Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder

[/pine]

I started a thread back in December about long driveways and appraisals in connections with our plans to build a home.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/266209-long-driveway-home-appraisals.html

Its taken a little longer than I thought but we are finally able to start the build. The biggest problem I ran into was getting approval to be my own general contractor. The biggest issue was contractor lien coverage. The bank wanted a GC with a payment bond to cover the build. It took over a month but we finally received the final approval from the bank last week. I ended up having to use equity from our current assets to secure the project during the lien period.

I thought I would start this thread to document my experience building our home. As mentioned, we are building this as owner builders so I will be my own general contractor on the project. More info to come shortly including pics of the current plans, timber frame design, etc.

Jeremy

Being your own contractor...

I suggest getting lien wavers signed by all material suppliers and all contractors as they are paid...

I also suggest that all contractors provide proof of insurance...both liability and workman's comp where all mechanics etc. are covered...

 

[Bob77064]

Nice I lke the tin duct work, most people use the flex duct.

 

[jk96]

Being your own contractor...

I suggest getting lien wavers signed by all material suppliers and all contractors as they are paid...

I also suggest that all contractors provide proof of insurance...both liability and workman's comp where all mechanics etc. are covered...

This is required by our bank for any draws. Being our own GC and getting the bank to waive contractor lien insurance was one of our biggest hurdles of the project.

 

[jk96]

This evening didn't quite go as planned. In order to make things fit I had to notch out some jacks under the outside header. This meant tearing out and building a wider header. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The fireplace chase was about the only thing built without me being on site. Here's what the header looked like from inside the chase. The other side was hidden by the osb sheathing on the outside of the chase.



After tearing it out here is what I found.



The header was actually just a single 2x10 with some of my leftover foam board in the space where the second 2x10 and osb should have been. I'm really scratching my head on this one. I would have been anchoring into foam when we hung the outside mantle and had no support for the stone.

 

[forgeblast]

Good catch!

 

[EddieWalker]

I call it the stupid factor. Sometimes there isn't any way to explain why some things are done. What where they thinking when they cut the foam? What was that supposed to do? Nobody will be able to answer it, and good luck finding who did it. My guess is they ran out of lumber and instead of taking the time to go get another 2x10, the just covered it up so they could finish on time and get paid.

Good thing you are there and paying attention. There is probably something like this in just about every house ever built!!!

Eddie

 

[BitChin1]

The header was actually just a single 2x10 with some of my leftover foam board in the space where the second 2x10 and osb should have been. I'm really scratching my head on this one. I would have been anchoring into foam when we hung the outside mantle and had no support for the stone.[/QUOTE]

Wow! good that you found this now.
I find that details like this are only understood by the person putting the design together or the owner that had the end result idea.

 

[jk96]

I call it the stupid factor. Sometimes there isn't any way to explain why some things are done. What where they thinking when they cut the foam? What was that supposed to do? Nobody will be able to answer it, and good luck finding who did it. My guess is they ran out of lumber and instead of taking the time to go get another 2x10, the just covered it up so they could finish on time and get paid.

Good thing you are there and paying attention. There is probably something like this in just about every house ever built!!!

Eddie

The foam is what has me scratching my head. Why even take the time to fill with foam? Oh well. It's fixed.

 

[emanaresi]

Maybe its a very misguided attempt at an insulated header...

 

[jk96]

Maybe its a very misguided attempt at an insulated header...

I thought about that except the header was the one on the outside wall of the chase.