TRUSS ME (part 2)

TRUSS ME (part 2)

Continuing on with the roof trusses...

The Truss Jig is in place. The Compression Ring is holding the hip trusses. The Tension Collar is positioned so it can be bolted.

The jacks were added as well as the sub fascia board.

Next - plywood. All the plywood for the roof comes pre-cut, the same way it arrived for the floor. It is also treated for mold and termite prevention.

Alan and Jim get into some pretty scary positions as they add the first layer of plywood. I'm a bit freaked out as I watch, but I'm sure it is just another day at the office for them.

After the first ring of plywood is added it is covered with a paper. The paper has a texture that makes it easier to walk on.

One of the things I have noticed with building a home is that things don't happen one at a time from start to finish. Sometimes two or three things are happening simultaneously.

We receive another delivery from Brand Vaughan while the plywood was being added to the roof trusses: 2x4s for interior wall framing, plywood for the floor, a stack of 2" thick foam for the basement floor insulation, wire mesh for the poured concrete floor in the basement, and other stuff.

Can you read Matthew's shirt? It says STRENGTH LIES WITHIN. I love that. I asked Matthew if I could get one of their shirts and he said he would see if he could bring me one on the next delivery.

You may have noticed a few photos back that the guys were using a skinny ramp to enter our house.

That ended with this delivery from Brand Vaughan. Alan made a new ramp.

Six rings of plywood. There is still an opening at the top because it receives a cupola.

A few days later the whole roof is covered with paper.

We are now DRY!

I know, we still have a few holes in the walls: three door openings and one full height window. But, if it rains there won't be any rain coming in through the roof.

Now the crew can remove the jig and secure the tension collar.

Jig gone and collar secured.

TRUSS ME

TRUSS ME

What is really wild about a Deltec home is that there are no interior bearing walls. What this means is that you can put the interior walls any where you want because none of the roof trusses bear on them. The trusses are only supported by the exterior wall and a center ring and collar hold them in place. You may be thinking, Yeah, right! Or you may be thinking, Cool!

It is pretty amazing so here are the photos starting with the work to get the walls ready.

Jim Burleson (on the right) and Johnny put in the top corner plates.

Harry installs some of the pre-cut top plates that the jacks and one of the hip trusses will rest on.

Bobby Coxe, the crane operator who helped with all the floor trusses is back - with watermelon and doughnuts - and lowers the compression ring into place while Jim B. positions it over the truss jig.   

  

The trusses are lowered into place and Jim B. nails each one to the compression ring through pre-drilled holes in the ring.

The corner hip trusses are added first and nailed into the compression ring - alternating corners.

The space starts to get really tight for Jim as more corner hip trusses are added. Harry positions the truss over the corner of the wall. It doesn't sit on the top plate it sits between them and has a block of wood that has already been pre-cut and nailed to the truss.

Jim B. moves to the top of the trusses and continues nailing them into the top of the compression ring while Johnny nails them in below and Harry positions the truss over the top plate. The hip trusses in the center of the wall fit into a notch that is created in the Deltec factory.

Before all the hip trusses are added Jim and Johnny position the Tension Collar. It is a steel collar that is bolted around the inside top and bottom of the trusses where they press against the Compression Ring. It is the dark steel collar you can see at the center of the photo.

You can see the Tension Collar and a few of the bolts as well as the top part of the truss jig.

The base of the jig sits on a steel plate on the floor. It is adjustable so that when the first truss goes in the crew can make sure the height is correct. It stays in position until both Tension Collars are securely bolted in place all the Jacks are added and plywood is nailed down on top of the trusses.

The crews day ended after the hip trusses were installed.

Jacks are trusses that are attached to the hip (in this case each corner hip) and then extend down to the top plate.

By the time we arrived on this day all the jacks had been installed and the crew was almost finished attaching the sub fascia board (the strip of wood that all the trusses in this picture are connecting to).

Alan adds a truss anchor to each truss. They are sort of like like hurricane clips. They keep the roof truss anchored to the wall in the event of high winds.

There is more...see part 2

SHOCKING!

SHOCKING!

Al told us that it would be 4 weeks before we would get power on our property. I phoned Progress Energy on July 5. Two days later Dane and Jason from Haynes Electric Utility Corporation arrived and began putting in our temporary electric pole. It was inspected and then we waited. I called Progress Energy – we are on the schedule.

Al said, “It will be 4 weeks.” Jay arrived from Progress Energy and said, “You need a transformer.”  We knew that, we told the inspector and gave him the specifics on our house.

I called Progress Energy again – we are on the schedule. Al said, "It will be 4 weeks." 

The house began going up so quickly I called Progress Energy again on the morning of August 1st. I was told that it could take up to 6 weeks and I mentioned that the house would be completed by then and we would need regular power and no longer need the temporary. The person on the other line was shocked so I explained that we are building a Deltec and they go up in a week. I impressed her but she didn’t change her answer – we are on the schedule. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t call to complain; I was only hoping that they might be able to tell me when someone would arrive.

That afternoon Haynes Electric arrived again with a 4 man crew (one day short of 4 weeks) and they hooked up our power. Yeah, progress (no pun intended – again). Jerry and Raymond arrived first. Jeremy was the one who worked from the bucket to install the transformer and attach the wires and Darrell helped out handing stuff up to Jeremy. They were done in a flash.

The sad news was that we still won’t have power until the line is inspected and the meter is installed.

The very next day Dillon, an inspector, arrived and cleared us for receiving the meter. Then, to our surprise, Jay, the original guy from Progress, arrived that afternoon and hooked up our meter. It took about 5 seconds to plug it in and about 2 seconds for the framing crew to plug in their compressor for the nail guns. Exactly 4 weeks to the day we are up and running with power. And it is our hope that in several more weeks we will be making power with solar and pv panels and sending power back to Progress Energy.

Our temporary box rests on the pole to the left until a hold is dug.

First, second and third attempts didn't result in a hole deep enough with out hitting solid rock first.

The fourth dig was finally successful.

Dane and Jason set the pole and pre wired for incoming electric.

Jeremy adds the transformer.

Raymond ad Darrell connect the wires to our temporary pole and box.

Jay installs the meter! We got power!

  

HERE'S THE WALLS, YA'LL

Here’s The Walls, Ya’ll

Friday, just before 11am, our framing crew started un-stacking the pre-built wall panels and lifting them, one by one, into place around the perimeter of the floor. Again the crane came in handy because each panel weighs between 300 and 800 pounds depending on if it includes windows and siding. Can you imagine having to lift these by hand and maneuver up a skinny ramp and balancing them on the outer edge of the floor while trying to level and secure them in place? Even with all our man power, that would have been tough and dangerous.

Panel “A”, our front door, went first and the crew took a lunch break. After lunch they pushed through for about 2 hours installing the remaining 14 panels. Many of our blogs take longer to write and edit than the assembly jobs have taken. The crew really busted there behinds getting the floor and walls up in just two days. They just came off another job site and they worked hard in the summer sun.

The Incredible Hulk showed up to help finish the job.

Actually the non-toxic wood surface treatment has a tendency to rub off on sweaty hands.

We were hoping our "green" philosophy would rub off on others, but this is a little ridiculous.

WE WERE FLOORED - part 2

Oops, it posted before I was ready. Bad Google, bad google!
So let's continue...
Here is the fast version of the plywood and ribbon boards.

The earlier bracing is removed and replaced with ribbon board at the top and bottom of the trusses.

Jim and Al mark the floor to ensure proper placement of the walls (a, b, c...). "A" is the front door.

            Straps - called bridging - are installed on each truss, connecting each to the other and helping stabilize the floor.

Hips & Jacks

There are 15 hip floor trusses - the longest in the middle, 15 intermediate hip trusses, and 30 jacks.

A view of the floor trusses from below. The basement feels really huge.

Each sheet of plywood is fastened to the floor trusses with PL 400 Sub Floor Adhesive and nailed.

Almost done.

One small ring of plywood and a center plate remain. But this is where they stopped for the day so they could install the walls. (see next blog post)

WE WERE FLOORED!

We Were Floored!

Way back on February 28th when we signed the contract to have our home built and delivered by the end of July, that date looked a long way away. Well, here we are and the home and almost all its many pieces showed up today (July 28^th). Our framing crew rolled in at 7 am and assembled the floor system between unloading the delivery trailers. We got up at 5 am to make our 1 ¾ hour trek from Franklin, stopping for donuts on the way. The weather gods shown on us favorably with sunny skies.

We were very pleased to see the project start on time, even a little ahead of schedule because normally delivery and unloading is done all at once from one big truck and we had smaller loads brought in by trailer due to site access difficulties.  A special thanks to Al, our contractor for putting everything in place to meet our delivery deadline. He had less than 5 weeks to organize the build due to our 2 month closing delay.

I actually sat back and watched the work proceed; even though there was a strong temptation to jump in and help. I hate being idle while others labor. However, I did help with a couple of building panels as the crane lowered them to the ground for temporary storage. Edrianna kept busy photo documenting the eventful day.

On Friday morning the crew finished with the floor and just prior to lunch and then started assembling the wall panels (see next blog). The last two trailer loads of parts showed up as well.

Here is the fast version of the floor trusses going in.

More details, extra photos and commentary provided below.

Here is an update for you “Bears” fans. Our resident Ursa Major or who we have named until we can determine the gender, Buddy Bear, has shown up twice this week. Once while our carpenters were eating lunch and the next day around 7 am below the house on the edge of the woods. Buddy does not seem to be put off by the construction noise and I’m sure he will be a regular fixture as soon as it really quiets down. Please do not let this be a reason not to come and visit us in the future. We will supply all visitors with a bear proofing kit which consists of an open can of tuna, a “Mr. Ranger Sir” cap and a jar of honey. Or for the squeamish: bear spray, whistle and a very long stick. We are looking for a volunteer to get close to Buddy to verify its sex. Good luck with that!

All kidding aside - we are taking the Bear thing seriously (Edrianna made me add this).

The crane opperator, Bobby, also arrived with doughnuts and watermellon for an afternoon snack - very appreciated by the crew on a hot summer day.

The crew (Jim, Alan, Johnny, Harry, Jerry and Mitchell) install the center post that will support the floor trusses.

Rebar for the post footer was laid earlier in the week, inspected, and then the concrete was poured.

A lot of work went into making sure it was level and at the exact elevation with the walls. You may remember the Bench Mark being mentioned when the house was laid out. It was set in concrete before the Superior Walls arrived and the pole bolts into it.

  

Al, our Builder on the left, and Boyd, the driver from Deltec discussig the next delivery loads.

This load consists of floor trusses and the first layer of 5/8" plywood. It is all green because it is coated. Jim mentioned this in an earlier blog.

 All the trusses in place with bracing and top ribbon board.

Danny and Jim looking very serious.

Boyd brings load 2 from Deltec - 10 of our 15 walls.