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The Project: A 2,163 square foot house utilizing dry stack concrete block construction with a central courtyard and based on the Spanish colonial-era missions in San Antonio. The Challenge: Can a forty-something married couple design and build an attractive, efficient and mostly paid-for house while remaining sane, solvent and married? With no actual prior construction experience? Hmmmmm - let's check in on our Contestants and see how they're doing... |
| The Garage Mahal begins to acquire a roof. Here, we see the 6 mil plastic being unrolled and spread out over the roofing supports. The plastic will seal the entire roof - very important stuff if we're going to build a monolithic (meaning one piece, no seams) roof. I will eventually trim the plastic and use adhesive to fasten it down to the parapet blocks. Note the barrel vault and arch, visible here, which sit atop the recording studio. |  |
| Before we finish the roofing off, I lay PVC piping (which will hold phone and networking lines) in along the top of the courtyard walls. The PVC piping has a length of construction twine running all the way through it with the ends duct taped onto the ends of the PVC. When it is time to run the wiring, we tie one end of it to one end of the construction twine and pull it through. Sure beats trying to find a 3/4" tall Smurf who will run cabling... |  |
| Joist hangers are nailed in 16" on center as we round the northeast corner of the house and start to roof in the guest wing.Everything I'm doing at this point is 12 feet or more in the air. Caution and balance are as important as strength and know-how since I don't bounce as easily as I used to. I think this is the point where the legal department steps in and says "Mr. Kliman does not recommend trying this at home, kids..." |  |
| A look at our now partially covered east wing, looking from The Wife Zone towards my studio and the entryway. Notice the space in the joists partway back. This is where the barrel vault and arch in the roofing over the studio are. |  |
| A closer look at the roofing support from underneath. The 2x6 joists are spaced 16" on center and tied to foundation J-bolts embedded in concrete inside the walls. The metal gridwork is actually a fencing panel fastened to the joisting with 1" fencing staples. We will be pouring approximately 2" of lightweight, insulating ferrocement for roofing on top of the plastic (much the same way parking garage decks are built). |  |
| Want to see a rough floor plan?Want to be notified when we post new pictures? Just e-mail us! Want to see the rest of the story? Click on Gimme Shelter Home Page. |
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| Next week's installment: Hoist on a Joist Click HERE |
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