February 20, 2019 AsktheBuilder Newsletter
New arrival? Welcome and thanks for your trust.
Not-so-new? Thanks for staying on the list! I must be doing a few things right
Mt. Desert Island House Update
Just after the new year, I shared that this newsletter would focus tightly on my daughter and son-in-law's new home up in Downeast Maine.
I'm not the builder of the home in case you're wondering.
My title is chief advisor, plumber, radiant burner man, and electrician. My editor, Dave Mulcahey, at the syndicate that distributes my weekly Ask the Builder column to over 60+ papers in the USA shared this observation with me today:
"I’m sure all this work is earning you undying filial gratitude."
I had to look that word up!
Here's a progress photo shot on January 31st. The weather turned brutally cold mid-January and just prior to that I was up there working for five days with no roof in place.
Earlier this week, the builder was able to get the trusses on the garage and I suspect that by today the sheathing on and it's fully covered with Grace Ice and Watershield.
There will be a giant room (future office, AirBnB rental, hobby space?) above the garage created by the same attic trusses that are on the main house.
While the house may look plain vanilla, its bones are anything but. All of the floors are built using full-span floor trusses. CLICK HERE to discover more about these must-have floor joists of sorts.
All the exterior and interior walls were built in a factory. The precision is FAR GREATER than anything any crew of rough carpenters could produce in the field. CLICK HERE to discover how you can have these wall panels at your next home or room addition.
The roof was made using attic trusses creating a massive room 18 feet wide by 43 feet long. A full-size staircase, not a wretched pull-down piece-of-crap staircase - leads up to this giant room. CLICK HERE to get more information about all the magical things you can create with pre-fabricated roof trusses.
I'm leaving on Sunday to go back up to re-start work on installing all the cast iron drain, waste, and vent lines. Then we'll start installing 900 heat transfer plates on the underside of the wood subfloors. Uponor PEX piping will snap into these plates to keep the floors toasty warm.
You're going to see all of this and much much much more on new videos I'm recording, so hang tight for those.
Oh, I want to mention one thing. It was brought to my attention by a mystery subscriber that the winder steps the builder created four weeks ago do not meet the current code.
Local building inspectors have the right to ignore or make more stringent parts of the national code. The builder is checking this week to see if the inspector is going to require the more modern winder steps. I'll have an update for you soon.
Here are links once more to the three most recent videos I recorded up there about twelve days ago:
Mystery Driveway - What Is This?
Do you know what's going on here? You're looking at the driveway at the last house I built for my family - a gorgeous Queen Anne Victorian.
CLICK HERE to discover how you can have the most unique driveway in your neighborhood! BE SURE TO WATCH the VIDEO on that page!
Your Spring Project - Dream Big!
This is just a privacy screen pergola. Imagine if it was much WIDER and had two rows of posts.
Imagine if you had a pergola providing shade over your patio or deck. How nice would that be?
CLICK HERE to discover more about this wonderful pergola.
If you have questions about building pergolas or anything else, I can answer them on the phone. CLICK HERE to set up a call.
Did You Discover Anything New This Issue?
If so, you might want to treat me to a snack or a new antenna.
Soon I'll be adding healthy choices per a suggestion from my buddy Phil Down Under where he's sweltering in summer heat!
That's enough for today. I'll be back at you on Sunday with some goodies.
Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
Mr. Certified Organic Man CLEANER - www.StainSolver.com
Mr. Morse Man - www.W3ATB.com
Do It Right, Not Over!