House Wrap Rap

Camera is out of batteries but progress continues and documentation calls!

The house's current state is this:

1- Three windows have been installed (the three biggest ones) and sealed with Protecto-Wrap 6"-wide tape as per the window department's recommendations. The extension jambs will be installed later once the interior paneling is more well defined (e.g., in hand). We think the preferred thickness of knotty pine is 5/16" but it's not at the job site yet.

2- The impossible hip rafter is finished!
2a- The impossible part of the roof over the porch is finished!
2b - Did we mention the impossible part is done?!

Basically the front of the Weebee has this complicated little roof which is there to make it look interesting and house-like and well put together, the way the outfit of a well-dressed New Yorker makes you say, wow, that is a well put together person, even though the person may or may not be well put together and, by extension, the house with a nice roof may or may not be well put together. But it's for effect.

Since the plans only included front and side elevations of the roof the actual dimensions of the plywood were not easy to see -- if we had it to do again we'd just use a CAD program, draw this section of roof, and get the dimensions of the pieces from the computer. This would not be a big task even for someone relatively new to CAD. NOTE TO ANYONE BUILDING THIS THEMSELVES WHO HAS NEVER MADE A HIP RAFTER: think about doing some CAD.

For the computerless, another method was used here. We used trigonometry to find the angles on the hip rafter, installed that, cut the plywood down, installed the "dormer window" (the small section of roof directly above the bay window seating area) and then went for the old school style: stapled a piece of house wrap (big paper would also suit) along the hip rafter and along the rafter which runs parallel to the back edge of the trailer (e.g., the rafter at top of bay window area -- we let this run the width of the house) -- then we pulled this paper taught and cut it with a razorblade where it intersected with the sheathing of the dormer window. Now we had a parallelogram-shaped sheet of paper aka a template from which to cut the plywood. This worked well. And, it's finally done. And, admittedly, it adds a nice effect to the aesthetic of the exterior of the house.

3- Most of the Tyvek house wrap is now on -- need to do a couple more sections (front of house and back of house)

4- Framed up a vent for the space above the bay window seat This will help the house comply with building codes enforced by anyone overzealous or diligent It's probably not strictly required since the square footage of the loft is so small and the loft already has a window (which opens) But it seemed like a good idea

5- Installed porch light and kitchen light (and wired them -- they work!)

6- Designed custom door

We were all set to start cutting the boards for the door (a panel door) and then noticed the wood was totally warped. We're working in Spanish Cedar. We mistakenly purchased planed lumber...... should have bought rough lumber so we could make sure it was totally perfectly planed and even since the door really must be even (building a warped door jamb to match a warped door does not seem like a good idea, though it could happen at a place like the Mystery Spot). So everyone went home crying their eyes out over this tragedy. Ok fine no one cried but it was a disappointment.

Interesting fact: "8 quarter" means "2 inches" in lumber-speak. 8 quarter rough lumber is on the order of 2 inches. When you buy smooth lumber, 8 quarter would be about 1-5/8" The ideal width for a solid door is 1-3/4" (the panels are thinner) So, back to the lumberyard to get The Right Stuff and go to town on this door. That will be an activity for next week.

In a stroke of convenience, Jeld-Wen makes a door jamb kit you can buy for $70 at Home Depot -- has the weather strip already installed. Can be cut to length. Hoorah.

The octagon windows don't have built-in vinyl flashing like the Anderson windows we're using for the rest of the house -- we're looking for input on how to seal up the octagons. Possibly just going to bend aluminum flashing and use oodles of silicon goop (that would be a metric oodle, not an english oodle) but interested to hear if anyone has other ideas.

These seem to be the salient lessons learned from recent memory. Onward!

A Window on the World

Today we installed the first window: progress! After being forewarned by everyone in the windows department (of a certain large hardware store chain which shall not be named) that it would take half a day to install a window (or we could pay them a paltry sum (300 dollars?! yowza!) to have them install it for us) we overcame our discouragement and went forth into the great blue yonder of DIY window installation.

Piece of cake! In less than an hour, we had the window shimmed in place (so that bottom edge was parallel with floor of house and side edges were even in the rough opening space), silicon-gooped until the end of time, sealed for extra measure with another piece of flashing over the top of the upper edge of the built-in plastic flashing flange, and installed with screws (1-5/8" fasteners were recommended; screws are used here since in the event of driving-down-the-highway road vibrations nails could potentially work themselves out). Here is the photographic evidence:



The eaves were sealed this week with 2x4s ripped on a table saw to have a 45-degree edge -- these were installed in the previously open space between the top of the wall and the underside of the roof sheathing.

In other news, yesterday we installed the hip rafter above the porch and made progress on the "dormer window" shape above the bay window area. The valley rafter still needs to be installed there, followed by more plywood. Then we'll be ready to put tar paper over the whole roof, flashing in the valley/hip, and the actual roof material (metal is planned). No soffit vents are being used.

And! Electricity is happening! All outlets are now wired to the subpanel and have been tested. It is a great thing to be able to plug in a drill or sawzall to an outlet INSIDE the house while working. Less tripping on extension cords. More glory.

Stay tuned for the upcoming chapter: let there be light!

Astronauts Take Over the Weebee

Today astronauts invaded the Weebee and inspected key features. They brought a number of space-age tools in apparent preparation for repair and maintenance procedures. Mission command specifically assigned them to the roof eaves assessment and creation mission, which they accepted with only minor chagrin.

Fortunately, the astronauts also brought along their payload specialist, the bagpipe player.