Will Rain Hurt My Framed House?

[El Wood]

Hey Guys,

I am hoping to to gather some opinions on this... We started construction of our new house late April of this year. The builder had a lot of lumber delivered, including the trusses, in May. Since then, framing has begun and is moving slow. To make things even slower, we decided to bump out the living room and that required a crawl space.

So far, we have the first floor framed. We've been getting a lot of rain in the north east this year, go figure. Will this rain hurt my the bare wood on my new house? It kills me to see it getting soaked day after day. Part of me thinks its fine. Lumber comes from trees and they get soaked in the forest all the time... I'm not sure what to think.

 

[extrakt0r]

No, but try to get it weather tight before the snow starts. I would suggest going and drilling small 1/4" holes in your subfloor where the water is pooling up so it drains down into the basement or crawl space. I would highly suggest before your floor coverings go down to screw down the edges of your subfloor as they will have cupped up, even with glue and nails.

 

[jim_wilson]

The answer to your question is yes - if it's exposed long enough the water will start to affect things.

I say this is as somebody who added a second floor to his house - and built a large barn - pretty much by myself - so the wood was exposed for relatively long periods of time. Long at least in comparison to how long a house would be exposed if a whole crew was doing it.

I've got to ask - why is the siding and the trim installed before the root or second floor are even up?

If the weather in Michigan is anything like what we've been having out here in MA - then what you will likely see once it gets warm and stops raining - is black mold growing on the wood here and there. Depending on what you've used for materials - you might see the plywood or OSB being affected by long term exposure to water. There are some products that stand up to long term water exposure a LOT better than others - Advantech OSB flooring for instance can be exposed for quite some time without suffering any really affects other than getting a slightly weathered appearance. Regular OSB will start to flake up and fall apart after being exposed to water after short periods.

If you think the house is not going to be closed in any time soon - I would start covering it with tarps when you know it's going to be really wet outside - and then pulling the tarps off when it's hot and bright and sunny to get all the moisture out of the wood. The thing that I would be most concerned about is that fact that they have done some of the exterior siding and trim and so forth - and you might possibly be getting water in behind some of that stuff.

The time to get really concerned - is when summer and the warm weather ends. Wood that gets wet during the summer - can have the moisture baked out of it relatively easily from the summer heat - this gets a lot harder when you start getting into the fall - it gets more overcast, and you get 70 degree days - and 50 degree nights. That's when moisture left behind in the wood can become a bigger issue because it won't dissipate like it will in the summer heat.

 

[jerrybob]

It ain't good for it......get it covered ASAP. As mentioned above.....problems can result. Sooner the better. Good luck with your project.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Ya.. have to wonder why the siding is up instead of the second floor/roof? Usually you want to at least get the house covered even if its just the rafters/trusses and decking as fast as possible. Why did the builder waste time doing the siding? Is the house even wrapped?

As said, the sub-floor where its flat and hold water is the worse. Vertical wood wont be badly effected.

 

[DFB]

Interesting progression to building especially with the siding and window trim on already...so not using an outside nailing flange? My house was framed and weather tight in 3 weeks...shingles on. Hopefully it'll stop raining for you!

 

[extrakt0r]

When my house was built everything was framed and roof shingles were on before windows or any exterior finish was done. The roof support system and roof itself adds an extreme amount of weight to the lower walls

So much in fact all the nuts holding the plates to the J bolts in the concrete has to be retightened afterwards

I would be very worried about all the additional weight above bearing down on the windows exterior finish and trim before it has time to settle

They can pop, bow and simply break if not framed correctly.

 

[Rock knocker]

Hey Guys,

I am hoping to to gather some opinions on this... We started construction of our new house late April of this year. The builder had a lot of lumber delivered, including the trusses, in May. Since then, framing has begun and is moving slow. To make things even slower, we decided to bump out the living room and that required a crawl space.

So far, we have the first floor framed. We've been getting a lot of rain in the north east this year, go figure. Will this rain hurt my the bare wood on my new house? It kills me to see it getting soaked day after day. Part of me thinks its fine. Lumber comes from trees and they get soaked in the forest all the time... I'm not sure what to think.


View attachment 326643

In Washington we would tear it down and start over

 

[Rock knocker]

I've got to ask - why is the siding and the trim installed before the root or second floor are even up?

Probably pre fabbed

 

[EddieWalker]

With normal framing, it's not a problem for rain to get on the lumber. But you are doing something very unusual with the siding already on the walls. With just the exposed framing, all the wood dries out quickly and once the roof is on, it's easy to sheet and wrap the house to keep the sheeting dry. OSB and plywood, depending on which you are using, doesn't like to get wet.

If any water is getting in between your siding, sheeting, house wrap and trim, then the longer it remains damp, the greater the likelihood of mold or mildew developing.

Why is the siding up and why are the windows trimmed without windows in place?

Is this a stick frame house? The back wall through the window opening looks like it, but the front looks like a mobile home. Are you combining stick framing with factory built?

Eddie