We have progressed as far as raising the walls.
With help from son Wayne and wife Bobbi, I was able to run the heating coils for the floor.. This is a much larger, and more difficult, job than it appears.
You will notice that I used cross bracing, instead of blocking, between the floor joists. This avoids pulling pipe through holes drilled in the blocking. When installing this type of bracing, fasten the top only, until after the floor deck is down. This allows you to adjust joist spacing as you fasten the sub-floor. We used construction glue (PL400) and spiral nails to fasten the deck. Neighbor Bill helped me and this was only a short days work.
When framing, I use two air nailers. A coil framing nailer holds more 2 inch nails for applying sheathing. It saves time by not having to change nails in your gun. I have a Paslode coil nailer that I purchased used for 50 dollars. My Mastercraft nailer is a new one purchased at a yard sale for 40 dollars. I am pretty certain that I can get my money back when the project is finished, if I so desire.
Sub-floor done and ready for walls
One of our next steps was to apply waterproofing to the foundation. In this case it was likely not really necessary, considering soil conditions and the type of foundation, but it is always better to err on the side of caution. This is my son Wayne and myself preparing for the job. Needless to say, I let Wayne get splattered with the tarry stuff.
Let the tarring begin
The rubber boots I am wearing has been a wardrobe necessity lately. With the historic floods occurring in Alberta right now, I am glad we are high and and a little drier.
I am beginning to need a haircut rather badly, but hate to take the time. I guess I am lucky to have hair at my age.
Once the waterproofing was done we began building walls
Building a wall
The two longest walls have been built and I am preparing to raise one. Notice that I am installing stops to prevent pushing the wall too far. Necessary when you have little help.
The bottom of the wall is toe nailed to the floor to prevent it sliding off. Just a few nails are necessary.
Preparing to raise a wall
Nieghbor Bill helped to raise these two longer walls. With jacks, it is possible for one person to acomplish this but it is faster with two.
A wall is raised
Don’t skimp on bracing. I have several times seen walls blown down, due to insufficient bracing.
These are the jacks that make raising a wall possible without help.
One person can raise a wall with these
The two side walls are up.
Side walls up and laying out the end walls
The headers over the window and door are two 2 x 10 and a 2 x 6 with insulation in the middle. These walls bear the weight of the roof, so adequate headers are essential. A bit of overkill doesn’t hurt here.
Window header in bearing wall
The end walls going up. You may note that the end walls are not completely sheathed. This allows for sheating to tie the walls together. Considerable strength is added. Sheathing is also applied to allow for tying the wall to the top foundation plate. Just a little more wind resistance.
End wall going up
Raising an end wall
The toe nails holding the wall were mostly pulled out and this wall was still threathening to slide so I put in a few more for insurance.
We acquired a supervisor this week.
Our new supervisor
Oh,oh, It is too hot out here. I think I will find some damp floor in the shade.
It is hot. Must find shade
Headers are not really required in non bearing walls. I do like to add some strength without providing too much thermal bridging. This has been done here by ripping 2 x 6 to 5 inches and making a header box faced with 1/2 inch OSB. This allows for full insulation with the minimum of thermal bridges.
Header in non bearing wall
The walls are up and Bobbi is surveying her living room
Bobbi in her living room
A view from our bedroom window
By using our imagination, we can now get a little feel for what our house will be like.
I love this type of work. The results are so obvious.
I would like to do the backfill but it has been too wet to use equipment on site. I have not even been able to get the foundation drainage to inspection stage. Well, it is bound to quit raining eventually. There are always things that can be done in spite of the weather. This is one of the advantages of doing all your own work. You are seldom stalled for long. You are not likely to get any breaks at all, unless you just arbitrarily take one
Overall things have been going very well. I did fight with one of my nailers for half a day, until I realized it worked much better with the right brand of nails. No other real problems were encountered.
