Progress for May 2006

The framers have been doing some amazing work. The entire main floor is framed with 16 inch I-joists and then topped with 1-1/8 plywood that is glued and screwed to the joists. It is very solid feeling, and will only get more so when the radiant heating is installed with the gypcrete. The stairs have been built already. They will be topped with hardwood before they're done, but being made from that 1-1/8 plywood, they should really hold up during the construction process.

Elaine took a marker and wrote some descriptions on the door headers downstairs so that people wandering through would have some idea of what the room are going to be used for.

Here are some pictures of the current state of the house. Dear to Dick's heart is the floor for the large part of the shop. As you may recall from earlier pictures, there is a pit about 18" deep. It is now covered with 1-1/8" plywood. I removed one of the middle sheets to show the truss style floor joists that will allow easy running of electricity to and sawdust from the various stationary tools in the shop. The plywood makes a pretty soft floor so I may eventually cover it with something when I have most of the tools positioned. Perhaps epoxy paint will be sufficient.

All of the upstairs rooms are framed in. There are a few places where we are waiting until the roof trusses are installed before we can finalize the framing. The kitchen really looks big at the moment, but will look better when it is full of cabinets. There is a very wide opening where the front door will go as we don't have the exact dimensions of the front door yet. There is a pretty decent view out the front, but it would be better if the power pole and lines weren't there.

On the non-framing front, the drain lines for the perimeter drains, the lightwell drains, and the eventual downspouts have been connected into the new storm drain that runs down the alley. Also, the filling and grating of the back yard has begun. They have excavated out for where the hot tub will be situated just outside the master bathroom.

Not much visible progress. The framers have been preparing for the arrival of the roof trusses. They are due on Thursday (2 days away). The walls have been given extra reinforcing. The beams defining the roof overhangs have been installed. In the case of the roof overhangs in the back there is a slight wrinkle. The footings haven't been poured yet for the posts that will support the roof. In order to be able to put on the roof, the framers have built temporary supports to cantilever the beams.

I have re-aimed the web camera so that it picks up a bit of the alley. Hopefully we can see the trusses being offloaded by the crane. It would be nice if the camera were a bit higher and further away from the building, but that isn't going to happen in the next two days.