Closed In!

This has been a very productive week.  We finished the rest of the sheathing both of the ceiling and the exterior of the house.  We sealed the plywood joints with the 3M 838 tape which is described as flexible between -100 and +225 degrees Fahrenheit.  I’m not sure where they tested those extremes but it leaves plenty of room for error in this climate zone. The roofer was able to install the synthetic felt by TriBuilt.  The material is much stronger than the old tarpaper building felts, and will last in strong winds and sunlight for long periods of time if necessary without falling apart.  

The framing is almost 100% complete.  A few details like bulkheads and railings need to be completed, but the mechanical and electrical contractors can get started now.  They should be done by the end of next week and ready for inspections.

The windows and doors were delivered by Standale Lumber this morning.  We had them all installed by the end of the day.  The windows are the Serious 925 series windows.  It is one thing to see them in a catalog and look at samples, and another to see them installed.  I think we are really going to like these a lot.  They have a very spare aesthetic which came out better than I had hoped for at full scale. 

The doors are made by Thermatru.  I selected this door because the air infiltration test data was very good.  It is very difficult to determine thermal performance for a production door.  There are so many possible design configurations that I think they just gave up on providing any information.  The transom over the front door was missing but will be delivered in the next few days.  Otherwise there were no problems with the installation.  All of the rough openings were the right size and all of the windows and doors fit.

There are several design components we needed to accommodate for the door.  The standard door threshold was 1½” high, which is not very conducive to barrier free design.  There was a barrier free threshold available, but it had no thermal stop capability included.  To get the energy efficiency available by using the standard threshold, and accommodate barrier free design, we had recessed the concrete floor ¾” so that the transition from the interior finish floor was only ¾”. 

The threshold is angled to the outside, so the transition on the exterior is only about ½” at the threshold, an angled plate, and a ¼” nose on the threshold.  The wall thickness requires that we install aluminum sill extensions on the thresholds in order to cover the foam wall boards, so we will further reduce the transition at the entries.  

We are installing the windows and doors approximately in the middle of the 15” thick wall.  On the inside we will wrap drywall around the wall and run it into the door and window jambs.  On the outside we need to install 5” jamb extensions to accommodate the remaining wall thickness on all windows and doors so that we can install the window trim. 

The drainfield, septic tanks and driveway were installed.  The county health department inspector has blessed both the drainfield and the well installation.  The driveway was being finished as I left this afternoon, but we have been looking forward to this for some time.  We installed the black fabric in the picture to prevent “soil consolidation”.  The fabric is a heavy but loosely woven material used in highway construction that helps prevent the crushed concrete and sand from mixing together over time with the weight of traffic and the effects of weather.  Water can easily pass through the fabric and the crushed concrete.  We opted for the crushed concrete because it compacts very nicely into a firm surface and is a 100% recycled product. The alternative is crushed asphalt.  The volatile organic compounds in the asphalt can leach out over time and eventually get into the water table which we and our neighbors rely on.    

 

 

Next week we will be able to substantially complete the plumbing, heating, and electrical work, and order the rough in inspections.  We should be able to start installing the foam insulation on the outside of the building, and bring the site up to close to the final grade.  Rumor has it that the electric utility may install the underground service as early as tomorrow, though holding our breath for that to happen is inadvisable.