JUNE 2004
The sky is bright blue, the sun is beating down, and we're slaving away trying to beat the
heat and get this crazy thing done by mid July. This month, the garage, the new back
windows and doors, and the dormer windows, will be the most outwardly visible changes.
Both the dormer and garage will get their roofs and Weatherboard siding installed. Inside,
the plumbing and electrical will pass inspection, making way for drywall and other finishing
materials. It's gonna be exciting.
06.03.04- Don Sr. places a new facia board at the corner of the entry below the
dormer. These had been left undone since the dormer was finished. At right, Kent
Thompson picks up the bedroom window that will be installed into the back
bedroom. He will build a heavy duty steel frame that will incase this window and
provide support strenght for the concrete block wall when the hole is cut.
The dormer now has roof sheathing and facia boards in place. The actual roofing
will happen later in the month and will be followed by red metal facia trim and
corrugated steel eve covering.
06.04.04- Time to build the garage. Finally! Don and Don Sr. put down the base
plates and and bolt them down. Then they lay out the 2x4 studs for the front wall.
The front wall goes up, and then the back wall (not shown). At either side of the
entrance, a "sheer" wall is also constructed to support the 4x12 header beam that
Don Sr. is connecting with steel hold-down straps.
Not bad for two guys and a day's work, eh? On a Friday, no less.
06.08.04- Paul and Don work together to put up the raked wall over the entrance and
the 24' long roof joists. Each joist has to be cut at each end at a precise angle to
match the existing roof slope and tapered ends.
06.09.04- Don and Don Sr. put up the front facia and Don Sr. hammers in the last few
nails. Paul nails in short block pieces between joists at the connection of the new
and old roofs.
The rear facia board ges on the cantilevered back roof. The 16 x 21 garage actually
looks bigger from the roof. It's meant to only be a one car garage, but it appears big
enough for two. Now to nail on the roof sheeting (not shown).
06.10.04- Paul trims the bottom corner of the side facia. The 24" long 2x12 required
all three of us to lift, hold and nail. Don and Don Sr. sheath the sheer wall in plywood.
06.11.04 Don and Don Sr. put on all the wall sheeting and the garage takes its full
shape. Check out that back roof! We never pictured how cool that would look
hanging out there like that.
The OSB sheeting (high-strength chip board for those less construction-minded of
you) will be covered with the same fiber-concrete Weatherboard sheets that we're
building the fence with, and the painted some cool color to contrast with the
concrete block and metal features. Quinn gets the honors of shooting in the last
few nails. He was very excited about using the nailgun, but after 4-5 nails, he
decided it was too powerful for him to handle.
Sweeeeeet!! The garage door will be the same aluminum and blue-green glass style
as the living rooms rolling doors, but only have glass on the top panel. Notice the
dormer wall and roof in the background.
06.28.04– The garage and dormer walls are wrapped in a fiberglass "housewrap" in
preparation for the siding to be installed. Diana and Don did the garage on Sunday,
but forgot to take pictures of Diana actually working.
06.29.04– Paul and Don Sr. install the concrete fiber "Weatherboards" on the
garage and the front of the dormer.
A family of ladders gathers to take a look at the finished siding on the garage.
A rare peek at the rolling patio doors. The glass is really dirty.
The shower pan in the front bathroom and the whirlpool tub have been installed by
our new plumber Gabriel. They are both plugged and filled with water for the
plumbing inspection later in the week.
Jim and Ken from BOS Sheetmetal arrive to install the new air conditioning venting.
This part is called the "Mechanical" by builders and inspectors.
Ken holds the first section of galvanized steel spiral pipe as Jim connects it to the
existing square soffit vent. This spiral tube will be the "exposed" piping hanging
from the ceiling in the main living area. On the right is a section of the air intake in
the master bedroom closet. It connects to the HVAC unit through the wall and then
goes up through the ceiling and connects to a vent in the front hallway.
Kewl! It ain't done yet, but it's looking very.... modern industrial!!
Also visit Don's portfolio site: www.designbutton.com
