Trial and error construction
Along one of my regular walking routes, an old house is being veeeerrrry slooooowly replaced by a new house. The process has been running for nearly two years now. The original was a fairly large house for this neighborhood, probably early '30s, and looked solid and clean from the outside. Maybe the interior had been ruined by methies, I dunno.

During the first year they disassembled the house literally stick by stick. Every time I walked by, the workers had done something, but the something amounted to three or four rafters or studs. Finally they called in the pros and got the remaining 40% down to foundation in one day.

Now the rebuilding (on a new foundation) is running slightly faster, maybe 30 studs/week. Before the snow hit they had the roof framing done, in an odd-looking pattern. Two gables facing the same way, like the letter M. Then they apparently realized the problem with an M roof, and took the back part down. Now they've got the back part up again, turned 90 degrees so the top looks like a T.

Slow cooking is fine. Slow building is not fine. Sweat equity is cheap, but exposing the new subfloor and rafters to six months of rain and snow is not cheap in the end.

Update May 14: The house is finally sort of halfway dried in. Scattered plywood on the roof and sides, but still no Tyvek or waterproofing.

Looking at this in an optimistic way: The occupants will never need to worry about leaky pipes or ice dams. All the wood is conveniently pre-rotted and pre-stocked with carpenter ants, and all the nails are pre-rusted. No further damage is possible.

Update July 1: Roof is nearly all shingled now. Walls still wide open.


Update March 2015: Roof is still nearly all shingled now. Walls covered with Tyvek but no siding yet. Front dormer on roof still open to the weather.

Labels: Heimatkunde

  ¶ 5:48 PM