Building my home
- Thread starter Amkeer
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D,
The walls, exterior walls are all concrete block. The block extends up to the ceiling height at 9-4. There is a poured beam at the top course of block. The block and slab, foundation are all tied together by rebar. These cells where the rebar is will be poured solid with concrete as well as the beam and lintels above windows.
Pics are up and will show some of what i am speaking of.
The block is being set. They started today and will finish setting the block Friday or Monday. The cells and beam will be poured after inspection which will be sometime later next week.
Its getting Hot!!!!!
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c186/amkeer/
The walls, exterior walls are all concrete block. The block extends up to the ceiling height at 9-4. There is a poured beam at the top course of block. The block and slab, foundation are all tied together by rebar. These cells where the rebar is will be poured solid with concrete as well as the beam and lintels above windows.
Pics are up and will show some of what i am speaking of.
The block is being set. They started today and will finish setting the block Friday or Monday. The cells and beam will be poured after inspection which will be sometime later next week.
Its getting Hot!!!!!
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c186/amkeer/
Looking good! Will the exterior be stucco? I would like to do this around here but put stone veneer all around and look like an old German stone house.
I wonder if it is cheaper to do the block than build stick built walls. I would think the block would help seal the house and maybe create enough thermal mass for keeping a house comfortable w/o using much heat/ac. My neighbors house is 6" thick poured concrete walls. He said it is very inexpensive to heat and cool. It's a cape cod. Only the first floor is poured. The top floor is built using roof trusses.
I wonder if it is cheaper to do the block than build stick built walls. I would think the block would help seal the house and maybe create enough thermal mass for keeping a house comfortable w/o using much heat/ac. My neighbors house is 6" thick poured concrete walls. He said it is very inexpensive to heat and cool. It's a cape cod. Only the first floor is poured. The top floor is built using roof trusses.
Its cheaper to do frame construction. If I were to do frame it would be 2x6 walls with 5/8 sheeting then a lap or board on board siding. Block homes stay cooler in the summers and are less maintenance here in Florida.
The block will be plastered, but with a sand finish which is not textured like stucco.
The block will be plastered, but with a sand finish which is not textured like stucco.
Catastrophic annihilation!
Get your attention? Is than anyone other than Doug following this thread? I would think in this forum of "Do it Yourselfers", there would be more interest in how a home is built.
Today was intense! We had 10 or 12 people out there for the block layers including a 19 year old FEMALE. Get your attention? I will hide the picture of her within the thread at sometime, maybe...
. At about 10 a.m. the skies opened up and we had monsoon like weather. Luckily no serious damage to the block work that was fresh. About 30% of morter was washed out of the inside section of block at the kids bedrooms.
Tomorrow the block layers will be back out there to clean up the block that was damaged and continue to set the remaining block. They will work Saturday so hopefully they will complete the block Monday.
Today was intense! We had 10 or 12 people out there for the block layers including a 19 year old FEMALE. Get your attention? I will hide the picture of her within the thread at sometime, maybe...
Tomorrow the block layers will be back out there to clean up the block that was damaged and continue to set the remaining block. They will work Saturday so hopefully they will complete the block Monday.
A: its just you and me buddy!
I think when we get closer to finishing and start talking about the grease we're going to use in the foundation zerks or what type of door lube we'll get more interest.
Bummer about your block! It started to rain when the guys were putting the rock on my house and I was worried about it coming off. Fortunately it didn't amount to much more than a drizzle and the real rains came a few days after the rock went up.
I think when we get closer to finishing and start talking about the grease we're going to use in the foundation zerks or what type of door lube we'll get more interest.
Bummer about your block! It started to rain when the guys were putting the rock on my house and I was worried about it coming off. Fortunately it didn't amount to much more than a drizzle and the real rains came a few days after the rock went up.
I've been following the thread, but as this is part of what I do for a living, I didn't have anything to interject. The environment you have to build for in FL is extremely different than what I have to build for.quote:
Originally posted by Amkeer:
Is than anyone other than Doug following this thread? I would think in this forum of "Do it Yourselfers", there would be more interest in how a home is built.
Bret,
Its a huge difference here as opposed to New England. Glad to see your following the thread and thanks for the interest! Its going to get alot more interesting in the following months.
D,
The damage was minimal luckily.
Well the block is finished. The inspection is ordered for the steel lintels and bond beam at top. This will be pumped with concrete after inspection which will be Wednesday or Thursday. I will then start framing the interior bearing walls.
I have my cabinet case goods all cut, edgebanded and sanded to 100 grit. They are stacked in my shop to be line bored for the shelf pins. They will then be sanded to 120 grit paper and shot with a Micronized Dye for color then topped with a 2 part lacquer.
Pics to follow later of the finished block. I will try to remember to take some photos at the shop too.
Its a huge difference here as opposed to New England. Glad to see your following the thread and thanks for the interest! Its going to get alot more interesting in the following months.
D,
The damage was minimal luckily.
Well the block is finished. The inspection is ordered for the steel lintels and bond beam at top. This will be pumped with concrete after inspection which will be Wednesday or Thursday. I will then start framing the interior bearing walls.
I have my cabinet case goods all cut, edgebanded and sanded to 100 grit. They are stacked in my shop to be line bored for the shelf pins. They will then be sanded to 120 grit paper and shot with a Micronized Dye for color then topped with a 2 part lacquer.
Pics to follow later of the finished block. I will try to remember to take some photos at the shop too.
I was looking at your pics and was amazed at how few ties you have between the block and the slab. the last job we had involving block was a rebuild of the 1st floor of condo on Wells beach.. the original structure was built before the adoption of a building code. the building is a 3 floor, 6 unit. 2x4 construction, sitting on 6 24"X6" deep beach sand concrete "pads". seriously. we had to replace the roadside 1/2 of the first floor. we replaced the "foundation" with a 30"W24"D grade beam w/ a 9 #5 bar cage w/ #3 tie hoops every 12" OC. on top of that was laid 3 courses of block. each of the tie hoops had a vertical leg that was grouted into the block.
so you can see why I'm suprised at how few vertical ties you've got in your florida home.
so you can see why I'm suprised at how few vertical ties you've got in your florida home.
Bret,
The home is designed for at the minimum of 110 MPH winds. This home will exceed that minimum to about 130 MPH +-. We have numerous trees here to shield against unobstructed wind speeds, but flying debris would pose more of a problem.
At Wells Beach you will have direct, unobstructed gusts that will destroy a structure quickly. You also have tidal surge. I have seen the direct consequences here and there of such situations. The Blizzard of 78 took out the second story of the Norseman Motor Lodge at Ogunquit Beach. Wells as well as York Beach was in shambles. Here I have witnessed the effects of Elena, Andrew and the numerous others we have had recently. The weak link is always, roof, windows and doors for wind damage. Wave action, forgetaboutit!!!!
The home is designed for at the minimum of 110 MPH winds. This home will exceed that minimum to about 130 MPH +-. We have numerous trees here to shield against unobstructed wind speeds, but flying debris would pose more of a problem.
At Wells Beach you will have direct, unobstructed gusts that will destroy a structure quickly. You also have tidal surge. I have seen the direct consequences here and there of such situations. The Blizzard of 78 took out the second story of the Norseman Motor Lodge at Ogunquit Beach. Wells as well as York Beach was in shambles. Here I have witnessed the effects of Elena, Andrew and the numerous others we have had recently. The weak link is always, roof, windows and doors for wind damage. Wave action, forgetaboutit!!!!
One of the first things I did when I my then girlfriend (now wife) and I moved up from KY was to take her down on to Webhannet Dr during a winter storm @ high tide.. it freaked her out pretty good when the waves were popping over the wall and hitting our vehicle. now they just close the whole road.. ********!
back on topic, grouted block walls are awesome against flying debris. what are you using for roof tiedowns? lately we've been going in two different directions.. (depends on the architect) for one guy we've gone from using simpson H2.5's to H10's and the other guy (who we use alot for our design/builds)likes to use Simpson H2.5's along with 1" all thread ties every 20'. the all-thread ties get epoxied 20" into the foundation and use 4' long 4" heavy structural channels as bearing plates on the top.
I won't even go into the idiocy of what IBC2000 requires, though thankfully Sanford finally dropped it in favor of IBC2003.
back on topic, grouted block walls are awesome against flying debris. what are you using for roof tiedowns? lately we've been going in two different directions.. (depends on the architect) for one guy we've gone from using simpson H2.5's to H10's and the other guy (who we use alot for our design/builds)likes to use Simpson H2.5's along with 1" all thread ties every 20'. the all-thread ties get epoxied 20" into the foundation and use 4' long 4" heavy structural channels as bearing plates on the top.
I won't even go into the idiocy of what IBC2000 requires, though thankfully Sanford finally dropped it in favor of IBC2003.
The truss connection to masonry is a Simpson hta 16. The interior bearing walls are a Tiemax Pro-Bolt which is a 1/2 rod that extends from top plate to 6 inches in concrete at 6 foot centers. All studs are 16 centers.
The girders require 3 straps.
The girders require 3 straps.
Um, I have 16 penny nails holding my 2x4s together. Is that good?
You guys are beyond me here as we don't have to worry too much about wind or water. We do get leftover hurricanes around here but usually winds are sub-60 mph. I have "hurricane straps" holding the end of the roof trusses to the wall top plate. With a tin roof I'm also not worried about losing shingles, a common problem around here. I'm more worried about siding coming off as that is common too. My last house was surrounded by trees on 2 sides, this one isn't and I can definitely feel the difference in winds.
those pro-bolts sound like lighter duty versions of what we use.. the system we use is actually the third system he wanted to use.. the first one involved bolting a fabricated bracket tot he concrete and affixing it to the 6x6 corner posts with about 15 lags.. rejected that didn't like the bracket design, the second was a simpson tie that used about 40 lags to transfer the tension load to the post, we rejected that because there simply wouldn't be enough wood left to hold the corner of the building up.
D,
the "hurricane straps" you use are most likely the simpson H2.5. they'll hold the structure on, but if the wind gets under your metal sheets, they'll tear off like nothing, esp if you've only got the 1/4" hex headed wood screws.
Things are moving pretty quick! I just ordered the lumber for bearing walls, porch columns, headers, beams and the sheeting for the roof. I ordered 160 sheets of 5/8 and paid $15.19 instead of the usual $17-17.50 per sheet price. Nice, much needed savings!
I started laying out the interior, frame walls today. I had to tweak a few things to get them to work better. One was my master bath entry door. The measurement called for a 2 foot, 5 inch corner to corner since the wall is at a 45 degree angle. The door size is 2-6, 6-8 which meant that the door casings would not have enough clearance to the corner at the inside. I needed at least 3.25 the plans only gave me 2.25. One of those things you pick up on that the architects almost always miss. Now since my truss rests on this bearing wall I modified I need to get with truss engineer to make sure no problems.
I started laying out the interior, frame walls today. I had to tweak a few things to get them to work better. One was my master bath entry door. The measurement called for a 2 foot, 5 inch corner to corner since the wall is at a 45 degree angle. The door size is 2-6, 6-8 which meant that the door casings would not have enough clearance to the corner at the inside. I needed at least 3.25 the plans only gave me 2.25. One of those things you pick up on that the architects almost always miss. Now since my truss rests on this bearing wall I modified I need to get with truss engineer to make sure no problems.
When my house was estimated the OSB was up $5+ sheet. This was right after Katrina. The build didn't start until this past January and fortunately it came back down the $5. I need 250-300 sheets. But, many other things went up. The windows went up 4%, the concrete went up $6 yard, drywall went up a few $$$. I would like to know (or maybe not!) how much more in material it cost me after Katrina and the fuel price spike. I think this time last year would have saved me several grand.
When I finished my basement in my last house I didn't leave enough room for the door trim into the bathroom. Fortunately it was the side behind the door when it opens. I had to trim the trim to make it fit. Lesson learned.
When I finished my basement in my last house I didn't leave enough room for the door trim into the bathroom. Fortunately it was the side behind the door when it opens. I had to trim the trim to make it fit. Lesson learned.
D,
I am estimating about $2000 more since we started planning this in June of 2005. That is a pretty conservative figure and I have been able to pay cheaper on some things so thats helped.
Met with truss engineer yesterday. We went over some details and modified the truss that sits over doorway at master bath. Trusses will be delivered in a little more than a week.
Lintel passed inspection and will be poured Thursday. I will start framing Friday.
Pics up...
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c186/amkeer/
I am estimating about $2000 more since we started planning this in June of 2005. That is a pretty conservative figure and I have been able to pay cheaper on some things so thats helped.
Met with truss engineer yesterday. We went over some details and modified the truss that sits over doorway at master bath. Trusses will be delivered in a little more than a week.
Lintel passed inspection and will be poured Thursday. I will start framing Friday.
Pics up...
http://s27.photobucket.com/albums/c186/amkeer/
D,
Thats a stash area for when the rockers come around! Kidding!
Those are inspection holes for the dowel rods that were coming through the slab. There is steel rebar running from the top of the wall down to the slab. Its tied to the slab dowels with tie wire. The inspector has to see this tied to pass the lintel and allow it all to be poured with concrete. Everywhere you see those inspection holes it will be poured solid concrete including all lintels above windows and doors as well as the whole top course of block.
All the block will be coated with stucco after the roof is on and the windows are in.
Its getting blasting hot out!
How is your home coming along D?
Thats a stash area for when the rockers come around! Kidding!
All the block will be coated with stucco after the roof is on and the windows are in.
Its getting blasting hot out!
How is your home coming along D?
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