A bit of this and a bit of that.

Greetings with some initial admin. I have been asked if I am announcing each time I post an update on this blog. Other than the initial bomb-burst email when I launched it, the answer is no, as I prefer not to be guilty of pestering those I emailed at the beginning who may not be that interested. For those that are, in general I aim to write an update every 2 weeks, if that works out a sensible period where there is either something worthy of reporting, or we have moved on a complete phase in the build. I also understand that if you click the triple bar seen at the top right of the main page to the blog, you have the chance to either "follow" if you are a Google+ account holder, or click to "get email notifications" each time I publish an update. Hope that helps.

Onto the tale in hand.  The last two weeks has been very much a case of jumping back and forth between tasks but not fully completing any single item. While good progress has been achieved, it has often been hampered, either by rain, a worker going sick, or some of my contractors testing me by constantly moving the goal posts. There was a constant need to adapt and jump between tasks, and communicate, which has led me many times to say to my contractors that a plan is merely a basis for change.  The first interruption was my contractors team taking Monday 08 May off site for a days short term work (and I assume a quick buck) elsewhere, but I could hardly complain as Jason had worked solidly through one entire weekend prior to the concrete pour into the ICF walls (see last post). We also lost a day and a half to heavy rain and had to change plans because of that, and then one of Jason's team of two went sick middle of this last week. Matters were also not helped by examples of a limited explanation by two different contractors of an issue of what to them is clearly empirical knowledge, but needs to be explained in detail to me in order for me to fully understand the subject.  I also had a 'decision' presented to me in terms of some changes to materials used in the design that had been discussed between two contractors.  This led to me reminding them both, with just a tad of gentle humour, that they are meant to bring me their 'proposals' supported by a thorough explanation of the reasoning, so that I can then reach my own informed decision on what changes I approve, if necessary verifying structural detail with my engineer. i.e. a subtle reminder I am both the client and the owner builder writing the cheques and undertaking the role of general contractor, not them.

But within all of that we still made progress on four tasks, some of which were mutually reliant on each other, and all of which progressed in tandem as we chopped between tasks:

(1) Installation of the damp proofing and drain system for the footings and foundation walls.
(2) Some back filling of the footings and foundation walls.
(3) Installation of water and hydro (Canadian for electricity) supplies.
(4) Framing of the floor system above my garage that will ultimately become an outdoor but covered deck, and an initial start on the supporting structures for the main house floor system. 

On top of that, I also had my first local authority building inspection.

With footings and foundation walls built, the opportunity presented itself, subject to a little flex, to bring in both power and water to the site at an earlier stage than previously intended. Wholly commendable, as this would improve working pace and get rid of the irritation of a noisy generator. But with the amount of excavated soil sitting in huge mounds either side of the building and at the back, my obvious desire was to avoid any additional costs in moving this from one area to another, and then back again.  A visit to my Building Inspector's office led to his agreement that we could go ahead with a partial back fill on the relevant side and front of the main house, followed by me emailing a photographic record of that early work, and then his undertaking his site inspection of the rest of the footings and foundation walls thereafter.

So this work started with the installation of both the perimeter damp proofing system and a drain system that will take any water that seeps down through the soil away from the footing and lower foundation wall.  The original plan was to install the drain using a different contractor.  Under pressure from Jason, who wanted water and power on site, he had to collect the drain pipe himself and lay it out around the footing, while my excavator contractor brought in one truck load of drain rock and then stood by to assist.  

The initial damp proof process is one of painting on a thick bitumen seal at the joint where the bottom of the foundation wall joins the footings. Then a tarpaulin that is very similar to a swimming pool liner is attached to the foundation wall from whatever height will ultimately be just above grade (ground level) and stuck down on the bitumen and footing.

Then what is known as the "Big O" or "weeping tile" was fitted all around the footing. This is a reinforced pipe with numerous slots cut into it, and a fine filter sock sleeve. This allows any water collecting around the footing to drain from the soil into the pipe, and the filter cloth ensures the pipe itself will not ultimately become clogged with fine soil material.

At least 12 inches of drain rock was then poured over the Big O....

... and then another layer of filter cloth was placed over the drain rock, again to prevent soil material gradually clogging the system. This picture below is in fact the front foundation wall of the house i.e. what will be the walkout basement onto a patio. Building code only technically requires this damp proofing and drain system to be in place in the areas where the basement main concrete slab floor is below grade, and obviously at the front of the main house and garage, with the walk out basement design that has taken advantage of the slope, that slab will be above grade. But installing this system all around the building perimeter offers maximum damp proofing support, even below the slab, and no interruption to the drain.  Hence in the photograph below you see the front of the house with the same Big O and drain rock system in place, well below slab and below what will ultimately be a sliding door out onto a patio.

Below at the front left corner of the house is a junction T piece.  The same exists at the front right by the garage. Later on trenches will be dug out from each corner to hide pipes that will drain any water from the foundation area away from the house and deposit it further down the slope as a natural dribble of a flow.

My excavating contractor then bulldozed the previously excavated soil back in as back fill. Here in the next two pictures you get a feel for the profile of the land that will exist on the left hand wall of the daylight basement.

... and here at the front of the walk out basement through the sliding patio door onto what will be a patio.

With back fill completed on the left hand side of the house (as you face the lake) it was then possible to bring in my hydro and water from where they were installed by the ranch developer at my left boundary by the road, up the left hand side of my property line, and along the back of the foundation wall and into the mechanical room. A trench of approx 180' length and 6 ft depth was dug from my perimeter line up to the house rear corner, except we had to dig down for 12' to find the kerb stop adjacent to the ranch road. The water line has to be buried on sand at a minimum of 6' in order to remain below the winter frost action.

I have had an additional external stand pipe fitted half way up my property line. This has a shut-off valve with automatic drain so it can be isolated prior to the winter without risk of freezing damage.

Here you can see the water (blue), 200 Amp reinforced electrical cable (black), and orange (telephone line) laid on top of electrical grade sand prior to back filling the trench. That electrical cable is costing me $1,600. Expensive stuff!

In the photograph below you see where all three come round at the back of the house basement foundation wall, two remaining deep and going into the back of the mechanical room, and the telephone line scaling up the corner for where it will go into the main floor.

In this photo below you can see the services trench now back filled in again where it runs up my perimeter line, and just hidden in the distance behind that tree is the BC Hydro meter on a pole, and beyond it my standpipe.

We now have water on site, an electrical line, meter and house panel fitted on the back of my mechanical room wall, which is temporarily weather proofed until such time as the house itself becomes weather tight.  BC Hydro are expected to fit the connection between my meter and their  roadside conduit sometime this next week. 

A few days later we brought in the originally intended contractor to fill the remaining areas (garage front, garage side and rear foundation wall) with drain rock. That day the heavens opened. With 26000 lbs of drain rock on the truck you see below, the driver was unable to maintain sufficient traction to get up the full length of my steep and by then very wet and slightly greasy drive, and certainly would have had no chance of reversing up the slope along the back filled left hand wall in order to shoot gravel along the rear foundation wall. Ultimately half the load was dropped alongside my driveway, and then the truck had just enough traction to get up there and shoot the remaining gravel in along the garage side wall. The intention is for this contractor to return Tuesday 23rd May and shoot the gravel along the rear wall. Weather outlook is much improved, so I am hopeful we will achieve this task.

The major structural piece of work over this two weeks was the framing of the floor system over the garage for what will ultimately become an open but roof covered concrete deck. Part of this floor is supported on top of the rear and right hand concrete walls, separated from the concrete by pressure treated wood sills that themselves are further separated by both a synthetic fibre seal and an acoustic sealant (nothing to do with acoustics, it just never hardens).  This ensures a permanent membrane between outside and inside.

The sill was then bolted to the concrete.

In the middle of the garage is a beam consisting of three 1¾ inch thick laminated veneer lumber (LVL) beams (totalling 5¼" thickness). Each were individually lifted by the team into beam pockets sited on each of the two side walls, and then nailed together top to bottom at no more than 2" vertical spacing and at no more than 12" horizontal spacing along the full width of the beam. LVL is a pre-engineered wood product that uses multiple layers of thin wood assembled with adhesives. It is dimensionally far more stable, stronger and more cost effective than normal lumber beams, although not as aesthetically pleasing. In the next blog you will see these also being used in the main house to provide the necessary strength at best cost, but where exposed they will be dressed to look like a solid lumber beam.

The central three layer LVL beam is further supported in the middle by a phenomenal 4"x4" fabricated steel column bolted to the 12" reinforced concrete pad in the centre of the garage that was previously poured at the same time as the footings. At the front of the garage, a further four LVL beams sit in beam pockets at each end and are similarly nailed together. This combined LVL beam will be further supported in the middle by a built up column to be hidden in wood framing between the two garage doors. 

Then came the installation of the joists. The whole system is colloquially known as a TJI (Trus Joist I-Joist) floor. It is now the preferred pre-engineered floor and roof joist system used in house construction over earlier use of dimensional lumber. TJI systems have a superior dimensional stability that helps them resist warping, twisting and shrinking that would otherwise tend to lead to squeaky and unstable floors more typical of traditional framing. The TJI joists are lightweight and come in a variety of long lengths, making them faster and easier to install than traditional framing. They also have much greater strength in relation to their size and weight. The I-joist carries heavy loads with less lumber than a dimensional solid wood joist. It has to be said, their one disadvantage is that in the event of a fire they would suffer more rapid failure than a solid lumber system (solid lumber tends to first scorch on the outside, whereas thinner lumber is much quicker to burn).

In the photograph below you can see these I joists extending as single 32 feet pieces from the rear wall to the front of the garage. In place of a TJI span, on the right hand wall is a single LVL acting as a rim joist and bolted to those ⅝" galvanised threaded rods that were previously embedded right through the wall prior to the concrete pour, as mentioned in my last post. Initial spacing of each joist was planned by my engineer to be 16" on centre, but a desire to further stiffen this system prior to pouring a thin concrete deck has meant we tightened the spacing to 12" on centre spacing. (I could hear one of the team cursing as he couldn't get his feet in-between the joists while working up there).

In the picture above you can see three of five fabricated steel supports that will be the bases for the side Fir columns that will later extend to the timber roof system. They are drilled and bolted into the concrete wall below.

In this photo you can see the blocking in the centre of the roof deck. This will transfer the load directly to the steel post below and ultimately to the 12" reinforced concrete pad from another Fir column extending up to the roof ridge beam. You can also see the sub floor being laid and stapled to the top of the framing. This is a tongue and groove fir plywood as opposed to the normal OSB (orientated strand board) system. It's stronger, more stable and better able to deal with rain until such time as the building is weather tight.

We then had permission from my Inspector to finish the external back fill at the entrance door and inside the house where the footings been stepped at the front of the house due to the slope.

Much careful manoeuvring of Dale's excavator shovel through the window and door cavities and also over the walls to bring in material. For the insides of the house, and later for the front and inside of the garage, rather than using the previously excavated soil, we brought in several loads of "pit-run" (or what I know as "as-raised" from my teenage summer job as a weigh bridge clerk at Amey Roadstone's in Cambridgeshire, UK). This "pit-run" is a much better mix for subsequent compacting of this ground in order to support the concrete slab and in particular a heavy vehicle.

While you see Todd in the photo below doing some of the initial compacting, much of this grunt work became my sole duty while they got on with more skilled work, measuring, drilling and then putting up the rim boards that will be part of the support for the main floor system. The interior back fill was undertaken in 3 phases in order to ensure the optimum compaction.

The owner builder on compacting duties with the "Jumping Jack".

Late afternoon Thursday 18th, my Building Inspector came to review the remainder of the footings and foundations. While there is always a potential daunting fear of these people, right from the start of my planning I have found this department extremely helpful and keen to offer advice. The inspection went well and he approved us to continue next day with back fill of the footings and foundation at the front and inside the garage and right hand garage side, and authorised us to undertake back fill on the rear foundation wall once the drain rock has been shot (this next Tuesday) and the main house floor system is finally installed, as this provides an internal brace - I anticipate by Wednesday 31st May. He also provided me with good advice on a number of questions I had for forthcoming work.

Friday morning saw us bring in more truckloads of pit run for the back fill of the inside and outside of the garage foundation wall and start compacting. One slog job I will have to continue next week, and in my interests to achieve to a high standard in order to provide a firm base for the garage slab and concrete apron outside.

So to Friday 19th PM and a couple of morale boosting beers on site at the end of the working day with the team (minus the sicky). It's just like keeping a clearance diving team rewarded and on side!

The next photos show the results of the last 8 days work and give an initial feel for the work to come over the next two weeks.

Right hand of garage wall (if facing lake) partially back filled, with Big O drain that will subsequently go into a trench and then take any water away to drain down the slope.

The front door.

Walkout patio area.

Left hand side of the house (if facing the lake) back filled.

Rear foundation wall. Water and hydro embedded in sand, phone line in foreground, and the initial forms for a well window that provides egress from the right hand rear bedroom. We'll be shooting drain rock along this wall on Tuesday and back filling once the floor system is in place.

The garage. While not in earlier photos, you can now see the built up column at front in the middle to add support to the 4 LVL beam.

The start of the main floor system, with the rim boards bolted to those ⅝" galvanised threaded rods that were previously embedded right through the walls prior to concrete pour. A load bearing framed wall will be built next week to run back to front along that exposed footing ...

... and another on the footing shown in the next photo from the rear ICF buttress wall up to that over-sized 18" deep reinforced pad. The huge LVL beam system currently perched at ground level will later be lifted and supported by two exposed Fir posts front and back that will sit on a small pad at front and the huge central pad, in order to provide added support to the centre of the floor system.

It's a long weekend here in Canada, Monday 22nd May being Victoria Day, so work recommences Tuesday. Weather outlook over the next 2 weeks is good, much of it being above seasonal shorts and T shirt temperatures, and I am hopeful we will have made good progress by the next time I post.