At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

Obed,
Keep your chin up. It won't be long and you'll be looking at interior paint and trying to decide between eggshell and off-white. LOL

Give our best to the misses and the little one.

Thanks Cyril. However, I won't be picking out interior paint colors; I'm not allowed.

Obed

 

[Pops15]

I agree. My roofer uses 5 nails on 3 tabs and 6 nails per shingle on architectural shingles. Never a issue. They put ice dam under the valleys and around the perimeter followed by felt then shingles.

All I have ever seen on any roofs around here is torn shingles due to the wind. No amount of nails or style of nailing is going to prevent that.

Chris

Before the days of sealing strips on 3 tab shingles it was common practice to use 6 nails per shingle. One at each end, and one at either side of the notches.
Once "self sealing" shingles became available 4 nails per shingle became the standard for 3 tabs.
One of the best features of architectural shingles is they are less prone to wind damage. Many manufacturers recommend 4 nails per shingle. Using more means the spacing is closer which means there is a greater likelihood that water that gets between the butt joints will find a nail in the course under it. That is especially true on flatter pitch roofs.

 

[Obed]

These pictures are of the back of the house/garage. Along this wall all the way to the retaining wall will be a screened-in back porch and deck. The back porch will be to the left of the retaining wall from the perspective shown in the pictures. The far right wall of the porch will sit above the retaining wall. The deck will be to the left of the porch. We've asked the framer to remove all the wood waste this week so I can grade the dirt under the deck and porch. this weekend. I would like the dirt under the deck (and porch) to be at least 12" below the bottom of the porch framing to mimize water damage by rain splashing off the dirt.

Next week two footers will be poured, one for a corner of the deck, another for the corner of the porch.

 

[EddieWalker]

Obed,

One of the things that inspectors look at is how clean the jobsite it. A sloppy jobsite indicates other issues. A clean site sends a very strong signal, and one that you may want to consider.

I know allot of home owners will save money by doing all the clean up themselves, and it's a good idea that I support, but it has to be done almost daily to avoid injury and delays.

Eddie

 

[firefighter9208]

As cold as it's been here and in TN I can't believe there is any scrap wood on the ground. When I help my friend frame houses during winter break (2 weeks at Christmas) we burned every scrap piece of wood to stay warm. We had a burn barrel that we burned the scraps in. When we would get cold we'd go stand by the burn barrel.

Chris

 

[Opti-Mist]

I used a custom builder (he was a trim carpenter who had been a framer) to build our last house. He did a lot of the cleanup himself to keep costs down. As the dumpster filled I would tamp it down with my backhoe to maximize its capacity. I would gather up all the usable "scrap" for my own later use. I'd kid the builder that all the scrap up to 8 feet was mine, he wanted to return all unused material for credit. When the house was complete, he wrote us a check. He came from the old school where he mismanaged the job if the customer owed him money at the end of the job.

 

[shane]

One note about the scraps. Be sure to keep enough around for the electrician, plumber, HVAC, etc. to be used for blocking as well as toe boards for the roofer. If you don't they will go after the good stuff.

And, as for blocking, you might want to be considering blocking for towel bars, hand rails, curtains, blinds, and such. Get them in place before the trades. It's easier to run a wire around a block than a block around a wire.

Once again, I think you are doing a fine job with your house and it's going to be a fine home for you and your family.

 

[Obed]

One note about the scraps. Be sure to keep enough around for the electrician, plumber, HVAC, etc. to be used for blocking as well as toe boards for the roofer. If you don't they will go after the good stuff.

And, as for blocking, you might want to be considering blocking for towel bars, hand rails, curtains, blinds, and such.

Shane,
Great suggestions. I went out this evening and pulled out a bunch of scrap wood that could be used for blocking. I put aside boards that were at least 15" long that would fit between the studs.
Thanks,
Obed

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I did my own framing, I couldn't have filled a dumpster with the waste, as I didn't waste any, I found a use for it.
Your house is looking great and you are getting a lot of good advice on here. I wish I had this benefit when I was building, I would have done a few things different.

 

[hitekcountry]

After you get all the blocking up and the rough plumbing and electrical, take plenty of pictures before the sheetrock goes up. You will soon forget exactly where everything is and having pictures will be a useful reference.