Days 9&10 - shingles on ends & 2nd story rafters

Today is two weeks ago that work got started on the house excluding the foundation. The roofer made it out today and got both ends of the house under shingles except for the back side of the garage. The rafter work began today on the 2nd story and it was good to see progress on that area. Materials for the rafters didn't arrive yesterday until about 2:30 pm from Builder's Source in Knoxville. I got to climb up the ladder inside the house to the 2nd story and walk around. It is nice to see the layout and some framed interior walls standing. The kids will enjoy the dormer windows in their rooms. The dormer space is about 4' wide and will be a good spot for a reading area. I let Conley climb the ladder in front of me today and peek his head up to the 2nd story. He got to see where his room would be and get an idea of how things are going to be laid out.

We have had really cold weather lately. Tonight is forecasted to be in the teens with a wind chill in the single digits. The framing crew is wearing three layers but the wind gusts today were up to as high as 25 mph. Snow is forecast for Thursday. The kids missed school on Monday because they are in the same district as some mountain areas where the roads get worse.

Tomorrow by noon the sheeting on the 2nd story roof will be done on the back and will begin on the front. The roofer will be waiting on them to get further ahead while he gets the back side of the garage. I am meeting the HVAC contractor tomorrow morning. The brick salesman got back to me yesterday on the brick count.

No work today

We are waiting on some materials to finish up the 2nd story. I doubt the framing crew minds not working today, it was 16 degrees with the wind chill this morning.

Monday the roofer will do the two ends of the house, shingles have already been delivered. 2nd story rafter system and roof panels will be applied. In addition the interior walls for bathrooms, closets, hallways, utility room need to be completed. Everything will start back up again Monday. I am hoping that we will be done with the dry-in at end of day Tues or Wed. I was going to have the exterior doors hung but Delinda's Dad recommended waiting until we had the sheet rock up. I will have to ask him about that.

Day 8 - Problems with 2nd story measurements

Very cold today, a few snow flurries. Ran into problems with the roof rafters in the 2nd story. Many of the cuts were off from what the plans called for and will have to be corrected or replaced. The garage is complete. Felt is on both ends of the house but we can't seem to make progress on the 2nd story. We progressed much faster on the 1st story but have been at somewhat of a stand-still lately. Tomorrow more interior framing will be completed including hallway, staircase wall, and 1/2 bath.

Shingles were delivered today. Did not here back yet from the brick salesman on the number of brick needed.

Day 6 & 7

No new house pictures today but Delinda is prettier anyway.

We have not gotten out to the house much the past two days but here is a recap of what is going on.

Day 6 - The roof trusses and roofing panels went on the MBR end of home and trusses went on the garage end of home. Additional nailing and "hurricane" straps were also applied. Sure hope no hurricanes come to Tennessee!


Day 7 - Completion of garage area including header above garage door and roof panels on garage. Felt applied to garage roof.

• Ordered shingles to be delivered tomorrow. Roof will be shingled Monday.


• Had brick company measure to determine quantity of brick needed. May have brick delivered Monday.


• Exterior doors should arrive tomorrow to be set.


• Had final HVAC quote done today.

Day 5 - 2nd story walls & roof trusses

Another cold, wet day. Originally snow was forecast for today but it just turned out to be cold and wet. We are on again off again for snow this Thursday.

The crane came out about 9am this morning to lift the 2nd story wall sections and the roof trusses. Since it had been raining this weekend I guess the crane operator decided to go mudding while he had the opportunity. Although Ray had told me the crane would come up to the house using the driveway, the driver decided to try the front yard from two different angles. Both resulted in mud flying and nice tire tracks in what was grass. After he decided to go with the driveway it took about 7.5 hours to get everything up on the 2nd level. Once again some adjustments had to be made with wall sections not coming together perfectly but Delinda said the guys skipped lunch to get things done correctly.

Day 4 - Not all goes as planned

Today we were supposed to have a crane at the site to lift our 2nd story walls and roof trusses. I got a call before 8am saying two of the men on the framing crew were sick and we were going to have to push back the 2nd story work until Monday. I was disappointed but it happens. Two of the men on the crew worked on some odds and ends inside the 1st story and put a layer of house wrap on the exterior.

It was too bad the work couldn't progress today because the weather was perfect. Chris headed back to Florida this morning after coming up to help us get unloaded earlier this week. It was good to see him after about 1.5 years. Conley was disappointed this evening when he remembered that Chris had left.

Here is a good shot of what our front porch view will look like!

Day - 3 - 2nd story floor system, 1st story framing

Today the 2nd story floor joists and 1st story interior framing were worked on. Tomorrow the 2nd floor sheeting, stairway, and additional interior framing will be done along with finishing the exterior walls of the garage. On the front of the house two sections with windows had to be adjusted to level. Windows and exterior cdx had to be removed from both in order to get the level correct

Day 2 - Wall sections going up

Two hours in......!

Today the wall sections started going up and we were very happy with the progress. Work got started at about 7:45 this morning and it was freezing after the rain passed through last night. The high was supposed to be 39 and I think we reached that at daylight. By afternoon there were very small snowflakes occasionally falling and a wind chill below freezing. With the subdivision being on a river the wind seems to be colder and it got worse throughout the day.

It was amazing how quick the work seemed to go. When Delinda and I drove up at 9am there were already three walls standing. By the time 10am rolled around about half of the first story was up. We ran into a few minor problems; an exterior cdx panel needing to be removed to level up a beam, a window needing to be removed for the same type adjustment, but all in all it seemed very smooth. One thing that stuck out as we drove to the property was another home being framed around the corner and how much slower the progress was as they built walls on site. We checked back on site around 3pm and stayed until about 4:15 and the last of the first story walls were being put up on the garage. With about 8.5 hours in we had the first story standing.

It was kind of funny at the house listening to the work crew talk about what should have been done differently on the panelized sections. When I consider how many homes I see with framed walls sitting unfinished for weeks, I'll gladly take this route any day.

House package delivered

Today the house package was delivered. We were to unload one truck at 8am and the next at 12pm, both were 53 foot trucks and we had 4 hours for each. We had a 7 man crew including myself, my brother Chris, and our brother-in-law Brian Thomann. Delinda's Dad, Hoyt, checked off the list as we unloaded and made sure everything was accounted for.

We had a scare when the driver asked if we had a crane or lift to unload with and was skeptical that we could do it in the alloted time by hand. I had asked in advance whether we should use a "Bobcat" or crane and was told "most don't, they unload by hand". Well....6 hours later we had both trucks unloaded with 2 hours to spare. The drivers were impressed!

We had been watching the weather all week and the forecast called for rain Sat, Sun, and Mon. I was sure the weatherman would be wrong and Delinda prayed the rain would hold off until we were finished. Well, no rain Sat or Sun and not a drop until we finished Monday.