March 22, 2019 Custom Homes Homes In Progress
Serving The Sacramento Region & Northern California
The framing process for this home was incredibly complex and took a team of up to 10 experienced carpenters about 12 weeks to complete. Working from the blank slate of a concrete slab and small foundation walls, the framers started by installing specialized rot-resistant, pressure-treated lumber as the bottom or “mud sill” of any wall that makes contact with concrete. Using dimensioned lumber called studs and top and bottom lumber pieces or plates and integrating beams of all sizes to carry loads over distances for archways, windows, doorways — the carpenters assembled walls on the ground and tilted them into place, one by one.
With the first floor walls in place, the second story flooring was started – first specialized and engineered “I-Beam” joists were attached to the top of the wall plates with special hardware and then covered with sub-flooring plywood material. This whole process was repeated to create the Second and third story walls and floor systems. As each level’s walls were stood and the crew went through and carefully assessed each wall to true and plumb (vertically straight up from the floor) before securing it and building the next level’s floor system. Once the walls were confirmed to be aligned and true, the crew installed a structural plywood panel (or sheer) on all exterior walls per the requirements of the Project Structural Engineer. A crane then arrived onsite to deliver and install the pre-manufactured trusses for the roof structure. Once these trusses were installed by the carpenters, plywood roof sheeting was added along with blocking and trim at the overhangs for future rain gutters and water drainage. Concurrently, the team added plywood sheets (or “sheer”) to the exterior of the home — cutting out openings for windows, doors, and the many other design elements.
Many weeks of work then continued in the house as thousands of critical structural and aesthetic elements were addressed including:
…and much more.
As progress on framing continued, the electricians again arrived onsite to “rough in” electrical power to the main panels and start installing some wiring in the walls and recessed lighting components. Similarly, plumbers worked to extend the water, waste and vent pipes stubbed out in the concrete slab and into the newly installed walls. Finally, after months of hard work — on the last day of the rough framing task, the entire ESI Builders and carpentry team celebrated the progress with a lunch at the job site.
