How to put on a roof, part 2

When one makes adjustments to steel, one gets to watch fireworks! I hope you enjoy the photos.

Today the issues continued. While there was some cursing at the things that have gone wrong, the steel installers handled the issues with calm and cool work. They should finish on Monday. I will hopefully be able to get out there after work to take pictures of how it turned out, so I can show you.

So today, they needed to shorten about half the remaining joists so they didn't overhang the front wall. They asked for a measurement from the steel designer. They weren't satisfied that the length was correct, so we measured the dimensions between walls on site, and discussed where I wanted the joists to end up, and the range of flexibility on it. We finaly decided on the proper measurement, and the cutting commenced. First they got out the gas powered saw with a cutoff wheel. Sparks were soon flying.

Cutting the one cord

Working on cutting a bar that runs between the top and bottom of the joist

Well the cutoff wheel needed to be replaced, and the one that was in the truck had some issue (I didn't ask). So then it was time for the cutting torch. This was even more fun to watch, and a heck of a lot quieter.

 

Like the proverbial hot knife through butter

Sending molten steel flying

As the ends were cut off, I was accumulating a collection of short steel joists.

 

Hmmm, really strong shelf supports?

As the ends were trimmed off, they were going through, and bending the end of the bar, back up in between the angle steel on the top cord. This put an end back on the joist that was the same form as what had been cut off. After they bent the bar into position, then it was time to weld it in place. Out came the arc welder.

 

Welding the bar in place

 

Hmmm, glare in the camera lens like the sun

This made the ends look like this:

Welded up, ready for one last trim

There was one last detail. They trimmed off the ends of the bars that were up past the top of the joist.

So now they could get the joists put up in place. They started with some of the joists that were part of the overhang.

 

First set layed for the front

Now some time lapse:

 

 

 

 

 

All the steel is now up there, and the crane has left.

 

Not quite ready for deer to walk on it

Oh, the next snag...well you see, the ends of the joists couldn't be placed in line on the center support wall. They needed to sit all the way across the top of the wall. This meant they needed to be offset along the wall.

 

Set next to one another on the center wall

That would not really be a problem, except that the plates on the front and back walls had been set, assuming that the joists would be in line, from front to back. Fortunately, the plates were wide enough, that they were still going to be able to weld the fronts of the joists to them. However, the end result was that they could not actually fit all 60 joists in the front half. From a weight support standpoint it should not be a problem. However, it does mean that dealing with closing in the ends of the home, could be a little more complicated. It also means I have a steel joist sitting on the front lawn.

After all the joists were positioned, they went through on the front joists, and added braces. They did this, since they are resting on the bottom cord, and are more likely to wobble, than the ones that are sitting on the top cords.

 

X shaped bracing between joists. These are just bolted to plates that were part of the joist.

I looked around at things, and seeing how the angle will look on the inside, I finally decided how I want the ceiling.

 

Looking at the slope

I decided there is enough slope, that we will run the ceiling parallel to the joists instead of flat. So there will be a slight slope to the ceiling. This should add an interesting character to the larger rooms.

With the joists up there, it can now be seen how the overhang looks.

 

Just like a bill on a baseball cap keeps the sun out of your eyes, the overhang, will keep the summer sun from pouring heat in through the south windows.

One of the installers knows someone who has a fully earth sheltered house. He warned me, that I may have to run the heat in the summer! Well, I hope my design works that well. It is far easier to deal with a house that is too cool in the summer, than one that needs cooling.

They will finish things up on Monday. There is just one more item I am concerned about. They will need to cut holes in the plates they are going to put on the ends, and I need to figure out exactly where those should go. Time to work with the drawings again so that I can get a measurement, or I may just take my tape measure out, and check some things at the top of the garage wall.

How to put on a roof, part 1

Today was the day. The steel was ready for the roof, and it was to be delivered today. Before we began, there were just the walls standing there in the grey dawn.

Walls of a house dug into a knoll

Part of the crew that was going to install the steel, was there already waiting at 7:30. We all waited, to see whether the crane, or the steel would show up first.

Waiting to see if the steel truck would find us

The steel arrived first. When we saw it, we all asked, how the heck are we getting that in and up my driveway?

They brought my steel on a full size tractor and trailer, what were they thinking?

The way things were designed out, we avoided having really long joists, however this is still quite a bit of steel. They told me some of the weights when they looked at the tags on the various bundles, and my estimate is that they brought in about 8 tons of steel joists and decking. The specification for the roof though is for it to be able to hold up 130 tons of weight sitting on top of it.

A good bit of steel sitting there

Unfortunately, there was a little too much steel there. I'll explain later.

They tried taking the rig up my driveway, from a couple different directions, but that truck, was not getting onto my property.

No, forwards won't work...

 

Backwards didn't help either.

Once the crane truck got there, they ended up transferring the steel to that truck, and using the crane truck, to haul the steel up the hill.

Move the steel from one truck to the other...

Unload the steel beside the home

Since I have already had questions from a couple people on what the joists would look like, here are some obligatory closeups :-) Please also pardon the technical talk about what they are doing with the joists. I need notes for when I am asked questions.

South end of the J2 joists, this is the end that will be in the overhang, and will be cantilevered out over the south wall.

 

Bearing point for the J2 and J2A joists. This is where they will be attached to plates that will be welded to the south wall.

 

North end of the J2 and J2A joists. These will be bolted to the top of the 2x6 framed support wall, with lag screws. They had to get different lag screws than the ones they were given. The ones they were given, would have gone all the way through the top plate of the wall, and would have only ended up with about an inch of thread in the wood since they had over and inch of shank. The joists are upside down on the ground. The plates that will be bolted down, are on the top cord of the joist, which is on the bottom in the photo.

 

South end of the J2A joists, the plate will be used to attach materials for the fascia on the overhang.

 

Another look at the north ends

 

More of the J2A joists sitting next to some of the J2 joists.

The J1 joists are the ones that went on the north/back half of the home, and I don't have closeups of them. Both ends on the J1 joists, look like the north end of the J2 and J2A joists.

OK, back to the story.

We were looking over the plans, and I didn't see where the overhang was supposed to extend out from the main roof. They explained that all the joists along the front half, were extending over this bearing point to form an overhang on the whole length of the front. UH, OH!! Thats not right. I explained how the overhang was only supposed to cover from one end of the windows, to the other. We had some extra steel on some of the joists. Hmmm, time to contact the folks who were providing the joists.

While they waited for a different box of lag screws to arrive, and for the steel folks to help decide what we were doing with the extra overhang, they started lifting the joists for the back half up onto the walls.

Picking up a bundle of joists

First bundle delivered to the top of the walls

Joists are starting to show through the windows

That is a bunch of joists to set

The walls now have joists. On the back half at least.

Setting the last joist for the back.

The two on the ends, are not at 1 foot intervals like the rest. They sort of fill in the space on the ends. They hold a smaller amount of roof, but this avoided having to craft special joists to go on top of the side walls.

After a lunch break, they started welding the joists to the plates in the top of the concrete wall, and putting in the lag screws to anchor them on the center support wall.

Arc welding is bright!

I am starting to actually have a roof structure over my head.

Looking from garage, along center support wall

Looking from garage, along north wall

We talked to the steel folks about the extra overhang. They said that since the overhanging portion did not affect the bearing point, we could just cut off the ends of the offending joists. They were going to go draw some plans for that. The one fellow installing the steel said, he has been doing this work for 31 years. He knew where they would need to be cut, but he didn't have his saw with him today. So tomorrow there will be some joist truncating. At least it wasn't a case that they were too short. That is much more difficult to fix. I am glad I was there today so that I spotted this.

They were moving right along on getting the joists welded in place, and looked to be about ready to start lifting some of the other joists, when it started to rain. They had to stop welding with the rain. Arc welding in wet conditions can give the welder, one heck of a shock (The crane operator used more colorful language to describe the experience). So they stopped for the day. Since they have the steel on site, and the crane is already set up, they should be able to get a good start tomorrow. It looks like they should be able to finish tomorrow, unless we run into another snag.

I hope I can get a refund on some of the cost of the extra joist length, since I can't come up with a use for what will probably be 28 pieces of 2 foot joist.

All walls, present and accounted for!

Today Marcus went out with me, and we got to meet the framers, just as they were cleaning up. All the walls are now framed. Including my pantry :-)

A pantry in the corner.

I am wondering if I can do something with those nicely framed openings at the top. Looks like they are nice and square. It will depend on how the ceiling sits. It will probably cross through them. If it went above them though, it might be fun to try to find some stained glass, or art glass to put in there.

The framing is done on the bedrooms, and I have a coat closet.

 

The coat closet seems a little big now that I see it in person

Well, now it is just a question of how soon I can get my roof on. These are probably the last pictures where you will see the trees from inside the home, peeking over the tops of the walls.

The wood elves pay a visit

Well, at least the sun is setting a little later now. It makes getting out to the home before the sun sets, a little easier. When I got there today, the view into the garage had changed quite a bit.

The wood elves have setup shop outside the garage

Obviously the framer has been quite productive the last couple days. I walked around back, to get a better view of the overall work.

Main support wall from center left, through the middle of the image

Back half of the home, going away from me, family room, guest bath and office, utility, garage

It looked good from a distance, time to see the work up close. I headed into the garage.

Garage, facing utility room, double doors will be on the left side for easy access

I'll stop here for a moment and explain about the different wall heights (before someone asks why there are three different wall heights). The green roof that I am going to have on the top, will have a very shallow slope. It will be easy to walk on, and hopefully easy to keep the dirt on top of. However, that means that the trusses that are going on top of the walls have to provide that gentle slope. Given the open spans that I want in some of the rooms, and the load that the roof has to support, we needed some fairly substantial trusses. They will span from the north ICF wall, to the central support wall (the tall framed wall running through the middle of the home), then a second set of trusses will span from that wall, out to the south ICF wall. The trusses will be 1 foot tall, and will be spaced one foot apart.

A truss has a bottom and top piece of material, in this case steel, running along its length. Then it has a series of struts that connect the top and bottom. At the back, on the north wall, we are going to attach the top of the trusses to the brackets that were embedded in the top of the wall. So the bottom of the trusses will be hanging down about a foot from the top of the back wall. At the center support wall, they will put on brackets to attach the trusses to. The top of the trusses will be attached to these brackets, and the bottoms will be hanging about 6 inches below the top of the ICF walls at that point. The tops will be about 6 inches above the ICF wall. This will provide the slope for the roof. For the front part of the home, the trusses will be starting out 6 inches higher than where they were on the back wall. Then on the front ICF wall, they will attach the bottom of the trusses to the plates they embedded in the wall. So now at the front, the top of the truss will be about a foot higher than at the back of the home. Inside, the ceiling will be shifted up in the front half, so that it is attached just below the bottom of the trusses on the central support wall. The result of this is that the ceiling in the front half of the home, will be about 6 inches higher than in the back half. This may help to understand.

Looking down the axes of the house from east to west

Ok, back to the home tour.

Looking from the front door toward the entrance to the family room.

When the home is done, this will be an open archway from the dining/kitchen into the family room. The center wall is made up of 2x6 studs, spaced at one foot intervals. Other than where there is an opening for a door, or this archway, there will be a stud directly under each truss to carry the weight down to the floor, and into the footer.

Looking toward coat closet, and down hall

They haven't finished framing in the guest or master bedrooms yet. From the progress they made the last two days, I would venture to say that tomorrow the framing will be completed.

The plans hanging on the wall

Funny thing, they keep treating my walls like a big cork board. Here you can see the foundation plan. The shaded, curved sections sticking out from the walls of the house, are block retaining walls. They will help manage the soil that will be piled up against the outside walls.

Looking through the south office wall, into the guest bathroom

Now looking south in the utility room

Now there are walls, to start planning the arrangement of the hydronic heating components with.

Out in the hall, outside the utility room

Across from the utility room and garage doorways, will be coat hooks, and a bench where I can put on my shoes/boots before venturing outside. Looking down the hall, through the hobby room, I will be able to look out the window and see what the weather is looking like.

Well, things are proceeding quite nicely. I did spot a place where the floor is chipped, but it should get hidden when the drywall and baseboards are put in. It is impractical to expect the floor to get through the entire construction unscathed. However as long as the problems are minor, I will just refer to it as "distressed". That will make it worth more right?

Still waiting to hear when the roof is going to be installed. Once that is done, most of the rest of the construction, will be a little more typical of home construction.

Waiting for a roof

Newt talked to the framer today about the framing for the walls. Apparently they met out at my home. Given the weather, I am guessing that the meeting didn't last long. Once we get a couple measurements from the steel folks, the framer can get started. It sounds like the steel is going to take a couple weeks to fabricate. So I will probably have pictures of inside walls, and steel work in a couple weeks time.

During my break for Christmas and New Year's, my dad and I finished the frames for the solar panels, and did quite a bit of talking and designing for the ventilation system, and the plumbing for the hot water and hydronics.

I drove out to the home, so my parents, and my brother could see how it was going, in person. It was another race with the sun, to get out there so they could actually see what it looked like. We saw that they had taken down the bracing. The pressure gauge on the tubing in the floor, was still reading pressure. So I guess that confirms they didn't poke a hole in any of the tubing.

A nicer view of the inside of the front wall, now that the braces have been taken down.

This will be a nice window to sit at.

Now I have to email some companies to find out some details about their thermostats. I am looking for some particular features, so that the radiant heat system operates properly. However the descriptions are not completely clear on a couple points, so I am going to contact the companies, and ask some specific questions.

I am going to start wiring up the electrical panels for my solar power system. I got a shipment with the battery cables while I was at my parents home. The box with the battery cables, was 58 pounds! That is for about 50 feet of wire. This stuff is heavy!