The Poziombke Page: Framing week 2

Week 2 of framing is underway. Most of the floor joists were put in last week, all of the interior beams are installed along with a couple of walls. The floor decking and the remaining basement walls will be completed in the next few days. In 8 days the SIPs ( Structurally Insulated Panels ) arrive. I've arranged to rent a 4 wheel drive forklift to unload them and stack them on the second floor, as of now I'm the forklift operator. I'm looking forward to the task. The following Monday the excavator is scheduled to complete the back fill around the foundation. We are anxious to see the yard grading and to remove the silt fencing. I'm sure the neighbors are ready for this too.

Sometimes it seems like things are going slow and sometimes way too fast. While there may not be huge strides shown in pictures, a great deal of things are going on behind the scenes to make sure this all goes smoothly. We've been diving into some of the finer details of the plans and realized that the post to beam brackets for the front deck are something not to take lightly, and are an item we need to have fabricated. After asking around I found a local metal fabricator up to the task. Due to the tolerances I need to have these on hand prior to pouring the pillars for the deck to ensure everything lines up. I'm tentatively thinking I can get these poured in 2-3 weeks. There is not a rush on the 3 deck pillars, but I have 4 pillars to pour with one of them supporting the southwest roof corner, thus the priority is a bit higher. I can let the deck slide a bit but the roof I need, and it makes very little sense to pour the pillars separately. The pillars were not poured during the footings due to the obstacle they would create for back filling. Thus the plan was to complete to the point of back fill, once back fill completes clear a spot for the pillars. I know probably too much information. There will be more posts on the subject later.

I've also been exploring parging and stair tread options. I know parging. I never heard of it either. It's basically the transition between below grade and above grade. Not a big deal if your foundation isn't ICFs. Actually after all the research and ideas, and even one not so great attempt at a solution it's still not a big deal, just something that needs to be accounted for prior to back fill. With the foundation waterproofed using a peel and stick membrane, protected by dimple board, applying stucco for the concrete look becomes more difficult and really isn't aesthetically what we want for the transition area. My siding contractor and I are exploring an option where we can just use flashing and paint it to match the house. More on this later. As for stair treads it turns out it helps the framers to know the thickness of each tread, and we really haven't nailed down this detail as we are going back and forth between precast concrete and wood. More on that later too.

OK. Enough minutia. On to today's pics.