Framing has begun

Since my last post, the following has taken place:

The first floor decking was installed. The floors have been poured and the house has been backfilled. Doesn't seem like much since December 19th - but we did all this in preparation of the SIPs framing - and we fought some bad weather (and threw in the holidays, too).

Anyway, the SIPs arrived on site early yesterday morning. Along with the SIPs themselves was our representative from the Murus Company - Jay Shultz - who took the long trip down from up north to meet with our framers to help with any questions they may have. It was very much appreciated - and I'm satisfied with our selection to use Murus. I'd highly recommend them to anyone.

I had invited all of the members AND the Board of the Harrisburg Home Builders Association to show up and see the installation take place. Two members showed up (Gary Lenker and Al Hughes). Gary brought his framing crew along - since he's looking at a project that calls for SIPs (and, I believe, he's already working with Murus on this project).

We learned that the difference between our traditional framing techniques and the SIPs is that the entire SIPs wall panel needs to sit on the box board. Traditionally, our stud wall would sit on that - and the exterior plywood would run down over the box board. Our floor system was set up this way - so our framer needed to take the time to trim some panels down. We'll know for next time, though.

I stopped by the site this morning - when no representatives from Murus were around - and asked him what he truly thought about the SIPs (and told him to be honest with me). He said that he had no problems with them - they were no different (installation-wise) from panelized walls. It's just different - but he has no problem with them.

He did mention that they're thinking about trying a different procedure for the second floor walls. The cam-lock system is accessed from the exterior side of the walls. There must be a good reason for this - but I'd think it'd be more convenient if it were accessed from the interior. Anyway, the height off of the ground makes using the cam-lock on most every panel very labor-intensive (up-and-down the ladder, move, repeat, move, repeat, etc.). They're going to try assembling the whole wall while it's laying flat on the 2nd floor deck, engaging the cam-locks while down, installing the housewrap, and putting the entire wall up at once. This is not so different than stick framing an entire wall at once - just need to remember the foam caulking, etc. We'll see how that works!

Construction progress should mean that we're expecting roof trusses on Tuesday or Wednesday next week (Jan. 20-21). We're going with traditional trusses instead of the SIPs roof panels. The cost vs. benefit had us choose the trusses with raised heels (for additional insulation) instead of the SIPs roof. Windows and doors are planned for around Friday the 23rd.

Rough-ins will start shortly thereafter - and our first inspector from the 3rd party verifier will be scheduled. I need to work on finalizing the GBG checklist. To ease the verification process, I have started a ring binder that I keep on my desk for each phase of construction. I store anything that I think may come in handy for verification purposes.