Day 54: Blocks and outriggers

Today we fabricated and began to install wooden blocks between the rafters on the east and west walls. The blocks serve several functions:

• Provide proper spacing and support for the rafters
• Provide a location to fasten the roof structure to the wall top plate
• Provide a mounting surface for plywood roofing material
  
• Create a boundary to enclose the ceiling insulation

We also began to install wooden outriggers that form the eave on the south wall. The pic below shows 10 blocks installed on the west wall, and 5 outriggers installed on the south wall. Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a comment.

Day 53: Last of the rafters

Today was a repeat of Monday on the west side of the home. All 16 rafters over the kitchen and dining room were built and raised into position. They were fastened to the hangers on the curved glulam and set in approximately the correct locations on the west wall top plate. Here are two pics at the end of day 53. The first is from the family room looking west over the kitchen and dining room, and the second is from the northeast. Thanks for reading. I enjoy reading your comments.

Day 52: Reclaimed redwood and more rafters

When I visited Heritage Salvage in Petaluma a few weeks ago, I picked up several hundred square feet of reclaimed redwood tongue and groove flooring material. On Saturday and Sunday, Cindy and I prepared this wood for attachment to the small curved glulam beams. When you look up while on the porch or in the utility room, you will see these boards. Here is a pic of 4 boards before preparation - gray, weathered and dirty.

Excessive dirt was scraped off with a putty knife.

The boards were run through a planer to remove about 1/32 inch.

The tongues and grooves were scraped and brushed clean so that the boards will fit well together.

Finally, the boards were sanded with 120 grit sandpaper.

It was very rewarding seeing the grain and patterns pop out when the old weathered material was removed. The wood has a very tight grain pattern - new redwood material like this cannot be purchased anymore. Here is a pic of the same 4 boards after preparation.

On Monday, we prepared 16 rafters over the loft with an eave support detail. This included notching the I-joists and fastening plywood spacers and 2X4 stiffeners. We fastened these rafters to the hangers on the curved glulam beam and set them in approximately the correct locations on the east top plate. Here is a pic looking east towards the loft from the kitchen at the end of day 52.

Stella status:
She is getting bigger every day, but is still mostly paws and ears attached to a nose.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Day 51: more I-Joists

Welcome back Justin! On Friday we attached more hangers to the curved glulams. We ended day 51 by placing all 16 rafters over the family room. It is exciting to see the ceiling taking shape. The 2 pics below are taken from the loft looking west and southwest respectively. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Day 50: Glulam and I-Joists

We had a small crew again today. We set the 2nd large curved glulam in the beam seats. Then we attached hangers to the curved glulams and hung 3 rafters over the great room before the end of day 50.

Green comment for today:
Consider using engineered wood instead of dimensional lumber. The I-joists I am using for rafters have the following advantages compared to the solid dimensional 2X10 members they replace:

• they are constructed with small leftover scraps from other wood manufacturing processes, thereby reducing harvesting of additional trees
  
• they use less material to provide equivalent stiffness
  
• they do not warp

The curved glulams are also considered engineered wood. They have the advantage of being constructed from smaller laminated pieces with custom curvature. The equivalent solid dimensional lumber beam would have been cut from one large log.

I can hear you asking why I used solid dimensional lumber for the loft floor joists. I needed to keep the floor as thin as possible to save ceiling height in the bedroom. I was able to use 2X8 dimensional joists. I-joists do not come any smaller than 2X10, and I did not want to lose 2” of headroom in the bedroom.

I’ll close today with a great panorama shot I got while up about 40 feet on the telehandler. Thanks for reading. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks for the lift Trevor!