Finally, after way too long we were able to have the screened deck framed in. The wood is looking fabulous and the roofers can get started.
For the roof we have chosen a standing seam metal roof. The finish will be unpainted galvalume. Galvalume is steel which has a coating of an aluminum/zinc alloy which gives it a extremely good corrosion resistance. It has a very fine texture and even sheen to it, we think that it will go very nicely with the modern forms of the house.
We decided to wrap our fascias in the same Galvalume metal, both for longevity and maintenance.
It is quite expensive, but the roof should last a good many years before it needs replacing.
At the same time as the roofers started the front retaining wall got formed up. It will be a quite high retaining wall, with an exposed “board” look to the concrete.
In the third picture you can also see the outline of the hidden gutter system in the overhand over the front entrance.
Apparently the easiest way to unload a flatbed truck full of lumber is to back up really fast, slam on your breaks and let the materials gracefully slide off the bed.
Pouring footings
Formwork for the retaining wall
On Thursday the local building inspector came out to perform the framing inspection. I think he has taken a personal interest in the place due to the SIPs panels. For his part everything looked good except some additional bracing was needed on the trusses. The layouts and tables were inconsistent and he went with the one prescribing the most bracing.
The next day the structural engineer came out for his inspection. There were some minor issues, mostly resulting from a slight disconnect between the structural engineer and the panel manufacturers engineer.
The main issue with the panels is locations and numbers of hold down straps anchoring the panels to the concrete foundation. This should have been something that was looked at earlier in the process so the hold downs, which are straps of metal anchored to the concrete and the panel,s could be deeply embedded in the foundation. Now they are to be mechanically fastened and epoxied in place.
It also turns out that the designer of the floor joist layout did not take into account for the dead load added by our 1-1/2″ concrete topping we intend to put on it. If the floor as installed does not hold up to the recalculated load, we will have to forgo the concrete, or add more structure to the floor.
In the mean time the plumber from Apex finished the rough plumbing, including our outside tap, so now we have fresh water. I will be taking some more pictures of that later.