Month: September 2008

Both dormers are now roofed.

Also today, the chimney was framed in. I had to accept a number of economies in building this house. Much as I would have loved to have a classic brick chimney, I couldn’t afford it. Instead I’ll have a framed chimney, which will be covered with the same board-and-batten siding as the rest of the house. The practical penalty is not great, because I’ll have a propane fireplace rather than a wood fireplace. The propane fireplace needs only a horizontal vent; it doesn’t need a chimney at all. However, including the frame chimney maintains the profile of the house and gives me the option of turning it into a functioning chimney someday with a stainless steel insert. It’s good to have that option, but I expect to use that option only if the cost of gas gets so high that I’m forced to consider burning trees. If I was young enough to deal with the labor of burning trees, the equation would look different. But I’m too old to manage chainsaws, and the idea of flipping a switch to light the fireplace is extremely appealing.

The roof is framed and felted now, except that there’s not yet a roof on the two dormers. It rained for part of the day, so the framers focused on interior framing. It’s a little difficult to explain the photo above. In this photo, I’m standing in the second-floor bedroom and looking up toward the left-wing attic and the top of the living room. That looks like a railing on the left, but it’s actually part of the attic framing. The ceiling over the radio room is a standard eight feet high, with a very large attic above it. The ceiling over the upstairs bedroom, however, is 11’8″ high and is at the same altitude as the living room ceiling. To get from the left-wing attic to the right-wing attic, there will need to be steps 3’8″ high because the ceilings change levels. The metal scaffold in the photo is sitting on the joists of the living room ceiling, 21 feet above the living room floor.

These two photos were taken about half an hour before quitting time. The framers should finish up today with those pesky flared eaves on all sides of the house.

The front dormer is partly framed. The side dormer remains for tomorrow.

A certain personality is starting to emerge. It has a bit of a French accent, doesn’t it?

Today the framers finished the tricky curves where the flared eaves meet the rounded rafters of the side porch.

This is the room where I’ll probably spend most of my time. I call it the radio room. It’ll be an office, the place where I keep my computers, books, and ham radios. It’s a balcony and will have a rail overlooking the living room.

The siding arrived today, neatly stacked on a trailer so that air can circulate around each piece of siding. It probably will be three weeks or so before the siding is put on, but meanwhile it can continue to cure in the September air. The siding is rough-sawn white pine, rustic and local.

Weather Underground (www.wunderground.com)

Work continued on the roof today, including getting felt on top of the sheathing. Some inside framing work also got done. None of that makes for very interesting photographs, so no pictures today. The framing crew stopped work a little early today because light rain has started falling as tropical storm Hanna approaches the Carolina coast. Some of the counties to the southeast are under a flash-flood watch. However, Stokes County is not under any weather watches at present.

We’re expecting a rainy weekend from tropical storm Hanna.

The guys are working hard to get the roof sheathing and felt down before we get rain from Hanna this weekend. They actually had tackle attached to the ridge board and were rappelling up and down the roof today.

All the rafters are in, and the framers are getting ready to apply the roof sheathing. Because of the flared eaves and the curved roofline over the side porch, some extra work is needed. The curved piece he’s holding above supports the sheathing over the side porch.

Fitting this piece required some tricky measuring.

The lower end of each rafter has this piece added to flare the eaves.

From up the hill at the end of the day

Putting up the rafters is tricky work, and probably a bit dangerous as well, because the framers are working from platforms just under the ridges. The rafter work is almost done, though.

From the back

From up the hill