Can anyone out there answer a question I have I am building a new house in the northeast. The builder is using mostly laminated materials TJIs, 3/4″ tongue and groove with adhesive on the floors 2×6 exterior walls with 1/2″ plywood. Now heres the question we have had a fairly mild winter so far but in the past few days it has been raining and now snow is on the way as well as cold temps. The first floor is up and they are slowly getting the second floor up and I am wondering if there could be any damage to the exposed materials? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanx John
Replies
Having built in Michigan, Virginia, Florida, and now in West Virginia it has become my practice to paint all of my exterior sheeting goods with a coat of paint either before it is put up or in the case of sturdi-floor as soon as it is installed. I buy the OPPS paints from the box stores. It is nice if it is exterior but in the case of wall sheeting I have found that it does not matter that much. I have found that by applying a coat of exterior oil base or porch and deck paint on the floors it reduces the dust and makes clean-up much simpler. It is just something that I have done for many years and find that it reduces water damage when you get caught by the "partly cloudy" wet days. I also remember reading about a study a fews years ago that suggested that a coat of paint on the exterior sheeting acted as a very good vapor barrier.
Thank you very much for the info and taking the time to answer my question. Come on spring time
Check the stamps on the materials. If it is rated "Exterior" then the glues used are waterproof enough for this application. Manufacturers know their products will be exposed to weather for some time before finish materials are applied. Check the links below for details.
http://www.cofi.org/buyersguide/search.asp
http://www.apawood.org/
Wally
Great idea sly I will check the stamps today I should of thought of that but building is not my area of expertise. Thanx for the info and Happy New Year
As long as they are moving along at a good pace, you should have no problem. Advantec for the floors. Plywood or osb for the walls and roof. It will not be practical to paint anything this time of year. It is just too cold. Snow is actually not bad for the materials; it just slows the progress. Rain can delaminate the plywood and swell the osb but the problems are isolated unless the house is exposed for many months. We start framing a new house after next week. I just hope the temps are above 20 most days.
Considering I routinely see maniacs working commercial all winter long up here shoveling the snow out of the way to lay on their roof shingles, I would figure you're probably going to be okay. Remember: snow's not wet until it gets warm....
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
No big news but we always cover as much as we can with tarps this time of year. Not so much the rain as the snow. Since we chalk and cut all our plates before we layout, having slush in the way is no good. As for wet lumber layout, Lumber crayons (blue anyway) mark better when the lumber is damp on the surface and just try to wash off red chalk from anything.
Takes us about 15 minuits to pull and fold all the tarps we use to cover a deck or roof. The tarps also keep the frost off of the roof sheets for earlier starts in the morning when it is the late fall. I try not to use plastic to cover our decks in the snow if I can help it because it is just too dangerous to walk on when it is covered. You go right on your but fast, and your wet the rest of the day.
I've got a better method: I shut down in late October/early November and work as a professional ski patroller until mid-April. When I said 'maniacs', that's what I meant: it gets down to minus 40 up here and winter temps average about minus 15 to minus 20 C. I figger you've gotta be awfully hungry, awfully crazy, or unable to do anything else if you bang nails in our winter.
And, yeah: I've got a bunch of tarps, too, just in case; and I remember more than once shoveling snow off the scaffolding in the morning and scattering ashes on the platforms when we got caught by the first snows of the year in October....
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Thank you Dinosaur for taking the time to answer
Ya im up here in maine (bangor) and this time of year its get it done fast and get in where its warm, and somtimes scrap the snow out of the livingroom so we can build some more. somday im goingto work in florida. dogboy
Here's a thought to keep in mind: In the winter, there ain't no black flies nor Skeeters.
In Bangor, there ain't no alligators nor snakes.
Count yer blessings, and learn to ski....
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
"somday im goingto work in florida. dogboy"
Yeah, come on down.
I'll be darned if I'm going to go out today and dig footers and build forms in the rain.
Hey Dinosaur saw some thread recently about ideal life situation - sounds like you're trackin' real good
question regarding Waynel5's observation that interest monies on construction loan aren't deductible I think he's from Canada side? anyone know if stateside it is deductible?
from: http://www.taxhawk.com/home.html
"When you are constructing your home, you can deduct the interest expense on the construction loan from the time that construction begins. If construction lasts longer than 24 months, any mortgage interest after 24 months is not deductible. The interest is deductible again once you complete the home"
I'm close to Canada, but in the States. According to my CPA, construction loan interest is not deductable, but is capitalized in the cost of construction, which becomes part of the cost basis for calculating capital gains upon the sale.
The website quoted above as saying that it is deductable mixes up construction loans and mortgages in the same statement. Because he's got the two of them confused, I don't give any credence to his understanding of tax law.
Anyhow, I would not take financial advice of that importance from the someone on the internet (from me included), but would talk to a licensed professional for advice on tax matters. My knowledge about construction loan interest is limited to what a licensed CPA told me while my home was under construction. I only made the statement in passing to show that there is a slight downside to delaying construction unnecessarily.
and CaseyR I appreciate your responses
When I read your response WayneL5 my mind went tilt but after your elaboration I understand. I knew the interest I paid on my lot was an expense to any gain I will realize upon building and selling. Thanks John
ya what i really need to say is 3 winters ago i was working with my friend Robert , you probibly know him everyone arround here does --anyways we were out at Branch lake it had snowed about 4 times durring the last couple a weeks and it was about 30 ins deep -oh ya and the wind chill was arround 4 below zero - and it was snowing hard this perticular day. Well he had to get the roof shoveled off so it wouldnt cave in,what you dont shovel your roofs oh we do it every year arround here. well I was wadding in this stuff all day and wouldnt you know it whan it was time to go home arround 6:pm I had to stand outside his truck and change into some dry pants , my pants wern't really wet, they were frozen stiff and I just wanted to bend my legs to get up into his truck. well ya know two days later me and the little women were headed down to your wonderful state for about 20 days , and boy oh boy was it nice to wake up in the morning and go out behind my camper and take a pee warring only shorts and bare feet. but dont worry about me commin down yer way mista and taken all the work from you all . besides I watched some of the work that was going on down there and it looked fine to me. and i even talked to a few people that got excited when i told them i was a carpenter / contractor and that id be back with my tools someday, they wern't too happy with the localsand wanted to hire a yankee that wouldnt complane /they were from Ney Jersey and always had good luck with Mainers. besides I would only be there about four months , Id never want to be down there durring the summer, people are crazy to live there then let alone work in that heat . I like maine in the summer 72 and breezy . perfect tool weather even when its rainin.........Dogboy ........... oh i almost forgot it didnt rain once while we were there and it was 80 degrees +/- and id hire somone down there to do the footings for me too! and the ice on the lake was 10 ins thick / Peace man The Big Dog WOOF WOOF
Edited 1/6/2004 11:22:13 PM ET by dogboy
Edited 1/6/2004 11:24:58 PM ET by dogboy
It's tough to pull it off, but the slower you can finish off the house, the better. My new home was dried in by November (1999), but not drywalled until about March (2000). It was in a cold climate (Canadian border of NY). There were a few reasons for the unhurried schedule. Partly holidays, partly working on siding and trim, partly some sub zero days when it was just too cold to work, partly the contractor taking other work for a month while I wired the house myself. In any case, the result was slow drying of the framing, and the framing was drier when the drywall went on than is typical in a fast moving job in a more humid time of year. So, I had very, very few problems with drywall pops, and not one squeek anywhere in the house.
Of course, I was paying interest on the construction loan longer (and construction loan interest is not deductable like mortgage interest is), but it made for a better house, even though the slow pace and the season were unintentional.
Edit: fixed my grammar
Edited 1/4/2004 11:07:49 PM ET by WAYNEL5
Thank you wayne for the advise I definately feel better about this situation Happy New Year
Exterior sheet goods are rated for a certain number of wet/dry cycles. I bet you can find out about the ratings from the APA (assume they have a website). I've gotten plenty of plywood wet and trust it, but am more skeptical about the OSB stuff. Around here every job is 100% soaked OSB at this time of year so I guess it can't be all bad.
Not long ago there was a job that wanted to be started at a terrible time of year (slice the roof off of a large, elegant, stately home full of antiques for a remodel/addition just before the rain started). My colleague who was going to PM the job got in contact with a company that could 'wrap' the job in shrink wrap. Apparently they set up scaffolding all around the building including some sort of lightweight trusses over the roof. They wrap plastic around the whole thing and you're in business. Cost was $10K or more and the owner didn't opt for it.