Fabulous Framing

This is the first time we really get to see how much space we will have.  It's not enormous, but that was on purpose.  Part of building "green" is blending in with the existing environment and neighborhood.  We didn't want a McMansion-looking house towering over our neighbors.   We're really pleased with how modest the house will look from the street while still giving us the space we need.  We will also use less energy with a smaller house. An added bonus of the long roof is front is great positioning for solar panels.  That roof faces south, an ideal location for PV panels.  The house will be wired for the panels, but we won't install them until the price comes down a bit more. 

The wood used for the framing and trusses is a fast-growing soft pine that came from eastern Canada.  Unfortunately, it is not certified by the Forest Stewardship Council because that was just not in the budget. FSC-certified lumber is considerably more expensive than non-FSC certified. But if you can afford, it's a really good idea.  The FSC organization will make sure that your wood comes from a sustainably managed forest. 

There was a lot of progress this week-enjoy the photos!

First floor exterior framed.

Roof trusses.

Our windows are stashed in various corners of the existing house.  Energy star rated.  Our goal was 0.33 for the U-Factor and somewhere under 0.5 for the solar heat gain, so we did pretty well for a tight budget. 

Inside the new family room looking out towards the backyard.  I love the low windows-our kitty will too. 

View of the back of the house. 

Second floor framing has begun.

About half of the roof trusses have been installed.  Check out the cool fork lift bringing the plywood up to the second floor.

Standing in the kitchen looking at the newly framed pantry.  The laundry room is behind the pantry (front door is out of view on the left). 

Another shot from the family room.  The patio sliding doors will be in the left-most opening. 

Holy roof batman!

View from the street.

Another view from the street.

View from the back. The fork lift is over what will be the small patio/deck.

Final view from the back. The rectangular window is in the master bedroom (it will be centered over the bed). 

Day One of Framing

It took over a month to get the slab poured, which turned out to be OK because there was a major problem with the design of the roof system.  The roof trusses could not be ordered, and framing couldn't be started, until it was resolved.  Turns out our esteemed architect designed the staircase for a first floor with a 9ft high ceiling, but designed the roof height to accommodate only an 8ft ceiling.  You won't be shocked to discover that rather than redesign the roof system to accommodate 9ft ceiling and go back to the county for approval (which took 4 months last time we had a design change), we decided to settle for 8ft ceilings on the first floor.

After that snafu, the slab was poured, the windows were delivered, backfill was completed, and yesterday they started the framing.  In another week or two, we should have a completely framed structure.

Looking west-the existing house is to the left.

Standing on what will become the small deck.

Looking into the basement.

The side patio you see will be the little outdoor entry porch.

We also, after much laboring, picked out the siding and roofing colors.  The house will be granite gray with a "driftwood" colored roof.  I've posted some photos of these colors on existing houses.

This is the roof color we selected. 

This is the granite gray siding.