Roof

This morning it was 30F at 6:30 AM. The inside of our new house was like a skating rink & everything was coated with ice. The crew started working on the roof at 7:30 AM anyway and as soon as the sun was up, everything started to thaw out. Logan was here early to dig the electric, water, sewer & gas line trenches. Lynna and I went back up to the site from 10:30 AM until 11 AM and everyone had made good progress.

The excavation revealed that my sewer stub is only about 4' below the surface which is exactly the same depth as the exit hole in our foundation. We can't have a level line for the 30' + line from the corner of the house, so BC Plumbing will need to punch a new hole through the foundation a bit higher up.

It was 32F & snowing at 7 AM this morning. John, Ron & Bert plus Bert's teenage boys cleaned up & organized the worksite. The NW Natural gas rep came out & located the gas line & marked where we need to dig the trench. John went around the foundation & cleaned concrete out of the openings for electric, Sewer & water. Everything is ready for Logan to excavate and for BC plumbing to start the rough in.

Snow & Ice

The crew quit before lunchtime yesterday due to the Snow, ice & hail. This morning the framing and roof sheeting was coated in ice and we were having intermittent snow flurries. Tomorrow's forecast calls for winds building to 25-30 mph. This is to dangerous even with fall harnesses. I told John not to worry. It is better to lose a few days now and avoid an injury that could really slow things down.

Verge Board

The Crew has been putting in blocking and metal hold downs recently. Today they decided to work on the verge boards, the enclosed soffits and to do some more OSB sheathing. John's son Cody was home for Spring Break, complaining "There's nothing to do around here", a few minutes later John had him on a ladder hammering nails into metal fasteners. Lynna enjoys walking around inside the structure & picturing our finished house.

Today John, Ron & Bert added more blocking and hold downs then put up the sheer wall inside the South trusses. In the afternoon Lynna & I met with the roofer and later Mike, the electrician, dropped off his bid.

Today the crew raised the two remaining glue-lam beams for the covered porch , fastened them and then set the rest of the trusses for the rear of the roof. They attached the straps to the girder truss and some of the other hold downs, then cut and fit some blocking. I'll take some pictures tomorrow.

Thursday the crew placed the jacks on the East & West sides of the roof. Scott Oller from BJ's Truss came by & found the trusses over the small bathroom were also wrong, we don't want a 12 foot ceiling there either! Scott is sending one of thier techs out to repair the truss damaged by the crane operator and the tech will bring out pieces to correct the problem trusses down and restore 10 foot ceilings to the small bathroom, kitchen & nook. Friday Ron took the day off to snowboard and John had to be in court so we will see more progress on Monday.

Monday the crew erected the posts & glu-lam beams that hold up the covered porch and then set the rest of the bonus room trusses. They added more bracing to everything and were ready for today when the 2nd part of the truss package arrived. This morning John, Ron & Bert set the trusses above the entry and I got Logan to spread another truckload of gravel up by the travel trailer so the crane truck could park and unload onto the back of the house. Everything went well but there were two problems: the crane operator damaged one of the trusses when he missed removing one of the metal straps that was holding the bundle to the rest of the package. As soon as he lifted, there was a loud crack/splintering sound. The upper chord was broken about 10 feet up, along with about 8" on the tail and a 3 foot crack down the middle up where the chain was attached. The truss company has a fellow we can call out to repair everything but Ron says he can easily do the repair himself. Ron also noticed the 4 trusses that go over the kitchen and dining nook are designed to give a 12 foot ceiling instead of the 10 foot called for in the plans. I told them to just go ahead & set everything as we received it. Then we will see how much framing time and material is required to put the ceiling back to 10 feet and I will get some credit back. The truss package was already at a much better price($10,369 vs $18,267) than my quote from Kingston Lumber, so I won't make to big a fuss over this. We also used the crane to lift one of the Shower/tub combos & the small shower into place. John says his crew can move the jetted tub into the master bath and also handle the other tub/shower that goes in the bonus room.

Part of our truss package was delivered yesterday(Friday). Ron's little boy, Raymond, came to watch the crane and to see dad at work. The crew got all the trusses placed on the walls and secured. They were able to set 5 of the individual attic trusses in place on the garage walls. The crew had spent Thursday bracing all the walls for the trusses. There are so many braces in place that it is hard to walk around inside the house!

Yesterday the crew got most of the interior framing done. Lynna & I walked around after they quit for the day and it was nice for Lynna to see the actual rooms and features of our new home. It was cold at 7:00 this morning, there was a heavy layer of frost on everything.