Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[pacerron]

Sounds like 90 days is plenty of time. I didn't read the 258 posts, so my apologies if this has been posted before.

The world record for the fastest house is 2 hours 45 min. The Building Industry Assoc of San Diego County held a contest in 1983. Four 1500SF 3bd2bath houses with landscaping were constructed with the last two build as a race between two 350 person teams.

It is 90 days after the foundation is complete, so the clock may not have really started to run yet if they interpret the foundation to be the basement walls with first floor deck on to hold it together, as instructions say.
The real time is required in finishing the quality interior. His mom needs to relocate by May, but RUSH is a bad word, when it comes to construction. Contractors usually overbook and the weather always seems to get involved.

 

[aczlan]

Aaron,
What's the purpose of the yes or no in relation to dups, if you get a duplicate in both cases?
I haven't noticed the box you refer to on my Chrome Browser, but that doesn't mean it is not there.
I don't see advertisements either Guess I should be more observant.

It is supposed to be so that you dont accidentally close the window after writing a 5000 word post... Doesn't seem to be working properly though.
I dont see ads either...

Aaron Z

 

[jinman]

Cool link! Hadn't stumbled across those guides yet. Excellent material.

Yes, they are! I saw how they discussed drywall corner blocking of inside, outside, and 45 degree corners with diagrams. They also discussed and provided excellent guidelines for installing the deck ledger board including how to bolt it to the XI panels. Those diagrams and checklists that Ron posted links to are something that any homeowner or builder would find exceptionally useful. They have great details for how the sill plates install for the floor above the wall panels. They even mention some normal exceptions that are allowed in construction that are NOT allowed on their panels. If this were my house, I'd be reading every one of those pages and memorizing them. The builder would hate me.

It seems that the drywall installation would be done with screws to the metal stud faces and treated lumber blocking added at the bottom for a sill plate using glue to the concrete and/or shooting concrete nails. That would provide the continuous nailing/screwing surface along the base of the drywall. One note also mentioned cutting the drywall so it is 1/2" up off the concrete to eliminate moisture wicking. That's a standard construction practice, but nice to see that SW includes such details about something that is not part of their walls.

 

[pacerron]

It is supposed to be so that you dont accidentally close the window after writing a 5000 word post... Doesn't seem to be working properly though.
I dont see ads either...

Aaron Z

I do see a Yellow "auto save" flash in the reply box once in a while if I bloviat too much or go to get coffee or let it out. Just happened here in a few seconds from starting, so I figure it is part of TBN rather than the browser. I just like to exercise my old brain to figure things out that irritate me on the internet, even though I have no control over them, other than not using it.... Now that's a stellar idea, but I'd miss all the bull during the winter months.
Ron

 

[pclausen]

So here are the drawings. Starting with the foundation. I'm not real thrilled about the support posts every 8 feet. I tried talking them into a pair of steel I-beams, which is what I have in my house, but it was too late to change they said when I made the request, but it would have been quite a bit pricier. We are going with a spiral staircase instead of what is showing here. And of course the openings from the walk out basement are double what is shown here.

And here is the main floor joist support structure.

Main floor layout.

Roof rafter/truss structure.

Eave cross section.

 

[pclausen]

It is 90 days after the foundation is complete, so the clock may not have really started to run yet if they interpret the foundation to be the basement walls with first floor deck on to hold it together, as instructions say.

Right, it's 90 days from when the foundation is complete. That said, the builder states that he will have this small 1500 sq. ft. house done in 60 days.

The real time is required in finishing the quality interior. His mom needs to relocate by May, but RUSH is a bad word, when it comes to construction. Contractors usually overbook and the weather always seems to get involved.

Correct. The floors will be all tile (75%) and hardwood (25%), vaulted ceilings with exposed wood, custom kitchen cabinets, granite counter tops, etc. So yeah, the finishing of the interior is very important and will likely be the thing that could potentially hold things up in the end.

 

[jinman]

So here are the drawings. Starting from the buttom, here's the foundation. We are going with a spiral staircase instead of what is showing here.

I don't know your mother's age or health condition, but moving things up and down a spiral staircase seems much harder than a normal straight stairwell with landings. I know a unitized spiral staircase might be easier to install and even less expensive, but I'm just not sure those economies make sense for a senior citizen. Of course, this is just my random thoughts and you may have much more specific reasons. I have friends with a spiral staircase going up to a loft bedroom. They had to move everything up there via an outside balcony because the staircase was pretty much pedestrian traffic with only small objects in hand.

 

[SPIKER]

To follow up on Jinmans post,
the Tile Floors can be rather slippery too and VERY HARD for elderly people. Falls and or Slips are their #1 injury wood floors and or carpeted floors are much better for poor circulation (cold feet) and falls.

Tile is very nice but even a throw rug will slip/slide very easy on them.

Mark

 

[Obed]

The nice thing about tile and hardwood is your mom won't have to vacuum. Sweeping a house is way easier than vacuuming. You also aren't storing years of dust and grime in the carpet.

I recently talked to someone who remodeled their house and installed tile almost everywhere. I can't say I would like a house with all tile floors. We have tile in the kitchen and baths and hardwood everywhere else. I don't think I would like tile in the bedrooms and living room. I don't find cold hard tile comfortable for bare or sock feet.

But you should obviously build the house to suit your mother and if that's what she wants and can affort it, so be it.

Obed

 

[idaho2]

Pclausen,

Make all bathrooms handicap ready or place backer boards in the walls and take photos with measurements so later on if needed can be added. Have the toilets be the taller handicap units. Easier for the senior citizens to rise from on their own. When we have our home built it will be handicap ready even if we may not need it - wider halls, larger door openings, bigger bath rooms, just to make it easier in later years to get around in my own home. Cheaper now than the price of a nursing home later.

idaho2