Roof Framing

The roof framing is going up - yay!



I stood there and made sure that they put in 600mm eaves - Critical for the long term durability of the place. For every 100mm of eave, 200mm of wall gets protected from the weather. It goes from a H3 to a H1/H2 hazard rating. Together with the gutter, it means that just about all of the windows, they will theoretically not get wet when it rains. That means we won't have to wash or maintain them much. It is funny how most new dwellings these days have zero eaves - minimal protection against the weather.





I did a bit more pruning of the trees. Poor crepe myrtle - still it does show signs of life.

Bad Day Revisted

The insurance company rang me up to tell me that they are finding the other driver at fault and will be waiving the excess - common sense prevails! I found out that $2600 worth of damage had be done. I suspect that is the reason why they have changed their tune. If it was only $400, I suspect they might of just hit me with the $600 excess and pocket the difference. The police are not of any help - they say it is a minor accident and that it is up to the insurance company to determine who is at fault.

window jambs finished

Today and yesterday I coated the frames in Cutek - a surface timber preservative. It is kind of meant to seep into the grain - I believe it when I see it though. I have finished all of the lower level windows except for the bedrooms and the big one in the bathroom. I will need to pre-fab these and build them upstairs - just because they would otherwise be too heavy.

I'm using a polyurethane (moisture curing) glue and boy is it strong. I had to replace one of the bottom jambs and had to resort to cutting that section in half and then pounding them down with a hammer to break off the end join. I thought end grain joins are not meant to be strong?



The basic design of the jambs is very similar to a door jamb expect the bottoms are angled by 15 degrees so the water does not sit upon them. In the corners I have rebated out about 11mm (what the depth setting had happened to be set to) on the top and bottom jambs to house the side jambs. In this way, the sides, bottoms and tops can't push in.






Our eves which are meant to be 600mm will give most of the windows a H1/H2 rating (ie out of the weather). According to a document (timber service life design guide), anything above 30 degrees from vertical from the eve line has a H1/H2 rating. This makes sense as it won't really get wet.

The best document I have found for timber service is "Timber_service_life_design_guide.pdf" http://www.fwpa.com.au/. They don't really say much about finishes other than they can't say much about them.


A progress view from the park. It seems to jut into the park a bit.

making window jambs and a bad day

I've begun constructing the window jambs.

I've being a bit depressed lately. I've not being having a good day. Somehow a neighbour's window broke and the caretaker is blaming me or the carpenters. I can't work out what had occured.

I had a car accident where some guy reversed into me when I was turning right and my insurance company has not yet decided whos fault it is - be aware never make a right hand turn incase someone decides to suddenly reverse! I suspect the insurance company would rather me pay the excess rather than chase the other guy.

Some of the house measurements are going out. I still can't work out the problem but we are talking about the high windows being 400mm instead of 450mm. The carpenter not being experienced in this construction has doubled up on the framing somehow. The posts are supporting beams He put lintels in the frame but nothing is going to be resting on these lintels. The roof is going to be resting on the beams that span the posts.

Jambs and Beams

I'm full speed ahead with my jambs. It is a case of mass production. I cut up as much timber that is available to create jambs. I have to wait till early next week for the rest.

Window Jambs

I started building the window jambs today. Here is my first one.

I was going to construct them the traditional way, but I decided that this way is best. This is mainly because of the wall cladding, how scaleable it (is in terms of adding horizontal and vertical structs) and that is is very quick to do. You can just notice the 15 degree angle rebate I took out.

Focus

This last week I have really focused on setting up my workshop to start building the windows. I finished my workbench - which is rock solid - probably could easily support a couple of tons, added a a fluoro light and moved most of my stuff downstairs.

I did manage to complete most of the utiltiy room door - I ran out of glue so I had to stop.

Frame Going Up

The frame is going up. I've installed a light in the garage and I have started to make a new work bench.

Sub Floor Complete

The carpenters have finished the sub floor - yay! I've started on the second door and added a lock or three to the garage doors. I've started to move into the dungeon.

Garage Doors Finished

I finally finished my garage doors. It was a bit a trepidation putting on the second door. Weighing around 100kg they are not easily lifted. The last thing I wanted to do is take them down again to do adjustments.

They swing easily for doors that weight heaps - there is no bias and my 3 year old daughter is strong enough to open them. The gaps are even and the doors reasonably meet in the middle - I think they are slightly out by 5mm or so. Not bad really.

I bought a lock on the way home. I'll install this tomorrow. I'll make up some door handles.

The next task is to make the utility room door.





The chippies did not come today. A father in law was sick.

Hardwood

Hardwood is sure hard, very hard.

When I hammer 2mm diameter nails in to make my doors, I pre-drill with a 2mm drill bit to the length of the nail and guess what - they still bend even when I just "lightly" try to tap them in. I found that if I drill them out two or three times, they go in much easier and are less likely to bend.

I don't need to block clamps, there is no way the clamps mark the timber.

In summary, hardwood is tough, but if you want to use fasteners - you need to pre-drill - you might as well use bolts.

Bearers and Garage Door

The carpenters have put up some of the bearers.



I have completed one of the garage doors. They are really really heavy.

The gate hinges I are using (G1 goliath) are rated at 1 ton, so it should be ok.

Floor Progress

The chippies have really started to get into the floor. They have added the front posts and started to joist.



I'm working on the second door to the garage. It is very very strong. I put all my weight on a swinging door and it did not sag at all. Mind you, if you check out the bracing - which I hammered into place, you can see why -sub millimetre tolerances. The carpenter conviced me to put the bracing this way. I've still got to clad them with the spotted gum toungue and grove. It is all lapped jointed with construction adhesive.



To check the half lap joints, I simply used by new dewatt sliding drop saw with a depth stop to cut a few groves (every 2cm or so). Then I would use my hammer to knock out the waste (I love this bit). A chisel to do a bit of a roiugh clean up followed by a belt sander to get rid of the high spots. I ended up using by trusty rusty calculator to calculate the angle of cut for the bracing - that worked fine :) Trust me, you don't want to use a router of F27 or F34 grade hardwood - it would take like forever.

To try to maintain my weight, I've restored to eating junk food - mostly chocolate. Anyway, I gave my daugher a piece (she vistited me today) and the I asked her whether she wanted some more. She said no. Come on, she is three! Three year olds are meant to love chocolate!

One Door On

I managed to build and hang one of the garage doors. I'm quite pleased as it swings with no bias. I'll need to trim a few of the sides to make sure everything is square - it is out by a few millimetres. There is enough in the frame (140mm wide) for a lot of trimming :).

I'll put some cross bracing and liquid nails to get everything together.

Rain and Deck Finished

It rained pretty heavily last night so the place had water everywhere when we arrived. They still managed to mostly finish laying the back deck. I've started to make and install the barn doors the the garage. All I have done is attached the jambs to the blockwork. I'll be making up the doors proper using the timber I salvaged from the old house. Of course I am really slow. I'll initially make up the doors with plywood for security.

That F27 is sure hard. The guy has a full on air compressor driven huge nail gun and when they are driven in perpendicularly, they are still proud by about 5mm. Diven in at an angle they just tend to deflect. The rear deck bearers are 240mm x 45mm every 1.8m - really chunky design. The deck is rock solid to walk on though.

The Chippies Have Started

After a week's delay, the chippies have started. Up go the posts out of the rear deck. And they have placed the ant cap and wall plates of the wall. Then it started to rain. The posts required 3 guys to put up.

The secret of getting the holes aligned for the post holders is to drill from each side and then use a hammer to strike them through. Some of them required more force than others.

To place the wall plates and capping, they pre-drilled the wall plates and then masonary hammered through the ant cap and into the blockwork. They drilled the holes for the nut a bit too small so they needed to go around and route the out a bit bigger.

I tried to fix up the steps with self leveling concrete. I textured it as it set.