Dining & Entry Tray Ceilings

Tuesday John got help from his old partner and they finished up the tray ceilings. Today John did the other interior framing bits that remained and plans on doing the front arches and columns on May 9 with Ron. Bert has been nailing hurricane ties on all week. I lent him my palm nailer to use in tight places & he really likes it. Lynna & I did some clean up as the electricians are coming tomorrow.

Tray Ceilings & Doors

John worked by himself Saturday and Sunday and made good progress on the tray ceiling in the Master Bedroom and Living Room. Today he had Bert, two of the roofers and myself to help set the big Family Room French doors, the Living Room French doors and the Master Bedroom French Doors. He got some help in the afternoon and finished up the Living Room tray ceiling and the tray ceiling for the entry way. I don't know if he will get to the Dining Room tray ceiling today. I sprayed black paint on the back side of the windows that go on the false dormers and the attic gable over our Front Entry. This will keep the framing and trusswork from showing.

The Roofers finished up today and collected their pay. They certainly earned it, working through some very difficult weather conditions to give us a first class job.

There was a cold wind blowing yesterday as we began placing windows. But with each window set in the West wall, the house got more comfortable. Today was a nice day with sunshine from early on. The roofers were cheerful and made good time. They are returning tomorrow to finish. Next, we need to wind up the plumbing and electrical work, then start on the insulation

Windows and Doors

The first picture shows the shear wall next to the stairway after john put everything back together. Today John got the rest of the windows set in place. Some of them were heavy and some were very high. He had to rout out the basement window openings too.

This afternoon, the first load of doors came. We unloaded them and set the basement doors in place before the Frere's truck returned. Next we unloaded the Front door with its sidelights. Finally we unloaded the 8' French doors for the family room.

We were able to set the entry door and then found a problem with the French doors for the Living Room. The rough opening was framed just a bit smaller than the minimum cutout size and the doors were built about 2" wider than expected, so we end up about 3/4" short of a fit. The 8' doors for the family room are also tight but have about 1/4" to spare, that could cause trouble if we need to make adjustments. We will deal with this on Monday, there are a few things we can do to make everything work.

Setting Windows

The last window we set today was one of two casement/awning windows I got from the Lumbermen's returned goods sale. Andersen's low "e", vinyl outside/wooden inside, really a good value at $75.00 each! Our window package came from the Jeld Wen factory which is located on the West edge of town.

A Slow Week

Things have been going forward slowly. Two of the framing crew were injured over the weekend in separate accidents, so John worked alone Monday. Ron was out all week. We hope he can work tomorrow. Bert was out Monday but able to put in 1/2 day Tuesday and all day today. He also brought along his two teenage boys on Tuesday to do cleanup and one of them came today to help with the windows. We had a framing "Shear" inspection Monday and there were some corrections needed. The plans called for an interior shear wall and the stairway got built without the shear wall being sheeted. John had to take apart one side of the stairway so he could put the OSB on the wall, then rebuild the stairway. Next, he built the interior arches. Today we had our windows delivered and began setting them in place with Bert and his son helping. We saved the big front windows for tomorrow.

The roofers worked in heavy rain Monday, came but went home Tuesday due to high winds and were able to work part of today in heavy rain again. James has recruited two more helpers so if we get a good weather day, they may be able to finish the roof.

We have to finish the tub surround surface so the plumbers can set the tub in mortar and I plan to do that job this Saturday. I met with Logan this afternoon and discussed the footing drains and rain drains. He thinks we will only need footing drains from the South side down to the low corner and my neighbor John is OK with us feeding into the existing catch basin on his property.

Today Ron had the day off. John & Bert worked on framing details, built a frame for our jetted tub and added the last few pieces of OSB sheathing. Our planset had some high wind reinforcements required by the Florida Code and Marion County layered their own wind and seismic requirements also. We have metal straps and large wooden gusset framing throughout the structure of our house, also some big screw type anchors around the windows and a metal strap that runs the length of the garage roof. John only needs to frame tray ceilings in the entry, dining room, living room and master bedroom to be done.

The 2 roofers had hired a helper for Thursday & Friday. With his help, they expected to finish the roof today, but the helper only worked a short time Thursday then quit. He felt the roof was too steep, too high up, and the work too hard. The original 2 worked on without him and stayed late today. They have finished the South, West and part of the North roof and will finish up the North roof and begin the East roof on Monday.

Some more pictures of the gas company crew.

Cooking with Gas!

There was lots of activity yesterday. The Gas Co. crew showed up to dig up the street and connect us to their system. The crew chief was telling my framer how "they would only be here a short while as they didn't intend to set a meter today but would do that later", fortunately John told him he needed to talk to the owner & called me from my breakfast.

I went up to talk with him & put on my "serious" face. I explained we would be living here the rest of our lives & hoped to be good neighbors but that's a two way street. This was just a small job for them, & wouldn't take long at all, so I expected to see a meter by day's end. Then I went back to finish my breakfast. When I returned a couple hours later to talk with my vent contractor, the Gas Crew was gone and a nice new meter was placed right where I wanted it. The kid from Stayton Heating was impressed. He said he had never seen the Gas Co. set a meter until after the County inspected our installation & placed their green tag, just wasn't done this way. Shows what a little communication can do.

Freres Lumber delivered our boiler & hot water maker a bit later & I had fun unpacking all the new stuff. In the past, I bought our components from an old timer in Seattle who is no longer in business. He always put all the plumbing & supporting parts onto the boiler so I received a system that just needed connection to my system supply & return pipes, filled with water & plugged in. This time I have a boiler with all kinds of fail safe devices that weren't on my previous boilers. I will either figure out how to plumb in all the attachments myself or hire it done. Fun!

John's crew finished the covered porch then got most of the sheathing nailed onto the North end of the house & garage. In the afternoon, they framed in the bonus room bathroom, closet and window. I called our cement contractor & requested a bid for the garage floor and all the porches. Later, I had a long conversation with the siding contractor. We hope he comes up with an affordable bid.