Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Building a garage-apartment with a pond view

Always fun to watch what you're up to. You guys are machines. Non-stop machines. You don't still still much, do you?

Any pics of the work done ?

B'ski I appreciate that let's just man up and do this. I do that myself and sometimes regret it. However a bit of wisdom for your age. A slipped disc will put you behind schedule about a year at least. Please tell D'ski I said that. Use the tools you have - that is why you have them.

Enjoying the building trip with you guys.

Not much progress from last weekend, except the last section of 1st floor framing; the column between the garage doors. We started early this morning and I had to cash it in around noon. The heat and humidity...we can take that. Add the unobstructed sun and we were toast. The next trip will be 2nd floor stuff. That's gonna be a big nut to crack.
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I see blue tarps carefully staked out!

I drive past a pile of trusses every morning on the way to work. They must have been setting there for 10 years now. They are just as gray as the concrete they were placed on. (sigh)

ditto

I third that.

Nice progress.

Was there going to be something downstairs other then open space for cars and tools? I'm confused from your earlier plans and don't remember if you are going to have bedrooms and a bathroom downstairs or not? If not, will you be freespanning the entire distance witht he second story floor?

Eddie

Coming from a guy that does this kinda stuff for a living and would likely already be working on the roof, I think you are being too kind...but thanks.

Confused from my earlier plans??? How can that be? (tongue firmly implanted in cheek).
The second floor framing will be freespanning. We worked directly with an engineer at Georgia Pacific on the entire design to achieve L/480 min for live and dead load. This will allow anything to happen in the first floor area. For right now and the foreseeable future, 2/3 of the first floor will be a large 2 stall garage and 1/3 will be separated off as a work shop/hobby area. All the living space will go upstairs. This will serve our needs well for the next 10 - 15 years, as planned.

Brettske:

With the weather such as it was, I'm amazed that you got that much done. It was brutal out there! This weekend is looking a bit better. How are you planning to get the trusses lifted in place?

Yeah, it was brutal in the midwest. The guys in Texas still think we're wimps.
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The trusses weigh: 4 pc @ 83#......28 pc @ 98#. I plan on muscle, but maintain the option of hiring in our dirt guy. He has a 30' truss pole adapted for his rubber tired backhoe.
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The real pain will be the engineered I-joists at 140# each. I hope to be able to muscle those up, too. The 240# LVL's will definitely get the boost from our wall jacks.

I know it's more $$ out of pocket, but I'm getting to the point where I'd rather spend some $$ and save my energy for the project. Just with the trusses alone, you'd be lifting about 3,000# and walking part ways up a ladder with it just to get them in place, not counting the I-joists. Would it be possible to plan ahead and get them all in place in one day if equipment was used? (Trusses and I-joists?)

If you need an extra hand, the offer still stands.

Absolutely agreed and very much on the budget radar. Placing the trusses with the joist hoist would take all of a couple of hours.

I gotta ask, is that your time estimate or Dski's?

ok...double it

and add 30.

This was more of a heavy lifting weekend.
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The engineered I-joists are 28' long and come in at 140#. They were the easy part.

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The big mamu's were the LVL beams. They were 3.5" thick x 16" tall. One was 23 ft (345#) and the other 28 ft (420#). They're not THAT heavy...until they are suspended over your head. Should be no problem for you average husband/wife construction crew.
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ALL JACKED UP
For the shorter LVL, we put the wall jacks back to work.

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The longer beam at 28' was a bit trickier. Because it is longer than the space within the wall framing, we had to jack it up until it bumped into the bottom sides of the wall top plates, shift it over through the garage door opening to allow it to continue upward on the opposing end. Then, continue jacking up only one end to elevate it high enough to clear the top of the wall, shift it about 8" laterally while on an angle at 9' high, and continue jacking up the other end to meet the first. Yeah, quite a few pucker moments as this 420# beast stood at 9' high precariously perched atop 2 pc of 2 x 4 legs. Sorry; no time for pics during the actual raising process.
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We finished on Sunday evening at dark o'clock, so no final progress pics. Only this mid Sunday progress report.

Looks like you were busy in the cool weather this weekend! I see you took Theo's +30, added it you your estimate and tripled it! It's looking good!

Years ago Dad and I made a laminated beam for the garage door at the lake, and it sagged. When I worked for that steel company, I bought an "I" beam to replace it. We used cribbing and a bottle jack to get it in place. You're right about the pucker factor once it gets up above your head!

I am glad everything went up and went up well, and STAYED up.

Putting a 420 lbs object up overhead is not a task I would recommend many people that I actually like perform. You and Dski are exceptions.

Great progress ! Need to get floor 2 up and a roof.

As always. First class!!!

Sunil could have done it single handedly.

Brettski,
Those are impressive feats, seriously speaking, they border on incredible. I would have hired a stinger, small crane, and though I had done well to accomplish what you and Dski have.

It appears that you are wearing long sleeves. Is it not hot there?

That day, it was low 90's and extreme humidity. Oppressive would be a good adjective. Dski and I both have skin issues with the sun and are VERY careful. Preparation every morning includes a thick coating of SPF 50 on all exposed surfaces, including shoulders, upper back and front torso, and arms....even though they are covered with long sleeved shirts. Top it off with the Rocket J Squirrel hats and we do a pretty good job at thwarting alot of the UV.
It is normal for me to lose 10# on a 3 day weekend in that type of weather.

It would make more sense if one of you wore the Rocky Squirrel hat and the other wore a Bullwinkle hat. It's all about balance.

Dski had a baby shower to attend on Sunday, so I let her off the hook...for one day. We worked all day Sat, but never got anywhere near what I wanted completed so I had to go back on Sunday by myself to wrap it up. Way too much driving.
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We had to stuff all the joists with the proposed mechanicals. Now is the time since it will be impossible when the end walls are corked up and completed. None of it is assembled since I really haven't decided what and where, but having it in place will allow us to tie it all together when that time does come.

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Having the Georgia Pacific engineers go over my plans to design the second floor joist framing yielded an unexpected addition to our plan. Since we used such a narrow wall at the corner (adjacent to the OH door openings), I had to add a Simpson tie strap around the corner. It runs 10 feet in each direction. It's pretty hefty and was a bear to install. Worse than that, since it is so thick, I had to route a relief behind the OSB panels that are installed to complete the outside walls. Man, what a pain.

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At the end of my solo day, we are very close to installing the 2nd floor decking. If the weather holds (and the W-man is predicting a beaut' this coming weekend), I hope to apply a 3-dayer to finish sheathing the OH door area and start pushing 4 x 8 subfloor panels uphill.

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I am really burnin' out on this phase. I need new inspiration, so getting up to the second floor should be a buzz. Also, and more importantly, the subfloor decking that will be installed is a special weather resistant product that will create a roof to protect all the work underneath. VERY important for a 2 person crew slowly working thru the process on weekends.
I stood on top of an 8' ladder. held the camera over my head, and tried to sneak a peak at what it might look like from the back end of the structure. Like I said....inspiration required.