Previously on H3

Part 1: Introduction, Caveat, and Stakeout

Part B: Permits and Foundations

D’oh!

Pizza D’oh

What with all the excitement about lasers and my eagerness to bitch about the permitting process, I forgot a few things, so bear with me as I backtrack a bit. We used to pour the footers as soon as they were dug and/or formed, we would often call for the “mud” before they were completely ready because it could take up to two hours for the truck to get to the site. We would have the rebar delivered on the truck and place it as we poured. Now we have to have our footers ‘inspected’ before we can pour, we can’t call for the concrete until the inspector shows up and we have to have the rebar in place ahead of time, meaning we have to make a trip to the concrete plant and bring the rebar down ourselves and then sit idle for a few hours waiting on both the inspector and the truck. Those are minor annoyances; the real problems arise when the inspector can’t get to the site in time to get the pour in. Nothing is as frustrating as being ready to go, not being allowed to and then after a nice overnight rain getting to pull out rebar, scrape out mud, dig out cave-ins and get all set again only to wait for the inspector once more. Worse yet (worst if you’re Rufus) 9 times out of 10 the inspector walks up to the edge of the hole, looks around and says “looks good, see ya next time.” Now with cell phone cameras ever present, some inspectors will allow you to take photos of the footer those times that they can’t get there in a timely fashion, but it’s up to them if they want to be a pain in the ass about it they can.

There is also a new inspection of the block walls as well. In the early days the masons would lay the block, back plaster up to the finish grade line, put in anchor bolts and if we determine it necessary, add rebar and fill cores to strengthen the wall. We would have the back plaster sprayed with tar and place sill seal and a treated 2×8 plate over the anchor bolts, tighten them down and we were ready for the framing crew. Now before we put the treated plate on we have to be inspected, the top course of block now has to be solid and every 6 to 8 cores rebar-ed and filled. The tarred back plaster is no longer good enough, now we need to have a rubbery membrane applied with a thin layer of foam stuck to that. It may be argued that these changes do in fact add value to the home, you get a stronger wall and better waterproofing. These things are true but ignore the costs, you can always build a stronger foundation, you could fill every core or use 12-inch instead of 8-inch block, you could pour a three-foot-thick solid foundation. Somewhere in that continuum, the cost of extra strength outweighs the benefit. Instead of dictating a minimum standard, which for all intents and purposes becomes ‘The Standard’, perhaps we should allow homeowners and builders to make that determination.

Stumps

You can use it for calzones as well

I also forgot about clearing the lot, due to the coincidence that the first house we built and the latest one are both on treeless lots. This is very rare for the development we build in; in fact, I believe these are the only two homes we’ve built that we didn’t have to take down at least a few trees and I’d estimate three-quarters of the time the lots were completely wooded. In the early days, we would sell any trees worth harvesting for lumber to an Amish chap with a name so Amish-ish you’ll think I’m making it up. Eli Yoder would show up with a half dozen other straw enhattened fellows and piously chainsaw away for a few hours, then they haul off the logs they want and leave the rest in eight foot or so lengths, along with a large pile of branches and tops. We would then position the unwanted logs by the road and within a day they’d be gone as locals would stop and ask if they could have them for firewood, we would pop out the stumps and with the brush have a nice big fire, any stumps too big to burn we could take to the ‘stump farm’ a field outside the development owned by the HOA.

Nowadays we still sell any trees Eli wants but we no longer are allowed to burn the brush, which as the development filled in makes some sense, however, it’s another one size fits all solution. It is a large development and there are still plenty of lots with no nearby homes, but no fires are allowed even if the nearest homes are hundreds of yards away. So we bring in the guys with the woodchipper, yes, yes, a true libertarian would have his own woodchipper, sigh. The state health department and EPA shut down the stump farm, seems stumps are a hazardous material once you dig them up, so the large stumps we must now have hauled off and disposed of in whatever approved method our tree guys use. I think that they are supposed to grind them up in one of those machines you see on youtube eating cars and couches and what have you. Again not a very big deal but you might have noticed a pattern by now, a little more cost here a little time wasted there, it’s like boiling a frog or a camel’s nose or some other animal related metaphor for slowly nickel and diming you to death.

Rodan!!!, what’s that …Radon?.. well that’s disappointing.

Lastly, before we start framing we need to get any underground plumbing placed and the basement floor poured. Not much has changed here, dig some trenches and a hole or two for grinder and sump pump pits, lay some Sch 40 PVC drain lines, have some Mexicans (some I assume are good people) do the work Americans won’t, and bingo bango Bob’s your uncle. Somewhere along the line we were required to add a vent for radon, a 4″ pvc pipe from the gravel base under the slab up through the roof. As far as I know, there have been no cases of radon poisoning or tests showing an unhealthy level of radon in the area, but vent it we must. It’s only a couple lengths of PVC and a tiny amount of labor, just one more drop in the ‘it’s not a big deal, whats the harm?’ bucket.

2″ SCH 40 PVC makes a nice rolling pin

Framing

Okay now that we are back on schedule I’ll endeavor to keeps us on target, hopefully, my aim is true. Speaking of aim I used to be able to drive nails with the best of ’em. I could sink 16d spikes all day long, tap-sink tap-sink, or set a 6d finish nail just below the surface without a nail set and without leaving any pecker tracks. I don’t mention this to brag but to lament that I can no longer do so, I’m out of practice thanks to nail guns. In Part B when I mentioned that lasers were the biggest advancement in the trade I was surprised no one brought up nail guns in the comments. There is a good argument to be made for nail guns; for me, lasers edge them out, but just barely. My father bought our first nail gun back when we were framing that first house, but for various reasons, it took us a while to adapt. It jammed a lot, and dragging around our undersized and noisy compressor that wouldn’t always kick on in the cold was a pain, the hoses get tangled and trip you up. Within ten years or so we had fully integrated them, I must have a dozen nail guns now – framing, finish, pinners, staplers, roofing, one just for installing joist hangers and one just for hardwood floor installation. The sound of compressors running on the job site during framing is now as ubiquitous as Mötley Crüe blasting out of a battered and beaten Dewalt radio that fades in and out when it gets over 90° and you better not change the station because the tuner’s fucked and it took Randy twenty minutes to dial in WRKZ 99.7 THE BLITZ!!!

For the most part, the actual framing hasn’t changed all that much, 2×6 exterior walls have become the norm, and only the cheapest builders still use fiberboard or foam panels for wall sheathing. For a few years, the manufactured “I” joists replaced 2x10s, but they burn up quickly in a house fire so you are required to fireproof them which has made most builders return to 2×10 joist. LVL’s have replaced steel beams and structural screws have replaced nuts and bolts. Cranes, booms, and lifts have also become common, previously they were mostly considered commercial equipment and not often used residentially. We used to ‘swing’ trusses into place, and hump materials around the job site using manpower alone. Extension ladders and jacks and planks were constantly being set up and tore down to install second story windows and gable end sheathing. Now machinery does all the heavy lifting, it’s faster, easier, and most importantly, much, much safer- I don’t have any statistics but falling off roofs, planks and ladders has got to be the most common cause of job site injury. Certainly, there are extra cost involved but that cost is easily offset by the benefits, and it is a decision builders make, you aren’t forced to make these changes or use these tools, and yet most builders have. Take that, central planning tyrants.

There are two code related changes to our framing that I can think of. We are now required to use ‘hurricane straps’ to attach the rafters/trusses to the top plate of the walls. This fits right in with the running theme – small additional cost, doesn’t take long, adds strength that may not be necessary, should be left up to the homeowner and builder. We also now frame 2×4 walls around the perimeter of the basement, whether it is going to be finished or not, because we have to insulate the basements. Depending on the size of the house the framing and insulation can add a good bit to the cost, again might be a good idea, should be an option, not a requirement.

That’s it for Part III, in Part the Fourth we will look at the rough in plumbing and electric, and HVAC (none of those letters stand for anything) and I’ll regale you with the curious tale of how the exterior color guidelines went from earth tones only to ‘sure you can have white trim, just this once’.

♫Three out of four ain’t bad♫

Obvious song choice is obvious.