We Have Started the Front!

Another productive weekend along with warmer weather made things really go well this weekend.

We finished the last panel on the great room right away Saturday morning and then turned our attention to the front of the house. I have not really been looking forward to this part due to the fact that there are a lot of obstacles to contend with.

First off, my initial concern was that I would not have enough lift with the Skytrak to get the panels raised high enough over the front bent and drop the panels in from the top. Fortunately, I think we will be OK and have the needed height.

Second, there is a fair amount of prep work needed on the SIP's themselves to sit over the oak floor joists that help tie the very front bent to the second bent, as well as the angle cut for the roof. It is nothing complicated, just a lot of time consuming steps for each panel. But I can honestly say we got a very good start, and it seems to be going very smoothly.

On my wife's suggestion, we plan on handling the upper SIP's a little different than we had originally thought. We more than likely will have French doors leading out to the balcony on the front. At this time, we are thinking of eliminating the two vertical SIP's that would basically be wasted to fill this spot, leave enough room to stick frame the rough opening for the doors, and run a couple of SIP's horizontally to fill the remaining area to the peak above the French doors. This will more than likely save us a couple of SIP's that may be used later on for a small pump house for the water pump and pressure tank.

Work also now can begin on stick framing the east face of the great room now that the final SIP on the north wall has been put into place. We still need to get the rough openings for these windows, but I think we have it pretty well nailed down as to the size and location of these windows.

As I had mentioned, the plan here is to also use a couple of SIP's and place them horizontally to fill in the upper portion of the bent. The thought here was with all of the windows, and their large size on this side, SIP material would just go to waste.

After this week with what we have accomplished as well as the minor changes that we made , I think we have fallen below the ten SIP mark!!!