SIPs framing
November 16th, 2008 Posted in construction, design | No Comments »It’s been a while since our last post. Because of the ‘jenga’ process of putting the panels together, we were on hold waiting for one little on site weld to happen. Apparently welding in the rain is not a good idea. We were able to slip this in between rainstorms last week and are just about finished framing. As we’ve noted in the past, the panels, while simple in theory, are not easily assembled. I think in the future it might be a good idea to specify that panels are delivered in 4′ wide panels, rather than 8′. 8′ panels can be moved by a couple of guys, but lifting and maneuvering them is difficult. Each panel needs to be nailed to the next one every 2″ along the seam on each side of the panel. It’s easy to nail one side, but flipping 8′ wide panels that way a few hundred pounds is difficult.
At any rate, we have a few new photos. This is Hank, he’s our lead on site. To cantiliver the roof over the entry (having a covered entry is nice in Portland), we were required to run thick beams (paralams) between the panels. The roof is designed to carry the weight of an eco roof which requires the added strength of the beams.
Here is the roof deck, above the entry. To get the panels to fit together, we are strapping them on each side and ratcheting them together, then nailing them on the top and bottom. After several panels are fastened together, the final connection requires a good old sledgehammer.
Here is a shot of the kitchen. It’s a little damp at the moment, but you can start to get a feel for the depth of the vertical volume and the amount of light that will be available. The right side of the photo is essentially a glass wall, but is filled in at the moment with OSB panels for job site security until the windows are installed. You can see a few pieces of conduit coming out of the slab. These bring services to both the islands in the kitchen.
Lastly - this window opening has been our bane so far. Our idea is to capture the view of the tree through the corner of the living room. This window will be butt glazed together at the corner, and will be flush with siding on the exterior. To make this happen, we need a steel frame to adhere the window to. We couldn’t get the welder to show up to the site until the rain subsided. The interior drywall will run straight into the glass without any trim. It will appear from both the interior and the exterior there is no window in the corner at all. I’m certain the finished product will have been well worth the wait!

































