10 - Roofing

After we received a point of contact from one of the concrete guys for a roofing team, we had a plan to get the roof completed.  We had all the roof sheathing and felt rolls on hand.  The 4x8 foot, 5/8 inch thick, 70-pound Advantech sounded less than exciting for just my wife an I to try and hoist up onto the roof with a 12/12 pitch (a 45 degree slope).  I think the roof needed about 30 sheets of Advantech to cover it, give or take one or two.  We were really relieved that we were able to get a roofing team lined up--this project seemed a bit more than my wife and I could handle by ourselves.

We had actually called Hammond Lumber, before we even started on the wall framing, to pre-order a roof kit--but we didn't set a firm delivery date.  Once we got the roofer lined up, we called Hammond Lumber and set the deliver for the day before roofing started.  The roof kit came bundled with all the trimmings: 26 panels of 29-gauge Master Rib at 18-1/2 feet long by 3 feet wide, screws, edge trim, rake trim, roof cap, and closure vents.

The roofing crew showed up around 8am and immediately began working.  Tim (the roofer) had a six-man crew: four on the roof, a man on the saw, and a ground guy to move material up to the crew;  that last guy was the one with the concrete crew who put us into contact with the roofer.  Keep in mind, this crew showed up on a Saturday!  They started cutting and installing sheathing.  First one side, and then the other was done, then they rolled out and installed the felt.  The roofing crew was efficient, motivated, and professional--we were extremely impressed with their work and it was obvious they were very experienced at their jobs.

By 6pm, the entire roof was covered by Advantech and one side was coated in felt.  It's usually not that hot in Maine, but the day the roofing crew came, it was clear, blue, and a very warm day...it was in the high 80s.  I bet that up on that roof, it probably felt hotter. They worked from 8am until 6pm Saturday without even really breaking for lunch.  The crew slammed sports drinks and water all day.  We cooked brisket and sausage, brought up from Texas by my dad, and a few of them ate it up between tasks, but they didn't stop for more than 5-10 minutes.  

After 10 hours, the crew called it quits and promised to return in the morning on Sunday to finish up. They were back on site at 9am Sunday, and rolled out the felt on the second half of the roof while the guy on the saw started pre-drilling metal roof panels--this is key because every line of screws runs straight across the roof.

After the first side, they knocked out the next one and installed the vents, ridge cap, and the trim.  They finished up around 1pm and loaded up all the ladders and gear they brought and left the site.  The roof looks great!

All we needed to do at this point, was to finish the wall sheathing on the upstairs and install the house wrap to get the structure ready to face its first Maine winter.  We were pretty plaesed withn how it was starting to turn out.

9 - Second Floor, Window Framing, Finish the Concrete Floor

On July 5th, we still had the crane and wanted to take full advantage of using it to do some heavy lifting before we had to return it on Monday.  We used the crane to lift sheets of Advantech up to create the base flooring for the second story.  My wife operated the crane, and I started nailing the sheets down.

One sheet at a time, the flooring started to fall into place.

Done!  Now onto the next phase of construction, framing the upstairs walls. 

Since we are deviating from the original construction plans to make our project look more "barndominium" and less "garage with upstairs apartment," I asked my wife to sketch out how she wanted the windows to be placed.  She drew this on some scrap wood, including the dimentions for customs windows we would order later:

I sent that sketch to my brother-in-law, who designed the exact schematics for how to construct the wall, and then he sent the design back to my phone.  I started to build it.

And that, my friends, is how it's done. 

On July 6th, we woke up early to drive back to Waterville to return the crane.  Then we headed back to watch the concrete pad for the garage floor get poured.   The crew was efficient, professional, and did an outstanding job.

After screeding it, they let us put our handprints in it and then power trowelled the rest of the surface until it was smooth and then sat back for lunch to let the concrete harden a little more.

Finally, they cut expansion joints by cutting one down the middle and two from side to side dividing it lengthwise in thirds.

They were even nice enough to help us put up the remaining large pieces of wall sheathing while we waited for the concrete to dry.  Really nice group of men. 

While we were chatting with the crew, one of the men asked what we were doing for the roof.  We answered that we were planning to install a metal roof.  He asked if we were planning to do the work ourselves, or hire it out.  We said we hadn't hired anyone one to do it, and it was looking like we'd have to do the job ourselves, a notion we weren't looking forward to.  He said he knew a guy who did roofs who had a crew.  We jumped on that!  We asked him to call his buddy.  Within minutes, we described the work we wanted done, the materials we would be using and had on hand, gave him the roof and pitch dimenssions, and he gave us a price estimate that we were comfortable with. We hired him on the spot and he was going to fit into our schedule!

8 - Finishing the Truss Install

4th of July!  We woke up really early so we could get over to install a few more trusses before the town's annual 4th of July parade.  We started installing more trusses before 6am, and really started cranking them out.  Again, it was all hands on deck with my folks and brother-in-law helping out while my wife operated the crane.  We had two hours to get as much done as possible before a mandatory break.  We probably got another five trusses installed before taking a break to celebrate our great Country's birthday.

Our family really loves the 4th of July, what red-blooded American doesn't?  So my wife dressed up to ride in the neighbors float in the town's parade to throw candy out to the children in the audience.  Their float won first place, and my wife wore her tutu to finish up the truss work.  She and my step-mother joked about starting a new truss installation company call "Tutu Trusses."

Almost done!

With the final truss installed, it was time for some good ol' fashioned steak fajitas that my dad made on the smoker, cold beer, country music, fireworks, and some quality time with the family.

7 - Starting the Truss Install

Before installing the trusses, we needed to put up a few braces to secure the first truss to so it didn't fall backwards or forward.  Next we cut 2x4s into lengths to fashion braces we would install between each truss.  This not only helps makes sure the spacing is perfect--24 inches on center--but secures them to each other so they don't fall over.

We called Eagle Tool Rental in Waterville, Maine and rented a crane (it's probably more of a lift, but we're calling it a crane).  We got a great deal on renting the crane since it was 4th of July weekend.  We picked up the crane on Friday and kept it until Monday, and they only charged us for one day of rental because they were closed for the long weekend and no one else was going to be renting it. 

My wife was really excited to operate the crane--like SUPER EXCITED!

We picked up the crane around 4pm, and there was still plenty of daylight, so we got right to work.  My father and step-mother arrived on July 2nd to do some coastal sight seeing and help out on the project; my folks were excited to be there to see this construction and happy to be a part of the process as well.  By 6pm we had the first truss up in the air.  My wife used the crane to lift the trusses, and my brother-in-law, dad, and I used some guide ropes to help swing the trusses into place.  The first few took a little longer to get in place, but once we got the hang of it, we got a good rhythm going.

By 8pm we were ready for some food, a cold beer, a shower, and some rest.  With daylight quickly fading, we were able to install five trusses before calling it a day.

The next day was the 4th of July and we had a big day planned.

6 - Finishing Up the Framing

Once we got the floor base compacted by our excavator (afternoon of 2 July), we were able to finish framing out the side walls and added the front walls.

We also added the header for the garage door and the wall section above the header.  We could never have done this entire project without our brother-in-law.  There is nothing this man doesn't know how to do.

This is an awkward photo....walls up, installing door, and we get caught in a picture by my wife chatting and looking like we don't know what's going on....  This is never the case.

With walls and the front header up, it was time for the truss delivery.  Our trusses span 24 feet, and there are 19 of them at 24 inch spacing across the side walls to extend the 36 foot length of the structure.  The trusses have a 13-1/2 foot wide opening with knee walls at 52-1/2 inches, a ceiling at 90-1/2 inches high (7-1/2 feet) measuring 76-1/4 inches across.

A month before we planned to build, we sent a copy of our building plans to LaPointe Lumber, who then turned them over to Mainly Trusses, to custom build our trusses to adhere to Maine building code.  Mainly Trusses delivered our order right on schedule with them being dropped off on July 3rd.

Where do these trusses go?  They go up--on top of those walls.  Each truss weighed about 100 pounds.

It was coming together.

5 - Framing Walls

With the foundation walls cured, it was time to frame out the walls.  LaPointe Lumber delivered everything on time and even made a trip later to swap out some excess product that allowed us to upgrade the wall material.  The entire roof and wall boarding is 5/8-inch Advantech.  When it's all wrapped up and neatly stacked it desn't look like much does it? But that is all the materials we needed to build the first level of the barndominium.

We began assembling the 2x6 walls, starting at the rear of the structure, taking the stepped foundation into account to have 8-foot walls at the front end.

We framed up the back wall and the first and second steps of each side wall.  I will admit, calculating to be 16 inches on center is not my forte, so we did use a few extra studs because I refuse to rebuild things.  My brother-in-law kids me about my mistakes, but he is an excellant craftsman and he is truly the brains behind most of this project.  We don't build without his approval of the plan--you'll see more of that later.

With the rear wall sections framed up, we added some structural support by adding some of the wall sheathing (5/8" Advantech).  

Meanwhile, the only reason we do not have the rest of the walls assembled is because the excavator ran over schedule.  We didn't want the excavator's unprofessionalism to derail our entire plan, so we kept on doing as much work as we could.

As you can see, the excavator finally showed up days later to fill and compact the base for the garage floor.

After this visit, he didn't return for over two weeks--until after our vacation was over and we had already left.  He did about four hours of work on the day he returned and then called us to tell us he had completed his contractual obligations.  Convenient for him, since we weren't there to see what he had done.  Luckily, my brother-in-law had gone by and took a few pictures and sent them to us.  Needless to say, we were not happy with his work, or the state he left our property in.

Not only did we feel he hadn't completed the work we agreed to in contract, but he tried to squeeze us for more money.  He tried to claim that he did extra work, outside the scope of the contract, that we now owed him money for doing.  We found that to be a pretty unbelievable claim since he only showed up twice while we were on vacation, and was no where near close to having completed everything he was contracted to do, and there was no way he could have completed it in four hours.  Also, he never called us to ask permission to do "extra work," so we never agreed for him to do additional work outside the scope of the contract.  But the thing that really bothered us, was when he said that my wife and I had "good jobs" and we "could afford to pay more."  Sorry, but that's not how business works, and we will pay for the work that was actually done, not what he thinks we should be able to afford.

Moving on . . . We still had framing to complete.

4 - Excavation and Foundation

In early June, our earthwork contractor started digging the foundation out and extending the driveway.   We chose a local contractor after talking to a few people we knew who had used his services for other projects.  Our plan was to have all of the earthwork done before the end of June.

The excavation would involve extending the driveway about 80 yards further into the property and digging the down 12" to lay different layers of material to allow for drainage.  Apparently the ground in this area of the property is one big gravel pit, and it drains exceptionally well.  The driveway would be brought up to alevel of 2" above normal grade.

The excavator dug the foundation out for footers to support a 24'x36' structure.

The concrete contractor poured 8 inch by 16 inch footings with 1/2 inch pins every 4 feet.  The walls are 8 inches thick with two rows of steel reinforcement and walls at 5 feet high, stepping the foundation walls to accomodate the grade.  At this point, the excavator was running behind schedule.  The concrete job was planned to conclude by the end of June and the footers were only poured on the 26th.

There are two steps to the side walls, the first is 16 inches and the second step is 20 inches for a total of 36.  The floor would be poured later at 4 inches thick with fiber mesh reinforcement and swacut expansion joints.  The walls were formed up and poured on June 29th.

To backfill the foundation walls, fill was compacted and brought to level so the concrete floor could be poured at a later date on the inside.  The excavator was slowing the project down, starting work late in the morning and not working very long in the day.  By June 30th we were supposed to be able to frame up the walls.  We had to wait until the excavator filled in around the foundation walls, a job he never totally completed until after we had the entire structure built up--and even then it wasn't a satisfactory job.  We had to correct it ourselves later. 

At this point, even though there was a huge ditch that the excavator never filled in on the back left side and large pile of fill dirt on the opposite front corner, we had to press forward to try and get back on schedule, since we did this all within 17 days of vacation time.  We had to start framing around the obstacles left in our way.