Building own home, have some free time.
jeffah
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Hello all, I am in the process of building my own house. Currently in the foundation stage. I am a construction manager for a builder and have a good bit of experience in a large variety of construction work. My question is does anyone have some tips on little ‘projects’ I can do that won’t cost too much that can be a long term benefit. The primary one that I have thought of so far is once framing has started I plan to put a water seal down on the floor decks. Thanks to my job I have a lot of flexibility and tools to do small scale projects like this so if anyone has any ideas lets see them. Thanks.
Replies
jeffah
The foundation is something that you should be able to do easily yourself..
I did with no experiance.
Well actually I started and got bed ridden with a bad car seat experiance.. My sister-in-law finished it.. she had never done any construction work (unless you count painting her bedroom as construction work) and had only a 20 minute drug slurred explanation from me to go by.
she finished perfectly in about 5 hours.
I used ICF's and since they are foam block like Leggos and go together just as hard it was really simple to do.
Wait! you can lift a 2 pound foam block can't you? <grin>
The filling is the only part that requires any muscle and takes a couple of hours at worst..
How long will your sheathing be exposed to the weather?
I would not worry if you will have it under roof quickly, or if you're using Advantech.
As far as tips- google the "airtight drywall" approach. A little tedious labor can save you a lot of money and your building a lot of problems.
I would also personally inspect all flashing. Nothing will harm a structure like unmanaged water.
Plan where your cabinets and hardware will be and install the appropriate blocking.
Jon Blakemore
RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Plan where your cabinets and hardware will be and install the appropriate blocking.
Amen to that. I took a bunch of photos of the framing, printed them labeled them and they turned out to be useful when attaching stuff to the walls later.
Building home no free time. I'm a solo first time builder and big project no matter the size. What I learned is I wish I didn't leave my floor decking exposed to the weather, I think if you seal yours water will still work into the joints and cause bad swelling, to avoid more of that I put my house wrap on in the fall to save my sheathing over the winter, well the weather took it's toll on the wrap and the spring winds carried it into the next county, I should have just left it exposed till spring
Looks like a beautiful location you have chosen.
As for the original poster, how is access to your site? Maybe a little work providing a mud free access to the house would go a long way with keeping the subs happy and efficient. Mike
Small wheel turn by the fire and rod, big wheel turn by the grace of god.
Use Advantec for subfloors and no problem with swelling
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin,Just a question in regards to your response. In a project like this where the floor decking may be exposed to weather for a long time, wouldn't swelling of the framing members due to moisture absorption be a bit of a problem also even if Advantec was used? The framing in my house got thoroughly wetted down during construction due to an unusually wet season. Even though the floor sheathing was properly nailed and glued, I have squeaks everywhere. I've attributed at least part of that to the shrinking of the framing as it dried out. Maybe I'm guessing wrong. What's your take?
You mean floor joists swollen?I've never had squeaks in my new work and I have used some joists that shrunk a lot after dry-in.How is you subfloor fastened?Should be good const adhesive and either screws or ring shank nails. Most squeaks I hear of come from using brights or no glue.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
>You mean floor joists swollen?That's what I was thinking. If you haven't run into a problem with such things, maybe the sheathing got wetter than I thought. Sheathing was nailed & glued. Probably not ring shanked, though.
Probably not ring shanked, though
I agree with Piffin. Ring shanks at a minimum. After a very wet project I don't hesitate to say it's much better to screw things together if conditions are bad.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
If not ring nails, that is your main squeak problem then. Also could be related to glue if the ply and the joists were wet.PL Premium is moisture cured poly glue so it glues damp wood well,but the PL400 or 200 some use is not so good with wet grab.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
My two cents on squeaking possibilities: If joist hangars were used I've seen those squeak more than anything. I plan on putting construction adhesive in them when framing a floor if I can remember.
Also, repaired a squeak to discover that it was ring shank nails that blew out the side of the joist (weren't fastened accurately in just one spot) and split the top edge off which was still glued to the subfloor. Course I doubt that happened in your whole house.
Just trying to add to the list.
I always find myself wishing I'd installed some empty conduit to/from key locations for later wiring additions. Or installed all communications wiring in conduit so I could upgrade every two years when the "cutting edge" stuff I installed is obsolete. ;-(
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
some i can think of is a ufa ground for electric , put the water supply in foundation before pour , supply hole in fondation for waste pipe
you could do all the blocking.
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/how-to/articles/where-to-put-solid-blocking-in-every-room-during-framing.aspx?nterms=61672&ac=ts&ra=fp
If it was my house I would buy the best insulation and appliances possible. Lots of rebates for that stuff.