Framing Progress

Sorry you have been clicking on this blog without an update in a while...  I've been busy, and it's far beyond the reach of just the house.  I've been on the road some, work demands, and also tax time.

Regardless, the framers have been pretty busy.  Here is a shot from about a week ago when they had just framed the chimney "chase".  This will get a little hip roof on it and will be tiled.  Take a mental note of what things look like here, in a few pics, you will see progress.

This is the rear corner of the back porch.  They have begun to frame in the soffits here, which they call the "cornice."  Note that the outside edge of the cornice doesn't run straight up and down, but rather perpendicular to the rafters themselves.  My roofing contractor likes this, because it helps keep water out of the framing as it drips off the edge, and allows the "drip edge" to work better.  Personally, I think it's going to cause be grief when we install the gutters.  A google search reveals a solution for this, however, as they make little brackets to correct the gutter so it hangs straight... 

This still looks goofy, but it's getting there.  I thought that the left leg looked skinnier than the right, but my tape measure reveals that's not the case.  In addition, the window above what will be stone arches looks too big, but you have to subtract out 11 inches in both height and width to account for the stone that will be inside it.  I didn't realize they were going to frame in the "flare" on the stone, but they did.  At the top of this will be a gable roof that will have exposed cedar beams and decking.

More soffits...  The material you see by the way is a concrete material, it is not wood.  The concrete board isn't worth much structurally, but as a facia on a soffit it is perfect.  The concrete, once painted, is much more stable, holds paint better, and is rot and termite proof.  They have to use a special blade to cut it, and also a special nail.  You have to use a nail gun unless you want to predrill all the holes. 

The soffits in Texas are normally vented to the attic.  Normally they vent them so the air can enter at the roof eves, then run into the attic and vent out the ridge in an attempt to keep the attic temps as low as possible.  A much more energy effecient system is to use a "sealed" attic design, where foam insulation is applied to the space between and over the roof rafters and seals the entire attic.  This does lots of things..

1.  Encapsulates the ductwork, and thus the duct leaks.

2.  Makes the house much more airtight, so you don't have the latent load of constantly condensing moisture out of the air that leaks into the conditioned space.

3.  Allows the ducts and cooling equipment to operate inside the conditioned space, with less energy losses.

4.  Since we don't usually have basements in Texas, our attic storage now becomes air conditioned (the heat in a vented attic space can easily approach 180 degrees F)

5.  Allows exposed plumbing and other equipment in the attic protection from heat and freezing.

6.  Reduces the ceiling joist temperatures, and thus the ceiling sheetrock temperatures, which improve comfort in all seasons.  (raises sheetrock temps in winter)

I could go on...

Note that these soffits are not flat on the bottom either, but angle up with the slope of the gable  (just on certain parts of the house).  I think they look better this way, and my wife absolutely despises when the soffit has a "return" on them.  So they don't.

Some shots of the rear... Sans all the walkways and bracing, which is mostly gone now.  Looks much better.  Yes, the little posts look kind of puny, but they are 4 inches square and can hold an incredible amount of weight.  They will be surrounded by cantera columns, which are hollow in the middle, so they had to be small enough to fit inside the cantera. 

The arches look good I think, and the entire porch is going to do an excellent job of shading the windows...  When you buy your lot, PLEASE do a good job of picking one out that allows you to properly orient your house in relation to the sun.  Ideally, you want a little sun into the windows in winter, and not in the summer (unless you are a Yankee, then you accept more sun).

This is the little porch that extends out the back of the garage.  You can't see it from the street, but it does precisely two things...

1.  Squared off the rear of the house, eliminating an extra ridge and valley in the roofline, and more covered space. 

2.  Gives us a covered area to store our garbage cans.  Yes, laugh if you want, but trash cans inside the garage are just nasty, and if you leave them out where everyone can see them, well, that's nasty too.  So this way we can access them even when it's raining, and pull them to the street (almost 200 feet away) without having to drag them through a gate or door. 

This garage door is about a foot shorter than the others.  I was going to make it only the size of one of those little golf cart doors, but nobody could decide on what dimensions of doors were proper and available, so I changed it to a smaller single door standard size (8 wide 7 tall).

Finally, back to that same shot from the rear of the house.  Roof decking is on in many places, and my guess is now they can work on the chimney a lot easier by just walking up there, so soon the rest of it will be done.

Oh, by the way, over the garage and porch areas we are NOT sealing the attic.  It makes no sense to pay to heat and cool that extra space, so to keep those areas from getting excessively hot (that's a loose term for us in the summer) we are using radiant decking and vented soffits in those areas.  The shiny underneath surface of the radiant decking has a low ability to "emiss" heat in the form of radiant energy, so it can't transmit heat effeciently downward, and leaves the garage and porch attic areas slightly cooler.  A lot of builders use this everywhere in the attic, and then vent the attic (and claim hero status), but when compared to a sealed attic design in terms of energy, the radiant decking is a joke.  I would say realistically, on the hottest day, you are dropping your attic temp from 180 degrees down to 160 degrees, and perhaps not radiating as much energy into the ceiling joists, but I stand firm that a sealed attic design is the ONLY proper choice.

Also, the transition from sealed attic to vented porch/garage is done at kneewalls that are built into the attic.  The framers did an excellent job of covering these kneewalls with OSB so they can foam these from the inside.  I have to make super sure I get all the wires I need (outdoor speakers, lights, etc) into the porch area before they put the ceiling trim in, as it will be my last access to that area EVER.

The cedar also came for the front entry, corbels, and window awning.  This is the ogee that they cut into them.  I wasn't there when they did this, but I am happy with the pattern.  This will be the ends of the rafters that you see.  The freshly cut cedar smells yummy.  These are 4x6 beams, and the top beam will be a 4x12.

Ok, in case you are wondering how we can afford this house... Here is the answer, especially for you young ones trying to figure out how to manage your money and your life...  This truck is the first new car we ever bought, and we still own it.  In 23 years of marriage, we have bought 3 new cars total, and only 3 cars total, and we still own, drive, and maintain those same 3.  We last bought furniture about 12 years ago (yes, we need some more)  We also don't smoke, drink (ok, maybe a beer at a superbowl party), get fired, get arrested, or do drugs...ever.  Girls and boys, pick your spouse wisely, and once you find them put enough work into your marriage to stay that way.  Pay yourself first, invest your money, finish your education and then get some more.  Ladies, stay out of the mall.  Guys, stay out of the bars.  Always stay out of the casino.   Mow your own grass, or have your lazy kid do it. 

Wow, I'm going crazy...  OK, I'll stop.... 

My dad helped me with some really nasty trash after they left a lot of black plastic in the trash pile.  We are hauling off our own trash.  It saves money, but more importantly, gives me a reason to be there all the time.  Speaking of, the board pile has grown significantly.  We went out today and organized the good board pile, but the trash boards need sorting...

and yes, the truck came clean with a quick 4 quarters worth of pressure washing.

Later this week...  Window flashing, windows, and hopefully finish the framing.   Met with the roofer to go over the roofing underlayment options, and a 3 person mutual decision to use a storm guard rubberized membrane.  I was skeptical about the black color, and wanted something reflective or light color to reduce radiant emissions from the tile to the roof deck, but the products that are available aren't nearly as tough and water tight as the storm guard (it will not ever leak, and I don't want to ever see it again after the tile is down), and for the extra cost of adding a radiant barrier between the tile and roof deck I can just add more insulation on the underside of the roof.  Clay tile also does a better job of staying cool than concrete tile, as I understand it is a better insulator than concrete.  There is also an air space between the tile and the membrane, and even though heat transfers convectively and radiantly, it is far less than what would transfer in terms of conduction between the traditional Texas black asphalt shingle and the roof deck...  Texas people, please stop using black asphalt roofs on your homes (the history on this, by the way, is that the black color matches the mildew that will soon form, but it costs you thousands of dollars in energy bills).  Please put on a tile or metal roof, preferably one light in color.  If you must use asphalt shingles, select a lighter color.

Sorry, rant over...

I'd better go to bed...I'm grouchy.