Framing & Roof

When last we looked in the middle of December, the framing of the basement had just been completed. We now have a roof and work is accelerating. But, I get ahead of myself.

The next step was to layout and attach the floor joists on top of the basement framing. This was a straightforward operation with all the joists being layed down in parallel. Except, of course, for the little bit of character our designer had added. He suggested a slight overhang on the east side to break up the vertical wall and, also, shield the basement door from the rain. That required adding some perpendicular stub joists to support the overhang. The stub joists are anchored in the metal supports shown below left and extend out over the lower level as seen below right.

The right picture also shows the next construction step of attaching plywood to the joists to form the main level floor. We could now walk on the main level and view the surroundings from the height we will eventually experience them.

Next came the walls for the main level. At left, the west wall is in place and the north wall is being built on the floor before it is raised into position. Also shown is an overall view with most of the exterior walls up.

The interior walls were also framed at this time. To the left is a view down the hallway to the master bedroom. The big opening behind the ladder will be the sliding doors to the deck. While the framing was going on, Ralph, our contractor, roughed in the stairwell so we could get from the lower level to the main level.

With the walls up, we needed a roof. The muddy slope caused a problem in getting the crane into place, but a little help from the a bulldozer did the trick. It was then able to lift the prebuilt trusses and lay them out in four piles on top of the framed walls.

The framing team managed to get all the trusses up in one day (left). Putting on the plywood took a bit longer and experienced some downpours. It was so dark on this day that the camera triggered the flash which you see here reflecting off of raindrops.

Luckily the sun was out the next day and partially dried the roof before the roofer layed down the tar paper that goes underneath the shingles. This is a view of the east side of the house. The set of four openings are for the living room windows. The openings to the right of those are for the door and windows in the master bedroom. Here you can also see the white trim lumber that covers the eaves.

That brings us up to date which is in fact January 25, 2003.