gimme a break

i rented a 10' brake from home depot over race weekend. friday, i took measurements of all the important fascia dimensions. i bent and cut all the pieces saturday afternoon into sunday morning. everything was nailed up sunday afternoon.

the top edge of the fascia was hemmed, and this allowed me to wedge the fascia under the drip edge and it held itself in place. a few pieces needed extra help, in which i used a clamp to help out. i found it best to nail the ends of a piece in place first, then any nails between without moving the piece.

all the exposed nails were predrilled, and the nail head was left just proud in an attempt to prevent bending the face of the metal. in a few areas, the subfascia wasn't straight enough to prevent this happening.

also the bottom bend of the fascia should be only ever slightly overbent, as too much causes it to look messy once it's up. unfortunately most of the eaves were overbent and nailed from the center out, so they don't look very good up close. but, the gutters once eventually installed should disguise most of that.

plumbing prep

received the plumbing permit from the county yesterday - $100. i've been working out the details of supply pipe materials & layout, and DWV layout & fittings.

supply pipe will be pex, utilizing what's known as the 'home run' layout method. essentially, each fixture is fed by a dedicated line from a central manifold. this minimizes joints in the system - potential points of leaks, and points of pressure loss. fewer fittings allows a smaller diameter pipe, which reduces time & volume of water wasted waiting for hot water.

there are many options for stubbing out pex. i am utilizing some special bend fittings which allow the pex to run directly out of the wall, without any fittings inside the wall. stop valves attach directly to the pipe.. i'm also utilizing 3/8 lines throughout most of the system to minimize hot water wait times. cold lines will match to provide similar pressure drops to the hot water. the only 1/2 lines in my design are for the tub and sillcocks.

i was hoping to purchase the pex material from lowes, as they have a decent selection and a local source would be useful for any additional material needs i might have. some online anecdotes suggest trouble when mixing fittings and pipe from different manufacturers. unfortunately, lowes doesn't stock 3/8 coil pipe nor manifolds, so i must look elsewhere. also, a little digging uncovered the astm standard for crimp fittings on pex pipe - astm f876 & astm f877 & astm 1807. fittings & pipe meeting the standards should be physically compatible. so i'll be purchasing materials both online & locally.

i decided on using crimp ring connections for pex as these are commonly available and inexpensive. another connection system by wirsbo expands the pipe to fit around fittings, then the pipe retracts back to a tight fit within a few seconds. this is likely the fastest install method, and many people argue its the most dependable connection. however, the tools and materials are more expensive - and i've got a heavy cost limit now. i don't think the time saved by this tool on this job alone would justify the extra cost.

next on my agenda is to detail the dwv sufficiently to allow purchasing the PVC pipe & fittings i'll need. after that, i also have a few items on my agenda before actually beginning installation of pipework.

siding finished

the siding was completed on monday. alas, i've yet to bring the camera for pics.

tuesday, i started on a small deck addition for my pops in smyrna. should be done soon, then it's back to vinnie!

siding an inch from completion

friday, i put up the vertical siding on the front gables.

saturday, i put up the rest of the siding except one piece on the left gable. i am short a piece, so will need to wait until monday to finish.

preparing for plumbing..

almost sided

returned from vacation yesterday - camping rocks! today i'm going to buy the last few siding materials i need and we'll see how much i can get done!

west wall begins

monday, i finished siding at the peak of the rear wall. moving to the west wall, i put up felt on the middle corner.it was a hot one, and not much else happened.

tuesday, i measured, cut, and stapled up felt. i put up the corners in the middle of the wall.

From vinnie pics by mike

wednesday, i cut miters in the window trim and nailed those pieces up. i also measured/cut/nailed j-channel around the mailbox and street number. i measured & cut j-channel for around the porch & door. katie & i made a last minute decision on the gable siding, and we picked that up as well as some more j-channel.

thursday, i installed the horizontal band on the left gable. this is composed of a wide j-channel open downward, in-line with the wide j-channel on the north & south walls which acts as a frieze board. this piece is topped with a z-flashing, which i bent out of vinyl flashing. in retrospect, i probably should have looked for an aluminum flashing in this profile, or bent it on a brake from aluminum. the vinyl is a little wavy and i suspect it will move some. the z-flashing is then topped with a piece of regular j-channel open to above, to receive the gable siding.

next i started on the j-channel lining the gable, which goes up simultaneously with soffit. i then had to modify the ridge board, just as i did on the rear gable. the bit on the rotozip broke, so i had to finish that work with a chisel (which worked better than i expected.) then i finished the soffit and laid up most of the siding, to just below the horizontal band. this is all on the left gable wall.

hurricane earl is nearby, so i'm hoping to get more of the wall covered this morning before any severe winds show up to tear off the felt.