Window Awning

How cool is this thing?  If it were up to me, I would have probably forgot this was even on the plan, my brain is all over the place, one minute picking up crooked nails and sawdust, and the next minute fielding lumber orders and writing multi thousand dollar checks...

Anyway, the framers were rightly proud of their craft on this one.  They started by cutting out the outler layer of ICF foam, and then using concrete anchor bolts to attach a 2x6 ledger board, and then started adding layers of cedar.  I crack up watching them, because they make things look really easy using tools that are pretty crude in comparison to what is available.  My buddy and me have had lots of emails and phone calls discussing how to best cut the corbels...  Obviously, we need to buy a great big bandsaw, get some beer, pipe music or football into the garage, carefully measure...  etc. 

Not the framers....  skillsaw, recip saw, and a belt sander.  And they look very nice.  The guys even cut the wide sweep radius on the support brace.  The decking for this awning is more 2x6 T&G select prime.  And since they were worried the tile guys would shoot nails through it, they added a layer of plywood to the top of decking (makes it thick enough the nails can't penetrate the bottom), and then ripped concrete board to match exactly the drip edge dimensions so nothing can rot. 

Here is another shot that shows underneath a little better.  Tile goes on top... 

Mama likes it!

Yes, I still have a lot of flashing to do.  As much as I like the framers, their flashing skills are fragile.  They had definitely refined their technique on flashing the window before installation, though.  Today, when they set the big dining room window, which was 7 feet wide by 8 tall, they really impressed me with the flash job.  Of course, they even whipped out their measure sticks for everything and marked it all off. 

Tomorrow I need to get all the windows that are NOT covered flashed on the exterior.  I can wait on the ones covered under the porch areas...

The framers are done,  I think...  There are a few minor things that may need looked at, but I will wait until the inspector has a go before I make my list. 

Hauled off 2 loads of trash today, which was mostly window wrappings...cardboard, plastic, flashing backing, and roof debris.  Didn't even dent the board pile.  So, I think I will resort to a service for some help on the board pile.  My time is worth far more than they charge, and my little bitty truck just doesn't carry much.  Getting the paper type trash out was a priority, though, in case it rains.

OK, I am rambling...  Sorry. 

Have a great weekend.

Windows, Exterior Doors, Peek at the Tile

Another 2 MAJOR progress days.

Seems like right now if you blink you miss something major.  Today the windows were scheduled for delivery.  For most people building a house, this is probably a fun moment where you get to see what your windows will actually look like.  For me, it meant trying to figure out how to properly flash the window opening both before and after the window was installed.  More on that below, but here is the result of a half installed 2x2 archtop Jeldwen Window, on a 3 inch ICF recess.  (put all that in there for the Google seach)

Mainly what you see right now is flashing, stickers, and pastic protection strips.  The windows have a protective film over them to keep the glass from getting scratched.  The actual frame sits about an inch behind the face of the ICF, and with the stucco coming out another inch, I think they will look great both inside and out (I just now realize I don't have a picture of the inside to show)

So, just on the unlikely premise that anyone actually reads this blog to get ideas on how to flash a window... Here is mine...  It's not perfect, but it's what I call due diligence.  I used a combination of mfm straight 9 inch window wrap in conjunction with their 9 inch FLEX.  Here are the steps...

1.  1 foot Flex wrap bottom left and right, install with dogear facing down only in recess

2.  Straight flashing across bottom of recess

3.  1 foot flex bottom left and right inside corner, overlaps steps 1 and 2

4.  Straight flash across bottom of window opening, overlaps steps 1-3.

5.  Straight flash up sides entire cavity from midpoint of buck depth following the contour out.

6.  Install window with high quality polyurethane sealant liberally at sides and top only.

At this point, the picture doesn't show the following steps.

7.  Side flashing with straight flash nailing fin left and right

8.  Corner flash top left and right with 1 foot each flex.

9.  Finally, straight flash the top from nailing fin upwards.  If you are flashing an arch top, then use Flex

Note:  This house doesn't have house wrap on most of it because it is ICF, but if you have house wrap, then you have to integrate that too.  From what I researched, you cut an upside down martini glass, then fold in the sides and bottom and staple to the inside.  Then basically do what I did here.  The top of the house wrap gets pulled up out of the way until the window is installed and flashed, and then it folds down over the flashing and is skip taped.  Always work from the bottom up.  Even if you don't have a recessed window the flex wrap is good because it allows you to bend an outside corner without any holes.  The basic rule is that water should shed down and always out.  Never trap the water, and shed it to the outside of the housewrap.

It takes a LOT of time to do this.  Took me all day to do about 14 windows, and I was working as fast as I could.  I showed the framers what I wanted done... got a couple of flat stares, but by the end of the day they were on board after they had done a few. 

Ok, that horse is dead.

From the back.  My entire house now looks like a Jeldwen advertisement.  These windows are a fixed window over an awning casement.  Keeps the view from standing height good, yet still allows you to open the bottom.  Kids rooms up front had to have egress requirements, so we had to use double hung windows there and in the guest. 

Exterior doors also came.  This is the only Alder exterior door that we have, and I am quite frankly a little nervous about it swelling and contracting in our profuse climate.  My buddy tells me this gets better after they have the door stained and sealed.

The other doors are fiberglass due to their exposure.  They will be stained (except the garage door).  This door is bigger than it looks, it is 36 inches wide and 8 feet tall, it is on the back of the house from the powder bath hallway out to the rear porches, and it COMPLETELY protected from rain and sun...otherwise, I would have used a fiberglass door.

The roof guys worked all day again.  They already had the vast majority of underlayment down, but today they worked away at all the flashings.  This shows a little preview of the Claymex tile (not our colors, but the same shape and size).  They are also laying out red lines where the tile will go.  Much more prep work than I anticipated.  I had not had much chance to chat with these guys, too busy down below, but they are extremely nice and were very proud of their work.  The rubber underlayment is much harder than I thought it would be.  Doesn't feel soft at all when you walk on it.  By the way, I am a complete chicken up there.  My roof pitch is only a 5/12, which is pretty flat for around here... Anything more and I wouldn't go up there.  Another pet peeve of mine...  Too high pitched roofs...  They look good for some architecture, and I'll give them a pass if you do a nice tile or shake, but with asphalt shingles they look goofy...  You can drive through my existing neighborhood and all you see is roof.

Looking East.  Nothing but trees in all directions.  This picture shows more of the work the roofers have done.  They had to lay out the ridge board, which is where the tile gets "capped" at the top.  This board is flashed with what looks like tar paper, but it is something a little more advanced than that. 

To contrast the window flashing, same is true up here.  Flash for the water starting low and working up.  The difference here is that in a hard rain, there are hundreds of rivers up here with serious water coming down.  Nothing for an amateur like me to attempt.  The valley flashings here are attached, and then mesh and mastic forces any water on the underlayment onto the flashing for a very fast ride down.

Our tile is going to be a blend... Claymex Monterosso Blend, to be exact, which is a vast blend of earth tone colors, everything from almost white to plum, reds, and browns.  I am a fan of clay tile over concrete for both performance reasons and even more so for looks.  Check out the little channels in this tile that allow the water to escape down and out without getting trapped in the tile.  Very cool.

Underneath, the tile is ribbed for strength...and maybe for pleasure (hey, they have to come from somewhere).  Clay tile is much stronger than concrete, as it is a fired product.  Also holds it's color much better over time.  It also has some insulation value to it, although pretty minor.  OH, it also doesn't need batten boards to hold in in postion.  Concrete tile has an "ear" than hangs over these battens to hold it up.  Our tile will sit right on the roofdeck, for better or worse.

Don't get me wrong, though, I'm not a clay tile snob, I'm a tile roof snob.  A concrete roof tile is still an awesome roof.  Talking to these guys today, it sounds like the key to the whole thing is keeping people off of your roof...  Uh, satellite guy, don't even think about going up there. 

Ok, it's been 48 hours since my body has seen a real bed, so I am going there now...

Till later.

Exposed Cedar Beams...

A couple of days ago the special order cedar and 2x6 pine tounge and groove material came in for the front porch.  Today they got to the big moment to put all this up.  I had been led to believe that this was all going to be a cake walk and they had it all figured out...   Well, in the end, we all stood there with tape measures and pencils and tried to figure this thing out... Turns out, that the beams were fine, but the spacing didn't quite work out over the front stone area, and thus would look uneven from the outside.  Now, I tried to convince them that sometimes things like this add visual interest...when your eye catches these things it causes you to look harder, and you end up seeing more details.  No go... 

So, after about 30 minutes, the decision was made that they would put a regular framed roof over this area, but hide the entire assembly with the cedar and pine...  What you see here is the result, or at least the beginning.  5 evenly spaced 4x6 cedar under the bigger 4x12 cedar ridge beam.  The outside of this area will get soffits and then the cedar will appear to extend out from the wall under the soffits, but in fact they will just be decorative. 

There are several advantages to this approach... They will use less cedar, less 2x6, and we stand no chance of nails penetrating from the roof down through the cedar.  There will also be a place to hide wires for lights.  Also, the roofer added concern that he needed a "rake" on the front to attach the tiles to so they wouldn't try to "roll" off the front.  So, in the end, I think everyone is happy. 

And, it's georgous!!

From this next picture you can see they have now put osb all the way up the gable.  The soffits will be on in the morning, I'm sure.

The shape of this looks much better now and not so goofy, but remember this whole assembly will be covered in real stone, so it will look a lot more substantial.  (and the window will appear to shrink, which it should)

Top view... Yes, I climbed up on the roof.  It's actually quite pleasant to walk around up there, only a 5/12 pitch makes you feel pretty safe.  But, even though it's just a single story, it would be best to have nobody fall off...

Looking about 45 degrees left from the last picture, sighting over the higher portions of the roofline.  There are a lot of ridges and valleys.  I like it this way, breaks things up.  The weather today was just on the verge of misting all day.  Not cold, but certainly not dry.  Tonight we missed a HUGE band of thunderstorms which cut just north on the radar...  Last thing we need here is more rain.

Here, the cupola over the Master Bath is started.  Looks cute so far...

Ah, but at the end of the day, I don't like it as much.  Starting to look like they are going to oversize the soffit on this cupola too much.  I will meet them early AM tomorrow and have them shrink the overhang down a bit on this. 

It kills me to interfere in what they are doing, but these little things can bug you to death, and it's very easy to correct it now.

Tomorrow is a big day... 

First, have to have the cupola meeting, which means out there early...  Then, have to assemble the pocket door frames (5 of them), then haul a load of trash to the dump, then off to storage to get the window wrap and some more tools, then back to sample wrap a window for the guys to follow. 

The window wrap, or flashing, is more complicated than normal, because I am trying to tend to the recessed ledge at all 4 corners, and keep that area from leaking in addition to the window opening itself.  So, we are using a fairly expensive product that allows you to "flex" it around the corners.  Probably overkill, but I am trying to be prudent.

OH, then work all night tomorrow night, after I pick up some fireplace parts on my way into the city... 

Windows are coming Thursday about the time I get back.  Exterior doors too perhaps.  I will want to fall into a pile at some point that day...

Have a great day...

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.