Slow and Steady wins the race

We are still making progress on the house, slow and steady. We don't have a roof yet - there have been some issues on getting someone out here. Either they won't return our calls or say the roof is too difficult for them to do. But, we should be getting some new bids in soon and get this thing moving.
The roof is ALMOST finished being framed. Here's the latest pictures.

In the meantime, we have finished the all thread rods!! Well, the only thing left is to extend two rods to the second floor roof, but that wall isn't in yet, so we obviously can't do it yet. But, everything is epoxied, the correct hardware is in place, and the nuts are tightened down. This was a ton of work, but our house is getting hurricane ready. There are still several more metal straps that need to be nailed in place before it's fully ready for a Florida hurricane.

One of the fancy parts to our roof are all the "eyebrows" or "birds nests". Here's one up close.

They are all over the gable ends of our roof. But, they look really nice and are almost done.

That's all for now. Stay tuned.

I've been Tagged

I was tagged by Meaghan West on her blog. According to her directions, I must select the 6th picture from one of my photo files on my computer. Then, I have to post it on my blog and expain it. So, here it is:
This picture is of Adam's Uncle Stan, Aunt Alice, and brother Clint. They have brought us several lunches while we've been working on the house. This is on a Saturday in July and they are fixing us sandwhiches. Thanks for the food!

Check out the roof!

So, I wrote the last post yesterday and was just able to post it tonight. Adam and I went to work on the house tonight and got a lot done. We cut all the rods for the stubbies and got the hardware (nuts and washers) ready and in place. Adam also cleaned out the holes (this is a MESSY process) while I went by the store for more material. Now, we're ready to epoxy everything else tomorrow and be done with the rods for the first floor! There are a few rods that extend to the second floor, so we still will need to finish the rest of them. But, it doesn't involve drilling in concrete or epoxy, so it'll be a LOT easier.

Our roof is also coming along well. The metal straps are in place and the fascia boards and eyebrows are going in. Check out how it looks now:





FYI: Fascia board is the 2x6 board that goes across the front of the roof eave. Eyebrows are the eves that go straight across under the gable ends (see left side of house for example). The gable end of a roof is the "triangle" end.

We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties

I apologize for my absence last week. There have been some technical difficulties updating my blog. But alas, I have returned. In my absence, we have finished drilling the holes in the concrete for the all-thread rods (there were over 200 holes) and have secured most all of them in place with epoxy. We just need to finish the stubbies (rod into the concrete that holds the bottom plate down, does not extend to top plate) and six more full-length rods.

The roof is almost complete and we are hoping to be finished with the framing portion this week. We plan to begin the roofing ASAP (this involves sheathing the roof, felt paper, and shingles). I'll keep you updated on the progress. For now, here are some pictures:

This is an example of a rod in place with epoxy. Not too exciting. By the way, this is some messy and strong stuff, not fun to get off of skin.

The dormers are done and the rake wall on the left side of the house is in.
Isn't it pretty?!

The dormers from the bonus space upstairs! I'm so excited about this large
room and have already thought of lots of potential plans for it. But, it'll be a little while before we build it out.

The outlookers are all in place. The fascia board is going up, as well as the eyebrows. Some roof.

My sweet Adam working up on the roof.

We are starting to really get moving on the house now . . . so, we should be making a lot of progress to get it done quickly. It's time to let the subcontractors do the work, and us to manage. So exciting!

All Thread Rod & Dormers

Adam and I have been diligently working on putting in the all thread rod (aka hurricane tie-downs) for the last week or two. We even worked in the rain. I think I should get some sort of best wife award, but for now I'll settle with moving the building process along, despite getting wet. Anyway, I thought I'd show you the work we've been up to.

This shows you the wet conditions. Also, if you look just to the right of the wheel barrow, you'll see a pile of all thread rods. Part of my job is to remove the cardboard packaging (12 rods to a package) and thread a nut onto one end at least 6 inches. It's a slow and tedious job . . . I guess that's why I got assigned to it.

There are metal rods on either side of this 5-ply pine post. The rods are not placed in the concrete hole yet, so they're not straight up and down yet. We'll put them in place once we do the epoxy.

Some more rods, these are in the back bedroom.

The rods stick up through the top plates. I place a large square washer and a smaller round washer on, and then screw on another nut. These don't always want to go on easy, so we've had to man-handle some of them.

We have most of the holes drilled and rods in. We plan on finishing this part this weekend.

The dormers have come along nicely . . . see the progress:

Dormers on Tuesday afternoon. That's Brian up there.

The view from upstairs. This is going to make fun nooks!

Adam's cutting some wood for the middle dormer.

Wednesday afternoon, the third dormer is up.

Thursday afternoon, the dormers are sheathed and the trusses are placed in front of them. Now, the window opening needs to be cut out, and they're good to go!

There is still a bit of work to be down to get the roof ready for sheathing. More bracing and outlookers need to go in, some more valley's need to be built. But, it's make progress every day.

I shall close with a last picture of Adam. Here, he is marking where the all thread rods are going in the second floor.

Have a great weekend!

The Drill

Adam has a new toy. We needed to drill 6 - 9 inches into the concrete for our hurricane tie-downs. So, Adam borrowed a drill from his coworker for the job. It's a monster of a drill, I can hardly believe it is classified as hand held.

Including the drill bit, it's about 3 feet long.

Adam has mastered the use of this grill, here he is putting a hole in that will secure the kitchen wall from flying away in a storm.

It may look like a bug has been building a home . . . but, that would be Adam building our home. These are some of the holes he's drilled. Concrete dust is very fine and can get everywhere.

Adam used a regular drill to go through the wood (Thanks Sarah & Jeff, a Christmas gift well used). The concrete bit is not meant to cut through wood.

Adam also drilled through the top plates, so the rods can go all the way through. That is one long drill bit.

We got a lot of the holes drilled and ready for the all thread rod. We also put in about 12 of the rods (they're 10 feet long) in place. We are going to dry fit everything and then go around with the epoxy to seal them in in the concrete.

The upstairs bonus area - the dormers are starting to come together. It may look like a doorway to nothing right now, but it's going to be charming windows.

View from the front.

I suggested leaving it as is, in case we ever want anyone to "walk the plank".

This is our new compressor. We bought in a couple weeks ago, but I don't think I showed a picture of it yet.

So, there you have it. Even more progress to come, woohoo!

Porches

I can't wait for the day when the house is finished and we can just sit on the porch and drink sweet tea. Soaking in the breeze, sitting on the porch swing, talking about the day, it's gonna be nice. So, here is where it's all gonna happen, the porch. Well, actually we'll have two - front and back. Although, Adam insists that the back porch is actually a lanai.

The front porch.

The posts holding up the porch is temporary, there will be pretty columns and natural stone accents. But, we'll get there eventually.

The dormers are not finished yet. The three holes above the porch will be very cute windows.

The back porch, I mean lanai.

Again, the posts supporting the porch trusses are temporary. But, there will be three posts in the end.

I love how large our back porch is. It's going to be a great place to sit while Adam is grilling dinner. :)

Adam started drilling into the concrete for the hurricane tie-downs. But, silly me didn't get a picture. I'll be sure to post some next week.