Facias and Fixing

Tuesday Access Scaffolding put up the the scaffolding for the facia, gutters and roof to go on. There was a lot of scaffolding as due to the skillion roofs, on three sides each roof was over the Workcover limit of 3.2 m above ground, over which scaffolding was required.

With all that scaffolding in place heavy rain Tuesday night did not deter the boys from Kiteleys getting straight into work 7am on the dot Wednesday morning. The fascia and gutter installation went smoothly even on the tricky bits - one of which was where the roof it split into two different pitches - the other were the roof abuts a vertical hemp wall. Here enough room had to be left for the 55mm of hemp on the outside of the frame and for the formwork. So that there is no gap between the fascia and the wall when it is all finished the thickness of the formwork will almost completely be taken up by the render. The gutters and fascia are both on Colorbond Windspray colour, the roof and over flashings will be a lighter grey colour called Shale Grey. 

Facia and gutter go on the low side of the roof.

Scaffold in place with fascia waiting to go up

While the boys from Kiteleys were working on the fascia I tidied up all the timber that had been left in the house from the cutting of the rafters. This was to make the interior of the house ready to store the hemp and binder when it arrives late next week. I had also planned to continue working on installing the damp proof course that also acted as a flashing. The best way I worked out to do the damp proof course was in two parts - I used an embossed polyethelyne damp proof course for both parts. The first went under the frame extending 10mm past the frame on the outside and 55mm (the width of the hemp walling ) on the inside of the frame. Obviously this was installed at the same time as the frame. It was a bit fiddly to get the damp proof course to stay in the right place. Although the builders said it was redundant since the slab had a layer of plastic under it, I took the more cautious approach and insisted on the damp proof.

The second part of thedamp proof course ran down outside bottom of the timber frame, to which it was attached with clouts, down and across the step down alonge the outer edge of the concrete slab. It overlapped the 10mm of damp proof course that was sticking out from the first part of the dame proof course, and then stuck out 10mm past where the hemp walls will finish.

Damp proof course under the frame and where the hemp walling will go

Sticking out a little from the frame to overlap with the damp proof course that runs down the outside of the frame

Damp proof course running down outide of frame and step down in concrete to stick out 10mm from the finished wall

From the inside of the house

But I only put a small section of damp proof course in place as much of my time was spent checking the window openings before I put my final window order in with Rylock. Angelique from Rylock has been very patient with me providing several revisions to my window quote each time changes were made to the windows. Angelique even phoned to remind me to get my order in before the end of the financial year to avoid any price increases. I chose to get my aluminium windows from Rylock as they custom make all their windows (meaning size changes were not an issue), are accoustomed to providing double glazing, have a more solid architectural look and have an integral timber reveal on the inside that will act as a sort of permanat shuttering and a render stop for the internal render. However the windows will not go in until after the walls are made, to allow temporary shuttering to be used around the window openings, but will go in before the rendering is done to allow a neat finish around the windows.

The scaffolding made it much easier to access and measure the highlight windows above the sliding doors, and to check and recheck that three of the highlight windows that were supposed to be the same size were all substantially different heights. Two had double sills and one had a single sill. The right information had been given to the framing company and after a phone call was made to the framing company it appears they drew up the right sizes for their workers, but a double sill was put on the wrong window. This was easily fixed by the removal of a sill with a pinch bar, then it was close enough to thwe correct size. The other window that only had one sill needed an extra one. This was a bit more difficult as the window was wide than the one that had the sill removed and I did not have any timber the right thickness, width and length. The frame company will drop a piece down on Monday, so I can put it in while I still have easy acces from the scaffolding. When discussing these problems with the frame company they alerted me to the fact that two of the three openings for the cascading windows in the hallway were the wrong size too. Two of the window openings were too big and easily fixed by adding an extra sill of the right thickness, after measuring and checking three times that I was adding timber timber in the right place. So with all this measuring, checking and fixing I did not get much of the damp proof course done.

Front view. Facia and gutter all done

Facia and Gutter from the scaffolding

View of the river and mountain from the sccaffolding

The main roof

I also learnt the benefit of taking the time to sort and compact the building waste, of which I have a small pile. All the small offcuts of timber were collected and taken home for a friend to use as kindling for her fireplace. The metal strapping, of which I had a large and unweildy pile, was sorted from the plastic and other scraps and tamed by bending and folding it and squashing it into a box. This was then dropped off at the Nowra metal recyclers, in doing so I got rid of a waste product that was always springing out everywhere creating trip hazards and taking up room, it did not cost me anything and it will now have a new life as something else. 

Rafters go on

In the week after the frame went up the builders spent a couple of days putting the rafters and battens on the back and main pavilion, for the roof. The skillion roofs were quite straightforward, but some details needed to be attended to such as cutting down the thickness of the rafters where they formed the eaves, so that they were the right thickness for the metal fascia I would be using.

Back pavilion rafters done

Main pavilion rafters done

 I was back on site on Tuesday and the builders were up to putting the rafters on the front pavilion. This all went smoothly, as did the change of pitch section which intersects with the side wall of the main pavilion. After a little thought was put into the positioning of the large ridge beam for the hall, even that section went well. By the end of the day all the roof timbers were in place - aside from the awnings that will have to be done at a later date.

Front pavilion rafters going up

Threatened rain did not eventuate

The builders were busy at work so I busied myself making a new site toilet. An old toilet pan that had been sitting behind my shed for some years was cleaned up, had a new seat added and hooked up over the sewer pipe in what will be the bathroom. As Len, my plumber, had connected all the waste pipes to the sewer I could now have a flush toilet, albeit a bucket flush. Some of the damaged sheets of OSB that I would not use as formwork, were nailed to the frame and an off cut of plastic for a door were added to provide some privacy.

New temporary toilet

With the roof timbers going smoothly my next problem was scaffolding. All my quotes for the metal roof had not included scaffolding. I did not quite realise what this meant - it meant I had to organise and pay for scaffolding, an extra item I had not budgeted for. Bruce from Kiteleys Roofing World met me on site and advised that I needed scaffolding everywhere where it was over 3.2m from the ground to the top plate. This is a Workcover requirement so there was no getting around it. As the house has three skillion roofs this has meant a lot of scaffolding, since each roof is over 3.2m on three sides. I set to work straight away phoning for quotes, with the roofers booked for Wednesday next week I did not have much time. By the end of the week Access Scaffolding from Wollongong had been booked to erect the scaffolding Tuesday, in time for the roofing. I am now hoping for fine weather for next week to get the roof on.

Frame Goes Up

I had arranged with local Culburra builder Rob Cheadle to start putting the frame up on Tuesday, but on Monday with bad weather predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday, I cancelled and rescheduled for Thursday. This turned out to be a prudent move as a big storm hit the south coast and Sydney on Tuesday afternoon and the showers kept up all day Wednesday. When I arrived on site Wednesday night there were still intermittent heavy showers of rain, so I was pleased when I woke the next morning to a clear sky.

Rob, Joel and Chris (joined by Dean on Friday) arrived on site early Thursday morning and we got to work unpacking the frames from the large stack they had been craned into off the delivery truck. Sensibly we were to start with the section furthest away, so there were no walls in the way as we carried the frames. Unfortunately this section of the frame was stacked second from the bottom, out of six groups of frames. The trick was to try to stack the other frames we had to lift off close to were they would be needed to avoid double handling, or at least place them out of the way.

To begin with the stack of frames was well over head high and the frames had to be manually manoeuvred down. Truss-T-Frames had provided a layout showing where each numbered frame would go, as well as numbers on the corners of the frames that matched up with the adjoining frames. It was an adult sized construction set. With the layout in hand I appointed myself frame locater and director. This was easy for me as I knew the plans by heart and could often tell where a panel of the frame had to go just by looking at it.

With the the first three walls of the front section of the house unpacked the builders got to work standing the frames up and nailing them together at the corners with the nail gun. Overcautiously I had a layer of embossed polyethylene damp proof course put under the frame and across what will be the internal section of the hemp wall. Later a second damp proof course will be laid down bottom of the frame and across the step down in the concrete. The builders said that the damp proof course under the frame was not necessary as the slab was on a plastic membrane and that should prevent any rising damp. But as hemp masonry walling is new in Australia I took the conservative approach and put it in, eve though that meant a bit more work for the builders.

The first three walls go up

The front pavilion takes shape

Walking up to what will be the front door

It was delightful to see how quickly the house took shape. With the frame for the front pavilion done we moved on to the hardest part, the two large sections surrounding the 2400 high sliding doors and highlight windows. These were dificullt because they were the tallest frames and they were both heavy of themselves and top heavy due to the large lintels above the sliding doors and highlight windows. Rather than lift the frames, as they were already upright with the heavy side down from when we unpacked the frames, we slid them onto the slab and then lay them down with the bottoms almost in place, so they only had to be lifted up to be in position. Easier said than done as when the frames were lifted their top heavy nature caused the bottoms to skid out. Some props were then put in place to prevent the frames from skidding off the slab and with a bit of effort the frames were errected. While the boys did all the physical hard work of the lift I had the job of making sure the frame did not slide off the slab and later the job of holding the support brace to keep the frame upright as the boys moved it into place. Lunch was well deserved after manouvering those large frames into place.

The big heavy frames upright and in position.

The joy of getting those big frames up was tempered by one of the openings for the glass sliding doors being 80mm in the wrong place. This would not have been a problem except that rebates had been made in the concrete where each of the sliding doors will go so that the door will be set down so there will be no lip to trip over. The builders suggested cutting out the now jutting out piece of concrete with a grinder and filling in the now redundant part. To the credit of Truss-T-Frames this was the only problem with the frame and the builders commented on (otherwise) how accurate the frames were and how easily they matched up.

The problem is not unfixable but disappointing as the door is now closer to the thin section between the glass doors and had the door been in the right place the studs in the section could have been done differently. As it is there is a tall thin piece of wall filled solid with studs which will create problems for me when I put the hemp walling into place as there will be nothing to key one side of the wall into the other. I will have to find some solution that will not compromise the strength of the studs. The height of these walls will also present challenges in both getting the form work for the walls up there and the hemp mix.

By afternoon the main pavilion and hall were also up and anchored to the slab. For tie down we used 75mm M10 blue tip concrete screw bolts. After the bottom of the frame was straightened by measuring in the required distance from the edge of the slab on the corners and string lines were used to ensure the centre of the frames were straight, a pilot hole was drilled with a large hammer drill and the screw bolts easily went in using an impact driver. It made it easier that the slab was accurate, the builders made several positive comments on how well the concreting was done. 

Back of the main pavilion

Hallway in place

Friday morning was finger numbingly cold, it was unexpected in a coastal location, and made worse as direct sunlight did not hit the back of the hose until about 9am due to large trees in a neighbours property. But with four workers in the build team the remainder of the frame went up at a rapid pace and was all done by morning tea. There followed more straightening and bolting down and then making each frame straight to the vertical, attaching gang nail plates to the top corners of adjoining frames and attaching and adjusting the tensioners on the tension strap bracing. As requested there was no ply bracing and the tension bracing seemed to work well and was easy to adjust. I appreciated the care taken by the builders to ensure that the frame was straight.

Work continues despite the cold

Back pavilion all done

It was exciting to see how quickly the pre fab frames went up. Once up the frame looked just like the 3D computer model I had done, but obviously much larger. The room sizes were comfortable and the window locations worked to block or allow certain views. This was a huge relief as designing a house is a big responsibility, since if I got it wrong it was my responsibility and any mistakes could be expensive.

By late morning the site was bathed in sunlight. It was a delight to see the sun coming in the window openings, and as we are only about two weeks from the winter solstice, seeing how far the sunlight penetrated into the rooms. So far it seems like my copious mathematical calculations have paid off and the solar passive design will work, but this can not be truly confirmed until the roof goes on and when in about another six months the sun moves to its highest point in the sky. Next week the rafters go on.

Noon at almost midwinter

Timber Frame Arrived

Thursday was cool and overcast, but I eagerly awaited the delivery of the timber frame for the house. The roofing timbers were already in site, having been delivered a day early.

Roof Timbers delivered

The delivery was due some time after 10am, but at 11am I recieved a phone call from Truss-T-Frames advising that the frame would not be delivered until after 2pm, as there was a delay in getting the police escort across the bridge. Police escort! I had not imagined that the load would be that big. but apparantly any oversize loads require a police escort across the bridge over the shoalhaven river at Nowra.

So I quickly rearranged my meetings for the day and used the extra time to discuss the details of my roofing quote with the roofers and look at and price sand, for both the walls and the render. In the Shoalhaven their local river sand is not surprisingly hauled out of the Shoalhaven River, but it is surprisingly a sooty grey colour. Fine for the walls but no good for render. It looks like we will be using Botany sand brought down from Kurnell from the render, so the walls will be sand coloured as if the colour looks ok in the tests we will do we hope not to have to put oxide in or paint the render.

 

Not long after 2pm the oversize truck arrived, togther with its two escort vehicles that carry the flashing lights and oversize signs. The truck used the wide backlane access to the property, as I doubt it would have been able to fit down the battle axe driveway. There was a little damage to the frame in transport, one section that would be cut away for a door frame anyway and a second section where a nogging had broken and so the frame above lost its support and the top plate pulled away from the studs. Hopefully this can be easily put back together.  

The crane on the back of the truck lifted off the frames in two lots, carrying the over the garage, just fitting into one of the only areas on the block big enough and clear enough to fit them. Thankfully that morning I had moved more of the mulch pile away, as this room was needed to fit the frames. The only further difficulty was locating the frame set out diagram. Each section of the frame was clearly labeled and having spent so many hours pouring over the plans I knew them off the top of my head, none the less the diagram would be useful and needed for the location of the tension bracing. The man from Truss-T said the diagram was usually taped to the last batch of frames. In this case batch 6 of 6 was right on the bottom of the large stack, after much looking between the frames the diagram was spotted. But  a later e-mail from Truss-T-Frames has enssured that we will have it at hand before we get to the bottom of the stack of frames.

That afternoon I  met a builder on site to discuss putting the frame up. There was much talk about eaves details and my original preference for unlined eaves was abandoned in favour of the neater look of boxing the eaves in. This will also resolve issues the frames had raised with me about protecting the timber rafters, and particularly the end grain. I will however line the eaves with corrugated profile Colourbond with the corrugations running paralel to the roof edge, this maintains the aesthetic I was seeking and also my bid for low maintenance.

Next week the frame goes up and I get to see for the first time in full size the proportions and mass of the house.