New Home Construction

[Cowboyjg]

Here, building codes require that any seam in the sheathing be secured. For our purposes, primarily it has to do with giving strength against the various wind loads experienced from hurricanes.

That aside, there are a number of circumstances that present themselves regarding the seams. First, there is air leakage from and into the house which affects the energy effeciency of the home. Second there is the strength and/or the integrety of the wall. By blocking and nailing all the seams the house is a stronger house. Thirdly, although the point could be argued and considered nit-picking, I personally would consider it sub par workmanship. The house just isn't as solid and structurally sound. This doesn't mean that it's gonna fall down tomorrow or any other time. Ask an engineer if nailing all the edges of the exterior sheathing makes a difference in the soundness of the house. Even though I have been endoctraniated to the codes of my region and I recognize that we are not building a piano here, good work is good work and somehow I don't think that your agreement with the builder suggested that the price you two agreed on was for OK workmanship!! Do you pay your mechanic to under fill your vehicle with oil? All I'm really suggesting here has to do with doing the right thing. There is no question that compromises have to be made along the way. Sorry, that's just not one of them.

PM me any time and I'll give you some insight on other things to look for that probably won't manifest themselves till later and will be too late to do anything about. I'm not trying to open the proverbial can here but the more educated a consumer you are the better the chance you'll get what you paid for. More importantly you'll reduce the chance of getting something you didn't bargain for.

 

[rox]

What photo has the daylight? I am not familiar enough in your technical terms to know which picture has the daylight. Also I can't figure out on this message board when people replie, where do I find the orignal message that they are replying to?

In this instance, I went to go see what post you were replying to and could not figure out which one it was so that I could see the photo and look for the daylight.

 

[rox]

bmac- Your wife is going to LOVE that room over the garage. I had one over a 3 car garage and it was great! I used it for Christmas decorations, luggage etc. That will probably be one of your wife's favorite rooms.

 

[Cowboyjg]

If you go to pg 21 and look at the first few photo's posted for his lat trip you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

[Cowboyjg]

bmac.....I do want to add that the framers appear to have done a nice clean job and I really didn't notice anything else that I would find suspect in the pics you provided. I wanted to be sure not to send the message that the carpenters did a less than good job.
This is the sort of thing that I would find unacceptable. See the gap at the top of the wall. Had the sheathing been placed along the top plate of the wall and nailed, the wall would be stronger. There are many ways to do the same thing and carpentry is no exception. When I frame my houses I run full sheets along the top and bottom of the wall leaving the odd space in the center. This allows for nailing at the weakest part of the wall which is typically at the joints and helps makes the wall rigid. When that's done I run blocking along the seams in the center. This not only seals the seams but provides mid-span blocking again adding to the strength to the wall. Mid-span blocking is generally used in walls over 8' and/ or multi story buildings that are all or mostly frame. Again...different things are done in different places but I think it's fair to say that what I suggested would be considered common practice.

 

[rox]

Thank you for the explination and the link to the photo. I'm a lifelong learner and I appreciate you explaining about contruction techniques.

 

[EddieWalker]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( This is one of the few disappointments / compromises I've had so far with this house. This room is supposed to be a home theater some day. Despite meetings with the builder and plumber, they were unable to find a different location for this drain line. Therefore, I'm going to have to drop the ceiling height in a room where I wanted maximum volume. As it is, it wouldn't be too bad. However, I planned to install a riser to raise the floor in the rear of the room to elevate the back row of seats. By doing this and dropping the ceiling to accomodate the drain line, ceiling height in the rear will only be about 7.5 ft.
)</font>


Have you considered boxing in the drain line and the AC ducts to create some faux beams? You can easily build them from some 1X pine in the dimensions needed. The AC ducts can be devided into two or even three small runs instead of one large one for the room and you can have the vents put into the ductwork also.

It's really looking good, thanks for the updates.

Eddie

 

[rox]

He hasn't answered yet, but to me it seems like a really good idea.

 

[bmac]

<font color="blue"> Have you considered boxing in the drain line and the AC ducts to create some faux beams? </font>

Eddie,

Thanks for jumping in on this. The ductwork that is planned to go along the wall will be a main trunk to serve other areas of the basement. I had planned on this from the beginning and knew I was going to box in the duct and do the same thing around the perimeter of the room to make a soffit. It would have looked good.

The HVAC sub gave the plumber the measurements needed for the ductwork, the plumber then added a few inches to that (fudge factor). So, the way it looks to me, if I boxed the ductwork and drain line together and then made things symetrical and did the other side of the room the same way, I'd only end up with a center strip of "desirable" ceiling height down the middle of the room about 3.5 feet wide. If I boxed the drain line seperately, then I think there would only be a few inches between the HVAC "soffit" and the "beam" enclosing the drain.

I don't know if that description makes sense or not. I think I have a different view of the room at home that might illustrate my problem better. I'll check tonight and post it if I have one.

Now, you may be thinking more creatively than I am and I'm just too thick to pick up on your suggestion. If so, do not hesitate to chastise me.

Again, thanks for your help.

 

[EddieWalker]

Since the AC duct is the main feed for the rest of the basement, I'd consider either re-routing it if possible.

Sometimes there's not an obvious route, then after looking around from some diferent angles, it will come to you. I'm sure you've alread considered this, but it's always worth looking some more until it's too late. Many of my best solutions have come to me at the last minute.

Plan B is to get as much ceilig clearance as you can. Instead of usuing standard insulated round tubing for your main line, have them put in rectangular ductwork as flat as you can get it. If the drain pipe is 3 inches, then go for that. Most any HVAC company can custom build your ductwork if they have to, but most wont want to do so unless you push the issue.

Plan C is to run the ductwork under your elevated floor for your seating, or along the inside bottom corner of the wall.

Sounds like your making good progress with lots of those little last minute issues that you have to experience to truly understand. I'm enjoying your progress, it's going to be an incredible home.

Eddie

 

[bmac]

The past couple of weeks have been busy, just not very photogenic. Things accomplished include finishing the HVAC, electric and low voltage rough-ins and setting the windows and exterior doors (except the front door - still haven't picked one out yet).

I took some pictures today. I'll begin with the front elevation showing the new windows.

 

[bmac]

Rear elevation. This picture and the next two are not great. Sun was at a bad angle. Sorry.

 

[bmac]

Panned to the left.

 

[bmac]

A little different angle.

 

[bmac]

Family room, looking toward the back yard. The porch you see through the windows and doors will be screened.

 

[bmac]

Here's the fireplace. Its a simple insert with gas starter. The inset above is for a flat panel TV. Built-in shelving on each side is being wired for power and coax for the TV equipment.

 

[bmac]

This will be a study in my son's bedroom. This big window is seen above the porch in the front elevation picture.

 

[bmac]

Here, I'm standing in my daughter's bedroom, looking at her bathroom through the wall studs. You can see that her bath tub has been set. The plumbing for the sink is in the foreground. Each kid's room is being pre-wired with Cat 5 for the home network along with coax for TV and an intercom to save my wife some stair climbing when she's calling them to supper. There are also phone jacks in each room, but for now, they will not have a phone in their room. We ended up with a little closet-like space in the hallway that my wife has designated the phone booth. It will have a small seat and a wall-mounted phone. No door so conversations will only be semi-private.

 

[bmac]

Here's a view of the guest bath. Many subs have commented on the fact that we put a jetted tub in the guest room. Well, here's the rationale for that. We did not put a tub in the master bath as we are shower people and did not want to use space in there for a tub that we would rarely use. In the 10 years we've been in our current house, I've never used the tub. My wife has maybe 2 times.

So, when we were making a tub selection for the guest room, we decided that if we put a jetted tub in there, it would be at our disposal most of the time, should either of us want to soak our old bones and sore muscles.

Now, to the left of the tub is a seperate shower (seen in the next picture). This was one of the changes we made to the plan when we realized that a shower would not work in the tub due to the window. This is one of the many oversights our architect made. But, we found the space to work around it and add the shower.

 

[bmac]

Different angle showing the shower on the left.