Quirch Residence: January 2018
Posted On March 26, 2020

January 2 - Two more loads of fill (the 3rd & 4th 10 cubic yard loads) dirt are under your house. This is being used to fill the low spots.

January 2 - The foundation subs are smoothing the fill dirt. Probably with the rain and snow(!) forecast for tomorrow, no work will get done.

January 4 - Snow in South Carolina! January 4 brought several inches of snow. We also had some very cold (for this part of the country) temperatures. Construction was halted for several days due to the weather.

January 8 - The guest house framing continues. Within a few days, it will be completed and the framers will begin on the garage.

January 8 - This is how the guest house looks from the rear of the main house. The main house is just about ready for the walls to be poured with concrete.

January 8 - Five days ago snow fell. There are still small patches of snow on the ground. Until today, the temperature did not get above the middle 30s. Today, the temperature reached the mid 50s, so perhaps 'winter' is over here in South Carolina.

January 9 - The roof sheathing is going on the guest house. The right side (from the driveway) is covered. Once the roof is covered, the ice and water underlayment will be placed on the roof.

January 9 - This is how the guest house looks from the temporary drive. There is a temporary toe board on the roof for safety.

January 9 - The dirt under the house has been smoothed. It will be termite treated this afternoon. The steel in the stem walls will be inspected tomorrow and poly will be put down on the ground. Friday, concrete is scheduled to be poured in the block walls and for the rat slab.

January 10 - The roof is on the guest house. It still needs the ice and water underlayment. It also needs tie down hardware.

January 10 - Framing on the garage has begun. It should be finished within a week or so weather permitting.

January 10 - This is the west side of the garage. The dark plywood is pressure treated to resist rot and termites.

January 10 - The termite treatment contractor was back out to finish treating under the rat slab. The house is large enough he ran out of chemical yesterday.

January 11 - The stem wall around the north service yard has been lowered two blocks below the house foundation walls. The inverted red 'V' marks are where a tie down rod will be anchored.

January 11 - The garage will begin to get roof sheathing very soon. The weather is overcast with an occasional light shower, so work may get delayed a bit.

January 11 - This is how the garage looks from the front door of the main house. Obviously, the main house will be built on the stem wall, so it will block a little of the right side of the garage.

January 11 - This is how the guest house looks from the front door. Again, once the house is built on the foundation, a small part of the guest house will be blocked from view. As you walk down the stairs, both should be very visible.

January 12 - It is rainy and muddy, but the framers are making progress. The front of the garage is being built. The header over the auto bay doors is temporary. The LVLs for the actual headers should be delivered today.

January 15 - The sheathing is on the roof and walls of the garage. The tie down hard is not installed yet. Plywood has not been cut out of the auto bay doors yet.

January 15 - This is the western side of the garage. The dark colored plywood has been pressure treated to resist termites and rot.

January 15 - The inside of the garage is nice and large. Temporary diagonal braces help keep everything straight and plumb. The two vertical supports on the left are temporary. A steel support that will be installed between them is being fabricated. When it is installed, the temporary braces will come out.

January 15 - The earth under the house has been covered with plastic in preparation for pouring a rat slab. Cold (freezing) temperatures are delaying things a bit.

January 16 - The stem wall in the foreground has been poured solid with concrete. 'J' bolts have been inserted in the fresh concrete. These will be used to tie the house to the massive foundation.

January 16 - The rat slab is being poured in the back. The long striker board will be used to level and smooth the rat slab.

January 16 - A good bit of the rat slab has been poured. Notice the steel straps embedded in the piers. These are to tie the beams and joists to the foundation.

January 16 - The area under the house is large and it takes a number of loads of concrete to cover it. Since the rat slab is basically a moisture barrier and to prevent animals from digging, it is only 2 or 3 inches thick.

January 16 - The garage framing is near completion. The roof needs to be covered with underlayment and house wrap has to be installed. Tie down hardware is being installed. Framing inspection will be in a few days.

January 16 - Notice the 1/2in steel tie down rods on either side of the window. These rods tie the top plate (horizontal 2x6s) to the foundation. Other brackets will tie the rafters to the top plates. There is a steel rod in each corner and beside each opening. On walls with no openings (windows or doors), the rods are no more than 8 feet apart. (The diagonal brace is temporary.)

January 18 - The Garage framing is about complete. Left over material is covered or stored in the garage. Note the plywood over the auto bay doors has not been trimmed yet. The two temporary beam supports are in place. The permanent pipe support is being fabricated and should be installed this coming week.

January 18 - The guest house now has the roof covered. This will make the roof water tight so it should remain relatively dry in rainstorms (rain can blow in window openings).

January 18 - This is how the guest house looks from the area in front of the main house. Notice not all of the wall plywood sheathing has been trimmed yet.

January 18 - The garage roof is also covered and water tight. The auto bay doors look low because the plywood has not been trimmed yet.

January 24 am - The girders are being assembled and installed. The rim joists (around the perimeter) are in place.

January 24 am - The service yard has been taken down two blocks. It will be filled with dirt and then a slab poured on it.

January 24 am - The north access door has also been cut. The north and south access doors are below double windows.

January 24 pm - Floor joists are being laid across the home. Notice the straps that will be used to tie the floor solidly to the foundation.

January 24 pm - The subfloor will be put on the flooring within a few days. We use DryPly a water resistant plywood, for the subfloor so if (when) it rains, the flooring will not be damaged.

January 24 pm - Only the north end of the house lacks joists when this photo was taken (about 4 pm).

January 24 pm - Here, the north service yard is visible. Bedroom #3 is beyond the service yard. Bedroom #2 is over by the access door. Bedroom #4 is in the foreground.

January 26 - This is a large house. The workers are tying short pieces of tie down rods to the foundation 'J' bolts. These will connect to rods up through the top plate to hold the house secure in strong winds.

January 26 - Here is how the short rods look. They will go up through the sub floor so a longer rod can tie to them.

January 26 - The steel support post for the garage was custom fabricated and primed. It will be put in place in a day or so and the stiff legs (one is in the background to the right of the post) will be removed. The post will be bolted to the floor and to the beam.

January 26 - Wall material is arriving. It came on two trucks (note the two fork lifts). Work on the walls will begin once the sub floor is down (early next week).

January 26 - The recessed areas are where showers will be built. There are two on the north end of the house and one on the south (master) end of the house.

January 26 - Here is part of the wall package. Some materials were put behind the house. All of the material will be covered with plastic to protect it from the rain on Sunday.

January 29 - The sub flooring is being installed. We use Georgia Pacific's Dry Ply, a water resistant sub flooring. If it gets wet, it normally does not delaminate like normal plywood sub floor does. The square hole near the center of the photo is where the master shower is located.

January 30 - Part of the sub floor has been back ordered, so we are starting on the walls at the south end of the home. The balance of the sub flooring should be here Friday or Monday.

January 31 - This is looking towards the back kitchen and the kitchen. Obviously, not all of the walls are erected yet.

January 31 - This is the south vestibule. The openings on the right will have windows with transoms.

January 31 - This is his dressing room. There is a high window on the left (east) side. The door on the right goes to the master bath.

January 31 - This is the master bedroom. It will have a vaulted ceiling. There are large windows on two walls.
Nygaard Residence: January 2018
Posted On March 23, 2020

January 2 - With it 20 degrees outside we placed two propane heaters to warm the house so tile and wood floors can be installed. Bottles for smaller room heaters are lined up on the wall.

January 10 - More progress has been made on the great room ceiling. This will get a white wash finish.

January 10 - The decorative tiles are in place and the tile is nearly complete in the master shower.

January 10 - The decorative tiles are in place and the tile is nearly complete in the master shower.

January 17 - Some trim is installed around the great room dormers but we don't like it. It will be changed out.

January 19 - The dining room ceiling boards are installed. The face of the beam will receive a paneled detail.

January 19 - The master bedroom ceiling boards are installed. The center beam will be trimmed out soon.

January 19 - These are the dresser and bench seat in the master dressing room. They will get wooden tops.

January 26 - One window is trimmed in the breakfast room. The outlet in the corner has to be moved in order to trim the others.

January 26 - There is still a good bit of trim left to do around the dining area. The cabinets were installed so the counters could be templated.
Miller Residence: January 2018
Posted On March 17, 2020

January 2 - Footers are being dug. The weather is cold - below freezing, but the foundation subs were here working.

January 2 - Forming material is on site. The mini excavator is in the background left center of the photo.

January 8 - Even though the temperature reached the low 60s today, there is still some snow lingering from the 'blizzard' last Wednesday. Digging the footers will resume very soon.

January 9 - The foundation subs are now cleaning up the trenches. Once this is finished, they will place steel per the plans.

January 10 - The footer trenches have been cleaned up and squared up per the print. A soil compaction test is scheduled for later today. This test assures the soil will support the weight of the house.

January 10 - The foundation sub does a nice job with his excavation. Once we pass the soil compaction test, Rebar (reinforcing steel rods) will be placed in the trenches. Then the footers will be poured.

January 11 - Reinforcing steel is being placed in the footer trenches. This should be complete on Friday (depending on the weather).

January 11 - The techs have to tie the steel bars together with a wire tie. Once the rebar is placed around the perimeter, vertical rebar will be tied to the horizontal rebar. If all goes well with the steel placement and inspection, we should be able to pour the first of next week.

January 12 - We had rain last evening and today. The trenches have water in them in places. The grade stakes have been installed to tell the foundation crew how deep to pour the footers. When the trenches dry, the vertical rebar will be placed and then after inspection, the footers will be poured.

January 15 - We had rain over the weekend and things are really wet. Probably a lot of the water is runoff from the golf course (in the background).

January 15 - The footer trenches have about 3in of standing water in them. We will pump them and finish up laying the steel as soon as possible. Once the steel is all placed, we will call for inspection, then pour.

January 16 - The foundation sub pumped rain water out of the foundation trenches. Once the trenches dry (hopefully by tomorrow), the final steel will be attached.

January 18 - The trenches have dried and the vertical rebar has been attached to the horizontal runs. Blocks will be laid over the vertical rebar and then poured solid with concrete. The house will be firmly connected to the foundation. The strings mark the location of walls.

January 18 - There are scores of vertical tie rebar attached to the footer rebar. Inspection is scheduled for Friday. If all goes well, footers will be poured early next week. Foundation work will begin on the garage.

January 24 - The footers have been poured. Concrete blocks will be laid over the steel rebar protruding from the footer.

January 24 - The strings show the location of the walls (thus the locations of the blocks). They will be laid in the next few days.

January 29 - Blocks, sand (in white sacks with loops) and mortar (under the plastic) arrived on Saturday. Blocks were distributed around the foundation.

January 29 - Sunday, the rains came and today, the footers are full of water. We cannot lay block until we get them dry, so we will pump the water out again. Block laying will begin just as soon as possible.

January 30 - Most of water in the footers has been pumped out. There are still a few wet puddles, but they should be gone by morning. Block masons are scheduled to begin laying block tomorrow morning.