Day 35 - framing begins

The next big stage of the project began today as the framer, Paul from PTR Carpentry and his guys started on site today. And boy did things start getting complicated fast. Quickly after the hellos were over the questions and concerns began. First we thought that the footing inside the addition which will support the first floor was in the wrong place but that turned out not to be the case. Then there were questions about the location of the bearing wall on the footing, the location of the pins in the concrete block. That was the first 15 minutes. 

I left and went to work only to get a call 90 minutes later asking for details on the location of the walls on the second floor since his bulkheads had to be located directly beneath them to ensure they picked up the load appropriately. (Like how I make it sound like I know what I'm talking about? Don't be fooled, this knowledge all came from discussions today!). I head over and find that the interior walls of the addition are up already, these guys do not mess around. Meanwhile the True North guys are still working away, including back filing around the foundation. I love watching multiple trades work at the same time, feels so efficient!














We weren't able to get the architect on the phone in real time so we made some measurements from the drawings hoped for the best. Fortunately we were correct. (I suppose that is what the drawings are for after all aren't they?)

Finally we ended the day with a discussion about how to handle the fact that the new foundation is not perfectly square - it was off by 2". We could build the addition un-square as well but that would cause problems for every trade to follow. So then it became a discussion of where to minimize the impact of putting a square addition onto a non-square house, either on the shared laneway side and have an exterior that jutted out slightly or on the party wall side and have a little of the floor joists exposed. My inclination was to the laneway side but we learned after speaking with Joey that Roger and Susan (the neighbours) are planning a deck off the back of the house that will be above the height of those joists. As a result the overhang won't be visable, so we can clad it and be done with it. 

I did more PM'ing on this project today than I have in the last 4 weeks combined, and I get the impression that isn't going to slow down any time soon! That will be a little tough to manage when, on days like tomorrow for example, I'm going to be in Hamilton and Burlington all day and can't 'swing by' like I did today. But I tell you, it is a lot of fun to visually see this thing come to life, there is a great joy in watching that happen.