Roof and Window Update

Work on the roof continues to move along. I wish it could be at a little faster pace but with almost daily thunderstorms last week progress has been slow.

As of yesterday, Monday, the East side was completed and work on the West side of the house has begun. I have been told that the West side should not take all that long due to the fact that there are no dormers for the most part to contend with.

Although progress has gone rather slowly, the work that the roofers have been doing has been excellent. I could not be happier with the job they are doing. This is a picture of the flashing job around both the South dormer and the where the great room intersects the main house roof.

Most of our time has been dedicated to cutting in windows. We have been dealing with the larger windows lately in the great room.

We seem to be averaging about two a weekend right now but, at the same time we have been taking time out here and there to make decisions on some of the other things that need to be ordered, such as entry doors and siding.

Currently we are leaning towards ordering the siding out of Washington from a company called Lakeside Lumber. They offer pre-stained siding which we will probably go with just as a time saver and the fact that all six sides of the board come stained.

We have also started work on some of the interior walls. We have several of the walls layed out on the floor and as we get time on the weekends or during the work week we are trying to get some of them up.

Along with all of this, we have been working on completing work on getting the permanent electrical service installed.

The 200 amp main has been hung, the outside meter and disconnect needs to be hung on the outside of the house yet and 3" conduit connected for service wire to be pulled in.

Also this past weekend we purchased a 500 gallon water tank. This will eventually be loaded on a tandem axle trailer for hauling water. For now it is parked on a pad poured earlier for a pump house which will handle the gray water filtering and pumping, for now it will supply water for the garden.

Here are some last minute photos taken Tuesday evening. Today, Wednesday should see all of the panels on the roof by the end of the day.

Cutting In Windows

Work has started cutting in the windows that we have received so far.

First an update on the roof. The company that we had hired to install the metal roof refunded all of our money, removed all of the steel on the roof, and dried it back in with another overlay of a adhesive membrane. We have another company hired and they are just getting started with some of the flashing work on the roof.

This delay could not have come at a worse time when it comes to rain catch. We have been getting daily thunderstorms and have probably had upwards of three to four inches of rain over the last two weeks. I would guess we would have had our 10,000 gallon tank at least half full by this time if we had been catching the rain we have been having. But, as I have been reminded frequently, there will be more rains to come. At least we will end up with a roof we can be happy with.

We have received a little over half of the windows and are underway getting them installed. We started with a couple of the smaller ones last weekend.

This weekend we installed a couple of the kitchen windows and also installed one of the bigger windows in the dining room area.

The process of installing the windows is rather long so it is taking a little bit of time for each window. We start off by marking out the location of the window on the inside of the house. Next the rough opening is cut out.
Next we plow out the styrofoam to a depth of 1 1/2" to accept the 2x6 nailer all around the opening.

The hole in the styrofoam is one of the electrical chases that comes burned in each of the SIP's.

Once the styrofoam is burned out the 2x6 nailers are put in place.

Once the nailer is in place we put the Tyvek in place. This will wrap the entire house when all is complete. The reason we are doing it in pieces is it makes it easier for cutting in the windows without having to worry about tearing the Tyvek all up with the saw.

Next a water proofing barrier needs to be put down. We thought that instead of going out and purchasing it we could uses the left over Grace Ice and Water Shield. As it turns out it works great. It's easy to work with and uses up what we had left over from the roof.

Once this step is complete we then put 1x4 firing strips around the window opening. As it turns out the entire house will have to have firing strips on the outside for the cedar siding. The reason for this is that the nails will not hold firmly enough on the OSB sheeting on the SIP's. The nails over time will just end up popping out if nailed directly to into the OSB.

Next a clear silicone caulk bead is applied around the frame and the window is slid in and screwed in to place.

As I mentioned there are a lot of steps involved with each window. The average time is about 3 hours per window. I am sure the bigger ones will run a little bit more time to get into place.

Along with installing windows we have been starting to lay out interior walls and have also finished off the Aspen on the second floor.