Every morning, I drive over to the River House to set up my time-lapse camera for the day. Today, I was greeted by this 8-point buck. I often hear him moving about in the brush and this is the first time I really got a good look at him. Quite the handsome fellow, I think.
At long last, vertical framing has commenced. I was tied up with consulting work all-day, but that did not diminish my excitement when I visited the site after dark to check on progress.
The framing crew scheduled to resume work on the River House failed to show up today. Suffice it to say, I was not pleased. It has become clear that they are over-committed and are juggling many jobs at once. I am beginning to think we will finish our house sooner if I just do the work myself, an option that I am not taking off the table. I decided to search for an image that would help me to relax and selected this one, taken when I visited Croatia 3 years ago.
After two days of feasting, we felt compelled to get some exercise today before driving back to Massachusetts. A three-mile hike around Lone Rock Point was just what the doctor ordered. The trail mostly followed the high cliff edge but also included several descents down to the water’s edge of Lake Champlain. We were led on the hike by Ikey, one of Susan’s close friends and Belle, a neighbors dog who she is taking care of while they are away.
Given that my cooking skills are limited to frying eggs and making toast, I was little help preparing yesterday’s feast. My talents lean towards fixing and making things which I was happy to do today. Susan wanted to upgrade to a larger TV mounted over the fireplace. We got an early start to take advantage of Black Friday pricing and returned with a 55″ model and the necessary hardware to mount it to the wall. All three kids helped with various aspects of the task and we later added a sound bar to the installation. The work was completed just in time to enjoy the US vs England soccer match on the new TV, a much appreciated upgrade as judged by the rabid soccer fans that are my children.
Susan has one of the most thoughtfully organized homes I have ever visited. The same cannot be said of her very large toolbox. Having struggled to locate the tools I needed for the TV project, I took it upon myself to reorganize her kit, a task which I take very seriously and enjoy thoroughly.
Jeanine and I got an early start on our drive to Burlington, VT where we had Thanksgiving dinner with Jeanine’s sister Susan and her friend Jean. The kids arrived last night. Everyone chipped in to prepare the feast although Nicolai was demoted from butterhorn roll dough kneading to sweet potato peeling by Maya who felt his technique was too aggressive. Kyle was our go-to turkey carver and managed the task with aplomb. Jeanine brined the turkey last night and delivered it ready for roasting as well as pies and other desserts. Jean prepared the green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy and teamed up with Susan for the stuffing and corn pudding. The entire operation was run with Swiss watch precision; all of the food was ready at the same time and cooked to perfection.
After carefully inspecting 8 random Tstuds from the shipment of 2200 lineal feet we received, I have decided to return it all. Because it is a lumber-based product, a 10-15% cull rate would not be unusual. For whatever reason, however, the quality control on the product we received was not to an acceptable standard for use on our project. Instead, I have decided to use LVL 2×4’s to build a staggered stud wall (wood is a poor insulator and the goal is to avoid creating a bridge from the inside wall to the outside wall). Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) is an engineered wood product that uses multiple layers of thin wood assembled with adhesives. Made in a factory under controlled specifications, it is stronger, straighter, and more uniform than conventional lumber. Due to its composite nature, it is much less likely to warp, twist, bow, or shrink. Used in a staggered wall design, it will provide an even higher R-value than Tstuds. The only downside is that it is 5x more expensive than regular lumber and roughly 35% more than the Tstuds.
It has taken quite a bit of time, but I am very pleased with the adjustments made to the framing layout. Every corner is square and every wall is straight and parallel within the limits of my measuring tools. My happiness with this outcome was short-lived. The framing members we have selected for the house are called Tstuds. They use a truss-style construction method that results in a large thermal break. This makes for a much higher insulation value than traditional lumber. Our shipment arrived this morning and I took a moment to inspect the product. Of the first 8 studs I looked at, I found problems with each. The manufacturer has offered to replace any that we cull from the lot but it is not clear to me that they have a handle on their quality control. A deeper investigation will occur tomorrow.
This morning, I met with the framing crew to finalize the layout that will guide all vertical construction. Done right, this is a time-consuming process that involves making an initial pair of right-angle control lines and then locating the desired size rectangle to sit on the as poured foundation. If we were simply to use the concrete foundation walls as a reference, we would propagate any errors in straightness, coplanarity, and perpendicularity to the remainder of the structure. In our case, the iterative process took almost two hours for the east wing. We will tackle the west wing tomorrow and I suspect it will only take half as long. It is very tempting to quickly move into framing but the time spent now on getting perfect corners and wall dimensions will pay dividends in construction time later.
My sister Alissa is being joined by her daughter Rachel at the Quinn Wealth Management Group which she started almost 14 years ago. Now, mother and daughter will share a profession as well as a love for ballroom dancing. Rachel is a Client Service Associate and will work remotely from Boston.
Kyle and I leveled the floor in his future basement bathroom this afternoon. Kyle was in charge of mixing 200 pounds of leveling compound and I for spreading it. The rough area in the before photo is where we removed a portion of a 4-inch slab on which the old toilet was installed. The remainder of that slab will be hidden underneath the future vanity and was left in place to avoid damaging the old soil pipes.
Next weekend we will be ready to drywall the bathroom walls and install the shower base and vanity. Working with Kyle each week and watching him acquire new skills has been very rewarding.
All plumbing fixtures but one are located in the west wing of our new house under construction. The exception is the kitchen sink/dishwasher which is located as far from the sewer pipe as you can get. Such pipes must slope downward 1/4″ for every foot of run to keep water flowing in the right direction. To achieve this slope AND keep the pipe out of sight, it was necessary to create a 3″ channel in the ICF which I did the afternoon. Once the pipe is installed, I will re-insulate and protect it with a metal barrier to prevent an errant screw or nail from puncturing the pipe.
Jeanine said she should see She Said so I said she should. In fact, we both did, our first movie at a theater since the beginning of the pandemic and my first tongue twister since the inception of this blog.
Yesterday’s rain created the perfect opportunity to assess the levelness and flatness of our newly poured basement floor. Finding the lowest valleys and the highest peaks can be very time-consuming using a rotary laser. With a basement full of water, however, the task becomes trivial. Slosh around until you find the deepest water and take a depth measurement. Slosh around some more until you find the most shallow water and take a measurement. Subtract the two numbers and you have the maximum variation (+/- 3/8″ in our case). Continue sloshing about and you quickly get a feel for the variability in the depth of water as a function of location which provides an indicator of flatness. I used a pair of plastic trash bags and some duct tape to fashion make-shift galoshes for my less-than-waterproof boots. After recording my measurements, I pumped out the water to avoid forming an ice skating rink when the temperatures drop below freezing this evening.
The first snow of the season is usually cause for jubilation. This year, however, I am hoping for as little as possible so as not to delay construction on our new home. With all the concrete work done and rough grading completed, we could be looking at a framed shell by Christmas if the weather cooperates. Framing resumes in earnest on Friday when Tstuds shipped from Newton, Iowa are scheduled to arrive on site. Our geothermal wells could be drilled as early as next week.
Jeanine and I visited the River House early this morning to survey the newly poured concrete floors. In addition to the completed foundation, we were treated to steam fog rising from the river which was more lovely than a still photo can convey. We then drove to Chelsea where we looked at different options for an entry door to the house, one of the few remaining choices we have to make to complete the exterior envelope. Next, it was on to Burlington to the Kohler showroom where we selected all our plumbing fixtures for the bathrooms and kitchen. Finally, I made a second visit to the River House to check how level the new floors were. It was cold and getting dark so my measurements were rushed and will need to be repeated. My initial estimate is that the basement is level to within +/- 1/2″ across 1800 sqft. with a maximum diagonal of 81′ 6″. I am not thrilled with this result and may decide to add a leveling compound to the base.
After waiting a month to receive a part from China, I was able to upgrade the flash unit I most often use on my camera from a plastic foot to a metal foot design. In addition to improving the mechanical strength of the interface, the dimensions have been revised to create a better fit on the most recent cameras from Sony.
