Truss Me, It Was A Good Week!

Monday

2 x 8's added to center beam in Garage

 It's all about getting to the second floor now.  The men are         waiting on the trusses that are being made offsite. We had hoped   that they would have arrived Friday, but they didn't.  We were told by the firm making them that the worse case scenario would be that they could have them delivered today, hopefully by mid morning. 

While everyone is waiting on the trusses to arrive, the men add the 2 x 8's to each side of that huge beam placed over the garage. Then they start pulling up 4 x 8 sheets of decking for over the garage, and fastened them down.  It will also give them a sound floor to walk on as they add more cut lumber to build out the attic storage planned for over this space.  We had hoped to build a small "apartment" space here, but there wasn't enough head room designed into the plan.  To get the head room and floor space, we would have needed a bigger floor plan.  Just couldn't justify the costs and using up more of the land for that.

Hauling 4 x 8 sheets up and onto the future Attic space.

Fastening the decking over the 2 x 8's

     

Now anchored.  Perfect cuts and perfect spacing.

Laying the boards precisely, before anchoring.

11:03 AM a truck load of trusses arrive!!!!!  YAY!!!!

No wait! At 11:09 a second truck arrives with more lumber!

Happy, happy dance!  But how do you get this load onto this property with such a tight turn?  Oh dear..........





GOD has perfect timing!  This lumber delivery was requested, but the timing was priceless!  See that little fork lift on the back of the lumber supplier's lumber truck?  The truck above, forgot to add that to the delivery instructions.  The two men standing in the grass are the drivers. They are waiting on authorization from their bosses to help with the truss unload.  This will put the lumber company behind for other deliveries.  But the lumber company gives the approval to assist.  Thank you Cassity Jones!  A special mention is required here. You folks went beyond your call of duty.  Thank you!

At 12:04 the last bundle of trusses is off the truck.

So it took an hour from the time the trusses arrived until they were laid out where the framers needed them.  You can see why I wanted to thank Cassity Jones on this one.  The framers have been doing this for a long time.  So now I understand why, as soon as they saw the trusses arrive they broke for lunch. They've always taken lunch at noon before. But, obviously they knew this takes time.  So as soon as the last truss was placed on the ground the framers were back to work reading the truss plans and deciding where they needed to go as each one was labeled by the manufacturer.

                                   

These have to be installed and anchored
before the trusses are carried into place.

The foreman stands on just a 2 x 6 with perfect balance. He is reading the truss plan and calling out the location for each marked board. Each individual board shown in theses pictures is constructed by laminating thin pieces of wood together.  Designed to support the weight of the second floor and roof. Each one has to be installed with 2 other boards just like it, making them triple thick in the upright position on location.

Now the trusses can go up.  They also are marked and designed to fit to a specific location.  So the foreman calls for these in specific order.  There are quite a lot of them.  I'm wondering if we really needed that many. The way they are constructed not only helps carry the load but is fashioned to take the flexible duct work that will be needed to heat and air condition the space.  These have been built to be 19" overall in height.  In this case, flexible tubing will work best.  The height of the trusses is something you should ask your builder about before construction. Because if you have a second floor this dimension will affect your stairs. Sometimes, you might want to include your HVAC contractor in the process if your using an HVAC contractor that your builder is not familiar with.  But generally the builder has his preference in what he likes to have for height. The larger the height, the easier it is to pull duct work through.  But if it is too high, it might be a lot of stairs to climb everyday.

Tuesday

Trusses in, second floor walls next.

They first make sure the top of the walls are 

square, just  as the base of the walls are, 

before adding any additional weight above. 

The lumber is placed for bracing and to

keep it square before the trusses are

installed.  

Tuesday morning they finish installing the trusses, and quite a bit of decking.  You can see pictured on the left, the trusses over the front wall. They are 16" on center. That sure did look like a lot of support.  The framers tell me that this floor will be solid and will easily carry a lot of weight.  The house is built strong, that's for sure.

Snapping chalk lines for a level porch.

Adding the ledger board.

The beginnings of our new front porch.

The Foster Porch Post was named for the porches on this home.  We have five! The front porch, the side porch, the pantry porch, the screen porch, and the pergola. They vary in size, but the largest is the front porch. With the view of the inlet in-front of our home, it made sense. We want the breeze, when we get one, to be able to come from the east, north, and south.  The concrete work under the front lumber, was PERFECTLY straight!  The picture shows how the framers use the boards (shown left to right) to straighten out the two front boards.   These will support the decking.  I didn't take a picture of the "before", (I should have, it looked like a snake).  They did an awesome job straightening such a long length of running boards. The floor boards are on special order.  They will take about a week and half to come in, since I ordered something "different".

See this hole?  Well, here is when it's a good time to be onsite. We covered this in the framing meeting, so I was confident everyone was on the same page, and they were.  The question was, in which direction do I want my finished porch floor boards to run? My wish, was to have them run from the front of the house to the front of the porch.  In this case the shorter length, and traditionally how it "use" to be done in the old days.  But it does require a lot more work from the framers. See the hole?  They need to run support beams under the future flooring, and this required some additional tools and manual labor to get the job done. But this was a step that was overlooked on a job I checked out when searching for a builder.  The homeowner arrived after the work was done, not to her liking (not the builder I am using).  If one is unable to be on the job site during this step, it could go in the wrong direction, thereby incurring compromise, do overs and ultimately time delays.  Remember time delays = money.

First second floor wall up!

 While one team of framers is working on the front porch, another team is working on putting up walls on the second floor.  The third team is cutting wood on the ground level to dimensions called out from the team on the second floor. This made for speedy work.  The first wall was up by 3:15, and it was in my art studio....YAY!

When the work day is over today, this is what was accomplished on the second floor.  My builder has asked that I don't go up to the second floor until the stairs are built, so for now I have to take pictures from the ground floor.  When the men have questions/recommendations on changes on the second floor they come down to me and I have to try to envision what they are suggesting. So far, it's working out well.  We have construction drawings, and with them telling me what the new measurements are compared to the drawings, it's all working out.

Wednesday

It's back to the porches to start the day today.   Earlier this morning they finished the support work for under the floor of the front porch.  Now they work on getting the top headers in.  The side pieces are the easy ones, and still it takes 4 men.  Just wait until you see how many men it takes to do the front one......and a machine!

One side secure, one more to go.  This is heavy too!

Thanks to our builder who brought this machine over.  We needed it!

After lunch, they start working on the roof of the screen porch

In less than an hour, they are finished with this porch roof.

The picture to the left is taken from inside the screen porch.

Next, the team that had been working on the front porch, tackles installing the ledger board needed for the pergola. As you can see it takes three men to lift this one.  This is just one of three pieces.  If you look to the left of the ledger board you will see where those beams that came with the trusses are sticking out.  These will be cut, in the future, to allow the ledger board to continue across the back, as well as make room for the fireplace that is going here, on the inside wall.

I'm always amazed as I watch the framers walk along the 2 x 6 top plates.  They are up there putting the ceiling joists in.

Front, after 3 days

There are just a few more hours left before the men call it a day today.  They have gotten so much done in three days.

Because the men need more lumber to frame out the roof, I will have the day "off" tomorrow.  But they will be tackling another framing job elsewhere, until the lumber ordered, arrives to the site, hopefully sometime tomorrow.

Back, after 3 days

It must be hard to keep up with the lumber orders when the crew works this effectively.  I'll see them on Friday....or maybe not.

Thursday

Okay, the framers told me there would not be any activity on the site today, but that doesn't give me a day off from working on the home building.  Today, I spent time working with my flooring provider,  visited another antique shop looking for a vanity for the 2nd floor guest bath, picked up a wash basin sink that I needed a hole drilled into, in order to use it as a vessel sink, and made an impromptu visit to an appliance store.  Now that's progress!

Friday

Oh dear, I feel like we are losing a day framing....oh wait,  we are.  Cassity Jones wasn't able to deliver the lumber ordered for Thursday, so it's due to arrive sometime today.  There was a 50% chance of showers for late today, but it decided to arrive by 8 AM.  I dashed off to the job site to wrap 4 bags of concrete left unprotected Wednesday evening.  I needed to meet with my banker at the site anyway that morning so it wasn't an "extra" trip.  I worked around the site doing a light pickup of unneeded materials, and soda cans. I don't mind the pick up.  I hired my framers to frame, I can't frame, I CAN pick up.  They are pretty neat and tidy as it goes, the only thing to watch for is the glass bottles.  Only one has broken so far, so I try to pick those up as soon as I see them.  Why wait to prove a point, it's easier in the end.

Went back to the appliance store...Labor Day weekend....some real deals!  But we're in the framing stage is it way too early?  More on that later....  Then met my husband at the storage facility to unload 12 boxes of tile selected for the laundry area.  Again, it's not typical to be purchasing these items so far ahead.  But if it is no longer available when it IS the right time to purchase....well then,  I'm back to trying to find an alternate choice.  More work, double work.

Not sure if they'll be back on Monday, it's Labor Day.  They deserve a day off, but if they want to work, I sure hope that they pick me, pick me!!!!  Cassity Jones delivered the lumber, so we're ready to go!!!

My office.

Happy Labor Day everyone!!!!   

We Was Framed!

Monday
What a great week of weather and progress for building the new home!  The first start of work on the land was back on June 14. On August 14th the slab was finally poured and finished.  So we started 4 days later to frame the house.  On Monday, August 17th they begin to snap chalk lines over the slab, everywhere there will be a wall.  They write notes on the slab showing where the door openings will be, as well as windows.  It was great being out at the site for questions.  This is a good idea for anyone building a home to be present now. The crews are busy, lots of homes and construction drawings to work on.  So they appreciate a quick answer when they have questions.  Even though they have the construction drawings with dimensions, this is not an exact science.  The plumbing rough in could be off a bit, or the slab is shorter or longer in some areas.  One really doesn't know, until each trade comes in after the other.  So I totally recommend being there.  But bring a good book to read. They don't have a question for you every minute, and it's pretty important to keep out of the way, until they need to ask you a specific question.  Let them do their job.  If you've done your homework in the beginning, you already know you have a competent builder and crew.  I know that I do!

Close up of snapped chalk lines for location of sill plates.

The whole day was spent on marking the locations of all the walls, inspecting the lumber delivered, cutting and assembling the header boxes(placed over the windows for 2 x 6 construction, and laying out the lumber in prearranged stacks, that only the framers know the rhyme and reason to.  Our builder brought his earth moving equipment to clean up the dirt in the front under the future porch.  He also had to move dirt around to dry up the low spots still filled with water from the sprinklers that were used four days ago.  It didn't evaporate in the heat.  The framers need dry land to work with around this slab.
Tuesday

By 10 AM they already have the most of the bottom plates cut and anchored to the slab.  The boards of a lighter color are those that are being cut to match the length of the base lumber and will be used for the top plate. The ceiling height for the entire first floor will be 10 feet.

At 1:30 PM afternoon our first wall goes up!! The front wall, which will house the front door and 4 large windows.
Because all the work was done on the slab before lifting the wall upright. The whole process of putting up the first wall from first lift to anchoring the sides onto the bottom plate...took 5 minutes!

 Unlike Monday, when there were just 3 men onsite.  Today, we have 8 men on the framing crew.  Let me tell you, this was a happy sight to see the first wall go up.  I did my happy dance, gave the men a huge smile waving my two thumbs up with a "yeeha!

First wall UP!  The day is coming to a close.  But I can see real progress!

Wednesday

More walls go up.  This is the 2 car garage.

The men are called over to lift another wall.  This time they stand patiently waiting on their foreman, who is making adjustments and cutting the top sill plate before the wall can be moved into position.

Then the call comes for all hands on deck. It's quick work for this framing crew.  Today there are 14 men on the crew.

The side wall of the garage is now up.  The garage will house 2 cars, a workshop, storage room, and unheated 1/2 bath.

There is so much that goes into building a quality new home.

He moves with purpose and precision.

Checking that the window opening is square.

This member of the crew has a very important job. While most of the men are committed to cut the lumber to size,  and lifting into place, this man has the job of checking that the studs that run vertically are straight and level.

Front window precisely measured and sheathed.

I observed while being on the job site that only the outside vertical studs are generally nailed to the base and top plates.  The rest of the 2 x 6 studs are only anchored to the top plate and left swinging freely at the bottom.  This allows this man, for one, to address each stud, specifically around door openings and window openings to be scrutinized individually so that the doors and windows that have been ordered will fit perfectly in the space.  They have the measurements of the windows and doors that are due to arrive on the site when they are ready for them, but they need to be installed into openings that are square. Taking the time to do this BEFORE the products arrive to the job site will save lots of time....and in this profession   TIME = MONEY.

Wrap is added to the exterior walls at the bottom, before the sheathing material is installed..
Before school starts a youngster, helps with cleanup around the property, using the wagon I brought on site,once in awhile assisting with nail removal.

One would think that because of the 97 degree temperatures today, that this crew would put off putting up the supporting beam that needs to be lifted above 10 feet in the garage.  The rest of the house will have trusses, which are due to arrive Monday.  But we are going to install this heavy beam for support in the garage, since the floor overhead will only be used for storage.

They begin to lift......and carry......

 carry....

 rest.....

 carry....

rest.....

 lift....

 lift....

lift...

 lift....

 steady.....

 lift....

 lift....

 lift....

 lift....

 lift.....

 lift....

 adjust....

adjust....

hold.....

anchor.....

 anchor..... and rest.

Okay, I know that was A LOT of pictures!!! But that was really heavy and it took the whole team to do it! They started the task at 2:30 PM and finished it at 5 PM.  That took some time and man power.  It's 5 PM. The work day is over.
Thursday
Framers need more material and footings need to be erected before the framers can continue.  Today is a day to review the work with our builder.. He does a walk through, while I review the billings that I need to write a check for.  Yes, one does have to pay for all this excellent work. Having a builder oversee this home is really what I wanted.  I did the design and drawings.  But after working for an architect back in New Jersey, even I know, that what is designed on paper doesn't always translate well on the actual job site... That's why I strongly recommend finding a reputable builder that can oversee the project and give advice when changes occur....because there will always be something that needs to be dealt with that is unexpected. So far, the walk through looks good.  Nothing that I can see, but only a trained eye from a person like my builder would see.  I spend the afternoon focused on lighting choices.. Before you know it they will need to know where all the wiring needs to go.
Friday
The mason arrives in the afternoon.  Waiting on block and cement they were unable to get an earlier start.  This will have a ripple effect, since the framers will now not be able to return on Saturday to continue the framing.  This is a decision made by our builder.  He feels it is important that the cement has time to set up BEFORE framing the porch.
 

Leveling at each layer is important.

Locating each footing as it relates to the front wall is critical.

 

It can not be overstated, just how important when these parts of the design are being installed, it's always good to be present to field questions and verify, verify, verify that components are where they need to be. This is the time to make adjustments if necessary.  Waiting til the framers find it AFTER the lumber is all cut to size is a costly response.  I am very fortunate that so far every person involved with this project is grateful to have questions brought up and resolved before later.  We are still LIVE so let's see how this plays out.

Six finished piers for the future front porch.  A wonderful week of progress.  Mark this Week #10 as a success!  Now a weekend to recover before Week #11 begins on Monday.  Great work everyone!!!