House Day 28 - Why Is Builder Gary Smiling Today?

1st Reason - Today the house was closed in. Hot sun and pouring rain cannot slow him down. 2nd Reason - He is enjoying what likes the most - laying out the steps to the attic. 3rd Reason - He got paid today.

Hereis the back of the house - looking down from the metal barn. The roof is done - and a full coat of Titanium Underlayment is attached. When people ask Lulu what the house will look like - she says Cracker Barrel. 

Today was a beautiful day at the project. The weather was nice - sunny - breezy - and no rain. From now on it does not matter. We are officially closed in. We have been very luck with the weather. We only lost one day in 28 to the weather.

The rough plumbing and gas lines are in.

Gary was busy laying out the step to the attic - Josh and Gary Wayne and Joe got about 1/4 of the 3/4 inch plywood floor in the attic complete. Supposedly - tomorrow - the steps to the attic and the attic floor will be done. 

After 28 days of work - we are ahead of schedule and under budget. The crew had shown up every day - no phantom workers. They are there before the sun comes up at 7 - and stay until around 3. 

 Rick Hall - Jamie Elkins - and Stephen Brown of Bubba West Plumbing came by today and did all the rough plumbing and gas lines for the house. 

This will be a double vanity in the guest bathroom.

This is a drive-in shower in the guest bathroom. It is really big - no door - and wheelchair accessible. Yes - there is a window in the shower - it will be covered with louvered plantation shutters. 

The two showers are lined with this shower pan liner. It is presently filled with water and must stay that way for the inspectors.

Behind this window is the freestanding tub. That is the Rennai tankless gas water heater holder on the right. Instead of having the water heater sticking out of the wall - it is recessed and hidden. the shower is to the left of the window. 

From the street - you see a 60 x 10 porch - 8 windows - and the main door. There will be no dormers - vents - pipes - sticking out of the roof. The roof is completely sealed - just two planes. Today area of the roof is 4608 square feet.

Day 27 - Top Hat Trusses Installed

Before dawn - the crane was lifting the top hat trusses into place.

The Top hat trussess completed the roof line.

the crane lifted trusses into place.

This is the attic - a 60 feet by 20 feet by 10 feet open space. It will have a plywood floor and liquid foam insulation overhead. 

Special Stinger nails and washers are used to fasten down the Titanium plastic sheeting.

Gary Wayne cross braces the top hat trusses.

The front porch

The attic or bonus room.

Gary getting ready to lay out the attic steps.

House Day 26 - Ben Giddens Was Designing the Heat / AC / Ventiltion System - Roof Sheeting Continued

Ben Giddens - AC Man

While Gary and his crew continued closing in the roof - Ben Giddens was busy deigning the AC system. We have decided on a Trane Heat Pump - with a SEER rating of 18. The air handler will sit in the attic in the northwest corner. Because we left an 18 inch gap between the attic floor and the main floor ceiling - all ducts will be able to pass through that space and be hidden. 

Each room will have several air outlets and air returns. That way a room is fully air conditioned - even when its doors are closed. All the ducts will be in insulated space - not being exposed to intense attic heat. 

The main unit will have a variable speed motor. When the heat or AC goes on - the motors will start up slowly. The speed will vary with the amount of service needed. the system should be virtually silent - very important to someone that is hard of hearing. 

Because the house is going to be insulated with Icynene liquid spray foam in place insulation - a 3 ton AC unit will be adequate for the whole house.

We expect the home to be closed in tomorrow.

House Day 25 - More Roof Plywood Sheeting

Cousin Josh and Gary Wayne just starting the front side of the roof

Cutting off the trusses - for 2 foot overhang

At the end of Day 25 - 2/3 of the roof was done

Florida Hurricane Code requires steel support straps all over

Monday was hot again - but no rain. The crew installed another third of the plywood on the roof. Maybe tomorrow the roof will be completely closed in. Gary said today as soon as we get the roof done  - we will be able to work under cover - out of the rain and sun.

The next undertaking will be the attic floor and steps. With the exception of the liquid foam in place insulation - the attic will be complete except for the ends.

Big Bend Truss came to take their truck away today.

We will have one more visit of the crane. It will be used to raise the top hat trusses in place.

House Day 24 - Roof Plywood Sheeting Day

Gary Wayne had to lift the sheets - then turn and place them where he wanted them - then they had to line up the tongues and grooves. Finally they had to drive 60 Roundrive ring nails into each sheet. Florida Hurricane Code - requires so many nails per board. 

You have to admire - Gary - Gary Wayne - Josh - and Joe. Today was unbearably hot and humid. The sun was burning holes in flesh. And they were up on the roof. Josh was down on the ground passing 3/4 inch plywood sheet up 10 feet to Gary Wayne. Gary Wayne had to fight a 6/12 slope - all that sweat - and then lift upward the same 75 pound sheets. They were very professional - no complaining - just hard work. 

Like father like son - except the son is a lefty. 

Gary Wayne had to lift the sheets - then turn and place them where he wanted them - then they had to line up the tongues and grooves. Finally they had to drive 60 Roundrive ring nails into each sheet. Florida Hurricane Code - requires so many nails per board. 

The roof is pitches 6/12. That means for 12 feet horizontally - it goes 6 feet up. The house I built in Tamaqua had a 12/12 roof. When they hammer next to each other - it is like looking in a mirror - a before and after mirror  :-)

Notice the edge of the 3/4 inch sheet of 7-ply plywood is tongue and groove. When you walk on it - it does not budge. They got about 1/3 of the roof done today. What a job!

Ring nails are like fish hooks. They like to go in - but can't come out. The green colored part is a plastic that melts from the pressure going in - then it cools to act like Superglue. It comes out to around 3 cents a nail. 

This is what the 10 x 10 x 60 porch looks like in the shade. You could park a big motor home under there and it would be well-protected and hidden from the street.

After this picture was taken - the crew had to roll out Titanium sheeting to waterproof the area - and protect the plywood. Again - it is a peaked roof - the top hats will go on once they have a good place to stand. 

House Day 23 - We Almost Completed the Full Outside Shape

Here is a 3/4 view of the house showing off its classic dimensions. Do not forget - the top hat trusses must still be applied. The roof will be peaked - not flat. With all the rain we get in Tallahassee - a flat roof is foolish.

Today was super hot - and it is tough working in the sun up on the roof. Not only were they lifting things up 10 feet - but they had to balance on rafters while doing it.

Be cause the steps to the attic are 6 feet wide including the landing - special trusses had to be made to leave a 6 foot wide span open. This entail - doubling - tripling - even quadrupling the trusses there. It made for a lot of extra work.

The house is now almost its full shape. Lulu was concerned that she might not like the overall look. she even had me a little worried. But the proportions are excellent - and it is going to be a very balanced home.

Tomorrow we plan to put some of the plywood on the roof. We will do that before we place the final "top hat" trusses to give the roof is overall finished look.

The roof will be one large solid piece. There will be no vent pipes - screens - sewer pipes - antennas - or anything breaking thru the roof. It will just be 2 solid clean lines. When complete it will be 64 feet by 64 feet. It have just one main ridge - no valleys - no gutters - no chimneys.

Josh - Gary Wayne - Joe and Gary lifted these mono-trusses into place by hand.

The crane was used to raise the large pieces into place.

Josh - Gary Wayne - Joe and Gary lifted these mono-trusses into place by hand.

Here is a 3/4 view of the house showing off its classic dimensions. Do not forget - the top hat trusses must still be applied. The roof will be peaked - not flat. With all the rain we get in Tallahassee - a flat roof is foolish.

When completed - it will be 60 x 60 including the porches. The interior will be 40 x 60. Up in the attic is a 60 x 20 x 10 storage room.

Here is a side view without the top hat truss. 

Front and back are the same - both sides are the same. All 28 windows are the same. 

House Day 22 - Wednesday Is Truss Day - Part 1

The first truss went up in the darkness at sunrise. The sky was a pretty blue - no clouds - 10% chance of rain.

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We insisted on trusses that formed a bonus room. In the attic there will be a room 60 feet long - 20 feet wide - 10 feet high. It will have a 3/4 inch plywood floor. I call it the dance hall. Overhead will be liquid foam in place insulation. Under the attic floor will be all the heat and AC ductwork - wires - gas pipes - etc.  If one had to - they could crawl in an 18 inch high area between the attic floor and the downstairs ceiling. The attic will not be finished - but someday someone could put several rooms up there. 

Truss Day has to be the most exciting day of the project. We are going to finally get to get the full shape of the house. We have plan pictures - side views - front views - back views - we even have and artist rendering - but nothing lives up to the final three dimensional final shape - even if you only have one eye.

It started before the sun was up. I had to go to the dentist from 9 to 9:30 - but what we are seeing is art work. Success has a million fathers - failure is an orphan. Right now - this father is starting to brag. I designed the outside - Lulu designed the inside. We specifically did not hire an architect because many of them we interviewed told us we could not do what we wanted. Finally we found Bill Richardson - a very experienced draftsman. He is an expert on the building code - namely what you can and cannot do  legally. We told him exactly what we wanted. He drew it up making sure it would not fall apart.

Specifically - Bill was told that all windows will be the same size and evenly space around the house. His job was to make sure that the walls inside did not run into the windows. Making it even harder - we wanted to make sure that the plantation shutters on the windows should be able to open flush with the wall. That detail kept Bill very busy.

Lulu insisted on several things. She wanted the kitchen - dining room - and living room open. She wanted a fireplace between the dining and living rooms that was open to both rooms. He had to appease her and also make sure that the front and back door lined up - that there were the same number of windows on each side of the door - that the front and back looked the same - the sides looked the same - and absolutely nothing went thru the roof - no vents - pipes - wires - dormers - etc. Also every bedroom had to be a corner room - with two windows on each side of the corner.

Then - we added on top of this the Americans With Disabilities Act. All doors had to be 3 feet wide. All floors had to be flat with no thresholds. You  had to be able to drive a wheel chair into the bathroom and into the showers. The showers had to be designed with no doors or curtains.

We planned the place - Bill put it down on paper - and now Gary is tweaking it as we go. So it is design by committee - a very small committee. The city approved the pans every step of the way.

Gary is making the trusses "triple-thick" by the stairwell.

Josh Wells reminds me of those pictures of worker building the Empire State Building

Here is a rare picture Gary Wayne hammering right handed.

The space between these two trusses will be the stairwell.

That bonus room upstairs will be 60 x 20 x 10. There will be a top hat on it to make a peaked roof.

The end cap has two openings for 3 x 6 windows - the same size as downstairs. All windows will be treated the same - interior plantation shutters. 

Today was hard hat day on the job with the crane lifting those heavy trusses.