roof framin'

sunday, i nailed up portions of the ridge board and then raised & nailed up some common rafters.

for most of the rafters, i used a jig to hold them in place while i nailed them to the ridge & rafter plate. the jig was clamped to the ridgeboard, and it provided two slots for the top edge of the rafters to slide into.

From vinnie

a nail was placed halfway into the bottom of that edge of the rafters, and that nail would hook onto the back of the jig and hold them in place.

From vinnie

From vinnie

then i toenailed the birdsmouth area of the rafter to the rafter plate.

From vinnie

the jig came down, and i set it up on the opposite side of the ridge. the other two rafters went in place, their bottoms also toenailed, then the jig comes down. at this point both the rafter tops are still loose, so i can wiggle things a bit to get them in symmetrical positions for nailing. since the ridgeboard has some play in it, a clamp comes in handy here to help squeeze the rafters into position. then their heads are nailed off.

monday, the rest of the common rafters were nailed into position. i also tested attachment of the metal straps and the rafter blocking.

tuesday, gable walls were raised and nailed up. a bunch more blocking and straps went into place.

wednesday, the soffit blocks went up. the rest of the straps were also nailed. the soffit blocking was a pain, since the top of the walls aren't parallel with the first common rafter. this may be because the rafters aren't plumb, though i'm not sure. in any case, it was a pain, as each block had to be measured, marked, and cut. also, most of the gable walls came out off a bit, so i decided to dado the bottom edge of the blocks to fit them in plane with the roof over the walls.

the blocks i'm talking about are orange, and the wall+rafter out of parallel are blue:


i have yet to do the rear gable wall blocks. it appears each of the dados will need to be cut to a different depth, which is going to take a while. this method of roof construction is quite a pain when things are a little off. next time, a ladder-type soffit attached to the gable wall may work better. i'll have to make a comparison of the two.

moola

masts raised

yesterday, i assembled the gable walls and raised the temporary ridge poles. slow day!

certainly, the gable wall assembly would have gone faster if:
- i knew the length of the top plate without making multiple cuts to find out
- the stock was all straight and no prying and squeezing during nailing was needed
- i had brought up all the tools i needed in one go instead of going back & forth
- i had adjusted the nail gun to set nails to the proper depth without needing a hammer

the nail depth is tricky, as there are different angles of nailing involved, and each type requires its own depth setting. i suppose, ideally, i'd have multiple guns with their own setting used for the different types of nailing involved. but that's expensive. and really, i only spent about two minutes going over my work with a hammer.

the ridge pole raising was very slow. certainly, i'd like to speed that up.
- pre-determined bracing lengths and angles would have helped
- would require pre-cutting braces
- would allow placing brace bases without eyeballing or fumbling around with stock
- connection details for speed & strength should be developed

so it's xmas eve. i think we're getting some rain & wind tomorrow, but that shouldn't be a big deal. i'll wait on raising the ridge, as that won't like high winds without rafters holding it up.

teh storm

well the ground is covered in snow.. the storm is long gone. i think today i may get back to work. sure is cold out there. need to cut frieze blocks, mark/raise/plumb temp ridge poles, raise the ridge, and get the rafters up. need to find some motivation..

meh

yesterday i finished cutting the gable wall studs; ends at angles and all. i didn't get to the plates, however. i had a massive headache and felt terrible, so i came back to smyrna.

the weather is showing something like 12 inches of snow this weekend. so, i'm not going to raise the gables or roof yet. instead, i'm going to get the rest of the roof sheathing today and cover the ceiling up with it. this should keep the vast majority of snow off the deck. i just need to get out there after the snow and brush it off before it all melts and drips down.

mother nature is brutal

yesterday morning, i drilled out holes in the soffit blocking for ventilation. it's been a few days since i cut the rafters; i'm anxious to raise them.

i also calculated the gable wall dimensions and precut the gable end studs to length. i still have to cut their ends at an angle. i'll go back over my calculations today before putting the walls together.

one caveat of this type of gable end detail in the roof framing is that the gable wall must be constructed to accurately align with the rafters, and they're built separately. so we'll see how it goes :P

sunday was rainy. i got out there early and covered the roof with a tarp, then did some rafter marking using the stair gauges. spent most of the time climbing around the framing, keeping the tarp from blowing away. ugh.

monday i marked and cut all the common rafters. i also cut the barge rafters at the same profile as the commons, so the barges will need to butt the ridge. i think i did the same thing on the shed by accident. no biggie.

omg long post mm kay

today was like deja vu of yesterday

so first thing in the morning i measured, cut, and nailed up additional ceiling joist blocking. this was the blocking that runs along the front and rear walls, between the band joist and the first inside joist. the top of the walls toenail to these blocks.

next thing, i got the ridge boards up onto the ceiling. haha, that was fun. try lifting a 16' 2x12 of SYP. OK, now try getting it up onto a ceiling that's oh, i dunno, 12 feet or so above the ground. so how did i do it? i threw it up there. no, really. i did. two of them.

so then i laid the ridge boards against the rafter plate. then i realized i needed to mark the rafter plates first, so i pushed them aside. i used the square to carry the edge line of the ceiling joists up, and marked the opposite side of the line for placement of the rafter.

then i pushed the ridge boards back flush against the rafter plates, and carried the rafter markings across onto the ridge. sounds easy, but i probably wasted a good 20-30 minutes on this. i had the ridge against the left rafter plate, but that plate is a little longer than the main ridge (because of the small bump out on the left side of the building, there's a small ridge for that side.) once i realized that, i carried dimensions from the opposite rafter plate and away the marking went.

so at this point i was ready to make a template rafter and get cracking on the rafters. this was about 1pm or so. i accomplished nothing from this point until 4pm, when i left. i wasted alot of time and a few rafters, but i didn't come up with decent templates or anything. meh, practice makes perfect. i did discover i can't think for crap when its like 30 degrees and im standing outside in that neighborhood.

so tonight i recalled the use of stair gauges and found them on home depot's website, so i will pick them up. then i can use the rafter square as both a template to mark the rafter and as a cutting guide. this will be much faster than trying to perfect a hand made jig and will be reusable in the future.

so i think tomorrow i'll run one rafter with the gauges, then i can determine where reference marks could be placed upon the edge of the rafter. then i can line them all up on edge, snap lines, and have at it.

unfortunately, it's supposed to rain tomorrow. so i gotta get up at the butt crack of dawn to get down there very early, hopefully get the rafter material indoors, cover the roof with a tarp, and maybe if that works i can still cut the rafters.

i sure could use the time, the window deadline looms. don't keep your fingers cross tho, kiddies.

speedy gonzalez

so it's december 12th. time flies, eh.

the windows will be arriving on the 23rd. that's in 11 days. eleven days. what do i need to do before the windows can go in?

- frame the roof.
that's ridgeboard, rafters, gable walls, overhang blocking, fascia boards.
- sheathe the roof.
that's 45' x 16' x 2 - about 48 sheets, 4x8 7/16 OSB, up onto the roof into place.
- eave dripedge.
- paper the roof.
unroll that junk into place, tight, nailed down without it blowing all over.
- gable end dripedge.
- roof/wall intersection step flashing.
- shingle the roof.
about 1450sf, or 15 squares, or 45 bundles of asphalt shingles. up on the roof, chalked straight, nailed into place. including ridge vent cap shingles.
- sheathe the walls.
- paper the walls.
- plumb & square the window openings.
- sill pans in window openings.

ok i ordered the windows too soon. or i need to move my ass.

wednesday, i returned to find the tarp blown off and a boat load of water standing on the floor. i removed the filter from the wetvac and sucked it all up real nice. lovely water.

thursday, i beefed up nailing about breaks in the double top plates. i cut & nailed the rafter plates. i also nailed a bunch more metal connectors.

friday, i nailed the rest of the metal connectors up. i cut & nailed blocking in the ceiling joist over the living/dining area. i started working on a rafter cutting jig before the cold got to me and i finally left.

notes:

keep breaks in the top plates away from studs/joists - they interfere with application of metal connectors. this is a good argument for inline framing.

also, look for alternate plate material. something real straight and tight. same with the ridge board. it'd really help things come together nice.

today i finished setting the attic access headout, and i toenailed the ceiling band joist and cj->interior wall intersections. i also started nailing up some simpson h2.5 metal connectors.

toenailed the bandjoist using my framing hammer and 16d galvanized nails. went much smoother than using the gun with those spiral nails, felt good to swing a hammer.

the metal connectors go up slow. nine or so nails per connector. im also spray painting them with a clear enamel to prevent corrosion before its closed in.

we're supposed to get rain and wind tonight, so i covered the house with tarp, using a makeshift ridge of about 2 feet to shed water from the tarp. it's tied in a few minimal places, so hopefully the wind wont rip it loose.

if it stays dry, i can cut some rafters tomorrow under cover from the rain.

still feelin the ceilin

so friday i cut and set most of the rest of the ceiling joists and the band joists for the ceiling. missing parts were the front band joist and the ceiling joists interrupted by the attic access.

saturday, rain and snow occupied the lands, and thus i did not occupy said lands. however, i did manage to sit around and do nothing in the warm cozy house in smyrna :)

sunday (today) i went out there, cut and set the ceiling joists for the attic access, and the headout for the attic access. i also cut and nailed up most of the ceiling joist ties.

the ties tie together the two section of ceiling joists which meet over the center wall throughout most of the house. the exception is the front of the house, where full 24' joists need no ties. for ties, i decided to use up some of the scrap floor sheathing i had. this is 3/4" advantech osb. this stuff can handle a great deal of shear load. i doubled them up to tie each pair of ceiling joists, and nailed from both sides.

in retrospect, i should have made those ties a bit longer, and only nailed from one side. even further in retrospect, i should have lapped the ceiling joists instead of tying them, since im using the coil strap to tie the ceiling joists to the rafters, which allows me to lay them out either inline with the rafters or adjacent to them. ah well. it's coming together well.

a bit more work on the ceiling, and the roof is on the horizon.

ceiling begins

yesterday after quickly lining the walls, i put up the rest of the few sheets of wall sheathing at corners. around 2pm i was done that and rain let in, so i headed home.

today, i started late to let things dry out a bit. i set all the 24' ceiling joists and two 16' band joists at their ends. i toenailed one bandjoist, but that was painful. it's either the lumber, the nails, or my nailgun, but somehow more than half the toenails i shot, the nail literally did about a 120 degree turn to come out the back side of the band joist in an upward direction. what the ef?

so i'm going to try picking up smaller nails tomorrow for toenailing, perhaps they'll be less likely to be dissuaded in their course by the wood.

super plumb

the house is not plumb unless it's all plumb. the ceiling joists cannot go up until it's all plumb. so, i had to get it all plumb.

the PLS90E is the best tool for this job in my arsenal, bar none. unfortunately, i can't see the laser line for squat during daylight. monday night brought rain which prevented me from finishing up plumbing walls.

tuesday around noon, the ceiling joists and rafter lumber arrived. i cleaned up the site a bit, and added a few sheets of wall sheathing at the back corners to stabilize the building. at dusk, the PLS90E came out and made very quick work of extremely accurate plumbing of the walls.

after about two hours, i couldn't find a wall or corner that wasn't perfectly plumb. today, i'll double check lining of the walls to ensure they're straight, then the ceiling joists will start going up.

we may see some rain today. once the joists are up, i'll take accurate measurements of the ceiling width, and utilize those measurements in defining rafter dimensions.

line & plumb

it's plumb & line, but i managed to do line & plumb. i lined the left wall before realizing i should plumb first. heh. i didn't do anything yesterday. today, i plumbed some walls.

at first i walked around with the 4' level, checking corners, then studs adjacent to the corners, to determine if they were plumb, or if not, which way they needed to go. i found that each stud gave a slightly different reading. none of the studs are perfectly straight, and none are also nailed perfectly in position at the top & bottom plates. so how do i make the walls plumb?

i decided i wanted to align the marks i made on the top & bottom plates for studs. if i made these marks plumb with each other, then everything else is, on average, plumb (since i nailed studs aiming for those marks.) so i busted out the PLS90E. this laser projects a plumb line, which i aligned with a mark on the bottom plate. i then checked the top plate, and adjusted the wall to get the mark on the laser line. the adjustment was made with a wratcheting strap, as i found this faster than using the chain and turnbuckle. i nailed 10' 2x4s on angle to hold the wall plumb.

this method seemed to work well. however, i found that i could have done a better job nailing on the double top plate, as i left a few small gaps in the top plates that prevent both the front and back corners from being simultaneously plumb. since i already nailed off the double top plate, i can't change this. however, the discrepancy is very minor, between 1/4" and 1/8". next time, plumb before nailing off the double top plate, and get those top plates tight.

tomorrow i hope to finish plumbing & lining, if the weather permits. i'll also be ordering the lumber for the ceiling and roof, and all my windows. big spender baby, yeah.

double top plates

i didn't get out to the lot until after noonish. i finished nailing up the double top plates, then crawled along and nailed them to schedule (12in oc.) this was a very slow process with me trying to keep balance while carrying the nailer, hammer, and clamp.

i also added additional toenails through the bottom plate & floor sheathing into the top of the band joist. i alternated angles from one side to the other, so nailing here matches the band joist -> sill plate schedule. this should ensure continuity of the vertical force resistance system (uplift in high wind conditions.)

i also lined one wall. i'll plumb & line the rest tomorrow.

more wallz

sunday, the rest of the exterior walls and some interior walls went up.

monday, i tried framing up more interior walls but didn't accomplish much in the rain.

tuesday, i got the 2nd bath tub installed. i forgot some notes needed to frame the pocket door of the master bath, and didn't expect the tub unit to be such a pain to transport - so most of the day was wasted just getting the tub.

wednesday, i finished up the few interior walls left and nailed about 2/3 of the double top plates up. light rain throughout the day. left early due to heavier rain.

thursday was turkey day.

today, i'm going to finish off the double top plates and line & plumb the walls. slow start with morning rains..

wallz

wednesday, i modified the floor joists for the new floor plan. i decided it was best to do this before moving on with the walls, in case i ran into trouble. it was a pain, but no major hurdles. i then cut a bunch of cripples and trimmers.

thursday, i did nothing as i expected it to rain all day. of course, we didn't see any rain until the evening.

friday, i nailed together most window assemblies and marked up the double top plates with ceiling joist locations.

today, i started nailing together walls and raising them. about 3/4 of the exterior walls are done.

From vinnie

notes:

nailing studs to plates would go much faster if i didn't need to fuss with aligning the studs, to make them both flush with the plate and square to it. perhaps some kind of jig could speed this up while maintaining a quality job.

a few window assemblies came out with the trimmers extending a hair past the king stud at the bottom. i assume this is due to inexact cuts, slight swelling of members (especially the header), and/or pieces not tightly fitted together. in the future, mark the sill location on the king, and cut trimmers a little shy. this should do the trick.

also, probably best to haul out the chop saw next time i'm cutting crips, trimmers, etc. the worm drive can cut exact, but i have a feeling its alignment can slowly shift with use, whereas the chop saw should be more consistent. it also would allow setting up stops to speed repetitive cuts.

in regards to marking plates.. ensure your plate marking tool is precise, otherwise just use a tape. hopefully sheathing across these studs goes easy..

oh, and here's a good tip. double check the orientation of your walls before nailing the studs to the plates! i wanted headers on the exterior of my walls, but because i didn't notice until all my cripples would need to be relocated, they are now on the interior! hopefully that will work out ok.

so today i marked up the exterior walls and much of the interior walls. i cut window sills and "header caps".. tomorrow i'll cut cripples & trimmers. then nail 'em together and maybe raise 'em. hopefully the pace picks up a bit!

ah some notes on marking plates:
probably best to use a pencil at first, since i changed stud locations a bit to minimize thermal conduction. i tried doing this in sketchup first, but small variations in measurements messed that up.

the plate marking tool is nice, it speeds things up. maybe some variations on the tool; like transparent stud tabs at the ends. when starting a corner or adjacent to a window, the stud tab lays midway on that edge, to give sheathing full backing. transparent tabs would improve accuracy here.

also, marking plates highlighted the need to cut & lay plates accurately. studs will align to those marks, so they better be accurate, and it better go back together the same way it's laid!

as usual, take advantage of cutting multiples whenever possible. this goes for cutting headers, "header caps", sills, cripples, trimmers..

well. not a whole lot accomplished since the last post - due to a historical noreaster. the rain subsided enough to let me begin laying plates on sunday. i laid the rest of the plates yesterday.

today, i'll mark up the plates and begin nailing walls together & raising them.

finishing up the foundation

it is really amazing how fast the days go by between blog posts. hmm let's see, what did you miss.

i finished covering the foundation walls with rigid foam insulation. this was just after rain, so they were still damp. this was a mistake - those walls still aren't dry.

i shoveled additional gravel up against the base of the sheets, so water at the base of the wall can drain down to the drainage pipe. i used up just about the entire remaining pile of gravel.

i covered the gravel with filter fabric, and covered the fabric with rocks and CMU debris to keep it in place. i then put most of the extra concrete, mortar, & CMU debris on top of that fabric. this saves me the cost of hauling it off somewhere. it's kind of cheap to put it there, but it shouldn't be a problem, even if someone needs to dig up the footer area in the future for whatever reason.

i covered the seams between rigid foam sheets with tyvek tape. it took 1.5 rolls of tape. the tape starts above the pile of gravel at the bottom. the backfill should provide an airseal that low on the wall. higher up (and closer to the surface) the tape will assure an airtight shell. i'll be foaming the tiny gaps at the top of the sheets, then taping that seam, before attaching lath and stucco.

kate & i cleaned out most of the excess mortar droppings and other debris from the crawlspace and that was put around the foundation too. i purchased a propane heater and have been using that to heat the crawl in an expensive attempt to dry it out. i should have let the walls dry before covering them.

i rented two bobcats which i have over this weekend. i started backfilling yesterday. i have 8 hours between the two of them, so i'm trying to use them as efficiently as i can manage.

it's very cold outside, i think it dipped down to 29F last night.. but it's supposed to go up past 60 today.

windy ways

yesterday, i set only a few more pieces of insulation. i then ran out of adhesive, and went to purchase more. by the time i returned, high winds appeared and remained all day. the winds made handling of the foam sheets impossible. instead, i spent the rest of the day hauling gravel and dumping in front of the base of the wall, against the installed insulation.

today, rain is preventing me from installing the rest of the sheets. tomorrow is another day.

insulation slowness

i was surprised to find the installation of rigid foam insulation to the exterior of the foundation a slow process. i am working with 2" 2'x8' sheets, so i rip them all into 2'x4' sheets. they have a tongue & groove edge along the 4' edge. these are then laid along the 4' tall foundation walls.

i apply spots of adhesive along the back of the panel, then stick it in place, shoving it into the adjacent groove, and against the overhanging sill plate above. the sheet is then pinned into place using whatever i can find. i've been using approx. 4' scraps of OSB to wedge the sheet upward into place, and using a chunk of CMU debris at the base to keep the bottom in.

it would go faster if i had a good way of pinning the sheets in place, rather than finding makeshift items as i go.

also, proper selection of an adhesive for this application proved to be difficult. my requirements: exterior application, adheres to polystyrene foamboard and sealed/painted concrete block. the best i could find after reading every tube's label at lowes was liquid nails. the label doesn't appear to disqualify my application, with my only concern being a recommendation of an ambient temperature of 60F for 24 hours following use. however, temps remained around 58F throughout the night, so it should be OK.

stuffs

on monday & tuesday i got a revised window quote and detailed & submitted a modified floor plan with full second bath.

on wednesday, i circled the foundation perimeter with a shovel, ensuring a slope to the drainage area in the back right corner.

yesterday (thurs), i laid the drain pipe adjacent to the footing and filled that area with gravel.

today i'll be putting up the foundation insulation and moving additional gravel.

dirt

thursday & friday i filled in the remaining spots of the floor sheathing. this involved additional blocking, as i wanted to use as much of the plentiful scrap i could. i went along in the crawl and knocked up any shiners, then pulled them and renailed those spots.

i also purchased a router and cut out the crawl access hole. first time using a router - very cool tool.

saturday, i went out to the site with shovels and rain pants. it sprinkled throughout the day. i spent a few hours picking through the giant dirt pile to remove any large chunks of CMU debris. this dirt will be backfilled against the crawl walls, and i want to minimize the possibility of any debris damaging the insulation or the wall itself.

i felt like a kid again playing in all that dirt. my hands are a little sore, but i'll get back out there today and hopefully go through alot more dirt. i'm only picking through the top half of the pile, as it'd be too much work to move the entire pile around.

floored!

hmm seems i've forgotten to post blogs for a bit.

the lumber arrived on friday the 9th, and i framed up the floor over the 12th to the 14th. rain then came in for a number of days. on the 19th i finished off framing headouts and touched up the floor nailing.

the 20th and 21st the floor was sheathed. that's ending today. there are just a few tiny pieces left to fit in.

now, to record some observations and future tips..

- built-up girder constructed in place is doable with clamps and ends bearing over columns.
- pre-cut blocking is fast, but align joists to layout marks and trim blocking frequently to maintain layout.
- try hard to use straight stock for band joists.
- if stock is all the same length, make a jig to cut off ends to length.
- take your time toenailing joists into the sill plate.
- if using T&G sheathing, take into account the tongue width when laying out.
- start sheathing from one side and take it across to the other - dont try to meet in the middle.
- ensure proper sheathing spacing, and use straight-edges (90 angles) for cuts. keep your sturd-i-floor neat.
- enerbond sf is fast, easy, & cheap adhesive
- consider some kind of rigid reference ruler for spacing, rather than a flimsy tape. maybe keep it in front of your foot, and step on it to keep it in place. something with marks specifically for your schedule would be ideal.

catch up

the walls were topped off with mortar - pops manned the mixer while i troweled the tops smooth. the anchor bolts were wirebrushed clean.

additional anchor bolts needed to be added. one due to the lengths of available sill plate, and a few due to the bolts not protruding far enough above the wall. i'll need to be more cognizant of the bolt height next time. i used HDG wedge bolts, predrilling with a masonry bit and my el cheapo hammer drill.

sill plates were purchased from wyoming mill - 2x10s. they overhang the wall by two inches to the exterior, so they will cap off the two inch thick foam sheathing which will cover the walls.

speaking of foam sheathing, i found two inch XPS at Lowes that i'll be purchasing shortly. home depot has a two in polyiso rigid foam, but polyiso isn't recommended for below grade.

so after cutting the sill plates to length, i laid sill sealer on the wall then put the plates on and bolted them down. i used a socket adapter on my cordless drill for the nuts.

then i marked out the four corners of the floor framing on the sill plates. the band joist of the floor will be set in about two inches to permit two inches of rigid foam to the band's exterior. however, the walls and thus the sill plates aren't perfectly square, so i marked out a perfect square with nails at each corner. i still need to review these marks with measurements to ensure quality layout. the rest of the house will square up to these marks.

this morning i ordered the floor framing lumber from a place in maryland. they stock #1 southern pine at great prices and using this species instead of SPF/Hemfir #2 i can downsize my joists and rafters. for nearly the same cost i get more manageable lumber sizes, a superb species, better grade of lumber, and the smaller width boards tend to be better quality. i am looking forward to meeting the lumber tomorrow ;)

also this week i applied waterproofing to the block walls. it's a cementitious product called super thoroseal which bonds to the block walls and forms a waterproof, resilient barrier. this in combination with the overlaid rigid foam boards taped at the seams will keep the crawl dry for sure.

today i found corrugated drain pipe and filter fabric at lowes, and if i find nothing better at home depot it will work fine. i need to estimate the amount of gravel needed and place that order. however, taking care of the lumber tomorrow is my current priority. i want to keep it out of the little rains we may experience the next two days.

i also need to gather remaining materials - HDG nails, shims, adhesive, sheathing - to frame the floor.

Feel the burn

On Monday I called Steve from Atlantic and he came out with a batch of concrete. We slugged buckets around to the top of the wall and filled in the bond beam course. The bond beam was prepared with rebar and anchor bolts tied into position.

The bolts weren't firmly affixed, so many needed to be adjusted just after pouring to ensure they were plumb and at proper height. We poured just below the top edge of the wall, so I can place a skim coat of mortar on top to smooth it out. That would be done already, but..

I managed to cover myself in concrete from slugging around buckets of it. That concrete soaked through my clothes and got onto my skin. It was a hot load, and I got some bad chemical burns on my stomach and leg. I've been cooped up at home since then.

So, next up is to top off the wall with mortar, then mark out perfect square for the sill to lay along, then lay the plates, build the floor. Then I can waterproof below grade, place rigid foam, set the drain pipe, backfill with gravel & dirt.

And keep hot loads off my skin from now on..

on to the hole

today, with the blocks adequately dry from the previous rains, i laid the 6th and final bond beam course on the left, rear, and right walls. tomorrow, i'll fill in the hole at the front door wall.

i'll wait a bit between setting each course, to avoid overly compressing the bed joints of previous courses. i suppose i'll cut and bend rebar for the bond beam during the down times.

the corners of the bond beam are very tight, which will require tight rebar bends. the rebar bending setup used for the foundation does not produce bends of adequately small radius.. i'll have to modify the bender to give tighter bends. i think this is doable. supports around the bending bolt to prevent the bending section from bowing out, combined with some method of preventing the bar from sliding during the bend. a clamp should work. *fingers crossed*

a 40% chance of showers wednesday.. i'll have to cover the walls with plastic to keep the bond beam from becoming an elevated moat.

as of today, i've been working on laying the block foundation wall for three weeks. sheesh.. someone remind me to pour the walls on the next foundation!

kitchen window oops

i just created basic outlines of all windows and doors in sketchup, to get an idea of how they size up visually. then, i noticed there wasn't much space under the kitchen sink window. i measured downstairs - the countertops here top out at 36". plus space for backsplash, a good rough opening position would be 42". if the rough opening top is at 80" (which i assume the windows will all be at) then that window can only be 38" in height, not the 42" i spec'd. whoops.

bond beam on approach

currently, five courses of block are up and i've set about half of the bond beam corners. it was a little rainy today so i couldn't get as much done as I'd like. hope tomorrow's weather is better.

i found the tripod i was using for the laser is too unsteady. with the laser set upon one of the central piers, a clean, steady line is visible on my framing square from just the right angle. the bond beam corners i've set so far are with 1/8" of each other. excellent.

this morning i cut out the corners for the bond beam course. i used single corner block and scored them with a diamond blade in a 4.5" angle grinder. then i whacked them with a mason's chisel and a rubber mallet. a few blocks broke during the process. lots of dust during the cutting.

i also had to cut down the vertical rebar to the proper height at points. i only cut those necessary today, i'll cut the rest with a proper face mask tomorrow.

slowly but surely..

katie the mason

the past two days katie & i have been working together laying foundation block. she's managing the mortar and moving block while i'm with the trowel, buttering blocks. she's been whipping up great quality mortar, i wish i had her every day.

i'm starting to get a little faster at laying up block. some key details were to slap the head joint mortar on the other side after initially buttering it, to keep it stuck on the block while setting it. also, keeping an eye on the size of the adjacent block's bed joint to judge how much mortar to toss down for the current block. also, laying the block carefully to get it close to final position with minimal movement. also, maintaining pressure against the head joint while adjusting the block to keep that joint together. mm yeah.

so far, almost the entire initial course has been laid. next up, the corners will be built. i have to do these with care to ensure the top courses are perfectly level with each other.

we're getting a ton of rain currently so i might need to hold off a few days before getting on with it. initially, i just wanted the block to be done with so i can get to the framing.. but it's actually starting to grow on me now.

block

the block and mortar was delivered monday morning. it's wednesday afternoon, and so far i've laid about 1/3rd of the first of 6 courses. at this rate, i'll have all the block laid in 3 weeks lol. ugh.

the pace is ridiculously slow, so slow it's discouraging in itself. but worse than the pace, is the quality of my work. laying block is fucking hard.

i've been telling myself that i've got a good mortar mix going now, but i'm really not sure. i rarely get it to stick on head joints for long. is this my trowel technique, my laying technique, the mix, or all of the above? i don't know. that's what sux. it'd be much easier to learn from an experienced mason.

this is most frustrating because i have little faith in the strength of the blocks i've laid thus far. most of the head joints are void of mortar after the block is set, and i'm just stuffing in some mortar in the gap. which is like, teh suck.

hopefully i get this worked out with more experience. i've been watching the few block laying videos i've found on the net, but well, there's not much detail in youtube videos so it's basically just offering me examples of basic motions and what not. which is helpful, but i'm still not sure about the details with the mortar..

meh, my hands are gettin scuffed up pretty bad.

dirt

got out to the lot this morning with the intention of marking the block corners on the footing. however, everything was still a bit wet. so i decided to do a little digging while the ground is soft.

there were still a few sections of forms that i never got up. i dug out along the base of each piece and pried like crazy with the crow bar and various pieces of lumber until they were all up.

i then proceeded to backfill around the interior side of the perimeter footing and around the pier footings. it needs to be done sooner or later, and with them backfilled and sloped, rainwater won't pool around the footings. however, the exterior side of the perimeter footings remain exposed until the drain pipe is laid.

i was drenched in sweat and mud when i got home ;) time to relax.

ordered block

concrete block & mortar ordered, will arrive monday. it is currently pouring outside. we've been smacked with torrential rains the past two days. wonderful. last thing i want is the exposed footers being eroded and settled.

i've been going over what i'll be doing, but.. well, i've never laid block. so this will be interesting.