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.

Electricity Connected, Frame Ordered and Mixer Purchased

Last Friday my excavator dug the trench down the battleaxe driveway to run the electricity and water connections. Unfortunately I could not be on site on that day, but having waited a little while for the excavator and there being a run of good weather I was not going to give up the opportunity to get the job done. Len my plumber had left the water pipe on site ready to be laid and I lined up FAW Electrical to arrive on site to put the electrical cabling in when it was anticipated that the excavator would have the trench ready. Brummy, my excavator reported that digging was tougher than expected due to more tree roots, but the trench was dug and the electricity and telstra cables and water pipe were laid.

FAW were back on Monday to hook up the pole and the flying fox to the wires in the street. The electricians set up the meter box on a temporary post right were it will be placed on the house, so it can be easily placed on the house. The pole from the street is much taller than I expected, but it looks like it was necessary so as not to interfere with the neighbours connection. Finally we have power on site.

 

Last week I ordered the frame from Truss-T-Frames and spent a couple of days this week ironing out a few problems. I drew the plans but they needed a few adjustments and Colin from Truss-T-Frames was very patient with me as we spent several phone calls discussing wall heights and roof pitches. I redrew the plans to match the adjustments made and they all fitted perfectly, except the roof pitch over the front bathroom was less than the minimum 5 degrees. The interconnection of various aspects of the roof and awning made it difficult to change too much as each change had flow on effects. Finally Colin came up with a cleaver idea to raise the pitch without altering the awning height or the gutter height, by moving the ridge on that section back slightly and trimming the corner off the top rafter.

However the changes to plans that have been made will increase the wall volume, so I have had to make a small increase to hemp and binder I am ordering to ensure that I will have enough walling material.

To get ready for the hemp walling. I bought a 111L mortar mixer (which I call a pan mixer, but it is the same thing) from Aardwolf Australia. It was made in Vietnam and came all wrapped up and in its own crate. When unwrapped we tried it out, the first appliance to use our electricity connection. The mixer was beautifully quiet, a great benefit since we will probably spend many hours working with it. However we tested it out empty, I just hope it is as quiet when it is full of hemp walling mix.

Mixer all packed

Mixer unwrapped

Back on site we covered the polished slab with black builders plastic then some of the sheets of OSB we had that were not good enough to use as formwork. We moved 3/4 of the mulch pile, using it to cover up the area beside the drive that had been dug up for the electricity and water. This was to make more room for the frame that will be delivered next week. In further preparation for the hemp walls I bought two boxes of M8 100mm hex head coach screws and cut up some scraps of conduit I had in the shed and was given by my father into 55mm sections to use as spacers for the formwork for the walls. The walls will be a total of 200mm thick (plus 10mm render each side) formed up using the sheets of OSB I have attached with a 55mm spacer and a coach screw into the 90mm frame, the same will happen on the other side giving a total wall depth of 200mm.

Covered slab ready for the frame

Once was conduit now are spacers