Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[pclausen]

I'm going to pick up all those 2x scraps, and the 6x6 ones too!

Contractor got 6 houses under construction right now, so he'll pull them back on this job as needed. Me and him are on the same page as far as the May 1st date.

Yep, I'll offset the tiller a few inches to make sure I cover my tracks. Only talking a few inches, so by the time I run the rake (with a much smaller tractor), I doubt you would be able to tell even if I didn't!

[Ted Summey]

Very, very good explanation
You covered in a few words what we have been bloviating about for days.
Good job.

Thanks pacerron. I had the benefit of reading the comments on the subject. I also recall that pclausen's build had a monolithic pour including footings for the two rows of wooden columns.

[wmonroe]

I'm going to pick up all those 2x scraps, and the 6x6 ones too! !

I have some 6x6 scraps from a project a few years ago and they get used for all sorts of stuff, definitely handy to have around.

[sixdogs]

The 6 x 6 and glue-lam scraps from my build are my best saves. I have blocking to support tractors or implements and provide wheel chocks while the 2 x 18" (?) wide glue lams are about to wind up as a couple of small benches. One for the barn, one for the garage and a nicely finished one for a small stool in the "misc" room.

[mjncad]

Lally columns filled with concrete have been available since the 1800's.
http://www.destefanoassociates.com/p...ly_columns.pdf

What most of you are thinking about are the temporary round steel post screw jacks that are hollow, made in 2-3 sections so the column height has adjustments between holes and a threaded shaft on top for jacking up the beam for placement of the final support or shimming of an exisiting support to re-level a floor above.. Another reason for the sections is they can be assembled in shorter lengths to jack up decks and other structures that are less than 8' high. These are not meant to be permanent.
Permanent posts with threaded adjustment are different. No holes in the tubing, end caps are welded on. They are designed to be installed with the the threaded part down at the basement floor level for a number of reasons. That does not mean that they were installed that way though nor does it mean that some homeowner didn't use a temporary adjustable floor jack as a permanent installation.

I would not recommend that you saw into your house posts/jacks/lally columns to see if they are hollow
You can easily see if it is a temporary type jack by looking at how it is made in sections.
Enough on this subject.

According to the PDF file, the lally columns are made from 16-gauge tubing, which explains the need for concrete filling. 16-gauge tubing in such an application is essentially nothing more than a form for the concrete filling. Around here, the screw-jack style columns are made from SCH40, or maybe even SCH80 pipe for all I know. They are made in one section, and you can tell they are hollow by the ring they make if you tap them with a metal object.

My previous house had a basement and the steel columns were filled with concrete and the floor was poured around them after the house was dried-in. I think code requires the top of the posts to be mechanically fastened to the floor framing now, not just held in place by pressure.

Around here the columns are mechanically secured to the beam with a couple of metal straps bent around the flange of a metal beam, or bent and secured to a wood beam with fasteners of some kind. Metal beams are the norm in my area.

Ron, the basement steps will be 10" wide and there will be a nice railing. They will be working on the stairs this coming week as well I believe.

As for lighting, there will be plenty everywhere, including the stairs. I hate rooms with inadequate lighting. Trying to go as much LED as possible and use motion activated light switches in strategic places.

If I recall correctly, 10" is the minimum width for stair treads per code, and their is no way the code would allow Pete to not install a handrail if he were so inclined to do so. Good decision to add lighting now while it's easy and cheap to do. We really like having motion sensor lights in strategic areas inside the house where full hands could make operating a switch awkward.

[Buppies]

How much behind do you think the upcoming snow storm will slow down progress? Looks like a solid 12 inches plus for you folks. Really enjoy following the progress of your moms new house. Thanks for sharing

[pacerron]

I'm going to pick up all those 2x scraps, and the 6x6 ones too!

Contractor got 6 houses under construction right now, so he'll pull them back on this job as needed. Me and him are on the same page as far as the May 1st date.

Yep, I'll offset the tiller a few inches to make sure I cover my tracks. Only talking a few inches, so by the time I run the rake (with a much smaller tractor), I doubt you would be able to tell even if I didn't!

Pete,
I notice in your implement list ( since you mentioned rake in the message above) that you have a Woods LR 108.
What have you used it for and do you break a lot of tines?

I bought a new one over 20 years ago, so all the abuse has been inflicted by me.
I used it to final rake the dirt around my house build before seeding, same around barns and have used it since to spread out piles of horse apples and other manure. Used it in the garden once but the wife said the fineness of the raking and the tractor weight caused too much compaction after the next rain. Have used it to gather tree trash but spend more time untangling the twigs from the tines than it saves.
Worse abuse has been raking the approximate 1/2 mile of limestone lanes on the property. If the stone is too compacted in the clay I loosen it first with a grader blade. I've also used it in pond construction finish up and smoothing of ground where I've dug up big tree stumps.

But... I have broken more tines than I care to remember. They usually snap right where they enter the frame.
Wife made me paint them red and count tines before and after use in the horse pasture. I've thought about tying the comb of tines/teeth together up about a foot or so from their tips with a couple pieces of flat steel on the front and back with bolts in the tine spaces to hold the comb together to give a more unified support but still have some flex in the tines.

Any ideas?
Ron

[jinman]

I'm going to pick up all those 2x scraps, and the 6x6 ones too!

I just can't throw away scrap unless it is a few inches long. I have a stack of 1-2 foot boards that I go to often. I just can't bring myself to let that stuff go. Even a 6"x6" treated block makes a great footer under a trailer tongue jack.

Pete, in your photos of the house, the side window on the walkout basement looks pretty low to the ground. I have two windows on the side of my walkout that go almost down to the backfill. Looking at the surrounding grade, that side window is gonna be in the spatter zone from rain. I'm just surprised to see the sill so low.



Here is a photo of my house when finished in 2002, before I added a deck all the way around the house. You can see that my windows are well above the surrounding grade. Even so, when I filled in and put a flowerbed in front of the windows, I'd get splatter when it rained until the deck above was built.

[pclausen]

Pete,
I notice in your implement list (since you mentioned rake in the message above) that you have a Woods LR 108.
What have you used it for and do you break a lot of tines?

Ron, the LR108 is new and I haven't had a chance to use it much yet. I anticipate using it quit a bit after tilling/disking to get rock out. At my mothers, I plan to borrow the neighbors little tractor to pull the LR108 with as my tractor would compact the ground too much. I have gauge wheels on my LR108, so I think it will do a real good job doing the final smoothing and leveling before seeding.

I had a York 84" rake with my JD 4700 tractor, and I bent or broke maybe 10 tines on it over the 10 years I had it. I worked it real hard pulling out brush and root and what now. Now that I have a root grapple, I don't anticipate needing to use my new rake for those kind of duties.

[pclausen]

Pete, in your photos of the house, the side window on the walkout basement looks pretty low to the ground. I have two windows on the side of my walkout that go almost down to the backfill. Looking at the surrounding grade, that side window is gonna be in the spatter zone from rain. I'm just surprised to see the sill so low.

Jim, there will be a deck over that window, so hopefully rain spatter won't be huge issue. You're right though, that the window sill is very low. Hopefully some of that can be corrected with pulling back a lot of the dirt from that area.