It has been a while since I've posted anything. We've made a lot of progress in the past few weeks, that's for sure. The cold and wind have been pretty tame for the past few weeks, which is great. That always seems to be our biggest hold up.
I'm going to attach a ton of photos so you can see the change. One of the first big things is that we have all of our big timbers standing. This was critical in order to be able to move forward as they support key sections of the house. The main column in the front carries both a cantilevered bedroom and the main beam over the garage, which in turn carries an awning. I originally wanted to try and get a bunch of Passholes to lift up these beams on ladders but finally wisdom prevailed and I hired a crane.
These beams are 12" by 6" and the two long ones weigh about 300lbs each. That's not something you want to mess with while on a ladder. This is some custom hardware that we made up with some 4" angle iron, some 1/4" plate a welder and a case of beer. On the inside of the main post to beam connection, I made up a pin system to anchor them together. Basically there are a few 3/8" steel rods about 5" long which were inserted into holes on top of the posts. The beams had matching holes so when the crane dropped them on, it all slipped together like Lego. Then you tap a self-nailing flat bracket onto the top of the joint and it isn't going anywhere. Very clever (pat self on back). The tricky part now will be the eaves, which need to be sloped in order to show off the beam. I suppose we could have blocked them up about 8" but we didn't think about that in time and we don't intend to rip it out and start over. Actually, I don't think we have enough room from the top of the front awning to the second floor windows to do that anyway.
The second big thing is that we now have a roof on the great room and kitchen. This shot shows just the trusses but as you can see below we have now managed to sheet it and start the dormer/covered patio. We're lucky to even have this as the building code doesn't allow any structures within 25' of the back of the lot. Our awning extends to about 22' but since it isn't enclosed they allowed it.
The post and beam on the back of the house had to be put in before the back roof/awning was installed. They look fantastic. These ones were only 10"x5" so Andrew and I managed to install them ourselves. The biggest one only weighed about 150lbs or so. It was quite hilarious actually - we had to dig holes in the 3' snow drift out back in order to set up the posts. You can tell Andrew's hole because he added steps down. I just made a huge hole on my side.
It's really starting to look like a house now... and as my friend Maja commented on facebook, "It isn't a small house". That's for sure. I'm getting a few sulky looks from the neighbors. The thing is they all have big houses too but they are all on one level and they managed to snag huge lots when land was cheap here. This was all approved so there really isn't much to say now!
Here is a view from the hill on the west side of the house. One of the best things about having a two level place is that every window has a view. It's almost cruch time now and we have to start getting a few other trades in before we go much farther. Basement floor and garage pad, main electrical service, main sewer and water to name a few. All the basics are there but they need to be finalized. Gas is already in. Our windows finally showed up so that's probably the next thing. I hope to get the back side of the house closed in so that we don't get snow in there anymore.
It has been a while since I've posted anything. We've made a lot of progress in the past few weeks, that's for sure. The cold and wind have been pretty tame for the past few weeks, which is great. That always seems to be our biggest hold up.
I'm going to attach a ton of photos so you can see the change. One of the first big things is that we have all of our big timbers standing. This was critical in order to be able to move forward as they support key sections of the house. The main column in the front carries both a cantilevered bedroom and the main beam over the garage, which in turn carries an awning. I originally wanted to try and get a bunch of Passholes to lift up these beams on ladders but finally wisdom prevailed and I hired a crane.
These beams are 12" by 6" and the two long ones weigh about 300lbs each. That's not something you want to mess with while on a ladder. This is some custom hardware that we made up with some 4" angle iron, some 1/4" plate a welder and a case of beer. On the inside of the main post to beam connection, I made up a pin system to anchor them together. Basically there are a few 3/8" steel rods about 5" long which were inserted into holes on top of the posts. The beams had matching holes so when the crane dropped them on, it all slipped together like Lego. Then you tap a self-nailing flat bracket onto the top of the joint and it isn't going anywhere. Very clever (pat self on back). The tricky part now will be the eaves, which need to be sloped in order to show off the beam. I suppose we could have blocked them up about 8" but we didn't think about that in time and we don't intend to rip it out and start over. Actually, I don't think we have enough room from the top of the front awning to the second floor windows to do that anyway.
The second big thing is that we now have a roof on the great room and kitchen. This shot shows just the trusses but as you can see below we have now managed to sheet it and start the dormer/covered patio. We're lucky to even have this as the building code doesn't allow any structures within 25' of the back of the lot. Our awning extends to about 22' but since it isn't enclosed they allowed it.
The post and beam on the back of the house had to be put in before the back roof/awning was installed. They look fantastic. These ones were only 10"x5" so Andrew and I managed to install them ourselves. The biggest one only weighed about 150lbs or so. It was quite hilarious actually - we had to dig holes in the 3' snow drift out back in order to set up the posts. You can tell Andrew's hole because he added steps down. I just made a huge hole on my side.
It's really starting to look like a house now... and as my friend Maja commented on facebook, "It isn't a small house". That's for sure. I'm getting a few sulky looks from the neighbors. The thing is they all have big houses too but they are all on one level and they managed to snag huge lots when land was cheap here. This was all approved so there really isn't much to say now!
Here is a view from the hill on the west side of the house. One of the best things about having a two level place is that every window has a view. It's almost cruch time now and we have to start getting a few other trades in before we go much farther. Basement floor and garage pad, main electrical service, main sewer and water to name a few. All the basics are there but they need to be finalized. Gas is already in. Our windows finally showed up so that's probably the next thing. I hope to get the back side of the house closed in so that we don't get snow in there anymore.
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