West Coast, East Coast?

This week started with Ron and I fighting our way up hill.  We installed the zip roof panels on the 12 pitch over the living room.  Due to the pitch and height off the ground with no fall protection, we installed the panels from inside the house by making footholds in the ceiling rafters.  This project took up a good part of the day.  Had the roof been, say a 5 pitch, we would have blown it out in a 1/3 of the time. 

Monday night we decided to call it a week and hit the road the next morning so that Ron could see his wife and celebrate their 20th anniversary together. (Happy Anniversary Ron and Lori!)  Cristi had already left last week for software training in L.A. (via a quick weekend pit stop in KC for some family time).  While in Florida, I saw family and friends.  We swam, boated, jet skied and worked!  I went to Florida to relax but I guess I forgot that as I am tired!  I got to hang with the owners of Clearwater Beach Photography and Anything Assembled while boating on Moon Lake.  Nothing like catching up in an open air office like that!  I also consulted with my buddy Brent over at C&S A/C Services about our HVAC needs and hope to see them in a few weeks to do the install. 

I returned to Tennessee on Saturday night bringing Dad along for a short visit.  Cristi had gotten back home early Saturday morning.  All in all it has been hard being away from my best friend and honey for 9 days and we are both glad to be home and back together!

First Roof zip Panel

1/3 done and learning that installing panels on a 12 pitch roof sucks!!!

12 pitch over the living room is finished



Doing a little boating on the Gulf of Mexico

Pacific Ocean, Santa Monica, CA



Sand Bar, Gulf of Mexico

Local art from Florida.  It seems that I am bigger than the bear or Cristi



Raisin' the Roof

Unfortunately, "Raisin' the Roof" in our scenario does not mean "party!"  Lugging heavy lumber (30' LVLs) and scaling heights to throw down some nails is not my idea of "fun".  The week began installing the ceiling rafters in the upstairs bedrooms and building the trusses - that's right, built by hand.   We also installed the living room ceiling rafters and roof joists.  Since the roof over the living room is a 12 pitch, installing the joists blew chunks and they kicked our butts for 2 days (nothing like trying to hold on to something that weighs 150 pounds whilst gravity fights you and certain death awaits 40 feet below). If anyone reading this wants to donate a 50' all terrain man lift for a month, that would be awesome.  The rest of the week was pretty much the same...building and installing trusses, rafters and beams.  I am worn out so we will let the pictures do the talking! ;)

view from roof - too bad we couldn't add just one more story

Framing continues...

It was a hot one this week in Tennessee with temperatures in the 90's and high humidity.  After sweating it out on Monday cutting rebar for the porch footers and installing zip panels, I had to make a trip to Home Depot Tuesday to get two of the biggest fans they had!  It was still hot but the breeze made life a little more pleasant!

Tuesday we also got our porch footer inspection by the county.  The inspector continues to be impressed with our work.  Ron and I both got our contractors' licenses in FL which has the most strict codes of any state especially compared with Tennessee's.  We  weren't sure what to think after Ron asked the inspector if he could ask him a few questions and the inspector replied with 'when I come out here, I fully expect to learn something from you'.  Needless to say, we passed the inspection!

Inspection completed, we had Harrison's Concrete back out to pour the porch footers.  Ron and I continued framing work on the second story.  We completed all of the exterior walls and the interior walls for the office, spare bedroom, loft and bathroom. 

poured porch footers

front of house (living room is open to 2nd floor for vaulted ceiling)

side wall which butts up to garage

back of house

side of house with french doors to wrap around porch

putting up the last exterior wall of the 2nd floor

windows in the loft to capture the best view (these were added in addition to the window seat window - it pays to be your own contractor for the little "tweaks" such as this)

From 0 to 300 in Just One Day!!

Framing continued this week as the master bath interior walls were completed as well as the mud room.  The kitchen, dining and living areas are all open so no interior framing is needed there.  The half bath is all that is left to build on the main level but since it will be the smallest room in the house it is on the back burner.

We installed the floor trusses over the master bedroom and installed the LVL (laminated veneer lumber used for load bearing) which carries the whole open loft over the dining room.  Tuesday, of course it rained all day because there has to be at least one rain day each week.  So, Wednesday we finished the rest of the floor trusses.  Our celebrity carpenter (aka Ron who our neighbors are now cooking for) installed the temporary stairs so we could carry all the lumber upstairs. I must say carrying all the materials up a ramp and through the front door and then up a flight of stairs is less then pleasant.  (should of put a man lift in the budget and a new back!)  Saturday morning, we started installing the advantech flooring for the second story subfloor.

LVL beam

stairs to the 2nd floor

subfloor for loft above dining area

laying advantech on the 2nd story floor

view from what will be the window seat in the loft

view from the office

In addition to the framing, we marked where all 16 porch footers were going to go for the wrap-around porch in preparation for Headrick Excavating to dig them which they did on Saturday along with trenching in the water and electric lines to the back 40 where the garden and orchard are going.

markings for the porch footers

dug front porch footers (wrap around porch will be 3 sides of the house)

The biggest moment of the week for us was on Friday.  We've been staring at a 9' deep empty hole otherwise known as the garage for quite some time now!  After 13 dump trucks full of rock and a full day of moving it, the hole was finally filled with 300 TONS of stone!  The garage was then backfilled around the outside to support all that weight and is now ready for the concrete slab to get poured.  

the empty hole

finally filled to the rim

backfill around garage

It has been hard to work this week since the honeysuckle and our blackberry patch are in full bloom - the smell is awesome!!  The deer are also back; we saw 7 this week with one walking right down the driveway as we were leaving on Friday.

Framing Frenzy!

 We have walls!  Lots of framing happened this week as the house is starting to really come along.  All four exterior walls of the first floor were erected by only two of us instead of ten guys thanks to Ron's homemade wall jacks.  Since Monday was dad's last day here, he wanted to get in on the action of helping jack up the back wall.  (The only picture we have to prove this didn't get past the censorship review committee) :)

We are using a new advanced product from Huber Engineered Woods called the zip system and also their advantech moisture resistant flooring.  The zip system provides moisture protection both during and after construction and can be completed in less time because zip panels eliminate the need for housewrap/felt thus saving a step in valuable construction time. The engineered panels are installed and then sealed with a special zip system tape. The zip panels are warrantied for 30 years and the advantech for 50 years.  We've been very pleased with them so far.

jacking up back wall of first floor

back wall of 1st floor

front wall

front wall of first floor

We were very thankful Thursday to see all of our zip walls still standing after some severe tornadic weather in East TN all day Wednesday.  Twenty tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down in East TN and one was only 2 miles from Deeradise.  Needless to say we were very lucky!  A friend lost their home in Tellico Plains near where Jason developed property several years ago.  Other friends/coworkers have cars with no windows, hail damage, no power/water and damage to their homes.  We know Tuscaloosa was hit hard but don't forget TN in your prayers as well.  May God bless the families of the 34 lives lost here in East TN.  

front of first floor

back of 1st floor and basement

After the relief that Deeradise was OK, we got back to work.  The perimeter drain was installed and Headrick Excavating was back out to backfill around the house.  We continued framing and plumbed all of the walls.  The master bedroom interior walls were also finished and installed.  We have FIVE doors (entry, bath & 3 closet doors) in the master bedroom - I think we've set a record!  We're sure it's going to look great though as we are embracing our rustic theme and planning on doing some barn style doors. 

master bedroom 19x14

one closet door (left) and entry door (right) into master bath

We ended our week going to church at Faith Promise Saturday night like always but we found the message especially heartfelt as it compared building a home's foundation to building a family's foundation.  It was very easy for us to relate based upon what is going on with Deeradise.  If you would like to hear more, check out Building a Firm Foundation. 


Coming up on Deeradise this week, we will be finishing the first floor framing as well as starting the 2nd story floor and walls.  

justice hanging in Deeradise

buster exploring

buster and justice exploring - this was the first weekend we had the dogs with us at Deeradise