Yesterday Adam and I took down the built-on staging on the south side of the house. We then installed the four second floor south-facing windows. It was really nice to be able to lock the door at the end of the day and leave all of our tools out and a big mess. I really should have made the first floor secure a while ago.

The south face of the house will still undergo one more significant shape change: the roof that will shade all of the first floor windows.

The underside of the eave overhang is now visible from below.

Over the past few days I finally got around to cleaning up and securing the first floor. Hannah helped me install the two temporary doors and picture window. The picture window that we installed was the one that was originally intended for the space, but we would have had to build a jamb for it. The triple pane window that will replace it (and the other four windows on order for the same manufacturer) should be in soon. Last week I spent a fair amount of time doing desk work; researching solar hot water (details below), researching how to build the tiled walk in shower, modeling first floor partition walls (which I plan on beginning to construct this week). I also calculated the amount of cellulose insulation the house will be needing. I came up with 658 bales or 4081 cubic feet of cellulose at an installed density of 3.5 lbs per cubic foot. In order to accurately figure this out I calculated the volume of each wall and the roof, and subtracted out every piece of wood and all of the windows and doors. I was pleased to see that the percent of the wall that is wood averages at 8.3%. This compared to about 20% for standard framing construction (see http://oikos.com/library/wall_framing/index.html). You can see my spreadsheet here: Wall makeup break down and cellulose requirements for house. Unfortunately, I also learned that the cost of this much cellulose is far more than what I was expecting. At roughly $13 per bale, the insulation alone will run over $8000.

Temporary first floor door and picture window that Hannah helped install. (photo by Hannah)

Here is the screw down metal roof all done with ridge cap. We are pleased with the color, which will reflect more heat and sun than other colors, decreasing the urban heat island affect. Also, since the roof isn’t vented (hot roof), it will hopefully serve to keep the temperature down. Some folks have asked if there are screws through the metal how does the water stay out? Every screw has a rubber washer already on it. We will still need to get back up there to install the solar hot water panels and stink pipe. Last week I confirmed that I was not going to be able to use my professor’s home made solar hot water drain back tank. I also confirmed that the Simple Drain Back tank, is also not approved by the state of Massachusetts. After talking with an official at the state plumbing board, I learned that it is a fairly cheap and supposedly quick process to get one’s products approved. I communicated this to the manufacturer of the simple drain back system who is currently looking into getting the tank certified. (photo by Hannah)

The gable peak has the metal roof wrap around the fascia boards. The underside of the soffit still needs to be boxed in. We will use AC plywood for this task–cheap and quick. We will then put up architectural brackets (see pics and explanation below) to make it look pretty. (photo by Hannah)

Here is a house with architectural brackets on the eave and gable roof lines. Ordinarily, one sees them only on the gable–ostensibly because they are providing support to the lookouts (overhang). The eave, being on an angle, doesn’t require such strong support. I mention this because we would also like to put brackets on the eave. The brackets pictured here are, of course, much more ornate than what we would be installing. This home is in Greenfield, MA.

A Greenfield house in the Italianate style with architectural brackets on the eave and gable roof lines.

Adam and I finished the metal roof today. It looks really good; I’ll take some pictures soon.

I realized that I should get on top of ordering solar hot water panels so we can install them with the existing staging. Also, I recently learned that I won’t be able to use the solar hot water tank that my professor made–the plumbing inspector won’t allow it. Thankfully, my professor is willing to take it back. Here is a link to the new tank that I am planning on getting: http://www.solarheatexchangemanufacturing.com/NewFiles/80galdb.html

Meanwhile, I will continue to put up partition walls.

On Tuesday we began installing the metal roof. Guy showed up in the morning and we finished installing the fascia boards, we installed the eave end flashing, and put on the Grace Ice and Water Shield. The Grace really isn’t needed, but we had to put it on to adhere to building codes. Its purpose is to protect the bottom edge of the roof from ice dams, but the house will never have ice dams for a variety of reasons: the amount of insulation, the roof is metal with a steep pitch (snow will slide off), and there are no gutters. Hopefully code will catch up on this mark.

Devin (who is proud of the fact that he has done a number of metal roofs in the last year) arrived in the early afternoon and we began putting it on! By the end of Tuesday we were half-way done with the South roof. On Wednesday we had help from Guy, Devin, Craig, and Adam. Unfortunately, we were not able to finish. There are three more panels to put on as well as the gable fascia board flashing and the ridge cap. This morning I put tape over the ridge to keep out the rain that we will be getting today and tomorrow. Adam and I will finish the roof up on Sunday.

Thank you Devin, Guy, Adam, and Craig!

Guy, Devin, and Spartan installing the metal panel. Reaching over three feet to put in the furthest screw was challenging since the screw had to puncture the metal. On Adam's suggestion, we predrilled holes for the north-facing roof.

We used a vise grip on the end of a rope to lift the panels up. We put gorilla tape on the jaw to protect it from scratching the metal.

Devin and Spartan pose for the camera

Adam, Devin, and Spartan working on installing the north-facing roof

Things have been moving a little slowly this past couple of weeks–Hannah had vacation, and visiting with friends.

I have continued to plug away at the second and third floor partition walls, we put in a couple more windows, and we are finally making a push towards putting on the metal roof, which earlier today was delivered.

Using Photoshop to help visualize trim colors, Hannah and I picked out a flavor of red for the trim. I purchased 1×8 pre-primed pine for the fascia boards and began painting them in my parents garage where I could use a propane space heater to keep the temperature up. Even though I followed the directions provided by California Paint for application, several days later the paint was still peeling off like a skin. After getting unsatisfactory answers from the manufacturer I returned the painted boards and paint to RK Miles. The second time went better, but this time I used Ben Moore’s Aura paint–rather expensive, but if their warranty speaks to how long it should last, then it is probably worth it.

Installation went smoothly. With Adam’s help, and Rob’s pipe staging under our feet, we installed 3 out of four sides last Friday.

I was hoping to start moving towards putting on the metal roof today, but the windy weather was prohibitive. Also, last night we had a big downpour of rain. Even though the Zip Tape on the roof kept out previous weather, there were a half a dozen leaks. I suspect that tape was punctured during installation. To remedy this I have purchased 6″ Dupont flashing tape which is much more durable than the Zip tape. We will go over all of the seams with a second layer of tape. I considered redoing the roof with tar paper, which would certainly keep out the water, but it would not keep out air leaks.

Devin, Guy, and Craig are all scheduled to help put on the metal roof this week.

View from Chapman St

Hannah outside of master bedroom

Partition walls on second floor. Looking from top of stairs westwards towards bathroom.

Fascia boards installed

The metal roof was delivered today. It takes up surprisingly little space, but just try to lift it.