Framing Complete

Pappy, Skip, and James finished up this week.  They'll be back for a few small details later, but the bulk of the work is done.  Here's Pappy with the columns:

 

And Skip with the monster saw used for the columns:

Skip and James have lunch out front because Charlie is jackhammering the living room floor to add in electrical outlets.

Charlie finishing up the electrical wiring:

And here is one of the floor outlets:

We are now ready for inspection, the plumbing valves are in and the propane lines have been run and pressure tested.  We ran a line into the utility room even though we will be using an electric dryer.

And we've also wired the the house with CAT6 cable, TV/phone lines, and ceiling speakers.  Here's the main media lines which will go into a rack mount system in the built in media cabinet/shelves.

Wood

When we purchased the house, all exterior columns and porch ceilings were stucco.  We decided to go with natural wood - 8"x8" redwood posts for the columns and tongue and groove cedar planks (5 1/4") for the ceiling.  We'll be staining both a darker brown color.

The first task was the brackets.  We put a little thought into this.  Since we didn't want moisture crawling the column we elevated the post a bit.  And we doubled up the bracket width where it meets the concrete deck as we'll be tiling later.  Finally we sent the brackets off to be galvanized before installation.

 

Pappy, our talented chief framer, used a monstrously large circular saw, hammer, chisel, and drill to get the posts into the correct shape.  Afterwards, our painting contractor stained the bolt holes, bottom, and interior of the post to seal against moisture damage.  Here is the post on the bracket.  We still need to cut the bolts shorter off the back side.

Here are the exterior porches with their cedar ceilings (to be stained).

 

And in the final picture, note the black eye bolt hanging from the ceiling.  My 20 foot hemp climbing rope (just like elementary school) will hang here.

Right now it is hanging in the living room as I work on my wrist physical therapy.

Glass!

We selected Marvin Integrity doors and windows.  They are unfinished pine on the inside (to be stained) and a copper color on the outside.  They are casement windows, a few have transoms as below.

The bathrooms have ultrex (it comes white but can be painted) rather than wood interiors so we don't get water damage, as around the master tub:

We also began installing tubs and plumbing valves.  Here's the Kohler Bellwether in the guest bath.

And finally the view of the windows/doors off the kitchen.

Addition Progress

This past week we finished the framing of the second floor.  Skip and James are putting on the plywood with the radiant barrier for increased thermal efficiency.  The roofline was very complicated - not a single whole 4x8 sheet of plywood was able to be used without cutting. 

And Skip and Alex are finishing the last bit here.  In the far distance is the water tower on 2244.

We also finished framing most of the remaining interior work such as the stairs to the upper level and shower seat, tub surround, HVAC closets, etc.

In the living area there was one wall that abutted a porch slab on the exterior.  This was a potential water problem, so we jackhammered out part of the porch slab and repoured the wall so that it was higher than the exterior porch.  Here's a pic:

Next week we'll be installing all windows/doors, starting roofing, finishing electrical and HVAC, and wiring for telephone/computers/speakers/AV.