Truss Setting

Last Wednesday, the trusses were set. They were delivered on Tuesday, so we were good to go for the next morning. The whole process began pretty early, with the crane arriving around 7-8am. I arrived shortly after, and saw this:

It was so exciting to see the crane at the lot! I could see it as I was driving into the neighborhood and it was very cool :)

The guys had a pretty efficient system down. 

When I arrived, they had just two trusses set. It was crazy to watch how quickly they went up once they got going! Each truss took about 3-5 minutes, then the crane was already moving to pick up the next one.

Those other guys are people Ken called in to help with the job.

Check out this video: 

When Ken saw this photo later that evening, he scolded me for standing underneath it. Whoops.

See the guy in the back? He would nail those pieces of wood between the trusses as they went along so he would have a place to sit! (The thought of these heights makes me sweat)

Java played a huge role in managing all that was going on down below

Master bedroom truss

We have a roof! (sort of...)

It was still early, but very hot and humid already. Everyone was drenched in sweat by 9am. This guy ran back and forth the entire time.

All this was set in less than an hour!

Good thing we cut back the branches in that tree...

Even then, could have cut back some more! 

Here is another video:

Garage truss

I took a lot of pictures that morning- it was the most exciting thing by far! (Way cooler than the previously most exciting concrete truck!) Since I already overloaded the blog with photos, I'll upload the rest to my Facebook photo album.

It finally looks like a house, and the entire thing seems more real. Ironically, the house now feels bigger. Not sure how placing a roof overhead gives the sense of a bigger space, but somehow it did just that. 

New house colors & prep for trusses

A beach trip to St. Augustine inspired us to consider these new house colors:

I went to Sherwin Williams to pick it up, and boy was that a mistake. I brought two Behr color samples that I saw at Lowe's in hopes they would be able to match it. I was able to choose the coral color pretty easily, and then it came time to choose a green. I picked one out and told the paint guy the number. He had everything all set up, and I changed my mind to another. He very patiently inputted the new color into the computer. Then I changed my mind again. And he changed the order for the 3rd time. Then, I changed my mind back to the ORIGINAL paint color I first asked for! Two lessons: always go with your first choice, & don't ask me to pick out paint colors.

I arrived at the lot, opened the new paint color, and couldn't believe I bought what I thought was the color we already had. But when I compared them side-by-side, I noticed a little difference. (Luckily this "little" difference turned out to be a "big enough" difference once I re-painted the door.)

In-progress

New green, with both door colors side by side. The new color is on the left. 

Meanwhile, Ken worked on the front porch:

We burned some trash...

...and Nat cleaned up the weeds in the "backyard"

The following day, Ken and I did some prep-work for the trusses to be laid on Wednesday:

Ply-wood had to be placed at every corner for reinforcement

Garage

These hurricane straps had to be placed at all jacks. (Jacks hold up the header). Short story: ties it all to the concrete.

Completed version

This level has become my new best friend

A little trimming

Remember those bolts sticking out of the concrete? A washer and nut had to be placed on each one.

I was tasked with tightening the bolts. I put all my body weight into it, and I was sore in places two days later I didn't know could be sore.

This is what it looked like when I was finished. 

Final project of the day was moving the door leading to the patio about 6" to give more room in the dining room:

Before 

After

Front porch framing

Last Tuesday we had some help framing the front porch. The header required at least 3 people to lift, so we got lucky having the extra hands/muscles around. A huge thanks to Dan and Ryan!

Touching things up

Just a few minor issues