Potters House 2009-10


 WHERE TO BEGIN?

Before we could start on our house, we first had to remove about 1/3 of the farmhouse, including the kitchen and small porch over the cistern, the bathroom and another room which I'll call a utility room. They were all added on to the original house and in very bad condition. We also had to fill in the old root cellar (we salvaged all the stones for future projects) and the cistern which were both in the way of our planned addition.

Finally, in 2009 we were ready for dirt work and the foundation. After building up and leveling the site, the trenches were dug and concrete poured for the footings. Jane thought it was worthless to level up the ground and then just tear it up with a backhoe!

We then leveled everything back out to prepare for the slab with radiant heat in the floor. The rough plumbing was put down as well as conduit for the water lines and electrical. Much planning went into this stage as once the concrete is poured, it's hard to go back and change things! Two inches of styrofoam was put under the heating coils which were laid out in several zones and can be controlled separately.

The total slab for the timber frame and garage measured 24 x 74. 
The two car garage would be built first on the west 30'.

The day of the pour in June was super hot and the three concrete trucks got mixed up and all came about the same time, making it almost impossible for the 3 workers to keep up and get a good finish. The garage side was first and looks pretty good, but by the time they got to the other end, it was setting up fast and they didn't get a very good finish. That changed our idea about possibly doing an acid stained concrete finish for the floor.





August 13, 2009 
The panels arrive for the garage.  We contracted with Rick Reeves from Elk County to build our timber frame addition and garage.  He also manufactures SIPs (structural insulating panels) which we used on both.  SIPs are great to work with, very strong and make a tight, well insulated wall system.  Basically they are a dense foam core with OSB glue laminated on both sides.  Although Rick had used the panels on other timber frames, this was the first time he had built a structure solely with panels. 
We both wanted to try it!

 These panels were 3 1/2" thick, so 2x4 plates were screwed to the concrete and the panels were slipped over them and screwed from both sides.  Very rigid!

All the wiring was installed as the panels went up.  2x4s were inserted into the edge of each panel to connect the next and fill the joint.


 The panels were light and very easy to tilt into place.

 The ends were pre-cut for the roof slope.  Doors were cut out on site and framed in with 2x4s.
Top plates were installed in preparation for the roof panels.

 A jig was constructed to hold the 16' roof panels at the proper angle and so they could be lifted into place with the Bobcat.  It worked great.


 When a pair was up, 2x6 rafters were installed ready to receive the next pair.

 A simple truss system was then constructed to keep the panels from spreading although I'm not sure it was absolutely necessary.   A simple cross tie might have sufficed.  It was extremely strong!


 The east wall of the garage is 6" thick as it will become the west wall of our addition.  We neglected to plan for the electrical needs of this wall from the house side and had to add that in conduit from the garage side later.  The electrical panel went in this wall also.

 Almost ready for shingles and doors.

Arched windows are easy to cut into a panel wall so we couldn't resist.  We wanted a maximum amount of wall space in the garage, so other that the two doors, this is the only window in the garage.  We finished it with cement siding which is very durable and low maintenance.


TIMBERFRAME


In May, 2010, our timberframe began with 100 red oak logs purchased from a logger in MO.  They were 18 ft. long and a minimum of 14" diameter. 


The logs were delivered to Rick's shop south of Moline in Elk County were he began to saw the logs into 8x8 beams with his band saw mill.




Each log yielded one 8x8 or several smaller timbers plus several thousand board feet of one inch and two inch lumber which we would use for flooring, trim and anything else we decide to build with oak.

By December 2010, the joinery was well underway.  The timbers were moved into the shop where they were surface planed, sanded, and chamfered.   Each member was carefully laid out and cut.  Many different types of joints were made including mortise and tenon, dovetail, and hammer joints.  Beautiful!



Timber framer Rick Reeves uses his mortising saw to make very accurate plunge cuts into the timbers.


Each post, girt, rafter, joist and purlin was labeled and oriented as to eventual placement, which became very important once all the hundreds of pieces were delivered to the building site.  Top timber on the left is bent 1, post 3, which is the center post in the first bent to go up against the garage.  There were 5 bents in our house.