phoenix / goodwill rebuild

Magicman · April 21, 2014, 10:28:58 AM

Quote from: dablack on April 21, 2014, 09:13:50 AMThat should get the first floor exterior framed up. Austin

Now I am really getting excited. 8)

dablack · April 21, 2014, 05:01:29 PM

Yes, I will take lots of picture! HD and the other place were going to charge me WAY more than they used to for delivery. Also, now that I have big stacks of lumber at the top of the hill, there is no place for an 18 wheeler to turn around. I have to drive my truck to town every Tuesday and Friday. That is more than enough trips to get what I need back to the house over the next two weeks.

So, tomorrow, I'm going to pick up the PT Lumber and OSB I need for one of the short walls (26'). Then I will go pick up the lumber for the long wall on Friday. Today while I was there I picked up a box each of 3" and 2" ring shank galvanized nails.

Austin

Magicman · April 21, 2014, 08:03:11 PM

Smart move on the delivery. It's gonna be just like eating an elephant.

dablack · April 28, 2014, 11:35:39 AM

Well, I was hoping to start framing on Tuesday but that didn't happen. We did get started Friday night. That night we mostly trimmed studs to 91.5" to get ready for the next day. The last house I built in 10' sections, this time I wanted to try building a whole wall and using the tractor to lift it. Saturday morning we didn't get up to the top of the hill until 9am (way late). With lots of breaks (I am OUT of shape!) we had the wall up by that night. This wall has no windows or doors so it was a good starter wall. The tractor worked great. The wall is 26' long and went up fine. I squared it, put on OSB and put on the paper all while it was on the ground. Much easier than with it in the air. I'm very pleased with what we got done.

Also, the RV got picked up Saturday afternoon. I finally found a guy to come get it. So the work area is looking a little better too.

Here is my main helper laying out the studs. I mark em, she throws them in.

By the end of the day we were beat but she was still TOUGH!

I have multiple helpers and at one point during the day I yelled out "hammer" without really looking over my shoulder to see who was around. I heard foot steps and a hammer showed up over my shoulder. I grabbed it and kept working. A minute later I turned around to hand the hammer back to my helper. I was not expecting my youngest to be there.

We got most of the opposite wall done too. It has a back door and window in it so it is taking a little longer. I still need to put in the trimmers and headers. I went ahead and put on the OSB where there was no window or door to hold the wall square. This little girl helped me set three sheets of OSB and made sure I always had nails for my nail gun.

Then last night a huge storm came through. It woke me up and kept me up! I blocked up the new wall really well but I was still worried until I could go up and check it out this morning. It was fine!

I'm planning on finishing the back door wall today and tomorrow. Then the rest of the week I will work on the 52' long back wall. I will probably build it in two 26' sections that I know the tractor can handle with ease. The real work will be upstairs unless I figure a way to get the tractor up there......

Austin

Bill Gaiche · April 28, 2014, 11:43:52 AM

Looking good Austin. Those little helpers will make your back last longer. They are as handy as a pocket on a shirt. It would be nice if you had a fork lift that could lift those upper walls into place. bg

thecfarm · April 28, 2014, 02:13:29 PM

Nice to have the help of the little ones. They can be a big help. Makes them feel important and want to help more.

Magicman · April 28, 2014, 02:20:24 PM

You are making me proud, my Friend.

goose63 · April 28, 2014, 04:06:21 PM

Austin the helpers need a trip to the D Q you guys are doing a bang up job 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Andy White · April 28, 2014, 07:48:05 PM

Austin,
The long awaited project is off the ground(old saying)now for sure! Looking really good. I know as you are cutting, handling, and nailing each piece, you are thinking back and ahead at the same time. I would really like to come for a weekend to assist in your task. I will try to complete a project that came last week from Corpus Christi, so I can be there. I will check the schedule and get with you this week and let you know. The girls will be pro home builders when this thing is done. They have that unstoppable desire to do a good thing. It looks to me like I may have handled a few of those boards before! Keep up the good work, and Godspeed to you. It looks like you will have a good weather week coming. I love the progress. Andy 8) 8) 8)

WDH · April 28, 2014, 09:29:06 PM

Yes, take those girls for ice cream.

Den-Den · April 28, 2014, 10:18:58 PM

They will remember this build the rest of their lives. Good job!

dablack · April 29, 2014, 08:18:47 AM

Yes, the girls are doing a great job. Benjamin (6 years old) was up there for a while too but I didn't get a shot of him. He was mostly on nail duty. The area around the slab is still covered with nails and truss nail plates from the last build. Many more show up after every rain. He has a little magnet on a stick that allows him to get the nails. All four of them will get ice cream for sure.

Andy,

You are always welcome and the help is appreciated. I was kind of waiting to call in any favors for when I need to lift walls upstairs but if you want to come before that I'm sure we will have a great time.

Dennis,

You can come play too if you want.

Austin

Andy White · April 29, 2014, 12:21:07 PM

Austin,
I don't see why we can't do both. I know the way, and I will have an excellent co-pilot with me. I want to get in on the ground floor as it were, because ladders limit my ability to be productive! haha. Will talk later. Be safe, and keep that crew in DQ.
Andy

dablack · April 29, 2014, 02:40:14 PM

Ladders are no friend of mine. I hate those things. Right now the plan is to get the walls up, set the floor trusses and then build the first floor stairs. I am NOT going to carry the subfloor up a ladder!

Ga Mtn Man · April 29, 2014, 05:30:51 PM

Looks like you've made a really good start of it. I was glad to see you mention a nail gun. You would not enjoy hand-nailing all of that OSB.

js2743 · April 29, 2014, 05:42:23 PM

is there any way you could set all the materials up on the second level before the walls go up, tractor with FEL?

Bill Gaiche · April 29, 2014, 08:33:24 PM

Austin, I would come and help when Andy was there if that would work. Maybe two ole birds could make one good helper. Let me know. bg

dablack · April 30, 2014, 04:27:32 PM

Bill,

You and Andy are of course always welcome! I'm building every weekend. Get with Andy and let me know when yall want to come down/up. I will try to set everything up so it will be productive.

thanks
Austin

dablack · April 30, 2014, 04:39:19 PM

js2743,

After the walls go up, I will be setting the 26' long floor trusses. They are 2' tall so that puts the 2nd floor 10' above the slab. My little FEL won't go that high but it isn't a big deal. I have to handle each stud to cut it to length. Really the only thing that will be no fun lifting is the OSB. I will probably try to rig up some forks on the front of the bucket and lift the OSB as high as I can so I can grab it from the 2nd floor.

Any suggestions on how to get the OSB to the 2nd floor easily are welcome.

Austin

tmarch · April 30, 2014, 07:26:34 PM

I have used a drywall lift, but that's still a lot of work. Can you add a coupla poles to you loader to extend it enough?

Den-Den · April 30, 2014, 11:10:12 PM

If I had no equipment to lift the OSB, I would make a lean to arrangement of a couple of 2 x 6s with a support about 4 ft from the bottom. Put the sheets on that and then pull them up from the second floor, lots of work but better than carrying them up a ladder or stairs.

Bill Gaiche · May 01, 2014, 08:54:38 AM

Austin, if you could get me a photo of the bucket on your tractor and some dimensions, I will make you some forks and bring them with me. bg

dablack · May 01, 2014, 10:00:37 AM

Awesome. I will get you the dimensions.

thanks
Austin

dablack · May 01, 2014, 10:03:55 AM

Dennis,

That is exactly what I was thinking of except I would have the triangle pieces lower. Then I could use the bucket and push them up higher. I think the bucket without forks would go 7 ft. That would put the OSB more than high enough to grab from the 2nd floor.

thanks
Austin

Hilltop366 · May 01, 2014, 10:09:26 AM

Once built a 2½ story apartment house, we used a backhoe to lift the plywood up for the floor, I had put a bar across the inside of the bucket ( 2 bars would work better) an would put some sheets in the bucket endwise then lift up and set on the edge of the floor much like Den-Den's picture.

A couple of cautions I would mention, 1: it makes the weight very high on the loader so the ground has to be level and don't lift high until almost up to building. 2: My loader has a auto level so you don't dump the load back on yourself and also has a protective cab, on a open tractor an no auto level one would have to be extra careful not to have the ply come back on you from over tilting or wind.

When it came time to add the roof trusses I ordered all the ply for the roof and roof shingles and drywall for the top floor and had the boom truck set it all up there before he put the trusses on. This saved a lot of work but had to plan it out carefully so not to have it end up in the way (especially the drywall because it will be there a while before you use it) BIG CAUTION NOTE: This may require extra bracing under second floor to hold load and prevent excessive flexing of the floor joist. It would help to put in your first floor partitions first as well as adding some strapping or blocking across the partition walls and bracing as they have little lateral strength until the drywall is put on.