Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[dave1949]

I'm not sure if snow and cold hangs around long enough to have a problem with ice dams in Pete's area. Watching the build in mid to late winter, it doesn't seem like it. I was surprised to see they didn't use any in the valleys and the first 3-6 feet on the eaves.

I agree that in colder climates, total ice&water coverage is the way to go. It adds some upfront cost, but other than that, I've never heard of any downside to it. It can save a lot of expense and hassle down the road.

 

[pclausen]

Day 56

Yesterday was cold and miserable with drizzle / freezing rain all day long, pretty heavy at times. So they did not get an opportunity to work on the roof over the garage.

I did take a few pictures and now that I'm at work, I'm able to post them. Can't wait to get Internet at home again...

You can make out a little ice on the roof in this shot.

So they spent the day on the inside. Here they fixed the wall in front of the fireplace. All they have left to do is to add some 2x4s as shown in red to carry the peak all the way to the end wall.

And they installed hurricane straps to all the trusses.

And most of the windows are in.

And these are the make/model of windows they went with. Some are single hung, some double hung and some casement.

I did talk to the builder about the roofing, and they will indeed be putting down rubber stick down rolls in eaves and valleys.

Ron, I like your suggestion on extending the right garage wall! Will discuss with mom and builder this week.

 

[jinman]

From a design standpoint, I like Ron's idea to balance the front of the house and hide the genset as shown in illustration three.

+1 Yes, that's a very attractive and elegant solution to two problems.

 

[sixdogs]

The weather in VA seems to be worse than I had expected. It it always like the last two weeks for you or is this unusual?

Your windows are energystar rated and I think you can get a tax cred for the cost of them.

 

[pacerron]

While we are on the roof, I might as well start a discussion/argument about "ridge venting".

There are all kinds of conclusions based on roof slope, climate, and other factors for and against ridge venting.
There have been over the years many types of vents available, most rather ugly, and some prone to leaking from driven rain or melting snow.

I am a firm believer in ridge venting after owning a ranch house many years ago that was built in the 1960 era without a ridge vent. The soffit vents were there but the hot air had no easy escape. After installing ridge vent myself, there was a noticeable difference in the electric bill from the air conditioner not having to run near as much.
We replaced the roofing on our present house last fall and used a ridge vent material that has a very unobtrusive look.
I am not promoting this company; just including a picture of the packaging to explain how it is supposed to work.

My only concern is that since we have bees up here that love to make mud larva nests in any small hole, including electric outlet plug ground holes, if they are not kept covered, outside, in the garage, or barn when open; will they try the same on this type of ridge vent.
Does anyone else have experience with this type?
Ron

 

[srs]

I have the product Ron is mentioning on my roof. Not the same manufacturer but pretty much the same thing. You can see a distance picture of my roof in Post #534 here. No issues with bees, thank God!!!

 

[MacLawn]

pc, that idea of ridge vent looks good. Are you going to use it? I've got to do that to my roof, not good venting now.

And y'all have it right about bugs getting into stuff! Screw holes on compressor, etc., amazing at what those little rascals can find!

 

[Gudor]

I have done three roofs with the ridge vent you are showing (actually, the ones that I used came in 4' sections, but basically the same thing). A couple of things I have noticed when people use ridge vents - #1 complaint, make sure the vent goes all the way to the end of the ridge...I have seen many homes where the vent is only over a 'vented area.' Meaning they didn't install it over soffits/overhangs. I think it looks terrible. #2, spend the extra bucks and get nice hip/ridge shingles. Owens Corning, for example, has multiple lines of hip/ridge shingles - the premium ones (DecoRidge in this case) are so much better looking, IMO.

Since we are on roofs...I love lead vent covers with a lead cap - looks real good.

 

[Woody65]

We use a product called a Cobra ridge vent. It utilizes a steel Brillo like material that comes in 20 ft sections. You just nail it down and install the hip and ridge over it. You can't notice it except for it being an inch higher than the shingles. I have probably done a few hundred with this product and no complaints from customers. Good luck.

 

[SPIKER]

I installed the 10' long metal ridge vents here when I did the roof last fall. They are inexpensive and install pretty easy. This place (small cape cod style 1 story with partial short attic) is/was not vented very well at all. when the roof was done 15 or so years prior they installed 3 or 4 of the small 6" round hole type vents and had cut in some gable vents when the siding was done back 20 years ago. The roof STILL would get overly hot in summer and too warm in winter causing ice dams. this year still SOME ice dams but not nearly as bad as prior. Just the DAY OF finishing the roof we got hit by a real gully washer and there were some "sprinkles after impact" coming into the attic ridge vent but nothing worth fretting over.

glad to see the Low E & Argon energy star windows that should help the summer/winter cooling/heating bills.
Mark