing.

I will be starting the wall framing tomorrow. I have a neighbor friend who is helping me out. We will frame, sheath and set any windows that is in each particular wall in the mornings and in the evening after his 15 and 17 year old boys get home from school we will be raising them. I have 12 walls total to build/raise and am giving myself 12 days to do it right! I've doubled my alloted time on almost everything else so i pray that i'm budgeting enough time this time.....i'f i'm not framed in by the 25th of September please someone come slap me!


Finished wrap around decking and floor coated with external gloss porch polyeurethane paint.


Windows/doors and bathroom fixtures from craigslist and a reclaimed builders supply warehouse. Most are brand new and cost about 1/3 as they would new.

[NavyDave]

First wall framed and sheathed.

[mountainlady1956]

We gave my son a light hammer and a place he could nail. Occupied him and he had fun doing it. Got pretty good too! Your wall is looking good. My husband is the builder. I'm a good "helper" though-lol. Wish I would have thought of that idea with the polyurethene, we lived with unfinished floors for quite awhile too. I think the urethane would make it easier to keep clean too. We used a wood stove for heating which worked very well. We put a return air grill near the stove so in the winter he could just turn it on and it circulated the warm air through the house (at not much cost). The upstairs was nice and warm too. Guess that was a bit off topic We are remodeling and are putting in a laminate floor in the living area. I have always been a bit of a "wood" snob I think  but this floor looks reallygood. It's a new Allen and Roth style (at Lowe's), wide planks, hand-scaped and looks very country. It is a floating floor, has pre-attached padding and the locking system is actually better than Pergo. My husband says it's the best floor he's ever laid. We had Bruce wood floors in our other home. Your windows from Craigslist look good too. You have quite a nice collection. Looks like a jacuzzi style tub-your daughter should love that too! I'm looking forward to seeing your continued progress. Cathy

[NavyDave]

Mountainlady,
I could probably try the hammer and keep her occupied for awhile, that's a good idea! I have her being my chalk line snapper occasionally and sweeping up the "magic fairy dust" that accumulates under my chop saw at the end of the day. She wants to lift walls though!

Our thoughts on the polyurethane floor were just as you said. We used a gloss so we could actually mop it if we wanted. No telling how long it will be there but not having to look at the word "Advantech" every 32 square feet will make it more bearable. Sounds like you have a nice alternative to solid wood there with the insulated laminate. I love that hand scraped look, I thought of going with a locally milled shiplap siding that is hand scraped but the scraping process triples the price! Will probably still go with the shiplap but will live with the rough cut with a good stain. Not sure what we are doing for flooring yet though, I may have it milled out of the same wood as my beams but still on the fence there.

I got my second wall framed, sheathed and raised yesterday but had some problems with photobucket so I couldn't put a pic up. Anyway that problem is fixxed so here it is. The "door" that is framed into this wall is actually a doorway which will lead to a future 12x12 room addition. It's framed and sheathed as a separate unit and is held in place with screws.