It was impossible to get up to Whistler in a rental car so Paul and Bryan went to see the Olympic snowboarding at Cypress Mountain.  Unfortunately, it started raining heavily so they left.  On his way out of Vancouver, Bryan took the opportunity to visit the Insulspan manufacturing facility in Delta.  Then, he enjoyed full tour and a fantastic meal at the Wise house on Bainbridge Island.

Seeing the Olympic Women’s Snowboarding

Although it was pleasant when Paul Marcaccio and Bryan left Vancouver, it was pouring rain at their arrival at Cypress Mountain.  After watching the final four snowboarders, they decided to leave the event. 

Weather 1, Spectators 0.

Touring Insulspan’s Manufacturing Facility

After returning from Cypress Mountain, Bryan left the Westin Bayshore and drove south in the rental car.  On the way, Dave Stevenson offered him a tour of Insulspan’s manufacturing facility in Delta, BC.  The facility is adjacent to Highway 91, so it was directly on the way to the Canada-U.S. border.

Dave took Bryan through the plant and showed him how they manufacture their SIPs (structural insulated panels).  All of the manufacturing waste is recycled, which is one of the reasons why SIPs are considered ‘green’ (vs the tremendous amount of construction waste that is generated through typical on-site construction activities.

Bryan even saw the exact location where our SIPs were stored after being manufactured in October.  Bill Edwards of Insulspan took photos of our SIPs on Thursday, November 5, 2009.  Our SIPs were loaded on three trucks at the manufacturing facility on Friday, November 27, 2009 and arrived at our job site on Wednesday, December 2, 2009.

We’re looking forward to hosting our second Collaborative Informational Session where Dave Stevenson can be at our project site and show others in the Bay Area how to build with SIPs.

Touring Two Homes on Bainbridge Island

Although Bryan went to Vancouver to see the 2010 Olympics on this trip, the primary focus was to see two homes on Bainbridge Island.  How these two homes were built is an interesting story.

First, the owners of the property, the Wise family, lived in the existing house while they built their guest house.  They moved into the guest house when it was completed so they could construct the main house.  This is where it gets interesting.

Rather that demolish (bad) or deconstruct (better), they chose to move the house to another location on Bainbridge Island (best).  That sounds reasonable, right?  Except they moved the house with a boat (amazing!).

The Do It Yourself Network filmed a full segment over the month that it took to move the house to its new location on Bainbridge Island.  The segment is currently being aired several times in March 2010.  You can see it under ‘Massive Moves - Floating House‘ on the Do It Yourself Network (episode DMSM-103).

Bob and Lisa Wise took Bryan on a full tour of both homes and then everyone enjoyed a fabulous dinner.

The tour of these two homes was inspiring!

View of Vancouver, including Lion's Gate Bridge and the downtown waterfront. The weather was looking ok.

Once at Cypress Mountain, we had to go through security screening. It was easy, fast and efficient.

Watching the semi-finals of the Ladies Snowboarding at the 2010 Olympics at Cypress Mountain.

On the way down, we saw the site of the aerials.

Arriving at the Insulspan manufacturing facility in Delta, Canada.

Dave Stevenson in his office, scheduling his presentation for the second Collaborative Informational Session at our project site.

Manufacting a SIP starts with huge sheets of OSB (Oriented Strand Board).

All waste in the plant is recycled and reused. A completed SIP is on the left and the white foam cuttings are being collected.

Warehousing of completed SIPs, manufactured to the specific requirements for each job.

The SIPs for our project were stored at this location (by the yellow posts) after they were manufactured in October. The green objects are styrofoam blanks, which get 'sandwiched' between the two sheets of OSB.

Bryan, Lisa and Bob, about to start the tour (cheers!). Photo by Alison Wise.

The finish detail was exceptional. You can see the vertical grain Douglas Fir cabinets and detailed reveals.

Central vacuum sweeping location in foyer. Several friends, including the Wise family, thoroughly endorse sweeping vents that are connected to the central vacuum system.

Another sweeping location under the island in the kitchen. Note the dual dishwashers.

We’ve been struggling to establish how we would like our beams to look.  From a structural perspective, we require Paralam beams that will yield the required strength and from a visual perspective we would like wooden beams.  We do not want the Paralam beams to be exposed.

Bryan reviewed the beams in Dave Edwards’ house today, asked lots of questions, and then reported back to Jo-Anne after we finished our V-day dinner with Nik and Kate.

Oh, we bought two more 22 ft long 6×14 recycled Douglas Fir beams in Hayward today.  And, a utility cart for the job site.

Reviewing Alternatives for Exposed Ridge Drop Beams

We will have exposed ridge drop beams that will support the SIP gable roofs.  Two of these ridge drop beams will intersect in the Dining Room (over the center of the dining room table) and one of the ridge drop beams will be visible in the Master Suite.

Since two of the ridge drop beams intersect, we want these to be the same size.  The beams have different loads so the structural plans specify different sizes for these Paralam beams.  We are making the two intersecting beams identical, at 7.00 inches wide by 16 inches tall.  The Paralam beam in the Master Suite is narrower and not as tall, at 5.25 inches wide by 14 inches tall. 

Our alternatives for finishing these beams include:

1. Leave the Paralam beams exposed, showing the individual fibers in the beams.
2. Fabricate ‘box beams’ from 3/4-inch wide wood that will cover the Paralam beams (so the bottom and sides of the Paralam beams are hidden).
3. Add a 3 inch real wood bottom under the drop beams to cover only the bottom of the Paralam beams.

Of course, we have to consider how these beams will be finished, i.e., stained with opaque or transparent stain, and the color of the stain.  We do know that the exposed exterior beams at the front of the house must be identical to the beams inside the house (’bringing the inside out, and the outside in’).

When Dave Edwards (of Earth Bound Homes) built his house in Santa Clara, he had to address the same issue.  Dave was kind and gracious, allowing Bryan to come to his house today, answer his many questions, and take photographs.

Dave’s solution was to use five coats of shellac to finish his reclaimed Douglas Fir posts and to leave the exposed Paralam beams unfinished.  Also, Dave chose to leave the Simpson Strong Tie connections exposed and not painted.

We discussed how to finish the beams during Jerry Ditto’s site visit on Thursday and he recommended that we should decide on stains after the beams are in place.

Our structural engineer, Shane Lothrop (Innovative Structural Engineering), approved of us putting a 3-inch real wood bottom under the drop beams (#3 above), so this alternative is viable for us.

Essentially, the look we are pursing is to have the exposed ridge drop beams look the same as the feature exposed drop beam going from the concrete feature wall by the garage to the feature concrete wall in the Dining room.

8x8 reclaimed Douglas Fir post supporting a 5.25x14.00 Paralam beam. The intersecting beams are Paralams. The post has five coats of shellac and the Paralam beams are unfinished (natural). Our posts the same size as the Paralam beams.

This view, opposite the photo above, shows the Paralam beams and the reclaimed Douglas Fir post. Also, the Simpson Strong Tie connections are visible.

Buying More Reclaimed Beams in Hayward … And a Utility Cart

It is great to have a pickup truck.  But costly.

Watching Larson Steel’s team on our job site was interesting.  The first thing they would unload from their truck was a utility cart.  They used the utility cart to put their grinders, drills, supplies, etc. so they would always have these items close by.  Given our finished concrete is exposed and not protected, it seems like a good idea to have a study utility cart on our job site for the various trades to use for their tools.  So we bought one.

Also, we need two posts to support the drop ridge beams noted above.  After buying and loading the utility cart in our truck, Bryan drove to Hayward and selected the last two reclaimed Douglas Fir beams for us to use as posts.  With this purchase, we have bought a total of 14 6×14 reclaimed Douglas Fir beams from Ken. 

We need these reclaimed beams since we require one post to support the 5.25-inch ridge drop beam in the Foyer, and the other post will support the 7.00 inch wide drop ridge beam in the Kitchen/Dining Room.  Both of these posts will be exposed.

Our utility cart could be rolled up the temporary ramp with very little room to spare!

These FSC-certified wood posts will be used in our SIP walls at the front of the house.

Our utility cart in the Kitchen cabinet wall. There will be a post in the opening directly behind the cart that will support the 7.00x16.00 ridge drop beam.

Our pickup truck, loaded securely with two 22 ft long 6x14 reclaimed Douglas Fir beams, ready for delivery to Watsonville tomorrow morning.

The final parts of the framing with wrapping up in our lower level today.  As well, we started the furring under the hollow core concrete panels.

Furring the Ceiling

We designed the basement ceiling to reuse the Redwood decking from the original house, which has been ripped in two and remilled by Jackel Enterprises in Watsonville.

The 5/8-inch Redwood tongue and groove material must be fastened to the hollow core concrete panels so we need 2×4 furring to be attached to the hollow core concrete panels.  Since the hollow core concrete panels have a slight camber, the 2×4 furring strips need to be shimmed so they are level.  We are attaching the pressure-treated furring with GRK Caliburn screws, or equivalent.

The bearing wall under the W14x43 steel beam has been strengthened by sistering in additional 2x6 studs and then adding horizontal blocking.

We are dropping the ceiling in the Wine Dining so we can insulate the ceiling and have this room be seen as a very different space from the rest of the lower level.

The ceiling is dropped in the West Mechanical room so we can insulate it as Kate's bedroom is above it. The West Mechanical room will house our electric pumps, which are part of our geothermal heat exchange.

Caliburn concrete screws, from GRK.

Titen Masonry screws, from Simpson Strong Tie.

Pressure treated 2x4 furring in the Play Area. Note the cedar shims.

Furring and soffits in the Snack Area.

Scott Andersen’s Design in Panama

Our good friend, Scott Andersen, has been working with an architect in Panama to design a house.  As background, Scott worked with us on the conceptual design for our house and he has over 20 years of designing contempory homes in Toronto, Canada.  The rendering of the house shows plenty of concrete, glass and steel, with an infinity edge pool and spectacular views.  Definitely an ‘adult’ house.

The question is, ‘How fast can this house be built?’ with the follow on question, ‘Will the house in Panama be completed before our house in completed?’.

Rendering of a house in Panama.