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Building Your Dream Home Part 3
b>Exterior Framing
Continues
I should comment briefly about
the sub-floor and exterior walls
With the home's sub-floor down before I move on.
and the exterior walls framed and
up, the framing crew was on to I decided on using "¾" tongue and
the roof. Though the roof was groove plywood for the
rather simple in structure with sub-flooring rather than
just a 12/12 pitch and no valleys OSB/particle board as I was
it was a significant framing concerned that the OSB was too
undertaking due to just the size sensitive to moisture. I was
and height of it. The house was concerned about this, both from
32 feet wide by 44 feet in the construction phase and from
length, and the exterior side normal home use. I was concerned
walls stood 11 feet tall in the that during the construction
great room. This exterior wall phase that snow and ice could
height of 11 feet translated into potentially lead to damage such
a roof ridge that was 27 feet off as warping. I have seen this
the floor of the great room. before when OSB was used on
Consequently staging was required sub-flooring. I was also
to install the ridge pole and concerned that during the life of
roof rafters. In addition, since the home, that there could be
the span from the top of the water incidents, e.g. a leaking
walls to the ridge was so long, dishwasher or washer machine that
heavy 2x12s were required for the also could also lead to water
roof rafters. Within a week, damage to the floor. I also
however, the team had completed believe that plywood is stronger
the installation of the roof and that it would provide for a
rafters and the house began to more solid and rigid floor.
take on real shape.
Regarding the exterior wall for stronger construction plywood
framing I used 2x6 construction. is the way to go.
This is typical in New England as
the additional wall depth allows The sheathing effort took about a
for higher insulation factors; a week to complete. During this
must in colder climates. time exterior doors and windows
showed up on the site. Staging
Sheathing the Outside of the the delivery of material reduces
Home theft and insurance risk as well
as keeps a less cluttered
In order to get plumbing and construction site. However, as I
electric contractors onto a site have indicated earlier,
typically they want the home communication is critical when
"buttoned up". This includes the you are doing "Just-in-Time"
roof shingled and the doors and material delivery.
windows on. Thus my framing crew
moved onto the exterior sheathing Installing Exterior Doors and
once the walls and roof framing Windows
were complete.
The installation of the doors and
As with the sub-floor, I again windows was a major undertaking
chose plywood for the exterior for this project as the lake side
sheathing for the same reasons view of the home was literally a
mentioned earlier. On the wall of windows; 32 feet in width
exterior walls "½" exterior grade and 27 feet in height. A great
plywood was used. On the roof deal of engineering had gone into
5/8" exterior grade plywood was the window design so that the 10
used. I know many builders today large custom windows would fit
use OSB for both the walls and together like a jig saw puzzle.
roof, however, I still believe This said, when the windows
arrived on site and were bedrooms and closet areas. Within
inspected, it was determined that just a few days the interior
some of them were not built walls were complete and the
correctly to the dimensions framing crew proceeded onto the
specified. After much debate with roof for the shingling.
the framing crew, the window
vendor and me we reached a I should note that 2x4
compromise on sharing the cost of construction was used on the
fixing the windows. The window interior walls as insulation was
vendor took back the improperly not required on the interior
sized windows and the framing walls.
crew began the installation of
the doors and what windows they Shingling the Roof
could install. Fortunately the
window vendor was able to return The last task to complete before
to the site with the properly the house could be classified as
sized windows within a few days "Buttoned Up" was to install the
and the construction phase did shingles on the roof. Fortunately
not miss a beat. my framing crew was also able to
do this task, thus eliminating
Completing the Interior the need for yet another
Framing subcontractor.
With the doors and windows I chose a 30 year architectural
installed, the framing crew shingle due to the quality and
proceeded to complete the look I was trying to achieve on
Interior Framing. This was an the home.
exciting time, as the rooms began
to take real shape. You could now Though relatively a simple roof,
walk down hallways and into it was quite large and the
weather was less than hospitable. I had met a few days before on
Consequently it took nearly 2 site with the Electric
weeks to complete this task. subcontractor to discuss the
However, with the roof complete, placement of all the wall outlets
my electric and plumbing and switches, as well as where
contractors were now able to the light fixtures would be
begin their work. situated. During our discussion
he marked the wall studs for the
Also, with the main house now placements of the electric wiring
structurally complete, the boxes so that we could visualize
framing crew moved onto the the entire electric wiring
garage framing and construction scheme. We also marked where the
phase. As a result of staging the telephone and cable boxes would
garage behind the main home reside.
construction phase, I was able to
have subcontractors work in During the electrical rough in
parallel without getting in each wiring phase, the electrician
others way. installed all the wiring boxes
and ran wire from the boxes to
Rough Electric and where the main circuit panel box
Plumbing would reside.
With the house "Buttoned-Up", my Rough Plumbing
Electric and Plumber
subcontractors showed up to begin As with the Electrical
the roughing in phase of their Subcontractor, I had met several
respective tasks. weeks earlier with the Plumbing
Contractor. During this meeting
Rough Electric we discussed the form of heat for
the home, as well as where the
bathrooms and kitchen were to and Rough Plumbing contractors
reside in the home. We also had completed their tasks and had
discussed types of bathroom successfully passed their
fixtures including tubs, sinks respective inspections.
and toilets. Consequently, when
he showed up on site he new To Be Continued ...
exactly where to run main drain
and supply pipes and vent stacks. In Part 4 of "Building Your Dream
He also roughed in all of the House", Electric and Plumbing
plumbing for each bathroom and continue and the Kitchen Design
kitchen plumbing fixture. is explained. Stay tuned...
Within a week both the Electrical
About the Author:
Over the past 20+ years Mr. Donovan has been involved with building homes and additions to homes. His projects have included: building a vacation home, building additions and garages on to existing homes, and finishing unfinished homes. For More information http://homeadditionplus.com and
http://homeaddition.blogspot.com.
Source: www.isnare.com
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