So Many Parts and Pieces

Monday, September 22

North exterior team

What an amazing day!  Everyone was out today, working at a pace that left me unable to count how many were actually on site.  There were at least 10, maybe 14 men.  The progress today was extraordinary.  One team was on the north exterior elevation.  Another team was in the garage working on the staircase that leads to the attic storage.  The staircase was crucial now, since the team doing the siding last week had to stop, because the 2nd story window still had to be installed on the west wall elevation.  But the window installation was waiting on the staircase to be built for proper placement.  Stopping the siding installation, meant the scaffolding was taken down ( to be used elsewhere), and will now have to be rebuilt when the stairs are complete so that the siding can be finished.

Staircase Team of 2

Scaffolding on the front porch

On the front porch there was another team working.  By the time I had arrived in the morning they had added additional scaffolding.  The bead-board ceiling was now finished and they were just finishing up the blocking and beefing up the underside of the area where the columns now on order will be installed.

Details for the area above the future front porch columns.  I did the design of the home and with all the detail I provided, I still have left all the trim details to my builder.  He is very familiar with the style of home I am looking for.  I'm excited to see how this progresses. Right now he is driving the details for this area.

Windows on the south wing.

Scaffolding removed just before lunch

3:09 PM

After lunch the framers were planning on starting to lay the front porch.  I was searching on the internet for how to finish the floor when I came across some information I wanted to review with my builder.  We put the installation of the floor on hold for a few hours, but ultimately gave the framers the go ahead to start laying the floor.  The first board went down at 3:09 PM.  At the end of the work day, 5 PM, just 5 boards went down.  The story behind this front porch floor boards is probably a blog all by itself.  So let's revisit this aspect of the home separately.  More information to follow.                                                                         

5:00 PM

North Elevation at days end.

Staircase at days end.

By the end of the day, the staircase and attic window are framed, the siding on the north elevation is further along, and the back west wall is now decked, Tyveked, and 3 more windows installed on the second floor. Bead board on every ceiling porch is now installed. That includes, the pantry porch, the side porch, and the front porch.

West elevation at days end.

Pantry Porch ceiling

Tuesday, September 23

Tuesday morning

Tuesday brings a stark contrast to the activities from the day before....SILENCE.   But unlike some other days before this one, I've been sent a text from my builder letting me know that the framing crew is needed elsewhere today.  Today is a good day.  This works out fine for me personally.  Over the weekend Sherwin Williams had a 40% off paint sale so I took advantage and purchased over 20 containers of "Color To Go".  I spent the entire day before lunch painting samples of poster board with a cabinet foam roller.  The results were exciting.  Some colors were perfect to my vision, others surprisingly didn't work for where I thought they would, but did find a "home" in another area of the project.  Only 4 or 5 were total rejects.  It's really early to select paint colors in some respects, but for me it helps me support some of my other decisions down the road.  Decisions for brick selection, fireplace stone selection, etc.....not to mention at some point interior fabrics for draperies and furniture pieces.  I've been told by many, including my builder that most people don't plan this far ahead.  But for me, I want to enjoy the journey.  This would not be "fun" in my opinion if I received a 2 week "warning" to make a selection, which is for me "permanent".    Okay, nothing is "permanent", but it will cost time and money for a "do over".  So I like the time to focus when there isn't a deadline...yet. By addressing these issues "early" I am able to live with them for awhile before making a commitment.  It's amazing how you can look at the same picture in a magazine. At first look,  one focuses on the style, then you begin looking at lighting. Then you look at the lighting in the picture, then you're looking at paint, and you notice the baseboard(for example).  Then you are working on plumbing fixtures and you see chromes vs. antique bronze and the paint drops that best support these fixtures.  It's a lot of input.   Starting early is allowing me to enjoy the process.

After lunch, I drive out to the property and start to clean up the area.  Right now, it's safer to do this when the men are NOT working.  I like to do it, so that they have a clean space to work in, take lunch, and re stack material that might possibly be lost in a pile of debris.  Perhaps we'll save a dollar or two. Not to mention it is easier for the delivery of new materials.  I've been visiting other jobs sites all over the county and I'm amazed that the delivery men can find any "free" space to drop a huge pallet of new lumber at other sites.  The delivery men are happy when they see that you are keeping up with the "mess".  It makes there job easier, and if you can get the deliveries close to the building area it's easier on your subcontractors.

Let's talk windows.  The Marvin Integrity windows are what I specified for this job.  We have been installing them as we side the home.  So far, we have a few more left to install.  Left to install are: Attic garage, art room dormer, 3 arched dormers, and all the windows on the front porch.  I didn't realize that they would arrive at the job site boxed and shrink wrapped.  The packaging allows them to be a bit more protected than without the packaging, but it's still a job site.  My builder didn't want to wait on these windows long, but he also didn't want them "sitting around".  Marvin Integrity windows presently have a 2 week fabrication time frame and then allow for a week to work out the delivery.  I was able to request that Marvin's warehouse hold onto the screens until we are at the end of the house build. That is helpful. Really happy with the product.  We did save money by having some of the windows "mulled" together. It works in some applications, but not in all applications. I love the mill-work detail on the interior of a mulled window, and less impressed on the exterior look.

Windows left to install.  Protected in boxes

Close-up of packaging

Wednesday, September 24

Today was a quiet day, but very important.  The framers did not come by today.  But in reflection, I can see why.  The photo to the right shows another tradesmen installing the flashing today.  This has to be installed before the rest of the siding can be installed.  I was pleased to hear from them directly, that they liked the roof lines.  They thought all the roof lines were straight forward, easy to flash.  My interest was to find out if there were any areas that might pose future problems for water damage...of course much further down the road as the home ages.  But it was their professional opinion that it should not be an issue since the design of the roofs was so well done.  I can't take credit for the roof design.  I had it on the plans, but I gave my builder and his team full discretion on any redesign.  They did recommend changes, and I love all of their experience showing up on the home. Very very happy!

Brick arrives today.

The brick arrived today.  It won't be installed right away, but it's here.  It will be used for the piers under the front porch, the front porch stairs, the 1st floor exterior wall on the west elevation, and flooring for 3 of the porches. In keeping with the "period" home theme.  We chose  Used Old Chicago Antiques - Pinks. They are packaged from the Windy City of Chicago.  We can say we did our part to help Chicago by sending the order their way.  There are so many brick choices, After travelling the countryside there was no comparison to an legitimate old brick.  Because they are solid, they will also be suitable for exterior patio pavers.

Thursday, September 25

Siding goes up on the second floor.

The framers return today to get back to siding the home now that the flashing is installed.   It will take all day just to work on the area shown on the right. The 1st floor will be covered with the brick that arrived yesterday..........but later.

What struck me is that they measure each piece of siding.  I assumed that because the windows are a particular distance apart they would just cut a handful of boards at the same length and put them up.  But this crew measure, level, and fasten one piece at a time.  It does take longer, but think of it, the boards will be tighter, and less caulking will need to be applied for every piece that would have had some variance.

Level and square

Here they are marking the Tyvek so that the nailing is applied precisely over the one under it.  This was impressive to me.

Snapping a chalk line.

At the end of the day.

Friday, September 26

In the morning

The framers work on the south wall elevation.  It's a lot of cuts.  The soffits need to be done first before the siding can begin to run up to the top.  They will be at this all day, and still not finish until next week.

At the end of the day

Til next week.....

Not Just Window Dressing

Monday, September 15

Shown: Front door, and laundry Dutch door

The exterior doors arrived on Friday as scheduled.  I took a peek at them in the garage.  It's always a surprise, even if not gift wrapped, to see what you ordered from a sketch or line drawing and see it in person. Since I'm trying to design a home that is specific to a period of 1800-1930, one thing I failed to do is research the hardware.  So the doors have come with the "typical" boring for "typical" hardware.  This is something I need to educate myself on before proceeding with the interior doors. Since security is an issue, I'm sure there is something out there that will accommodate the security and aesthetics of the door, but this is where I should have taken a deeper look before placing the order. The hardware is not part of the lumber company's scope of offerings, just the doors.  So keep this in mind when you order doors. Know your hardware needs before placing the door order.

The men are wrapping the first floor with the remaining Tyvek, and beginning to cut and install the siding.  The drawings specify James HardiePlank lap siding with a 4" exposure, smooth.   Most  homes currently use a textured siding, when installing lap siding. It doesn't affect performance, it just gives a "look" of textured wood. But I perceive the texture of showing the "raised grain", unauthentic to older homes built from straight wood boards and covered with decades of paint.  A 4" exposure is also not "typical" of today's home construction. But it does give the house an entirely different look than if it had been sided with a 7" or 8" exposure.

What's "exposure" mean?  The boards we are using are 5.25" wide.  However, when they are overlapped the surface area that is exposed to the sun is only 4".  This manufacture offers exposures of 4", 5", 6", 7", 8" and 10.75". 

Not only is the look going to be different, but the labor will also be a factor.  Imagine how much less time would be needed for the framers to install one board with an 8" exposure compared to the two 4" boards that have been specified for this job.  But the look would be very different. After visiting plantation homes in Louisiana, we knew we wanted the "look" of the 4" exposure.

While researching this home design, I was told that the fiber cement board was horrible to work with.  That it chipped easily, created large amounts of dust, and that skilled contractors don't like working with it.  As we move through the week, I don't see any evidence to support those claims. I'm sure there is a "trick" to cutting it, and my framers know what they are doing.  I don't see any waste, no chips, and the butting of joints for longer runs looks really good.  My builder has warned me that the painter might have some other "thoughts" about the amount of caulking they will face.

At 10:42 AM the first window is placed.

By mid morning the Marvin Window delivery arrives!!!!
Happy dance!  So much research went into deciding which manufacturer to go with on this one.  One requirement was wood interiors.  There are so many vinyl companies out there and that is what's used predominantly around the Dallas and East Texas markets.  But again, we were going for a look, and on a budget.  So we went with Marvin Integrity windows.  They are wood interiors with fiberglass exteriors.  Not as pricey as the aluminum exteriors.  They also have nearly the same expansion and contraction rate as the glass, so seals should have a better chance of holding up in the extreme heat of Texas.  I'm anxious to see how the framers like installing them.  I checked off the delivery sheet to make sure all were accounted for. However, we have one window cracked in several places.  The delivery men were very careful unloading them but they stacked some very small windows under very tall and large windows and the pressure cracked the glass at the time of delivery.  Otherwise the windows came boxed on all sides and plastic wrapped.  I was told by Marvin to go ahead and install the damaged window.  So this issue will not hold up the framers, who are anxious to get this house siding up.

Preparing for side door installation.

While most of the crew are busy installing windows and siding these two men are busy installing the side entry door. They have already finished installing 3 other doors, and only have 2 more doors to go.

Three windows in and ready for tape.

All windows installed on 1st floor north elevation.

 After taping around the installed windows, they install the smooth board trim,  Then they cut the 5.25" lap siding to fit in between, starting from the bottom and moving up piece by piece.

Tuesday, September 16

6:10 PM

10:42 AM

They start early in the morning, and finish no earlier than 5 PM ever! No, this is not the color of the house.  But you can order your siding prepainted. But there are so many cuts and need for caulking it didn't seem a good value to purchase the boards prepainted. The house will be painted later, before the shingles are installed, which caught me by surprise. This is done so as not to get any paint on the shingles.

Wednesday, September 17

5:40 PM

Today a team of three come out to work on the south elevation of the home.  They get all the Marvin windows in on the 1st floor on this side of the home, and get quite a bit of siding done as well.  The back part of the home is the screen porch, so that is going to be handled differently.

Thursday, September 18

Working in a space that keeps them dry.

 It's raining this morning.  My builder said they work in the rain.  So, when I arrive there are 2 teams of 3 today working. The first team is focused on the front porch ceiling.  There are 2 on the scaffolding that they installed earlier in the morning and one man in the foyer cutting the bead board to just the sizes they need.  I love how it is tongue and groove and fits tightly against each board. Working from front to back, they put up one full length of board dead center and cut pieces for each side to make up the total length.  Then they stagger each run.  It looks awesome.  We will be painting the ceiling here a pale blue. Traditional for porch ceilings, back in the day.

In the Foyer, Team #1

"Cheese".  They are getting use to my camera.

In the Gathering Room, Team #2

Team #2 is set up to cut all the siding needed for under the pantry porch.  Two men are outside the window shown at the left. The 2 outside call out the measurements and the 1 inside cuts, and passes the siding through the window for installation.  Everyone is under cover during the rain.  At noon they stop for lunch.  The sun comes out. All crews abandon their respective undercover areas and head outside to continue the open areas where unprotected walls still need siding.  Okay, I'm going to say it again.....I'm so impressed by their work ethic and good planning.

At day's end on Thursday

Friday, September 19

I was busy baking a homemade apple pie for the women's luncheon today, so I left the men alone today.  I did go over to the job site after lunch and they were continuing to make great progress!!! They finished all the decking for each of the side wings off the main house. This meant adding the vertical studs to the open spaces that you see left in the picture above.  They finished almost all the decking on both sides of the house, the decking for the art room dormer and most of the Tyvek, AND installed the 2nd floor windows on each of the wings and finished ALL the siding on both the north and south wings(lower ridge portions of the home).

If the weather continues to stay bright and sunny they will probably be taking on the rest of the north and south elevations on the main house.  

Still to do, as far as siding, is the front and back elevations.

We were blessed by their constant efforts 5 days in a row!  So much was accomplished. But there are other jobs that need tending to, other homeowners anxious to get further along in their projects as well.  This is a balancing act for our builder.  A great place to be when business is good, and you have the clientele that have made the decision that this is the right builder for the job.  We truly appreciate all his efforts, his team, and their honest desire to give us the best product one can get.   That being said, we are not so sure that everyday will have contractors on the job, but when they are there, they really give us their all.  For my husband and I, we are truly grateful that we have the right team in place.

Excited to see what next week brings.

A Roof For All Seasons

Monday, September 1
 I was unaware that the framing crew would work on Labor Day, but they did.  So no pictures to show for this day.

Tuesday, September 2
We're now into the first week of September, and it's all about ridge beams and rafters today.

Ridge beam over Garage

Ridge beam over Pantry Porch

Ridge beam over Guest Bedroom #1

It's just amazing to me to see the amount of time and detail that they give to every component.  Like the precise adjustments needed for the outside rafters over the guest bedroom window.

If you look at the picture on the left you will see that the board comes across vertical stud.  Looking at the picture on the right, he is marking the rafter. He is going to cut the rafter perfectly, to fit the condition.  

You can see it better, after the cut has been made.  Then it is secured and he moves to the front of the room to repeat the procedure to make another perfect fit. This roof pitch is 10:12. 

Now that this is done, he moves up to the main house roof ridge to help several men all working on the largest portion of roofing for our home.  It really is very impressive to watch them build the scaffolding and work on surfaces that are no larger than 3 1/2" across.

While they are busy working and trying to get everything done that only they know what needs to be accomplished by day's end, I do another walk around the property.  The back wall of the screen porch has been bugging me, but I can't put my finger on it. It's not until one of the crew cuts and hammers in the sill plate for one of the two screen windows that still need to be framed out, that it becomes apparent. As he hammers the cut board into place, I call out for the head framer.  It is now obvious to me. The sill is being hammered in too low, and both of the windows need to be moved up.  Oh dear, how did I miss that?  It's shown on the plan.  But everyone missed it.  Let's blame it on the heat of the summer.  It has been hot.  Really hot!

These windows both had to be moved up.

The plan shows that the sill height for these 2 windows is 51", but they were going in at 23".  Part of the reason is that we were focused on how the headers lined up at the top when they were initially framed out 2 weeks ago!  When there is so much involved in building a new home it is easy to miss something and if it's not caught right way, well then, most everyone is focused on the next part of the job.  This was a minor fix.  The sheathing, and Tyvek, were not installed yet.  It really sets everyone back when something is found so much later down the road.  

Rafters going up over the Main house.
Storm blowing in.

While the head framer is making the corrections, the rest of his team is throwing up and banging out rafters all over the place!

Rafters up on the Pantry Porch

The neighbors have said that storms pop up over the lake pretty quickly, so as soon as you see a dark cloud, head for land. These men stayed up there through one lighting strike and a thunder bolt.  They were hoping it would pass through.

The rain started coming down just too hard for them to continue, and it was nearly 5 PM, normal quitting time.  They didn't seem to mind packing up in the rain.  The problem was getting the cars, and trucks off the property.  The fill dirt that we needed has created a soupy clay mixture when wet.  It's best to stay off of it unless it's dry. It will be nice when we get the final grade, and grass, but that is so far far away...........

Wednesday, September 3

It's dormer day!

1st dormer to appear at 2:45 PM

By 4:30 PM all three are appearing.

Look at the picture on the left.  To the right of that dormer is my art room on the 2nd floor. Notice that there is no dormer there - yet.

At 4:30 I took the picture on the right. Can't see the art room from this position right? Stay tuned....

 

I just love the picture to the left.  The roof overhangs are 12". You can see on the right the man placing each one of the horizontal pieces into the pre-notched rafters.  Just awesome!

At 3:36 PM I get asked the first question of the day.  I told you to bring something to do.  The head framer has a question about the sill height for the window dormer over the garage. The plan shows a sill height of 32".  He thinks that is too low.  He recommends 44".  I think that is too high.  So we compromise on 36-38".  He still is not comfortable with it, but builds it that way.  Remember they build the walls on the floor. The stairs aren't built yet, so I can't go up to the second floor to see what the issues are.

They are already 1 hour into building the wall.  I'm standing by to see what it will look like when the wall is raised.

Here we go, lifting....

lifting.....

Standing....Oh no! No wonder he thought the window sill was too low. The wall has been built too tall! They carefully lay down the wall.  I quickly look up on my smart phone a color photo of what I am looking for from Houzz.com.  I show him the image. He understands and then disappears into the center of the second floor.  I quickly try to find him to warn him that the art room has the same condition.  I find him up in the art room.  My heart stops. Oh dear, the art room dormer is finished with roof rafters and all! I did not see this earlier. It's 5 PM. The end of the work day, and later I realize the end of the work week on this property. This is NOT a minor fix.

Monday, September 8

Taking down the Art Room Dormer

Working on the Main House Dormers

Break Time- Warm homemade Sticky Buns for the framing crew

Garage Dormer redone and finished

12:12 roof pitch over Main House dormers

Stairs

One of the issues last week was that I was not suppose to climb the ladder, and I did when the dormers were not going up as drawn on the plans.  The builder trusted me to follow his direction, and I let him down. So today the stairs are being built in the main house.

Two men focused on building the stairs.  One at the top.

One man on the bottom.

One did the measuring and installing.

While the other did all the cutting.

Building the stairs took all day.  My builder said this was one of the last things to be completed.  I suspect this was changed up so I would not be climbing any more ladders during the house build. The stairs are awesome.  They have a 7" rise and a 11" tread. The landing is large and when they turn the corner the stairs really widen.  We want to make sure that moving furniture upstairs will go up smoothly.  I will wire for 3 wall sconces in the stairwell, but not install the fixtures until AFTER the movers have placed all the furniture upstairs.

 It has taken just about the entire day for 2-3 men to redo the art room dormer.  This has obviously put them behind on what they had hoped to get accomplished today.  I saw no one complaining everyone worked hard all day and then when you think the day is over they went into "hyper gear".  They put up scaffolding,

bracing and dug through lumber with the fastest speed.  All so they could attack the eaves, adding Tyvek, add additional lumber work so that the decking could get started tomorrow.  They completed all the roof perimeters.  Men on the ground cutting lumber to lengths called out from above, and thrown up piece by piece to be caught by the crew on the scaffold.  It is truly an art to watch them work like this.  They keep hydrated and eat snacks throughout the day to keep their energy level up.  It shows.  I am always amazed of just how hard they work.  So efficient!  I'm just sitting back waiting on an occasional question.  Oh, and I pick up after them.  Sort of use to picking up after my three sons, when they were small.  Can't say that anymore now that they are all grown up.  So it does make me feel good to have something to do.  I would just go crazy hanging out at my apartment while this was going on.  The men worked past their usual 5 PM stop time to get this done,  more like 6:45 PM.

7:16 PM  The roof is ready for decking .

Tuesday- Thursday morning, Sept 9-11

Let the decking begin and finish.  Three young, agile men were in charge of putting the decking material and felt on.

September 10

September 11

September 11

Just a little bit more to do.  They'll be back tomorrow to finish the screen porch,  back of the main house, and back of garage.  At least all the decking is up.  Now just waiting on felt to be applied.

Here's another storm coming in.  This one was called in to me by my husband.  He gave me an hour warning.  The winds were so strong on this one that it was hard to take a clear picture.

This picture is cool because it shows you the blue sunny day I was enjoying until these dark storm clouds came rolling in.

Taken from across the inlet.  The strong winds made it hard to focus the camera.  Think of it as a watercolor.

 Friday, September 12

The lumber yard makes another delivery.

IPE, Ironwood from Brazil.  A very hard wood.  Excellent for application for our front porch.

Lots and lots of siding. As well as all the exterior doors.  The builder doesn't like to have them sit for more than a day.  But the framers have a heavy workload.  So we are hoping they will be back on Monday.  I will be there on Monday to accept delivery of the Marvin Integrity Windows I ordered out of Dallas.  So excited!!!

Saturday, September 13

We thought the framers would be here today.  I didn't realize they worked on Saturday, but not here this Saturday.  They are just trying to keep up with some other projects they are working on.  We worked on installing our temporary mailbox.  The postmaster said they would deliver even though we haven't moved in yet.  That is good news, since some portion of our mail is still being mailed to North Dallas.  So if we can do this now, we think it will make the transition better next year when we move in.

Temporary

We placed it far enough away from all the action going in and out of the driveway.  The permanent one will be built at the driveway entrance, and one of the very last things to do, I'm sure.  Now let's see if the deer eat the "color" accent for an appetizer.

So hopefully the next blog will be all about windows, and siding and doors..oh my! Windows and siding and doors .. oh my!

Have a great week everyone.