We’ve started on the second floor, putting in the LVLs and TJIs.
You may remember from the plans that the second floor goes the entire length of the house at the back (by the front door), but is open to below at the front (lakeside) with bedrooms on either side. Since my last blog post, we’ve put up the beams and joists on which the second-floor subfloor will sit. As you may see from the picture they look a little different from the beams and joists of the first floor.
That’s because we decided to go with engineered stuff for the second floor. The yellow are LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber) beams, which uses multiple layers of thin wood assembled with adhesives. The others are TJI (Trus Joist I-Joist) which is a popular choice for construction as they are lightweight but can still handle the required loads. They are more expensive than traditional framing but their easier to install and they can span greater distances.
We also got the rim board installed, which is required around the outside when using TJIs. This week we also started the stairs to the second floor, making the two angled steps and the framing for the two steps up to the angled steps; however, we didn’t have a board long enough to make the frame for the rest of the stairs to the second floor and the hardware store up here is now closed on Sundays. We hope to get the necessary materials tomorrow and can build the stairs on Tuesday.
As for tomorrow, we hope to start flooring the second floor. We spent today (in part) trying to figure out the best way to get the floorboards up to the second floor, and after trying a couple of ideas that didn’t really work we think we figured out a system that will. It involves putting the floorboard on a ramp made from a couple of TJIs, and rested on a 2×4 then using a rope tied to the 2×4 to pull it up. We tested it with the two of us and with a third person should work out well. The only problem we had this evening is that one of us was waiting while the other got the board and put it in place, but then had to stay while it was being pulled up to stabilize.
We think it will be efficient with one person getting the boards, one putting it on the rack and helping to stabilize, and one up on the second floor pulling it up and putting it into place. Maybe one pulling it up and a fourth person to screw them down.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Thank you again for following along and we’ll see you soon.
Huron The Lake 