Once the stem walls and garage level was complete, it was time for the main floor, beginning with the sheathing for the main floor. This entire area that you see in the photo below will eventually be covered with flexible radiant tubing and then over that, a layer of concrete. In the photo below, the ThermaSteel SIPs wait, ready to be erected.
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And this next photo shows the steel moment beams framed and the beginning of the SIPs put in place.
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We did have to make some minor adjustments to the panels, and this was fairly easy to do. For the most part, because all the engineering had been done up front, the panels were already correctly designed.
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Interior wall framing begins, even though the exterior SIP erection is not complete.
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A shot of the interior of the unfinished garage, with the door in the background leading to what will be the utility room that houses the boiler and heat recovery ventilator for the main floor.
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The unfinished garage, with the framing for the door leading up to the main stairs. No staircase there yet!
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A closer shot of the ThermaSteel panel. The thickness of the panel is about 6 inches. Structurally, it is stronger than standard stick framing and the styrofoam core provides superior insulation. It is mainly due to these panels that our house has an energy calculation rating that is 60% more efficient than what is currently required for new California construction.
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Interior framing continues, with this shot showing the kitchen to the left and the main living space directly in front of Chris.
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My 75-year-old mother-in-law, who is a critical part of our crew. She’s standing in the room of the house that we call the "parlor" but which could also serve as a formal dining room.
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Lora is in her element here. In this case, the situation is reversed from many years ago, when she built the family house and her son, Chris, was a helper.
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Exterior sheathing for the main floors is up and scaffolding in place, ready for the next level.
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A view of the scaffolding from the back part of the house. The left side was extremely high off the ground–four levels. Workers simply walked across those boards, which weren’t really secured all that well to the scaffolding structure, in my opinion. Chris would just laugh at me. Whenever I ventured on this scaffolding, which was rare, I scuttled around like a scared little crab.
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One more shot of the interior of the main living space, this time with the central roof beam and rafters in place. Bucky, our "construction poodle" checks out the mess.
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Standing in "Bedroom 1" which will likely be the guest bedroom, you see through the back of the house, with bathroom #2 on the left, and "Bedroom #2" in the far rear. This bedroom will probably be our craft room, and has a single French door leading to the back yard. The door to the left leading into the bedroom would later get shifted forward for better space usability for this bedroom. One nice thing about building your own house is that you can still make adjustments as you go along, because you tend to think about the structure in great detail, every step of the way.
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Brian got pretty comfortable with the compound mitre saw. To his right you can see temporary boards put in place over the stairwell to the garage level. There will also be a wall erected between the stairwell and the main floor, which will be the back wall of the built-in dining seating area.
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