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A Ludicrous Anthology of Nic’s First Week

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Next Level Building Construction: Whatcha Know About Structure!!!

Hello, I guess I get to finally post my blogs on this wonderful site, thank you Peter. I have to apologize for the length of this post but shorter ones will come. Enjoy.

Day 1

                Upon arriving at the fair ground it was clear to see that we were all very anxious to start on the project, an enthusiasm that probability won’t be there tomorrow. It was nice to see everybody so ready to dive into building something, something real. The thought of creating the design that my classmates worked so hard to realize was also an energy that I could perceive in their presents, so much so that I really started to get excited. Creation is an act of sheer will: and everybody seemed willing to start.

                We first received our daily tasks and were sent on our way. Personally, I’m not most familiar with the job site and all the complexity it possesses but I do have both the willingness to work and the hunger to learn. Luckily, I had Master Mike Dawson and Brittany Greenwood in my group both who seem to be well more knowledgeable then myself. I’m terribly excited to learn as much as possible about the construction process and I’m sure they will awesome to work with.

                The weather was cloudy at first then the sun came out, not much of this mattered because we were inside and the warehouse seem way more present then I thought it would be.

                Today we framed all the bays for the floor and connected them. Then Chris and Mike made sure that the whole structure was level and straight. Then we covered the floor with plywood that had really convenient tongue and grooves. It seems that we are slightly ahead of schedule and will start the wall tomorrow then the lumber arrives.

                It was a good day, good work and great speed (when we know what’s going on-ha ha).

 Nic Pietron

Group 2                    

Day 2

After yesterday, I slept like a rock and woke up an hour early thinking I was late: I must have been dreaming about the build. The air was cool as Dusty and I commuted to the fair grounds. We arrived early and came to see that the floor looked wonderful and some final touches were being applied. It really looked wonderful; Chris and the rest did a wonderful job with the sanding.

Then the others arrived. The enthusiasm that I saw yesterday had lessened but in its place was a sort of resolve, like a warrior contemplating his next battle. The talking was lessened but the will to work was strong; perhaps it wasn’t the will to work but the will to accomplish the task that was set before us. Initially the segregation of jobs was slow due to the debate over how we should proceed. But sure enough it was resolved and then we started. Mike, Brittany and myself started cutting wood for the structures that where to be build today. First build was a diaphragm that ran along the south and west side of cabin then: the columns. At first I didn’t ask what the wood we were cutting was going to be used for because I wanted to see if I could figure it out. I was lost in the process for a while but realization dawned on me as the wood was being laid out and this moment was one of the moments that I enjoy most: realization. This acuminated when we raised the first column and when the first header was installed. As the day progressed and people started to understand what jobs needed to be done; this really sped up when after lunch, when a bunch of small groups formed and a sense of what needed to be done was shared with the whole group. Before I knew it eleven hours had passed and we left around seven o’clock. Again, it was another good day.

Yours,

Nic Pietron

Day 3

                Today was a ridiculously productive. We all started strong and kept going through the whole day, all 13 hours.

                It started with east side column, dusty and I made it out of some 2X 10’s and had it risen by lunch time. Next we created the diaphragm that surrounded the west and south wall. My small group finished framing it and Dusty cut some of the floors over the diaphragm. Then we proceeded with the second set of headers.

                I especially enjoyed both putting up the column and the headers. The column was satisfactory to me because my small group made it and we tilted it and framed it, it was fun to see our work up like that. The header was nice because I’m not really used to heights but this was a great chance to get used to them.

                Today was a day of accomplishments and now I’m going to crash because I’m sure there’s room for more accomplishment tomorrow.      

Ciao,

Nic Pietron

7-30-11

Day 4

                Stepping out of my car onto the fairgrounds I had a couple feelings about how today was going to go. Firstly, that the moisture condensing on my car and the heaviness of the air I breathed was prophetic about the intense mugginess that this day would hold. Secondly, we had the framing finished for the east wall finished just waiting to be installed. Lastly, I was sitting among a much energized crew that wanted to get right down to business. This was the vibe that I got this morning and boy was it contagious.

                A small group when to cut and assemble some very awesome roof frames and another installed some cripples onto the large column on the west wall. I assisted in the configuring and the assembly of the north wall. After the wall started coming together I was pulled to install a cap for the second header on the south wall. With my experiences with the scaffolding and heights, today’s task was a walk in the park. After they were installed and the north wall was finished (which is extremely long and needed to be assembled separately and then connected) we were ready…for lunch.   

                Then after a restful lunch we were really ready…to install the last walls. We started with the east wall. We all carefully lifted it into place and a crew secured it into place. Then it was the north walls turn. We realized that it would have to be spun 180 degrees and the easiest way to do this would be standing it upright. When we got the wall up we ran into a hick-up, as we started to spin it we could feel the wall twist because of its length. We braced it…then continued with the installation. Then, with extreme care, places and secured the last wall. Boom!

                After the wall went up we cleaned up and were free to go but some force kept up back; perhaps it was the awesomeness of the completed enclosure that we built in a few days together. Perhaps it was the sense of accomplishment that permeated through the air, like a hard victory. Or perhaps we’re a bunch of architecture-nerds that enjoy looking at built things. Whatever the reason: it was hard to depart from that muggy warehouse and enjoy the rest of our afternoons before we set our sights on our next goal. 

Love,

Nic Pietron

Group 2     

Day 5

                I’d have to say that today’s been one of the more peculiar day’s we’ve had thus far. I’ll elaborate.

                Firstly Dusty, Chris and I started a platform that resides on the western wall. The platform’s part of a ramp system that, I believe, runs along the south and west side but that system is yet to be built. I’m curious about how it’s going to look and how it’ll be built. I guess the unusual thing about it that we didn’t really complete it; we built it 16 feet from the west wall’s door and stopped near the corner. The reasoning is that we will be meeting this ramp with on from the south side with reclaimed wood from Home & Garbage. Another thing that’s unusual about the ramp is that we didn’t completely fasten it because the incline’s going to eventually change. Finally it’s strange but this platform’s frame was built the first day. Funny, huh?

                Then John, Mellissa and I started and finished sheathing the bottom of the west wall with O.S.B. That was interesting because due to the large openings in the west wall we it seemed that we weren’t really doing that much; but the precision required and visual difference are both ridiculous. John, Melissa and I needed to be super careful lining everything up and making sure that all of the openings were flush with the framing. When we were done, it was fun to  see the skeleton of a building become a solid form.

                Ok, and finally, this is probably the thing that stood out most… I’m sure a hurricane hit our site today. It started in the morning with a small sprinkle, no big deal. Then the lightning came and struck right behind the building. John and I were standing outside near the east entrance of the warehouse then we both saw a blinding flash that came from nowhere. We stared at each other for a moment before an earsplitting BOOM shock the ground and the building; we could actually here crackling in the air. Then we decided it’d be in our best interest if we went inside. Then the rain and the wind came and visibility was lost, all the saws were brought inside and we continued building away.

Crazy day.

Later

Nic Pietron

Group 2

Day 6

                The day started off with light showers and some gusts of wind then the sun came out and it became a nice day, why I’m I starting with a weather report? Well I’ll get back to that in a moment.

Today’s task was quite simple, John and I tackled the bottom layer of interior sheathing with O.S.B. I didn’t really know that much about O.S.B. except that it was a type of particle, glue lam, plywood-ish thing. But I guess that it is also a vapor barrier. So the glue and the material being pressure treated make it impervious to water? That make scenes, I guess. Then what happens to the barrier when you punch a screw into it? Does it still keep its vapor repealing attributes? I’ll believe that it does and that’s why it’s important to punch through it a minimal amount of times.

                While sheathing the northeast corner, creating a sweet cut away detail (this detail is awesome and it showcases all of the wall’s inner workings), John was up on a latter making sure the angle was correct for the cut away when I hear from him, “Oh, our tent just did a flip!!!”, a sight that he saw through the upper window. To this comment I responded, “I’ll be right back,” and promptly ran out to gather up the saws, cords and the tent.

                Then the sun came out and it became a nice day.

Out.

Nic Pietron

Group 2

Day 7

                Today’s been of the most interesting and rewarding day’s yet.

                Firstly, I went up onto the high scaffolding and wore the harnesses. Yesterday Ty and Andrew wore then and went up to secure the gables to the top of our structure, now it was my turn. I strapped on, not an amazing feeling, then proceeded to climb to the top with Andrew to take measurements and install sheathing to the uppermost peaks of the indoor sheathing and John would cut the boards. The experience was slightly exciting but I kept my poise and stayed on task, no screwing around up there. Speaking of which, is there some secret, magical property that exists with O.S.B., screws and heights. In general, it’s sometimes hard to screw O.S.B., but up there, it seemed impossible!!!! But hey, John did some fine skill sawing and it looks pretty sweet.

                Then it was time to go…and then we had the team meeting. At this meeting Nick made a deal with us, stay…and we get pizza. I was all over that deal. So we constructed a giant cross beam in two pieces and broke for pizza. Mmmmm, pizza. Then Nick and I, with the power of the scissor lift, brought up the beam pieces to the top and slid then into place. The Andrew and Ty secured them. At this time Mike finished up his mock up of the shading structure. We moved I into place and marveled at its awesomeness because we’re all architectural nerds.

Yours,              

Nic Pietron

Group 2

8-10-11 Group 1

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Yesterday the West wall exterior got completely finished with siding. I think it turned out quite nice and everyone in the build thinks it looks “rustic.” Ty mentioned that the wood we used would cost around $6 a foot if we bought it from the lumber yard. Thanks to the Pritchard family it only cost the labor of taking down an old granary.

Today Johnny, Chris and myself took the wood for the interior siding to get speed sanded. The finished product looked spectacular after a mouth and ear full of sawdust. I think we gave the speed sander and dust collector a run for its money.

Speed sander – 1 Luke/Johnny/Chris – 0

After lunch we went right ahead and cut the wood to be placed inside. Diligently working, the group consisting of myself, Johnny, Nic and Dusty measured, cut and nailed the siding almost covering the entire West wall.

The day soon came to an end as we were told that the windows have made their way across the Atlantic Ocean and will arrive on site in the morning.

-L. Schneider

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Tuesday, August 9th 2011

Task :

– Pauly D and I set out to retrieve our hardware (turnbuckles, fasteners, ect.)

Hope:

– To retrieve “all” of our  hardware. Our several shipments will be there, on time, and ready for us to retrieve.

Outcome:

– We return to the site with “some” of our hardware.

Lesson Learned:

– Sometimes, and I mean sometimes, the person helping you is slightly less enthusiastic about the urgency of your requests. The thing in the catalog is not always the thing that you had in mind or the thing that was described after hearing your idea of the thing. You don’t always get what you want…

But Paul and I score some pretty cool turnbuckles.

 

Task:

-Pair up and prepare the wood for the shading structure……wood did not show up.

Lesson Learned:

-Your project doesn’t always succeed the priority of other projects.  Although discouraging, it shouldn’t be demotivating.

 

Task:

– Finish Wrapping the LVL’s with cedar.  Chris and I set out to finish wrapping the existing columns with cedar 1x’s.  He’s been a great help in the success of a lot of these projects.  He keeps things at a high pace and is really interested in what’s going on.  With his help we were able to finish the deal in good time…

 

 

surgeon (august 9)

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I woke up at 6 bright and early, shut off my phone’s alarms and.. fell back asleep. Woke up still intime to make a sandwich and head out the door. It was a cool morning with the smell of rain in the air. Today Andrew and I started stitching the shelving structure together. The fit was perfect but after putting up the long run on the north side we deemed it, well wobbly. I think we took it apart 4 times today. The shelving was taken down and the floor diaphragm was zipped open. We placed blocking and braces in the floor. We sewed it back together and it was looking like it did previous, just less wobbly. After that was finished Andrew ran back to the shop to make a couple pieces which either were lost of never made. We finished up for the day and threw the gloves in the trash. I’ll put on a fresh pair tomorrow but hopefully we are done with the surgery. I backed away from the structure for the first time and really enjoyed the contrast between the new and old. Not after too long the shelves already became a new surface to forget your tools on.

How to measure day . . .

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In the amount of very fine sawdust on my clothes, or the laughs from the equipment I waswearing, or better yet how about with Orbitz gum.

 

Once again this day was filled with nothing but the task of trying to get all of the sidingsanded because we still needed to sand the boards for the shelving unit and the interior siding as well.  As the day continues Dusty and I sanded away and since I wanted to be fully protected and I had accumulate a lot of stuff from John so that I could sand and not get sawdust everywhere on me.  Even though a lot ended up on my clothes I was wearinga breathing mask, and tinted skiing goggles, along with a pair of mechanic gloves.  One of the times I was bringing in some wood my mask was down and my goggles were on the top of my head and John told me I could be in the Orbitz gum commercial : “For a dirty mouth clean it up  – For a good clean feeling no matter what”.  Apparently, I was more covered in sawdust than I thought I was.  Well,besides me being covered in dust from head to toe the siding was completed and honestly it feels pretty great not to have to sand anything for away

 

. 

 

 

biscuits (august 8)

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Andrew and I worked yet again all day on the shelving structure. We headed to a local shop to use their biscuit joiner. It was very tedious and difficult to keep the pieces from bowing and separating. I think we literally used all the shops clamps. It was strange not being on site or knowing what was happening with the build. It was a good day. The box of parts was trucked back; Andrew and I are the Ikea instruction manuals for this structure. Tomorrow it will no longer be in a box and realized in full scale. We used hundreds of biscuits, a bottle of glue and about 40 clamps, but after a while the package was complete.

Instructions (august 6)

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Today was the day before our big day off, and it felt like it. Andrew and I cut the entire shelving structure and planed each piece. We ended up with many pieces, too many, hopefully they were all there. We rapped up the shelving structure making it a shelving structure in a box. All it needed now was an instruction manual. We cut early and a much-needed day off was ahead.

Wrapping an existing column with Cedar…easy? Easy, but difficult.

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Today I had hoped to wrap two 14′ LVL columns with 1×6 cedar boards.   The task seemed easy; per column – cut four 1″x6″x16′ cedar boards to 14’10 5/8″..check.  After this step two boards are considered ready for prep, considering they needed to be 5 1/2 inches wide and the actual width of a 1×6 is 5 1/2 inches..BOOM…easy!  Then, rip the other two boards to 3 3/4″ wide (these will go inside the two 5 1/2″ boards, which (2) 7/8″ thick boards plus 3 3/4″ equals 5 1/2″…BOOM…not so easy when you cut them to 3 1/4″!  This meant, that the scraps of these boards had to be paired up, glued, and stapled back together, seamed (mixture of cedar saw dust and white wood glue to make a putty), and sanded.   AND then they would be ready for final fixation!  With some moral support and a lot of self-patience (most of which was exhausted by 3:30 break, ONE of the columns was finished.   The second and pictures will follow in the morning :)

08/06/11 Group 1

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It must be the weekend…

Today marks the first time in 24 years where I woke up and was out the door before any of my family..including two dogs and a cat. I hope it never happens again.

The passive house is coming along nicely with a few minor adjustments here and there. Johnny, Nick and myself are sheathing the roof interior while other people are either working on the shelving structure, sanding and measuring the siding, and getting ready for a wedding.

Once we hit the scaffolding, things got a little interesting. Before and after every screw there was some sort of comment that made all three of us smirk and chuckle(I will keep this PG for any young eyes out there). Soon after things seemed to escalate in a great way; hilarious comments and great one-liners were tossed here and there every other second. Don’t get me wrong, the laughter didn’t compromise our work ethic whatsoever.

After a sheathing the roof interior(aka “sweatbox”), our posse cleaned up the job site and put the tools away(some of us caught up on our karate). Somehow I was in charge of vacuuming the ground outside…seemed a little weird, but highly necessary.

Words out that Sunday will be our day off; I believe most of us will enjoy a break and make the most out of it.

-L. Schneider

Group 2- Entry 7

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8-3-11

Day 7

Today’s been of the most interesting and rewarding day’s yet.

Firstly, I went up onto the high scaffolding and wore the harnesses. Yesterday Ty and Andrew wore then and went up to secure the gables to the top of our structure, now it was my turn. I strapped on, not an amazing feeling, then proceeded to climb to the top with Andrew to take measurements and install sheathing to the uppermost peaks of the indoor sheathing and John would cut the boards. The experience was slightly exciting but I kept my poise and stayed on task, no screwing around up there. Speaking of which, is there some secret, magical property that exists with O.S.B., screws and heights. In general, it’s sometimes hard to screw O.S.B., but up there, it seemed impossible!!!! But hey, John did some fine skill sawing and it looks pretty sweet.

Then it was time to go…and then we had the team meeting. At this meeting Nick made a deal with us, stay…and we get pizza. I was all over that deal. So we constructed a giant cross beam in two pieces and broke for pizza. Mmmmm, pizza. Then Nick and I, with the power of the scissor lift, brought up the beam pieces to the top and slid then into place. The Andrew and Ty secured them. At this time Mike finished up his mock up of the shading structure. We moved I into place and marveled at its awesomeness because we’re all architectural nerds.

Yours,

Nic Pietron

Group 2

Worth (aug 5)

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Today started with a stop at the donut shop, we were 15 min late so we had to get the goods. After some prep work and cruising materials around with the fork lift we began work. After some minor adjustments to the loft we sheathed it and had a second level. Some mock ups were made for the siding and I began to see just what it was my family had donated. The old face of the granary was showing through. I never thought that that old granary would ever become something other than a pile of splinters. I grew up with it my whole life, walking past everyday, but now I see it. It was hot, demanding, a lot of work to carefully dismantle the granary, but as I walked away today it was worth it.

Visitor (august 4)

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Adjusting still from day to day with different tasks, today began differently, slower it seemed. Time seemed to move fast, but the work moved slow. It may have been in anticipation of the several visits we received today. As we worked several people walked though asking about and investigating our work. It felt good to have other people excited about what we were doing, finally someone took notice. After visiting and saying our goodbyes, we pushed full force to finish putting up the TJI Joists. Also part of the loft went up today. It is such a change of space once that went up. We now have vastness and confined comfort under the same roof. I have to admit, today was the most challenging day as far as things going right, but in the end everything seemed to work out. I hope tomorrow is different though. I again sat in the window at the end of the day and looked up at the buildings ribs knowing that though today went slow, we could start to feel the space forming.

How to measure a day . . .

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How about measuring it in my own height?  That is an accurate measurement right or at least closeenough.

 

 

This was the beginning of a tolling task that would end up taking 4 days to complete all together; this task is none other then sanding the siding.  Earlier in the summer a fewpeople took down Ty’s granary, which then became the recycled lumber for parts of our structure mainly the siding.  Since, it was being reused from an older facility it needed a little but of a new shine, and that new shine would come from the hand sanding each piece with the belt sander.  While we were sanding it we even put the pieces into piled to help with over using certain sizes f the lumber.  The groups that Lyle and I came up with were small, medium, and large.  A few days earlier we inventoried all of it so we knew how long the longest pieces were and how short the smallest were.  Our small pieces went from 2’ – 4’, large 14’ to 16’, and for those we were not to sure about as long as the piece wastaller then I was it was a medium.  So apparently, a high is actually a good indicator ofanaccurate measurement.

 

 

 

 

  Pre sanding recycled lumber

   The sawdust that accumulated

 Some polished siding

 The siding on the structure 

 

 

 

Log 8

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Log 8-

Today was a good day for the most part, the begging of the day was great all the way through lunch. However my concerns started adding up when I saw the loft going up. I was quite worried about the connection of the southern corner after I was told we were just screwing a 2×8 into a post for a loading bearing corner. Needless to say I had to walk away from the interior and go talk with the shading crew. The day ended well though after the crew resolved the connection problem and all was well.

August 3rd- heavy

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Today started with some coffee, I could still feel exactly where the harness sat on my back as if I was still wearing it. We started in various sides of the house while others sheathed the interior and exterior. Chris is a wall building champ and took control of the interior walls while Paul and Mike trouble shot the shading structure, two creative minds, I’m glad they got to work on it today. After all the sheathing and cutting it was time to excavate the interior of all the scrap wood and various tools. The interior had finally been revealed for the first time excluding some walls and a stair structure but close enough my brain began to imagine with a better scale now. I never thought I would be sitting the outcome of so many models I imagined myself moving through. After a two trips to the lumber yard we had what we needed and the infamous beam was created. The harness hung staring back, I knew I had to get back in it. Andrew and I went skyward and with the help of some scissor lifts we were able to get the beam in place. It was a late day, I left at 9pm and began to cycle tomorrows tasks through my head on the ride home.

-ty

8-3-11 Group 1

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Today was a one of those days where a lot seemed to happen. The interior sheathing was complete by the first break. Dusty, Lyle and myself had a deadline of noon to have the exterior sheathing done on the East wall. We had to make a few interesting cuts but made our deadline with time to spare.

Later in the afternoon, Nick trained Lyle and I to use the scissor lift in order to apply sheathing Continue reading →

Log 7

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Log 7-

Today was another exhausting one.  Myself and about half of the others spent 12 + hours at the build — not to mention the drive there and back — trying to get everything prepped and ready.  I mainly worked on sheathing the peaks in the morning which took all the way until 1pm to finish.  After that I was tasked to start back up on interior walls and framing those up.  myself and the 2 girls worked the rest of the day on framing up 5 or 6 walls including the bathroom.  The cabin is really starting to come together and its getting more and more exciting to see it unfold.  I can only image what it would be like had I been in the design phase (which I wish I was).  I just cant help but think ever day we get done how fast time flies and how this just doesn’t seem like work.

Group 2-Day 6

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8-2-11

Day 7

The day started off with light showers and some gusts of wind then the sun came out and it became a nice day, why I’m I starting with a weather report? Well I’ll get back to that in a moment.

Today’s task was quite simple, John and I tackled the bottom layer of interior sheathing with O.S.B. I didn’t really know that much about O.S.B. except that it was a type of particle, glue lam, plywood-ish thing. But I guess that it is also a vapor barrier. So the glue and the material being pressure treated make it impervious to water? That make scenes, I guess. Then what happens to the barrier when you punch a screw into it? Does it still keep its vapor repealing attributes? I’ll believe that it does and that’s why it’s important to punch through it a minimal amount of times.

While sheathing the northeast corner, creating a sweet cut away detail (this detail is awesome and it showcases all of the wall’s inner workings), John was up on a latter making sure the angle was correct for the cut away when I hear from him, “Oh, our tent just did a flip!!!”, a sight that he saw through the upper window. To this comment I responded, “I’ll be right back,” and promptly ran out to gather up the saws, cords and the tent.

Then the sun came out and it became a nice day.

Out.

Nic Pietron

Group 2

Log 6

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Log 6 –

Today was a good day.  the best part of the day was the end result.  There was a huge transformation by the end of the day.   All of the interior sheathing got tacked minus the roof frames which requ

ire the double scaffolding.  I mostly was on top of the scaffolding today helping with the high sheathing and actually finished all we could.   The cabin is actually coming together now and it is very exciting.  cant wait to get there tomorrow!