GARAGE PAD POUR

The last building to get it's concrete pad was the garage.  As you have seen in previous posts the excavation and prep work for the actual pour has been happening along with other phases of the build.  The last step prior to pouring the concrete was getting the AB (aggregate base) spread, leveled and tamped down.

Spreading the AB

Tamping the AB to ensure it is compacted

The big difference between the garage pour and the other pours was the fact there was no place for the concrete trucks to turn around at the end of the drive way.  So believe it or not, the trucks had to back-up all the way from Marsh Station Rd to the build site!  Jeff met the trucks at Marsh Station to inform them of this challenge and help guide them up the drive way.  The drivers of the first and last truck had no issues maneuvering through the two gates and through the wash.  The driver of the second truck was a different story.  The first driver warned Jeff that the second driver might need a little extra help as he had rolled a truck in the past.  Where the first truck made it up the drive way in about 10 minutes, the second driver took over 25 minutes and got out to double check Jeff's hand and arm signals several times.  In the end all three trucks made it in and out with out taking out any gates or trees.

First Truck

The finishing crew for this pour was the same one we had for the main pours on the house and casita.  Jesus, the crew boss, ran a tight shift.  There were some gaps beneath the form boards, so as they were pouring the concrete the crew had to shovel dirt and rocks against the bottom of the form boards to keep the concrete from oozing out.

The first load of the day and shoveling dirt against the forms

Halfway through the first truck

You might not have noticed before but on most garages there is a lip at the front of the garage that the door closes over.  Before the pour they put in some additional form boards at the front of the garage to create this step down / cut out.  The height of the boards were the depth of the step down.  In the video below you can see this step down / cut out.

Leveling the concrete with a screed

End of the second load ... everyone has a task (spreading, shoveling and moving the chute)

In addition to pouring the garage pad, we also erected the large steel poles for the roof of the future RV parking area next to the garage.  These were 12 ft  and 15 ft tall so they needed a concrete base to make sure they stay in place.  They also needed to be plumb and in line with each other so getting them erected was no simple task.  We had to brace them with a bunch of 2' x 4' s.  You can't really nail the braces to a steel pipe so we used baling wire to connect the braces to the pipes.  Did we mention that they weighed a ton!

Pouring the steel post footers

Once the concrete trucks had departed it was time for the finishing crew to work their magic.  We know we have said this before and we will probably say it again, but these guys are true artisans!  Unlike the house and casita where the joints were cut into the floor once the concrete had dried, the joints in the garage were put in by hand while the concrete was still wet.  Before they start using the tool they snap a line across the concrete to ensure they get a straight line.

Putting in the joints and a bull float

The joints go both north/south and east/west so they also had to put in joint intersections.

Putting in the joint intersections

Once the joints were roughed in the same tools used on the house and casita pours came out.  They used the bull float and they got on their knee sleds and used their hand trowels.

 

Bull float in use

Hand troweling  

Although the garage floor is also exposed concrete, we did not think that it needed to be polished like the house and casita floors.  With this in mind, we decided on a broom finish.  This is exactly what it sounds like.  To do this Jesus used probably the longest handled tools in existence.  He dipped the broom in a bucket of water to put the final finish on the floor.

Broom finishing

This pour was significantly easier than the house and the casita and as such it was wrapped up just after noon.  They will come out in a week or so to remove the forms but we'll be starting the framing of the garage much sooner!

We have a garage floor!

 FRAMING PART II

Now that the roof joists were in place on the casita we could get to work getting the first layer of the roof installed.  We say the first layer because as you will see in later blog posts the "roof" is a very complicated system.  But the first step is getting the plywood nailed to the joists.  If it didn't feel like a real building before, it did now!

A view from the inside the casita before the plywood "skin" is attached

The casita roof has been sheeted!

Following the the roof, the casita walls were the next to receive their plywood.

The north wall of the casita with it's plywood

Once the plywood exterior job was completed they moved into framing out the inside of the casita.  There was a fairly simple process, according to Tom, as we basically only had one room, the bathroom and it's entry hallway, to separate from the main room and kitchen.  The ceiling of the bathroom will also double as the floor for the loft.

View from the front door of the casita into the main living area

Looking into the kitchen and loft area from the main living area

One of the cool things about the loft is it has it's own window with a view of the hill to the north.  This will allow natural light into the loft and make it seem less like a cave.

View out the loft window

When Jeff is not flying helicopters up in Safford he has been working with Tom's framing crew.  Tom even got him his own tool belt!

Jeff modeling his new tool belt

They let Jeff use the orange "training" hammer

When they are nailing the fascia boards onto the roof joists they have to ensure they stick down far enough to cover the ends of the planks that will be installed later on the underside of the soffits.  This wasn't too hard when you could hang the fascia standing on a ladder, but when they were hanging the fascia on the high eaves, north side of the casita, and south side of the house, it was a little trickier as they had to sit on the joists and then lean out over the end of the joists and hold the 2" x 12" fascia boards in place.

Luis measures for with thickness of the planks before nailing in the facia board

Since we bought the property back in 2013, we have been camping out there about once a month.  Our standard procedure is to sleep in the back of the Escape.  We have designed a simple system that allows us to comfortably stretch out in the back and sleep very comfortably.  With the basic framing of the loft in the casita complete we decided to finally sleep INSIDE one of our buildings during our latest sleepover at the property!  We figured it might be a little chilly sleeping in front of a hole in the wall (no windows installed yet!) so we opted to sleep in our sleeping bags.

The cozy loft 

Did you know that small animals sound very big when they explore an unframed cement floored building?  Jeff says they do but Nancy didn't hear a thing and slept like a log!  Jeff thinks it was the phantom pooper sneaking around looking for a new place to poop, although he never did see anything down on the floor when he illuminated it with his headlamp.

Nancy pretending she's sleeping

The sunrise Nancy missed

The Queen awakes!

Once the casita framing was complete they moved on to the house.  After putting the finishing touches on the rake walls it was time to put the roof joists in place.  The house used quite a few more than the casita, but now they had some practice so they went up pretty quick.

Finishing the prep work on the house for the roof joist installation

The first set of joists go up on the house

View from the house "roof" looking southwest towards our current house

With the roof joists in place it was time to think about putting the plywood on the house roof ... stay tuned!

 FRAMING BEGINS

The beginning of November brought the sound of nail guns and circular saws to the build site as framing begun in earnest.  First up was the casita.  Since it is pretty much a square, Tom figured it would be easier to start on it, work out all the kinks and then move on to the house.  After being away from the site for a few days it was exciting to drive up and see the rake walls (the angled walls on the east and west side of the buildings) erected and the joists being lifted into place on the casita.  

  Once the rake walls were up the roof joists went up pretty quickly.  The joists are engineered wood I-beams.  They have what looks like plywood on the top and bottom and then an oriented stranded board webbing.  They are stood on their sides and are nailed to the framing through the "plywood" bottoms.  The plywood roof decking, that will be added later, will be nailed to the "plywood" tops.  The cool thing about these joists is that they are significantly stronger than 2x12's and are thus able to span a greater distance.  Also they are much lighter than the 2x12's so they can be lifted into place much easier.

Jacob lets go as Luis pushes a joist up to Spencer and Will

Spencer and Will work on their balance as they move a joist into place on the casita

Will is the balance master!

You might be wondering how we are going to get the straw bales into the raked walls.  The answer is that we won't be.  We decided that it would be too much work to get the straw packed in there to an acceptable level for the insulation factor we need.  So we will be blowing in the same dense packed cellulose insulation that we will be using in the ceilings.  

Once the joists were in place and the exterior framing was complete on the casita, it was time to begin hanging the facia boards.  The 2x12's used for this were pretty heavy which made the job all that more challenging.  This became very evident to Jeff when Tom had him 20 ft up in the air and about 6 ft out at the end of the joists helping to hang the facia on the north side of the casita.  It was a great view (as you can see in the picture below) but definitely not a job for someone with acrophobia.)

 

Jeff delivers a 2x12 board to be used on the casita facia

Tom and Luis hang the casita facia while Jeff "supervises"

Panoramic view from atop the casita while hanging the facia on the north side.  That's Tom way out at the end!

The raked walls on the casita were rather steep when compared to the house, but this allowed for us to include a large window above the sliding glass door on the north side of the casita.  This window will let in a ton of light and also allow views of the Palo Verde tree we decided to keep on the northwest corner of the build site.

The view from the big window in the casita

Taking a break from the casita, they moved over to the house.  The first order of business was to get the large gluelam beam (2x4 or 2x6 Douglas Fir lumber layered and laminated together with durable, moisture-resistant structural adhesives) in place on the southern wall of the house.  It is supported by rough cut beams that will frame our big wall of windows.

Gluelam beam in place

While all the framing was going on, there were still some small details that needed to be completed.  One of which was to finish sealing the box beams that sit on top of the straw bale walls.  This is critical to have completed before we plaster the walls, as the lime in the plaster will negatively affect the wood.  

  

Spencer sealing the box beams

After the gluelam beam was in place they could begin construction on the short wall that will run the length of the southern side of the house and will support the roof joists.  It is easier to build the wall on the ground and then lift it into place.  Because our walls are so thick, two walls were built so that the space between can be filled with the blown in insulation.  Due to the slope of the roof the top of the northern wall had to be shaved down to allow the joists to sit level.

Will building the short southern wall of the house

The southern side of the short wall is in place

Our sunrise view through our "windows"

A progress video

We're excited to see the "upper" parts of our buildings become reality.  Big things are yet to come!

 FRAMING PREP, GARAGE EXCAVATION AND DIRT & ROCK RELOCATION

Now that the lumber has been delivered there are a few other items on the the schedule that need to be completed before they can start framing and pour the concrete for the garage slab.  But as we mentioned in a previous post one always has to keep an eye to the sky.  As Tom and Jeff were trying to get things prepped for the upcoming framing they were treated to multiple flyovers of Marine helicopters heading east.  We assume they were all headed back to North Carolina after the completion of the Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.  Jeff was able to show Tom the type he used to fly, the UH-1Y "Yankee".  This will undoubtedly become a semi-annual event as they have a WTI class in the spring and fall each year.  It was cool to see some Marine helicopters instead of the usual Air Force ones.  

Two UH-1Y "Yankee" and an AH-1Z "Zulu" flying over

Tom has many years of framing experience so the preparations went pretty smoothly.  He is also our building inspector so there are a lot of things that he needs to ensure are completed correctly. The first step in the process was marking all the wall locations on the floors with chalk lines.  Then they cut the cedar 2x4s and 2x6s to the proper lengths and marked on them where    the vertical studs would be located.  Cedar is used on the base plates as it is the most rot resistant (hopefully we get the plaster applied correctly to keep the water away!) and the least appetizing to termites.

Chalk string outlines on the floor of the house

Framing laid out on the floor of the casita

The next item on the "to do" list was repainting the outline for the garage footers.  We say repainting because if you remember the garage footers were hammered out at the same time as the footers for the house and casita and then were back filled with dirt so they could be easily dug out later.  So now that we are ready to get the garage slab poured the footers need to be excavated.  Due to the size of the garage door the southeast corner of the footer needed to be extra big to act as an "anchor" to add strength to the garage structure or something to that effect.  Tom explained it all to Jeff but this is all that he retained. 

Painted outline for the garage footer excavation

Painted outline for the southeast corner of the garage footer

Evan brought out his small excavator to dig out the garage footers.  It was a quick job that only took a couple hours.

Garage footer excavation complete

As the build site gets more developed the room to maneuver large machinery becomes less and less.  So we had Evan's crew come out with a backhoe/front loader to move some dirt and rock from the build site down to the well pad.  This coincided with the second cold front of the fall, which actually helped keep the dust down during all the earth moving.

Tight fit on the lower road to the well pad

Because of the location of the rock piles and the narrow access path on the east side of the house, they had to use the excavator arm to move the rocks so that they could then be scooped up in the front loader's bucket.

Rearranging the rocks for easier loading

Moving rock from the build site

Before they could move the rocks down to the well pad, they had to move the big dirt pile a little to the north to make room for the rocks.  Don't worry, we still have PLENTY of rocks up at the build site for future landscaping projects and gabion style rock walls.

Creating a new rock pile at the well pad

Not a lot of room to work!

Trust us when I say we have a view with mountains

Next on the schedule is the framing.  We're excited to see the buildings we have only seen on the plans start to take shape! 

 LUMBER DELIVERY

In keeping with our "goal" to build the best house and inspire solutions to the environmental crisis, we sourced our lumber from a sustainable lumber company based in the Pacific Northwest.  You might be thinking we created a bigger carbon footprint by doing so, but the type of lumber we needed wasn't available from local sources, although we will be using local lumber later in the build, so the lumber would have come from other areas of the country anyway.  The lumber we sourced is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified. The FSC certification is considered the "gold standard" designation for wood harvested from forests that are responsibly managed, socially beneficial, environmentally conscious, and economically viable.  Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification is another sustainable lumber option, though it is less rigorous than FSC. If we needed to source lumber locally, like the bracing we used for the straw bale walls, we have used SFI lumber. In talking to Larry, the semi-truck driver, he made stops in Spray and Medford, Oregon among other cities to pick up our lumber.  He was also able to bring down an order of wood on the truck for another client in Tucson, thus negating the need for a separate truck.

As is usually the case, Mother Nature and Murphy got together and decided that Monday the 26th of October was going to be a great day to have the first wet cold front of the season move through Tucson.  Unfortunately they failed to let us know so we scheduled the lumber delivery for first thing that morning!  The day started off dry and not that cold but as the day progressed the cloud levels dropped, as did the temperature and the rain drops.  Even one of the construction crew guys from Minnesota got a little chilled.

The road to the build site isn't big enough to handle a flatbed semi-trailer truck so we had to complete the off-load of the lumber about 300 meters to the east of our driveway where Marsh Station Rd intersects with Zoo Stage Rd where there was a large open area.  Evan the excavator uses this area to park his truck and trailer when he brings out his big "toys".  Larry was waiting for us with his loaded truck when we showed up at 7:00 AM.  

 

The flatbed fully loaded with our lumber

Tom, our construction foreman, said he had lost a couple nights sleep trying to figure out how to get all the lumber, especially the long roof joists up to the build site.  His solution was to rent a forklift with an extendable arm.  So at one point we pretty much blocked the entire intersection as we had two trucks there at the same time as they were off-loading the forklift.

Off-loading the forklift

Once the forklift was off-loaded, the next step was off-loading the lumber from Larry's truck and staging it all there in the open area.  We wanted to get Larry on his way as soon as possible.  Once all the lumber was off-loaded Tom began the task of transporting the lumber up to the build site.  As he had to drive down Marsh Station Rd both on the way in and the way out, Spencer and I were tasked with traffic control.  Our driveway sits at the bottom of a large dip in Marsh Station Rd, so Spencer was at the top of the hill to the west of the driveway and I was at the top of the hill to the east of the driveway to warn drivers to slow down while Tom was driving on Marsh Station.  We both had orange flags with which to signal the drivers.  It would take many trips with the forklift to get all the lumber up to the build site.

Tom off-loading the lumber

We have a couple of large spans, both in the house and the garage that require long gluelam beams.  It was kind of cool to see that they were made in Washougal and Vancouver, Washington, which is just across the Columbia River from where Jeff's Aunt and Uncle live in Oregon!

Gluelam Beams from Washougal, WA!

About half the lumber has been moved but the roof joists remain

The thing that really caused Tom the sleepless nights was how to get the 30 ft long roof joists up to the build site.  The bundles of 20 ft long 2 x 4s and 2 x 8s were a challenge with the narrow road and multiple trees, but there was no way the long joists could be brought up perpendicular to the tines of the forklift.  But Tom came up with a brilliant idea!  By extending the arm of the forklift we were able to stack 11 joists at a time upright on the arm and parallel to the direction of travel.  Then we strapped the joists to the arm and the cab of the forklift.  This worked like a charm!  Jeff helped Luis load the joists on the forklift and Tom would strap them down.  Needless to say Jeff was a little sore the next day after loading over 60 joists.  The rain held off for most of the morning but as we started loading the joists it got cold and wet.

Tom all loaded up with joists 

The movement of the joists went well, but Murphy wasn't finished messing with us.  When Tom arrived back at the staging area, after delivering the last load of joists, the forklift had steam coming out of the engine compartment.  Upon further examination, we found that the cooling fan blades were broken and a line to the radiator had come off.  Alas, the forklift was out of commission.  This only slowed down things for a short time, as we only had the gluelam beams and two bundles of 2x6's left to move and everyone except Jeff had pick-up trucks.  The gluelam beams, which only weighed a couple hundred pounds a piece, were loaded on Tom's truck and the 2x6's were loaded on Will and Luis's trucks and after a couple of trips all the lumber was finally transferred up to the build site.

Things are a little more crowded

The stack of Boise Cascade International roof joists

Lots of plywood!

Beautiful rough cut beams that will be used in the casita above the rammed earth wall and between the big windows in the house

A wrap-up of the days work

Now that we have our lumber we can start prepping for framing and the garage concrete pour.  Logistically it was much easier to get the lumber delivered before we blocked access to the build site with the pouring of the garage slab.