The Second Floor Rises

Here are pics of the second floor walls and balcony with columns..roof trusses and roof deck materials arrrived last night...so the roof goes on starting Monday. Woohoo!

Working While Waiting For Trusses

We are ready to set the trusses but the trusses are not ready for another two weeks. Emil has started on some of the work in the old portion of the house and is doing a great job of keeping the project moving at a fast pace. All of the block and slab work is completed. He is forming the curved steps this week. They should be ready to pour next week.

Thoughts on stairs right now are to use white Portland cement with a pale brown color dye to yield a uniform color to match the travertine. Together with brass stair nosings, alum decorative handrails and a redwood top rail should look pretty good.
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Perfect Weather for Framing!

John reports that the weather is expected to be 82 degrees next week with no rain. Pefect for framing the second floor which began this past week. We are waiting for the Dining Room decking materials. The second floor has been covered in plywood and the perimeter walls are roughed in place. The small concrete stairs are being formed for a Monday morning concrete pour. John has discovered some interesting views from our bedrooms and is adjusting the rough-in window heights as some are too low.
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View From Inside Future Family Room

Views looking out the front of the house

Views looking from bedroom out onto what will be a patio deck (partially covered and screened)

Dining Room Roof Beams

View out the corner balcony of the bedroom.

We've got world-class formwork!

Heard from John last night Continued good news. Much progress and hard work is going on. Emil and his hardworking crew have been finalizing the 2nd floor patio floor beam this week. They got the formwork done yesterday (finished in 8 days) It was inspected and approved by the building inspector. Yippee yahoo. As John, our architect put it, it was "a world class formwork effort by Emil's crew". It's HUGE as formworks go AND curved. See the pics below. They will pour the patio beam today (they pour concrete into the form they built).

The framing crew continue to place floor joists and plywood decking. They will finish the second floor decking on Friday except for the dining room exposed tongue and groove exposed decking. All other floor decking, cross bridging, and floor joists is complete. John even made sure that the plywood was glued to each floor joist to eliminate squeaks.

The framing contractor (Doug Daly, Owner of DLM Carpentry Contractors) began second floor wall framing today. John says that Doug and his four man crew have worked very efficiently and quickly. I hesitate typing this in fear of jinxing the house building gods, but Doug and Emil think that the roof joists, roof trusses, and decking can be complete by the end of the month!! Wow...from their lips to Gods ear!

Emil pointing the excellent works the guys were doing on the Patio Formwork!

Our Stained Glass Wizard Artist

Back in a January post I mentioned our stained glass artist, Geri Willingham of Dunedin, who is creating a series of stained glass windows and panels for the house. I just dug up the CD she gave me with photos of some of her concept drawings. I thought I'd post a few to share my excitement.

Wood Beams

Work continued on the columns that will form the patios overlooking the garden. These are pictures of the patio beam formwork. Creating the BIG circular beam that will support the second story patio.

Then the laminated wood beams for the area above the dining room were delivered and installation began complete with humungous crane (neighbors must love us). These beams will be exposed in the dining room.

That is one Big A*# Beam!

Crane Truck

Crane Truck in Action

Beam Number Two being put in place

The "do hickies" for where the beams go ( guess I need to find out what they are called)

According to John my architect, those "do hickies" are Anchor Straps that are buried into the poured concrete bond beam and starapped around the laminated beams.

More Beams

From the underside

This is really pretty exciting!

A Busy Week - The Second Floor Begins

It was a busy week. After the bond beams and patio columns wer poured, the sill plates for the second floor were placed and the patio circular beam was formed.

The floor joists, laminated beams and roof truss shop drawings were reviewed and approved. The laminated beams and floor joists were delivered on Tuesday and the second floor framing began on Wed. Good progress was made on the framing and the work will continue through next week to complete the second floor.

Decisions made, Decisions to Make. Decided on a 20 gallon wall mounted water heater (in a weatherproof cabinet) for the pool cabana so we can have warm water for the pool shower. John is working on selecting the elevator...we will "test drive" the two contenders when we're in St. Pete at end of month. Decided against hydraulic as I'm not convinced it won't smell like hydraulic fluid....hate that smell!