Bhikku

that's a cool house your building, i envy the garage.

apartments ftl.

Knight

awesome house gary! gotta love the architect that calls it the "cold air thingies" lol

08GTCandyApple

Hope you are feeling better, Cody!



Nice and welcome!

I still dislike the Pats.......................a lot

+1

codeman94

feeling better today.. thanks for the prayers

codeman94

my next post will be # 6,000!!

08GTCandyApple

Just got my holiday bonus from work

HOSS429

if i`m lucky i`ll get a 25 buck kroger card .. and i dont even use kroger .. .. i usually give it away

Blue Notch

Congrats Jill.

08GTCandyApple

I've had jobs where I never even got that much! This place treats me very well

Thanks

cdynaco

2k7gtcs

Supposedly there is no gassing from the foam. We've used it for about 4 years now and it does save some energy. 90% of what we do is still traditional fiberglass insulation with soffit to peak attic ventilation. This costs quite a bit more, but you could heat the house with 8 people, 6 TV's and a candle!

And like you said. Where you have vaulted ceilings its important to have thicker rafters for the insulation. You don't want to pack the cavity full. It needs that air space behind it for that soffit to peak ventilation.

That sounds right on the underfloor inspection. Though we have nothing like that here. We don't have a freeze line in our ground. And all of our slabs are slab on grade (concrete on dirt). No crawl spaces and no basements.

Our inspection process is foundation before it is poured. This includes plumbing rough-in and steel inspection. Then comes the framing inspection which is done after the decking is in place and all walls and such are framed in. At the same time the plumbers top out, the electricians rough-in, and the HVAC rough-in is inspected. Then comes the insulation inspection before drywall can go up. Then if there are any driveways or sidewalks to be poured they are inspected after they are formed up but before they are poured. Then there's an electrical service inspection before electricity can be turned on. Then the final inspection checks all electrical circuits, all plumbing, any gas lines, final HVAC inspection, and then the overall evaluation of building code compliance. After all this last one is approved you can get a C of O. Certificate of Occupancy, and be allowed to inhabit the residence by the city. Without it you can't get utilities transferred over to the new owner.

But none of this apples to me as I am out of the city limits and there is zero inspections or code compliance authority in this county. However it behooves us to build all houses to comply to the current city code. Which is the 2005 International Residential Code. They are currently trying to adopt the newer 2009 IRC which will result in higher wind storm standards and...



you guessed it! Higher home prices.




Obviously you deserve it. Lord knows good employees are hard to find.

StangMahn

yup! I've been working at the company I'm at now 2.5 years, this will be my third christmas, and I havent gotten anything for bonus in any year. That's some major

Especially considering what they give regular employess as bonuses (4 digit checks and gifts - iPods and silver/gold custom watches last year)

aint that the truth!

cdynaco

Thanx for taking the time for that. I just want to follow my common sense and build each phase accordingly. I'd put down the vapor barrier on the slab, lay out the BCI's on the pony walls, then lay the floor deck so I could build the partition wall (separating the garage stalls from the living area), throw up some insulation so I could hold some heat in the room so I could work thru the winter. Then build interior wall frame, pull wire and glue pipe.

But the inspectors here want several steps in a certain order according to their silly rules. (So I've been scratching my head about the 'underfloor inspection' - he's already seen the slab and the pony walls bolted in.) I don't know if its Oregon, West Coast, or because of the higher seismic zone (D); but even though I'm a homeowner way out in the sticks I'm under the same inspection constraints that a contractor would in town. It does surprise me however that you are not under the same requirements as your city codes because you'd think they'd want to be consistent - not only for building standards but for financing for 'conforming' mortgages. So I think its wise you're meeting that stuff anyway.

I thought it was dumb that the Planning Dept doesn't require Truss manufacturers to build for the insulation requirements. I mean isn't that part of their job to make sure all phases work together to meet ALL inspections??

My attic room truss's top cord is 2x8 and bottom cord is 2x10. Then when it came time to figure for insulation I learned a 2x8 doesn't allow enough for required R factor. Those idiots! It would have only cost me a few hundred extra for 2x10 top cords. I didn't want to do the firring strips because I'm using t&g pine that I milled from my trees for the ceiling and didn't want the extra weight (& hassle), nor did I want to lose 2" of interior ceiling clearance because its already slanted. So I had to shell out about $1000 for the dense foam, added 1" strips to the bottom of the roof deck between each cord to allow for air flow. I learned the hard way how critical ventilation is.

My old manufactured home's roof failed in 03 after 20+ years - prob mostly from snow weight (on stock "trusses" [lol] which really weren't adequate for this area), plus the 93 earthquake took its toll. I sold it to a friend who hauled it off and rebuilt the roof for a place for his daughter. As we took the old roof and deck off, you could see how the lack of ventilation partly rotted several areas of the roof framing & soffits - which made it even easier for snow + earthquake to cause structural damage. The whole thing worked out well for me though because I always carried 'replacement coverage' to allow for inflation. Since it wasn't worth repairing, they wrote a check based on 2004 valuation and I started the new project I'd always been planning/saving for since I first moved here.

When I did some consulting work for a custom builder from about 2k-03, he griped how the Bldg Dept was requiring stronger snow loads (hence foundation loads) every 4-6 mos. He described it as the engineers were covering their butt - so the design was dang near so it would withstand record snow, record wind, and record earthquake - all at the same time!! It was ludicrous. Who knows if its finally levelled off.

2k7gtcs

I see what you are doing now.

Don't you just love the I-joists?

That's the same thing in my garage ceiling. Neat little knockout holes for electrical lines. Always true. Never twisted or crappy like the fast growth #2 crappy 2x12's you find in the lumber yards today.


For a while the state of Texas had a construction commission that required all homes built in the state to be built to code and they had to be built by a licensed contractor. They kept info on bad builders and sanctioned them much like a medical board would do to a doctor. But the consumers complained that it gave too much leeway to the builders. The reputable builders loved it as it meant that all the pickup truck builders couldn't compete without the license. Not that it was expensive, but it required testing and continuing education.

Ultimately the state legislature just let it expire without addressing it. Most mortgage companies and banks have picked up where it left off, but instead of requiring inspections (BTW FHA and VA all require inspection in town or not) but instead usually requiring that the home be built by a builder. It's hard for a do it yourselfer to get that loan to build their own home anymore. They've really got to show some kind of previous experience in it.

cdynaco

That's exactly what goes on in Oregon with the Construction Contractors Board. Its good for many reasons and helps consumers have some recourse against a flaky builder, but it has also added the usual extra expense and headaches by a bureaucracy (and you know how I just love those! )

I think the inspection process is part of what allows some DIY construction here, but lenders still prefer a contractor. In fact I was concerned about that - plus being just one person with a dis arm who can't work outdoors long in the cold, I am not on any precise building schedule. So I paid cash and then once the building was this far along (living in half while finishing the interior of the addition 'shell' that was added immediatley by the contractor), I was able to get a reasonable appraisal 'as is' (even in 2009) for a cash out refi to repay my savings, although that meant a non-conforming rate which bumped me from 4.75 to 5.75. 5.75 seems high right now, but in a few years I'm sure it will be cheap as mortgage rates get back to normal. Plus with the appraisal being as is with a fairly complete building and a relatively low LTV, I don't have the lender bugging me about an inspection schedule. Although I really want to get it done so I can move stuff into the office & laundry (downstairs) and the master bedroom to the loft. I'm sick of tripping over all these boxes!

ford20

+1 ... Thats the way its gonna be at my house, thats kinda what my parents do right now.
Are you sure their not gonna do anything for the students like reserve a special section for the people that ave finals? If not thats not right I would assume the school knows you have finals to take and is gonna do something for the students.
OMG Umm I LOVE your garage!!!! The rest of your wooden structure seems amazing!!
Um but don't you hate Minnesota and want to move the fudge away from there????
Whats a holiday bonus???

Congrats Jill!!! You deserve it most likely ... I would spend it on yourself but thats just me

Rather B.Blown

HAHAHAHA, yeah. That boy will be in Minnesota until his toes turn up and hes 6ft under.

Blue Notch

They don't care about the commuters. Everyone already lives on campus.

I love Minnesota, I HATE winter.

Rather B.Blown

Stupid freezing rain. I've got about a half inch of ice on everything. The roads are impassable. Hope the powerlines don't start snapping.

Blue Notch

Gotta love winter. (No you don't)


Bus driver at school was mad today. First the guy kept shutting doors on people trying to get on the bus when there was plenty of room for them to get on. (they're free with multiple doors to get on) They usually wait for them to fill up so everyone can get on, but this guy was in some sort of a mad rush. Several people got caught in the closing doors but managed to get on. But one poor girl got her hand stuck in the doors when he started to take off. It took her a second or two, but she was thankfully able to get free. Then some girl was running up to the bus to jump on before it took off, and she ended up sliding right into a closed door. She could have slid right under the bus and the driver would've had no clue. Don't think I'll ever get on his bus again.