As part of our remodel of the main floor, we need to meet the structural requirements on the east and west walls.  This requires removing the sheetrock to expose the 2×4 studs and so we can form the concrete wall under the sill plate that the east and west walls will be attached to.

Removing the Sheetrock and Insulation

Bryan had a small crew come in and remove the sheetrock, insulation and sundry other items with surgical precision.  The arrived and were gone in less than three hours.  They returned with the ticket from the landfill, so they could be paid.

Removing the sheetrock and insulation from the west wall.

West wall, looking very

The original studs are looking good. Having a the wall exposed will allow work to progress much easier and faster.

East wall, inside garage, showing electric panel.

Checking in With John Rider and Joel Lemons

We need some detailed design work for the bridges and stairs, so Bryan started working with John Rider and Joel Lemons of Jrider+Design, located on Hamilton Avenue in Campbell, California.

John Rider, working with ArchiCAD in his studio on Hamilton Avenue.

Joel Lemons, also busy working with ArchiCAD.

New Renderings

After Joel did some magic with our ArchiCAD model, Bryan did some new renderings to show the railing and bridge designs that we’re considering.

Rendering showing view from Foyer, across bridge, through the living room to the statue.

Looking back to front door, across the railings.

Looking down from Bridge Hall.

Looking up from under Bridge Hall to Bridge Foyer.

Hector Guerra from Larson Steel came by this morning to show Bryan the HSS 5×5 by 1/2 inch tube steel.

Designing the Bridges

Hector and Pete Larson wanted to ensure that we knew exactly what the tube steel would look like and set our expectations accordingly.

Hector had a couple feet of the tube steel with him and showed Bryan how the corners have ~ 1 inch radius curve.  Hector explained that the thicker the wall of the tube steel, the larger the radius.  This is the same with, say, HSS 2×8 by 3/16 tube steel.  The corners are rounded, not square.

We thought the steel looked great.

HSS 5x5 by 1/2 inch wall tube steel. Note how the corners have a 1 inch radius curve.

After dropping Nik off at his baseball camp at Stanford University, Bryan went directly to PCBC this morning.

Making Contact with Sierra Glass Block

This morning, Bryan met with Philip Kristianson and Terese Eisseman Keller of Sierra Glass Block.  They are distributors for GlassWalk structural glass floor systems, by Innovative Building Products.  This product is exactly what we have been looking for to go into one of our two bridges.

Other Contacts

Bryan met with Ray Kechely of Ultra-Tec Cable Railing Systems.  Ray will introduce Bryan to qualified installers of custom cable railing sytems in the Bay Area.  It was great to meet Ray.

Site Visit to Atherton to See GlassWalk Floor System

As circumstances would have it, Bryan was lucky to see a glass floor system in a very nice house in Atherton.  Just on the way home before leaving on the Father’s Day Camping Weekend.

Side view of the bridge and railing sytem.

You can see how the aluminum frame sits inside the structural steel frame. This could work in our bridge!

View under glass bridge. This will be spectacular when finished.