2nd Floor Action

Framing continues.  Fun!

Getting the 2nd floor joists on.

Starting to picture it!

Walls are goin' up!

Now we're really getting into the heart of the build.  Entire new walls would start going up daily.

First exterior wall is built!  We're using the waterproof green "zip-system" sheathing.  Structural exterior sheathing and moisture barrier in one step.

Before I knew it, multiple walls were up and the house was starting to take shape.

Framing for pow-ah

Turns out, we had to frame out the bathroom walls in order to get electricity working on-site....  Huh?

Well, DTE Energy, our benevolent local electricity supplier, would not bring a power line and meter up to our home until we had the foundation completed and back-filled to final grade.  This makes sense, mostly, because they need to ensure they are burying their electrical line to a sufficient depth below grade as it approaches the house.

So, simple enough, let's just backfill the foundation wall and get DTE going on the electrical line and meter, right?  Not so much.  Superior Walls would not let us backfill the foundation wall until it was properly braced; meaning, with most if not all of the framing work complete.  In addition the Superior Walls team decided to throw us a major curveball and require some extra footing and sill-plate details before they would completely sign off on backfilling.  Ugh.  This presented a serious conundrum, as the framing crew really didn't want to run off a generator every day.  We decided to find a compromise of sorts, and to backfill the foundation wall only very locally, where DTE would be bringing in the underground power conduit.  This required a minimum amount of framing while using the generator, albeit with some extra temporary bracing in place.

Bathroom walls are up!  Complete with extra diagonal bracing.

Framing the Conversation

We've finally entered the most exciting phase of construction! (or so I've heard).

The framing stage is generally awesome because things really change rapidly, and you finally see the shape of the house, window layout, and overall proportions.

Framing team is on-site!  I love it.

Nice to see so many machines and vehicles on site.

Before DTE got our power flowing, this lil' generator did admirably (Thanks Steven!)

One thing about superior walls, is that the studs are already in place.  If you have an interior wall hitting in between them, you still have to make up some framing to receive it.

More framing updates soon; we'll wrap it up to current time and cover all the framing steps to get there (here?).

Fall Hikes in the Woods

One great thing about building a house, is that in order to check out the progress, you have to get outdoors to do it.  And if you're building that house smack dab in the middle of some acreage, might as well take a hike around in the woods while you're out there.

Handling Sewage

Now that's an appetizing post title, eh?

But getting the septic system install right is a big deal.

I'll start from the beginning on this one.  One of the first things we did was try to verify the soil type on our little slice of land.  Thankfully our county has an amazing free GIS mapping tool available online: http://gisapp.ewashtenaw.org/mapwashtenaw/

Soil type "OsB".... oooh k, is that good?  Google it:  "Oshtemo sandy loam".  Sandy loam?   That sounds good.