Posts filed under 'construction'
My unusual paneling in the bedroom is done, except for filling nail-holes and the final coat of paint. It adds real character to the room.
1.25-inch-thick by 5.5-inch-wide yellow pine boards form the horizontal pieces. 1 inch by 3.5 inch boards are the verticals. The difference in thickness makes a nice reveal and shadowlines. Behind all that trim is the “A” side of panels of plywood. The wood grain still shows through the white paint on the plywood.
The third photo also shows the pale green wall color that will be used on the rest of the room. Click to enlarge.
October 26th, 2006
The drywall crew from Delmarva Drywall and Plaster finished installing that stuff on Monday. They were delayed a couple days because wet weather prevented the skim coat from drying completely.
Then we began the wood paneling on the south walls, upstairs and down. This isn’t that horrible cheapo stuff people used to put in the “den”. No, definitely not. We’re putting up smooth-faced plywood and trimming extensively with some nice wide yellow pine. It’s difficult to describe, but trust me, it will make for a really nice accent wall in the living room and bedroom.
With all the walls up, it was time to slap primer on everything. I actually have to do a careful job priming the paneling and all the windows, so it takes a while. And I hate painting.
October 21st, 2006
The insulation crew was supposed to arrive Friday morning, but didn’t get here until 12:30. They came all the way from Williamsburg, which is quite a hike, but they didn’t get an early start either. Anyway … they arrived in two big trucks.
The first thing they did was to cover windows, doors, electric recepticles, etc with plastic or tape. This protects them from the spray foam insulation.
Then the real fun started. Polyurethane spray foam insulation was shot onto the walls and ceilings. It’s a closed cell foam that quickly dries hard and sturdy. The foam is a vapor barrier and seals all the cracks and holes in the structure.
An inch of the foam insulation went onto the walls and ceiling. It could be used to fill the entire wall, but this closed-cell stuff is expensive, so they used another product behind it.
Cellulose insulation was used to fill the walls and ceiling behind the foam. Cellulose is relatively inexpensive but still has pretty good thermal insulation properties (3.4 R per inch) and excellent sound absorption properties. Damp cellulose is blown on the walls. Netting was stapled to the roof rafters to hold the cellulose packed up there.
You can see that the blown cellulose makes a terrific mess. While one guy blows it in, another guy shovels up the excess, hauls it back out to the truck, and it gets blown back through the machine for another chance to stick on the wall.
The end result is walls and ceilings packed tight with insulation. The house seems “hushed” now, and it doesn’t cool off much overnight. Brilliant!
The crew also put plastic on the ground in my crawl space to control rising dampness. Plain old fiberglass batt insulation was put under my floor. They also sprayed a non-expanding foam around my windows. They even caulked where the walls meet the floor and where two outside walls meet. It was a very thorough job.
They didn’t finish until 11 pm. A late night for all.
I’m happy with my new insulation. It cost about twice what it would’ve cost me to buy fiberglass batts, but this did a much better job of sealing air infiltration … and I didn’t have to do it myself.
October 3rd, 2006
Prior to the arrival of the insulation crew, we cleared out all the building materials and assorted junk that had accumulated in the house. It’s a small house, but we had a lot of stuff and grime in there. So the clean-up was a good thing.
Here are photos of the house post-clean-up but pre-insulation. Bare naked house.
October 2nd, 2006
I’ve been putting extension jambs on my Andersen windows, and I’ve come to the conclusion that that company is very strange. The extension jambs for my Andersen awning windows are great. They fit in grooves on the window and are pre-drilled. In other words, placement is idiot-proof and attaching them with 3.5″ trim-head nails or screws is easy.
Putting extension jambs on Andersen double-hung windows, on the other hand, is not so easy. There is no groove and the jambs aren’t pre-drilled.
Don’t the product designers at that company ever talk to one another? Maybe the double-hung window guys are sociopaths. They must be the same ones that designed the awful Andersen patio doors.
End of rant. Extension jambs explained: My walls are made from 2×6 lumber. Andersen windows are made to fit walls made with 2×4s. Extension jambs are small pieces of wood trim that make up the difference between the depth of the wall and the depth of the window. Now you know.
September 26th, 2006
We built front and back steps, so it’s much easier to get in the house now. The process is much like building a deck — the back steps have a little landing that is a mini deck. The back is made from all pressure-treated pine. The front steps (which have no landing) have mahogany treads. Nice.
Neither set of steps is completely finished, which is typical of us. The front needs a top piece for the handrails and copper caps for the posts. I plan to buy both this weekend. We’ll leave the railings off the back steps until large appliances and furniture are moved in. It’ll be much easier to get the stuff in without the railings there.
The photo of the front steps also shows how we’ve enclosed the end of the first-floor porch that faces the street. This is a design feature that appears on all Charleston Single House style homes. It’s nice on my house because it will block the hot southern sun in the summer. I’ve ordered a louvered door to fit in that opening.
In other news … all the shingles are on the roof. A heavy rain gave it a test and there were no leaks. We passed the electric and plumbing inspections with no problems. Yippee! The insulation contractor will be here next Thursday; all the way from across the Bay. He’ll spray all the insulation in one day, which should be interesting. I’ll take plenty of photos.
Click the house pics to enlarge.
September 22nd, 2006
We’ve finished the siding (thank goodness); it was getting to be tedious. Well … there’s actually still a little to do on the upstairs porch, but that doesn’t count. The Hardiplank siding looks good, but I’ve got two suggestions for the manufacturer: make longer lengths so there will be fewer seams and make more variations in grain patterns. The silica dust is annoying, even when using shears to cut the planks. I can’t imagine the dust clouds that would be created if you used a saw to cut this stuff. Wear eye protection!
The electrician and the plumbers have zipped through their rough-ins, and both are ready for inspection. It’s great to see progess on the inside of the house — and the bathtub is even in place.
Marshall and I are finally putting shingles on the main part of the house. The tarpaper had a nice long “test” and even with all the rain we only had one tiny leak. Click the photos to enlarge.
September 7th, 2006
Well, the weather forecasters got that one wrong. They predicted we’d get a lot of rain but little wind from Ernesto here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Instead we got gusts of up to 60 mph, along with 7 inches of rain. Count ‘em 7.
The wind blew the metal roof off the historic Cokesbury Church in Onancock, but the tar-paper on my roof stayed put. Go figure.
A tiny bit of rain blew in the cracks of my unfinished house. But the plumbers let more water in. They actually tried to work on Friday during the storm, and dragged my tub into the house. Naturally some water was dragged in too. They also opened the upstairs patio door (for ventilation?) and some rain blew in there too.
I hate sub-contractors.
September 3rd, 2006
We continue to put up siding and trim. The house trim (20′ long cornerboards, window trim, patio door trim, @#$!% vinyl soffits) is a time eater.
The front of the house is the first side we’ve done that is too wide to span with a single 12′ Hardiplank siding board (yes, this is a small house). As recommended by the manufacturer, we butt factory-finished ends together and put flashing behind the joint. Easy, but it does require cutting the correct end, which I’ve messed up a couple times. No biggie — we used those boards elsewhere.
Siding inside the first floor porch is done; just more trim work to do there. Upstairs has a long way to go. The porches aren’t a priority, but I work on them when I don’t have anything else to do.
The little pieces around the front windows consumed almost all of the small cut pieces that had been piling up. Excellent. Very little waste from the siding so far.
August 27th, 2006
We’re working our way around the house at our usual glacial pace. Green siding (Hardiplank heathered moss) is on 3 more walls, along with the trim (Azek cornerposts and window trim), and soffits. We did the roof shingles on the east side of the kitchen, so that’s complete now. The Cor-a-vent ridge vent was fairly simple to attach and it seems to be venting correctly.
Some of the trim is on the porch too. Sandy helped me put up some siding on the porch too (thanks!). The combination of the wide green siding and the wide white trim looks great.
The latest photos of my ‘lil homebuilding project. Click to enlarge.
August 20th, 2006
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