Rusk TX Build

Started by dablack, January 08, 2012, 08:21:08 PM

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Redoverfarm

I am sure it made for a lot of getting up and getting down working alone.  Sometimes we just do what has to be done whether we want to or not. Wish I was closer to lend you an hand.

dablack

Thanks guys.  It was very much a chest pounding moment when I was done.  With that being said, it was by far the hardest thing to do so far.  I'm not much on heights and on the west end of the house, the pad is built up about 6', then with 10' walls and trying to brace up big trusses, well.....I was shaking a little.  I used the sky trak to also set the subfloor up there so I didn't have to actually lift one piece myself.  Now I have some of the subfloor spread out and temporarily tacked in so I can walk around.  Now I'm fine up there. 

I'm still adjusting some of the trusses.  Then I need to get up there and put some 2x4s along the top of the trusses to square up the top before I put on the smaller upper triange trusses. 

Then it is roof time.

Austin


Redoverfarm

Might consider putting your braces on the underneath side of the triangle in the web area.  It will not interfere with the additional triangle portion.  When I set my trusses I used 2X4 on the inside of the kneewall.  It did/will not interfere with the finished wall later.   In fact I had a few extra sheets of 1/2" OSB which I used for each corner on the inside of the kneewall on the four corners.  Just a thought.

dablack

They actually left me space between the lower truss and upper truss for any size 2x material.  I'm running 2x4s along both ends of where the upper triangle truss sits.  I've done just about all of one side as of now and it has really locked the lower trusses into place. 

Yes, I have bracing in the living area right now but that was the best place for it and easy to get to.  Once the roof is on, all that can come down.  I really don't want much of anything attaching the truss to each other in the lower truss after the roof is on because we plan on putting closets and shelves in these areas.

thanks
Austin

mountainlady1956

Awesome work. Very impressive! Quite accomplishment, and a bit  ;D challenging I'm sure.


dablack

It finally isn't 100F anymore so we are getting more done.

Subfloor is almost done.  The heights are really killing me so I wanted to finish the subfloor before I moved higher.  It makes me feel much better knowing it is there. 

We are putting about 2.5 feet of subfloor inbetween the trusses for closet area and storage. 

After the subfloor is done, I will need to finish bracing and putting subfloor on the top of the big trusses.  Then I can stand up on top of them and try to lift the top triangle trusses. 








Austin

CjAl

is the rv there to cushion the fall? lol

dablack

I'm thinking once I start roofing, the RV will be a mobil scaffold.  HA!  Really, I had thought about it, but there is no way to get it to the north or west side of the house. 

So, this weekend, I was able to finish the subfloor upstairs and to start putting subfloor on top of the attic trusses.  This subfloor on top of the trusses will give me a place to stand to set the small triangle trusses that sit on top of the main trusses.  I'm hoping I will be able to pull up the attic trusses with a rope.  I have been able to walk around with one of them on my shoulder so I'm hoping it won't be too much to pull up.  I have 26 of them to lift up!

Austin

dablack

I finished up what we are calling the attic floor (flooring on top of the big trusses to give me somewhere to stand to lift the little triangle trusses).  I pulled three of the triangle trusses up to the top and had enough.  I ordered a little plug in winch to pull them up.  I havn't used it yet but it is supposed to be able to lift 440 lbs.  I can think of all kinds of things to use it for. 

Right now, I'm finishing up putting OSB on the west gable truss.  I REALLY wish I would have done that before lifting that truss!  Next time I will put the OSB and the house wrap on before lifting it up!   Once I'm done with that (tomorrow!), I will start working on the barge rafters!  I'm sure I will use the wench for that FOR SURE!  I'm hoping to have the barge rafters on and maybe some roof decking on by the end of this weekend. 

I will have some pictures soon.  I have been taking lots of them but don't have time to post them up.

Austin


dablack

I forgot to say that I spent a couple of days brush hogging about half the property.  It was overgrown when we bought it and I have only been able to mow about two or three acres around where the house is.  Now I have about 15 acres cut.  It is amazing how much better it looks!  The kids can even walk around the property like it is a park. 

Austin

dablack

OK!  I got the first barge rafter up yesterday.  I built it as a ladder assy.  Basically a 2x4 goes along the end of the roof at the very end of the house, I have 2x4 out riggers on 2' centers, and the actual barge rafter is a 2x8.  The out riggers are 13" long so the whole assembly is proud from the gable 16".  That is what my rear overhang is at the back of the house so I wanted it to match.  After I built the assembly on the slab, I used an electric winch to hoist it up onto the roof upside down.  Then I scooted it over to the edge of the roof, attached hinges and flipped the whole thing over so it was in possition.  Nailed it to the gable and I was done!  I couldn't think of an easier way to do it alone. 

Here it is built upside down on the slab.



Here it is being hoisted up while upside down.



close up of the one of the two hinges.



And installed.



Here are three of the kids going on a little hike.  From this end of the house it is 26' down from where my feet were.




I'm hoping today to get two more barge rafters up. 

Austin

duncanshannon

awesome progress. you are moving pretty quickly.  hats off to mounting the trusses solo. thats bragging rights for sure!

that snake freaks me out all the way in Minnesota.
Home: Minneapolis, MN area.  Land: (no cabin yet) Spooner, WI area.  Plan: 20x34 1 1/2 Story. Experience Level: n00b. 
Build Thread: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=10784.0

dablack

Yes, if I would have found that snake on my property I think I might have had to sell.  UG!  Really though, that is why I like the keep the land as clean as possible.  I like trees and forest but I do NOT like underbrush. 

well, I didn't get two more barge rafters done yesterday but I got one almost done!  HA.  I really want it dried in my the end of the year.  It is going to be tight!


dablack

Got a little more done this weekend.  I got the front west barge rafter installed as well as the front fascia board.  The fascia boards are 2x10s and 8 or 10' long.  They were HEAVY doing them alone.  I build little brackets to hold them to the correct height out on the end of the trusses.  I'm pleased with the way it is turning out.

I also got the west end OSB cleaned up and almost ready for some house wrap up there.  I want both "attic" gable walls wrapped before I start putting on roof decking.  Once I start putting on roof decking, I won't be able to reach to attic gable walls except via ladder.   

If anyone sees any obvious problems, please let me know.

thanks
Austin








dablack

So, it has been a while since I've updated.  Here are a couple of pics of where I am.







The above picture is of my little attic.  It is 12' wide at the bottom and a little under 6' at the peak.  Its perfect for storing bins.  You are only seeing half of it in the picture.





I'm very eager to get it in the dry or at least get plastic on the roof.  After I finish putting decking on, I need to put 2x4s under the deck where the decking meets between the trusses.  Then I can finally put the plastic on. 

thanks
Austin

Redoverfarm

Looks like you are faced withthe same delimia that I am concerning your upstairs subfloor and attic truss. 

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=12778.0

The short strut is not contained in mine so I will have to stick build it to be able to seal off the storage area.  If you make access doors to gain entry just make sure they are large enough to allow most tote widths to fit in.  I have those storage areas down both sides of my house and they are packed full of totes.  You gain a tremendous amount of storage back there.

dablack

Ok, let me make sure you and I are talking about the same thing.  From your post, it seems like you are talking about my 3rd floor (which I'm calling my attic).  Since my attic trusses came in two pieces (32' long trusses are hard to fit on a truck with a 12/12 pitch), there is an area to floor between the 3rd floor little truss and the main 2nd floor truss.  Both pieces make up what everyone calls and attic truss, but since I have two pieces, it is easier to name them for their floor. 

On the second floor, the room is 19' 1" wide.  The side walls are 6' high then it slopes up with the ceiling to 8' high.  So the areas between the trusses behind this 6' tall wall is of course 6' deep at the floor and then slopes up to nothing at 6' high.  We are going to floor this area by putting 2x4 nailers on both sides of the trusses.  These areas will be closets and other storage.  That building is 52' long and I have this storage on both sides of the 2nd floor.  That is a ton of storage.  I'm most likely going to leave most of it just open.  I'm going to insulate along the roof and then panel over that (under what would be called the roof rafters will be panelling or wood). 

After I set the 2nd floor trusses, I put 2' x 8' pieces of 3/4" ply on top.  Then I set the 3rd floor "little" trusses.  So I now have another 52' x 12' of storage.  Of course, this too is not a full room because of the roof pitch.  I'm figuring I will leave 6' x 52' open so I can move from end to end of the 3rd floor and get to the stuff that is stored in the other 6' x 52'.  With four kids (three being girls), we have lots of clothes in those 20" wide plastic bins.  We could easily fit 104 bins in the attic if we wanted.  Of course we don't have that many but it makes the point well.  Tons of storage in the attic as well.  The attic will be conditioned space because, again, we are insulating between the roof rafters.  So, the storage area doesn't have to be sealed off. 

We will be using spray foam (like astidham has done under his floor) on the underside of the roof deck.  Should be sealed and keep cool very well. 

I'm eager to see how you deal with your "extra" storage as well.

Austin

dablack

So I'm still messing with the decking.  It is going slow but I'm figuring out what works and what doesn't (at least for me).  When I was putting the decking on, I was using the metal H clips between the trusses where one 4x8 sheet meets the other.  The clip basically ties the two sheets together so they help support each other.  The problem was I really don't think they work very well and I didn't feel comfortable with them.  I decided to put a 2x4 between the trusses to support the decking.  This allowed me to nail the complete perimeter of the 4x8 sheet.  This felt much more secure to me.





Now I did this after putting all the decking on so then I had to go outside the roof the finish nailing the decking on.  I have a problem with heights so I took the belts and suspenders method.  I used my 23' aluminum ladder and tied  it off to the tractor on the other side of the house.  Then I put on my climbing harness, tied up a blake's hitch and off I went.  I have used the blake's hitch before and it works great. 






dablack

I've also been working on putting some floor between the trusses on the north side of the house.  I was going to put it off until later but I needed it there so I could put the blocking behind the roof decking.  Here are a couple of shots from below the trusses and from above.  I simply used 2x4s nailed to the trusses to act a supports.  Since I have a 19' wide room up in the attic trusses, I had 1 foot of subfloor floating between the trusses.   These 2x4s were used to also support that 1' of subfloor. 








So, now I have about 5' of T&G 3/4" subfloor between the trusses.  These ares will be closets and built in dressers.  I will do the same on the south wall but will only have it 4' deep. 

thanks
Austin

dablack

I'm home sick today so I actually have a little time to post some pictures and talk about what I've done.  Things are really getting interesting up at the build site. 

As I've shown before, I'm doing most of this on my own.  My beautiful wife does help with some things but we have four small kids so.......  On one end of the house, I was able to stand on top of the RV to install the upstairs windows.  On the other end of the house the ground drops away very sharply for 6' and then it goes on down hill at a more gental slope.   There was no way I was going to be able to use the RV as a work platform.  I had to figure out a way to install upstairs windows on my own with no scaffold.  Turns out, it wasn't too hard.  I drilled a 1/2 hole in the top of the window on the inside of the flange.  This means that this hole will no be exposed to the weather.  Also, you can't see it unless you really look for it.  Then I predrilled all the screw holes I was going to use around the flange of the window.  These things are 3' x 5' double glass so they are heavy and a little akward to move on your own.  Then I prepped the window opening.  Here comes the tricky part.  I would tie a rope to the top of the window.  While standing inside, I would turn the window and move it outside the window opening.  Then I would set the bottom of the window in the window opening.  Then while I'm still holding it, I would put a clamp on to make sure it couldn't fall out.  With the rope at the top and the clamp at the bottom, the window couldn't fall.  I know this is weird, but I took pics. 



In the above photo, the window is leaning out the opening.  It is clamped at the bottom and has the rope holding it out at an angle at the top.  At this point, I could reach out and caulk the window opening. 



This is a little better shot of the rope at the top.  I have the rope tied to some thin material because it won't be removed until after the window is completely installed.  The thick rope would have gotten stuck between the window and window opening. 

Once the caulking is done, pull the window tight to the house, reach out and start putting in screws.  If you are really fancy you can have the screws already threaded a couple of threads into your predrilled holes.  Obviously, the window is open while you are doing this.  Once you get the bottom half of the window screwed tight, go outside, get on that evil ladder and get the top screws.  UGGG!  Hate ladder work. 

More pics.







Here is how the hole looks once the rope is gone.  Not too bad. 

And here it is done.




thanks
Austin


dablack

I also got to try staining my concrete for the first time.  This is going to be a garage later, so I really wanted something to would hold up to car abuse. 

Started by power washing the slab and waited for it to comletely dry.  Cut my acid 50/50 with water (we wanted a lighter shade of cola) and hit it with the garden sprayer.  Let that react for six hours and hit it again.  This time I had 60/40 acid so it would be a little stronger.  You only really spray it the second time on the spots it didn't take well the first time.  This slab is 26x52 and five gallons of acid was more than enough. 

Then I let that sit over night.  Next morning, I power washed it.  As I was drying it off, I could tell I was getting broom marks in it.  It took me a while but I finally figured out that I hadn't gotten nearly all of the residue off the surface.  So instead of sealing it like we thought we would, we spent the day with deck brushes (on broom handles) scrubbing the slab (insert your best pirate/deck scrubbing joke here).  We finally got all the residue off and power washed it again.  Now you have to let the slab dry at least 36 hours.  I blew off all the water until it was all the way dry and waited.  When it was time, I got out our urethane-epoxy sealer.  Uh, that didn't go well.  You are supposed to put it on thin.  Really thin.  The problem was, it was windy and I hadn't walled up where the garage doors are going to go later.  So, every time the wind would blow, it would skim dry the top of what I had JUST rolled out.  No time for it to flow out at all.  No time for the bubbles to come out.  NOT PLEASED!  So, while it looks good in pictures, there are rolling marks and bubbles everywhere.  Right now my options are strip it and start over or sand it to get out the bubbles and put on another coat.  I'm really hoping another coat will do it.  We will see. 

Sorry for the crazy pics.  This first shot is right after I got done putting on the sealer.  It goes down like milk.  Very wet and kind of blue.  Then it clears dry.....and full of bubbles. 

 


Then once it drys it looks like this.  Sorry for the night shot.  When I turned on the lights I was really happy with it until I saw the bubbles and roller marks. 



I will report how the fix goes.

Austin

dablack

Also, we finally got the grace triflex up on the roof.  I decided to save time I would let a crew handle it.  It was going to take me forever so it was money well spent. 

Also, in this picture, you can see that I have finally finished walling in the south wall where the garage doors will go later.  You can't see it but we also have the "porch" sub-ceiling down....or up?  We bought some 1/2 x 10 cedar that will go up on the ceiling now. 



To do this work, I finally broke down and got some scaffolding.  The local hardware store ( plug for Harry's Building Supply ) was having a customer appreciation day last Sat.  We have four kids so we don't turn down free food.  Sure enough, they had some crazy good deals going on, including the scaffolding.  Much cheaper than I had seen from the big box stores.  It really helped get the porch stuff up and will help tons when we do siding. 



Now we just need to finish up with doors, windows, and the rear fascia boards and we will be ready to move on to plumbing!

thanks
Austin

Austin

ScottA

Love the trees. You have a nice site there.  :)

dablack

Thanks Scott,

I need to post more pictures.  We have the front of the house wrapped, windows and front door installed and are working upstairs.  Upstairs we have all the interior walls built, and I'm currently installing the two tubs and a shower.  We were going to go with tub shower combos but the father in law found us some really nice garden tubs.  So, I tore down and put back up some bathroom walls to accomidate them and built a platform to put them in.  The master tub has a granite surround and the kids tub has a tile surround.  The master shower is 34 by 48.  Just right!  Once the tubs and shower are installed I can start putting in the DWV.  I have possitioned the tubs and shower so the drains down have to go through a truss member.  As an engineer, I hate taking material out of a loaded member, even if it is ok by code. 

I will try to post picture soon.

Austin

dablack

Well, we got all the DWV side of the plumbing done and had the pex started.  All the pex fittings were in a box and all the pex pipe was coiled up and ready to go.  Blue and Red.  Next weekend a buddy was taking a four day weekend and he and I were going to finish up the wiring.  THen hire out the spray foam, ac and sheetrock.  THen it would be move in time.  We were planning to move in at the end of Aug. 

Thursday night we got a call from the sheriff.  The building and the RV parked beside it burned to the ground.  The tractor parked 25' away is partially melted.  No insurance.  Total loss.  All my tools were inside.  All my ladders, saws, hammers, everything.  Needless to say, we are heart broken.  I figured someone stole all the wiring and then burned the house.  Nope.  All the wiring I bought was still rolled up and sitting on the first floor right under where it was stacked on the 2nd floor.  Sheriff says it was most likely lightening.  Huge storm cell went over right before the fire.  We built at the top of a hill.  It even melted the green plastic lids off of our septic tanks.

Oh well.  We can't keep paying rent, the note on the land and the debt we accumulated while building.  We know we will be alright and that nothing of REAL value was lost in the fire.  We are glad just to be all together.  We thank God for that. 













Austin