2nd week of framing

Still waiting on the cribbers to come out and fix the basement pads. The latest word is tomorrow, or Saturday.

We've decided to go with the full, expensive garage foundation. We had originally assumed we'd do concrete piles to help stabilize the pad. But it turns out that there aren't many engineers who have actually designed this, so they are either telling us to do the 4' frost wall, or a thickened edge slab. The thickened edge slab seems like the cheapest option. But some engineers won't sign off on this and it's seen as a cheap corner cutting solution. The engineers who will sign off on it are requiring the edge to be SO thick that it's not really any cheaper than doing the full foundation. 

Our foundation guy suggested that metal screw piles would be the cheapest solution. But the screw piles company wants us to put in so many, that it ends up being MORE than the full foundation. So, we're back to doing the full foundation. 

So we need a drawing for the city to issue the building permit. We could use the drawing we got through our engineer, but it doesn't have the proper dimensions. It's also a bad drawing. It shows a 6" curb all around. The measurements on it show that it's 6" from grade, and the slab is 6" thick, so it works out to be flat in reality. But we'd have to hope that the concrete guys read the dimensions and not looks at the picture. Rather than sending it back and waiting another 2 weeks to get it done right, we've asked Ryan to do it. He's promised to have it done by the end of the week, and it should be cheaper. Hopefully he'll do it in less than 2 weeks. 

One of the metal companies came out and looked at my post and gave me a quote. $2280 for 2 metal posts. For perspective, a stock metal post in the basement is about $100. We need someone to take a metal post, and weld a bracket on it. Apparently welders make several thousand dollars per day. I guess this is why they expect us to pay $115k for stairs out of metal. I should get a welding ticket.

MrDinks found out that one of the companies that makes basement posts in located here in town, Wesure. I went to visit them, and they will make us a fixed height post based on their stock designs for $275 each. That's a little more reasonable for custom posts.  

Framer sent me to another metal shop to get some supports for our window wells. It's a little hole in the wall. And their price for the supports are very reasonable. So it's another potential source for our stairs and/or railings.

Ryan came by the site yesterday to discuss the post. He has contacts in the steel construction industry, so I set up the appointment with him before we found Wesure. We also had some other things to discuss with him, so I didn't cancel. 

The first thing to discuss was the size of the stairwell. Using a guess about the size of the treads, MrDinks calculated that our landings would be 8' wide by 5 1/2' deep. We'd end up with landings that can be used as sitting rooms. But Ryan's plan was for 11" treads, so we're abou 4 1/2' deep. Less crazy. And probably not worth putting in extra joists to close in the stairwell. 

The second item was brought to our attention by framer just minutes before Ryan arrived. Ryan's designs assume that our joists are 14"+ thick. The joist company plans call for 11 7/8", and that's what they sent. So by losing 2" between each level, our house is now 6" shorter than planned. We hired a bucket truck, TWICE, to find out that we want to maximize the height of the house. We had to justify our height to the city. We are NOT giving up 6" now. The easiest solution is to add 6" of headroom on the 3rd floor. That's nice, because it means MrDinks would actually get to use more of the space up there. But, it means that we'll see a lot less from up there, and the view is the whole reason for even having a 3rd floor. So we've decided to build up the flat roof that becomes the 3rd floor deck. 

Ryan claims the joist company pulled a last minute switch. He says that the joists were originally 14", and he changed his design to fit that, and spent an evening doing it. But I checked the various versions of the joist plans, and it's always been 11 7/8" joists. Again, perhaps he should have LOOKED at the joist plan? 

I went up to the 2nd floor today to discuss something with Framer. And we can see the tops of some of the taller downtown buildings from there. So I'm optimistic that the 3rd floor will be worth the hassle. 

Another development today that affects the build is that I accepted a new job. We are officially DINKS again, which makes MrDinks very happy. But it means that I can no longer devote 22 hours a day to this build. No more calls from Framer or BIL asking for materials and off I run. I will be working reduced hours, so I can do some during business hours. But I expect some delays because of it.