Friday, January 20, 2006

Hello Down There

I've been working on roughing in the plumbing vents. Between the normal framing, the loft, and the extra blocking required because the wall height is over 8', there's a lot of holes to drill to get from the floor to the roof.

As I always do, I dry-fit the pipes together before starting to glue them. It's a tight enough fit, and 3" DWV pipe is rigid enough that I couldn't get them apart once I'd put them together. I ended having to cut one piece to get the others out, and cut a new section of pipe to replace it.

Along with the plumbing I started framing the shower stall. Normally that would be pretty much just the existing walls, but because the foundation is higher on that side of the house, there will necessarily be a ledge on two sides. Like the rest of the addition, the shower will be unique.

I also peeled up the extra tar paper on the cricket to let that dry out. The forecast shows mostly sunny for the next 5 days -- woohoo! I need to get the cricket weather-tight sooner rather than later, though, so I'm going to figure out some way to make it work before the exterior drywall and subsequent inspection.

A while back I ordered end caps from Byers' LeafGuard ("the gutter that never clogs"), to seal off the ends of the gutters that I cut where the addition now stands. I worked my way up through various sealant and adhesive products and finally got one of them to stop leaking. Much to my annoyance, though, the other kept dripping when it rained. I discovered yesterday that the end is sealed, but it's downslope from downspout, so it fills with water and overflows. That's what's dripping. D'oh! Not surprising, since the house has settled over the years and has distinct slant that direction. So add re-aligning the gutter to the list of things to do ("the tasks that never end.")

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

R-double-oof

Yesterday I routed the plumbing vent stack, and then started roofing the north side of the roof. Today I finished up the roofing, all the way up to the ridge cap. And just in time -- the rain is coming down pretty hard tonight.

I was scheduled to do aphersis today, but given the rain in the forecast, rescheduled my appointment for Friday so I could finish up the roof. The cricket is still just covered in tarpaper, but it feels a lot better knowing the addition has a real roof on it.

But I'd forgotten just how heavy a bundle of shingles is. When I worked with Edis last week, I carried some of the bundles from the car, but I had him move them up to the roof. I had a hard time explaining the correct level of precision needed for putting shingles on straight and watertight to him, and couldn't keep him busy enough to justify having him again, so I worked alone. Which meant I got to haul the rest of the shingles to the roof. And man are they heavy. Just carrying them on level ground is a workout, enough to get my heart pumping fast. Never mind carrying them up a ladder. But the roof is done for now, so my shoulder can take a rest.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Roof!

Well, half a roof. Tuesday I worked with Edis. In the morning I peeled off the storm-ripped tarpaper from the south half of the roof, and we let things dry out until afternoon. We worked on blocking up the soffit vents, and in the afternoon put some regular composition shingles on much of the south half of the roof. Rain was forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday, so we buttoned things back up with tarpaper.

Wednesday was a fruitless search for 1x12 v-rustic siding. Well, not entirely fruitless. I got a call back today with a price: $125 setup fee, and $5.35 a linear foot. Ouch. Unmilled 1x12 is just as hard to find, and almost as expensive. I may be going with the 1x10 v-rustic, and doing what I can so the different is less noticeable. I think the only place it will really be a problem is by the back door. Unfortunately that's next to the deck, so easily visible. But fortunately since it's next to the door, the amount visible is very small. I may be able to do something like put salvaged 1x12 next to the existing siding on one side of the door, and 1x10 on the other side. We'll see.

Today I finished putting shingles on the south half of the roof. Given the lead time for getting shingles to even vaguely match the existing cement tiles, I think I'm going to put composition shingles on the whole roof. Then when I do get something to match, I'll cover the north half with that. The south half is only visible from the neighbor's house up the hill, and will eventually be covered with solar panels anyways. Before I can cover the north roof, I need to run the vent pipes for the plumbing up through the roof, so that'll be next. Rain is in the forecast this weekend, so having real roofing is a comforting thing. I just wish I had the drywall and house wrap on the addition so I could properly roof the cricket over the existing house. The flashing needs to go under the shingles, under the siding, and over the drywall and house wrap. So it has to be put on later. Hmmph.

Monday, January 09, 2006

3 for 3

I had the nailing part of the framing inspection today, and passed with no problems. Wahoo!

Some proper roofing and the exterior drywall are next, followed by installing the windows. A quick inspection to make sure I've put the drywall on, then the siding then rough in the plumbing and electrical before final framing inspection. They want to make sure you don't cut through too much stuff in the walls when you put the pipes and wires into place.

I had some questions about the wacky exterior drywall thing with regards to roof venting. Turns out soffit vents are a no-no for my design (walls less than 20', overhang more than 9"), which makes sense since it would let heated air straight into the attic. So I'll be putting vents on the gable ends instead. The other option would be to enclose the soffits, but that wouldn't match the existing house. (And would be a pain to do at this point.)

I may end up making my own v-rustic 1x12 siding. I bought an inexpensive router table, and while waiting for the inspector, tried out matching the profile of the siding. It'll take a while, and produce a heck of a lot of sawdust, but it may be the best option to get what I need.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Windows!

Not the buggy software kind, but the dual-pane kind. Lots of windows, i.e., the single biggest cost in building the addition. They arrived today, and with Kat to help me with the bigger ones, I moved them down into the addition for safe-keeping. The sliding back door isn't in yet, but that's OK since I can't install any of them until after the inspection.

I finally managed to get through on the inspection scheduling line. The other day I when I called, I got all sorts of strange behavior, but no people, and no callback from leaving a message. Today my call went through with no problem, and the next available inspection is Monday. That's fine by me, as I've got bits and pieces to finish up, and I want to check things over one more time. Not the end of the world if I don't pass the inspection the first time, but it'd still be nice.

I'm hoping stuff will have a chance to dry out thoroughly so I can put roofing, siding, etc. on. Assuming I can find some 1x12 v-rustic siding. I got a guesstimate from one place (it would be a special order) that was in the range of $5 per linear foot. Ouch.