Frame is done; roof next
The last two weeks have all been about the main floor and completing the walls. As mentioned before, ICF is a very long process. I am certain you could built 3 wood frame houses in the time it takes to do one ICF. It has taken almost 2 months to get from footing to final pour. There were blocks of time where no work was carried out. Rain was a factor, as were Robbie’s and Gille’s [excavation] other commitments. There was also the curing time, and the wait for for an available pump truck.
Yet, logistics and scheduling aside, the ICF build presents truly monstrous complexities throughout. First is rebar: measuring, cutting, bending and fitting. Rebar in each row of blocks over the house and garage, double and triple in lintels over windows and garage doors. This is not a simple process of laying the rebar in place. It means shoving it through tight slots, and it’s not light. Cutting and moving it from pile to block is labour. Preparing for the pour means strapping and bracing to both reinforce the blocks and straighten the walls. The bracing also provides a scaffold for the pour. The strapping involves screwing plywood inside and outside joints between blocks and window and door bucks. Bracing and strapping alone take a few days, and taking it all down adds another day.
At the end of it all, the three hour pour and and two hours fine plumbing of the walls lead to a finished frame and an anticlimax: where’s the roof? For a while, it wasn’t clear if there would be a crew prepared to do the work in the short term. However, to Dennis’s surprise, Robbie phoned to say that if he and one of his crew could take care of all the preparations, the entire would come next week to do install the trusses and lay the sheathing and underlayment. The preps started right away.
The first step was to crown the top of the wall with 2 x 10s fastened with anchor bolts to receive the trusses. This was followed up by marking the truss layout. The final step involved fastening the ladders to the end joists to create the eaves overhang at each end of the house. This was rather difficult. First, the trusses needed had to be removed from the stack, and sure enough, they weren’t on top. As a matter of fact one of them was on the bottom of the stack of 30 plus trusses. The other three were in the middle. Joe, Dennis and I moved the three and the ladders into place where they could be assembled. One was, and Joe and Dennis did most of the work with me holding or fetching the odd tool. The second is to follow either in the morning or the day of the roof install next week.
The next day, we removed all the braces and some of the strapping. The rest will come off next week and we’re ready whenever Robbie is. The main floor looks rather spacious now that it is emptied.
Last weekend folks came out to visit the site. First Alison and Dick, then Myriam, Cheryl and Fred. On Sunday, Iliana and David came. We walked around and it was great to share the experience. Folks seemed interested in seeing the next phases.
