We enjoyed hosting almost 100 people today at our second of six Collaborative Informational Sessions. 

The day was structured with an open house from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm, with a formal 60-minute presentation at 10:30 and 1:30 pm.  The Mayor of Monte Sereno, Don Perry, and Vice Mayor, Lana Malloy, opened each formal presentation.

Cleaning Up the Site from the Rain Last Night

It poured last night so we were scrambling to clean up the site and get rid of the water this morning. 

Dave Edwards (Earth Bound Homes) had several of his team on site helping to unbutton the site, pulling back the tarps and cleaning up the water. 

Eric Venzon (Teamwrkx) had his safety superintendant, Craig Butcher, ensure the site was safe and that signs were in place for our visitors, and had Dustin Barclay set up the presentation screen and provide electrical connections for the computers and projects.

Dave Stevenson (Insulspan) arrived and coordinated the presentation equipment so we were good to go.

John Rider (Jrider+Design) had just picked up the three new overview signs profiling the key green features of our house from San Jose Blue.  He placed these boards in three strategic locations around the house so our guests could identify and understand the various functions and benefits of the green features as they toured the house today.  The new overview sign is excellent (click here for a PDF).

Hosting the Morning Collaborative Informational Session

The sun came out and warmed the project site, drying up the pooled water all over the site.  And then our guests started to arrive.  Darrel Kelly (Builders’ Energy Services) stepped in graciously to receive each guest.  Darrel ensured that all of our guests signed a Site Tour Release form (waiver of liability), received a green Teamwrkx wrist band noting they had done so and then they entered the house.

We held a Q&A session on the ground floor where Eric introduced Bryan to respond to questions from the guests.  During this time, Don Perry (Mayor of Monte Sereno) and Lana Malloy (Vice Mayor of Monte Sereno), Perry Haviland, Architect of Record (Haviland Associates Architects), and Bill Brown (Bill Brown Construction) arrived.

Both Don and Lana spoke briefly, outlining how the City of Monte Sereno supported this project and are actively working with citizens of Monte Sereno to encourage ‘green building’  Specifically, Don outlined how the City had changed their ordinances to allow window wells in the setbacks, which was required prior to our project receiving our building permit.  Also, Don explained that the City Manager, Brian Loventhal, is updating Monte Sereno’s sign ordinance to allow a sign under the LEED for Homes program (which is currently prohibits signs that would qualify under the LEED-H criteria).

Then, everyone went to the lower level for Dave Stevenson’s AIA accredited presentation on Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs).  After Dave’s presentation, Dave Edwards presented an overview of green building, providing examples and insight that he has gained over the past eight years with Earth Bound Homes.

The group moved upstairs, into the warm sunshine for a final look at the house and to see some of the details that our presenters had explained.

Hosting the Afternoon Collaborative Informational Session

The weather continued to improve and it turned into a beautiful, blue-sky California day.  Don and Lana returned to open the afternoon session and Judy Peterson, the local writer from the Los Gatos Weekly Times, was on site to cover the event.

We were especially pleased to have several students from Richard Holman’s classes at De Anza College attend our event this afternoon (Richard’s first visit to our site was on Saturday, February 6, 2010).  Richard teaches classes on building performance and energy systems.  As well, Jerry Kauffman came to the site today.  Dave Stevenson is presenting to Jerry’s Wednesday class tonight at San Jose City College.  Jerry and Bryan will coordinate a field trip for his students to visit our site next Wednesday, March 17 (St Patrick’s Day!).  Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders in sustainable building so we encourage and support their visits to our site.

The author of the first book on Eichlers, Jerry Ditto, stopped in to see our progress.  Jerry, who wrote Eichler Homes:  Design for Living, has been involved in our project since the beginning and testified at the Site & Architecture meeting where we received our Site Development permit.  Interestingly, Lana Malloy, who is now Vice Mayor, was on the Site and Architecture Commision at that time.

Wrapping Up

After everyone left, we decided not to wrap the house with tarps as the overnight forecast was for clear skys.  Jo-Anne arrived and climbed the ladder to see the lower roof in the warm sunshine.

It was a good, full day.

Building with SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) is very different from conventional ’stick frame’ construction. We engaged Dave Edwards’ team at Earth Bound Homes to install our SIPs, which we bought from Insulspan.

Assembling the SIP Roof

Our entire roof is made of 12-1/4 inch SIPs from Insulspan. Today, Bryan watched the team from Earth Bound Homes assemble the roof over the Garage.

We used a crane to place the panels for the west side of the house on the structural framing last week. This roof area was completed and the team moved the SIPs up and onto the Garage by hand. Today, they started assembling the SIP roof over the Garage.

As with framing, you can ’see’ significant progress when assembling a structure with SIPs. It was satisfying to (finally!) start seeing dramatic progress as the roof was assembled.

Hosting Vistors

We were pleased to host Wido Menhardt’s visit today. His flight to India was delayed by several days so he was able to come to the job site today.  Now, Wido claims to be on ‘India time’.

Also, Dave Cullinane dropped by to review our progress. Dave, who lives just around the corner from us, has attended several of our open house events (e.g., our ‘Open Hole (vs. Open House) event on January 31, 2009).

Celebratikng Nik’s 11th Birthday

11 years old. How did that happen?

We updated the ‘About‘ section of our blog for Nik’s age. Time is marching by!

Today, Jo-Anne didn’t have to remind Bryan to focus on the house and get it completed.

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The heavy rains yesterday were depressing as we thought of working with a crane today.  Fortunately, we enjoyed a dry and sunny day!

We had four tasks for the crane, and we completed them all.  Our crane operator today was Jose Melendez, and he continued to show why we like working with West Coast Cranes:  He was safe, knowledgable, expeditious and fun to work with.

Tasks for the Crane

We scheduled the morning to complete the following:

1. Unload and place the wooden beams that we ordered and received from Craftmark, Inc.
2. Remove the temporary steel beams that were used to support the existing East and West walls, and load them on a truck.
3. Unload and place our remaining FSC-certified lumber for our SIP roof.
4. Stage the first 13 SIP roof panels on the west side of the house.

We had a tight schedule and everyone worked together to make it happen.  The sun was shining, and we had fun.  Yes, we got it done!

Evaluating Our Beams

The four beams that arrived yesterday from Northern Idaho were going to be placed by the crane this morning.  Thus, the first task was to review and evaluate each beam, and decide on which face would be exposed (bottom and each side).  Then, we marked the beams with blue tape so we could orient them correctly when placing them with the crane.

Two of the beams will be adjacent to each other.  One of the beams is an 8×12 that is 38 ft long and the other is a true 4.00 inch x 14.00 inch beam that is 26 ft long.  The other two beams are going in the Garage and were required to be graded as ‘Select Structural’ since we don’t want these beams to twist or warp.

All the beams were pretty.

The 4.00 x 14.00 and the 8×12 beams are spectacular.

Placing Our Four Wooden Beams

Our crane arrived and the operator, Jose, set it up as close as possible to the garage, so he could have the longest reach possible. While he was getting set up, we had the truck driver back into Via Sereno so he was ready for the crane to pick up the beams.

Once the crane was ready, we removed the two beams for the Garage at the same time from the truck and placed those over the garage, being careful to be clear of the temporary steel beam. 

Jerry Ditto happened to be driving by on Winchester Boulevard and saw the crane, so he stopped to observe our progress.  Jerry has been involved with our project since inception and has been supportive and helpful throughout.  Since he was on site, we had Jerry take some photos.

After placing the two beams for the Garage, we then picked up the 8×12, oriented it correctly, and placed it between the feature concrete wall in the Dining Room and the feature concrete wall in the Garage. We will have to so some work with this beam so it is staged, ready for cutting and being placed easily over the Simpson Strong Tie GLBs.

The last beam, the 4.00 x 14.00 inch beam, was placed on top of the SIPs that we are storing in the Living Room.

The first task was completed and the truck left Via Sereno.

Removing the First Temporary Steel Beam

Since the SIPs will extend over the existing West wall, we have to remove the temporary steel beam that had been supporting the West wall. This steel beam was a double I beam, weighing 90 lbs per ft and it is 60 ft long. We had to rig this carefully so the crane could pick it up and move it very carefully to the street, where it would be resting until the truck arrived.

Given the weight and length of the beam, removing it took some time as we were extra safe and avoided the trees.

The truck arrived to take the temporary steel beams away and, while it was backing into Via Sereno and getting set up, we took the opportunity to position the first of our SIPs on the structural framing.

Unloading Our FSC-Certified Lumber from Channel Lumber

Our FSC-certified lumber arrived on a trailer so we switched gears and unloaded the lumber. Placing the lumber in the house was not easy since the longest beams and 2×12s were 26 ft long and they had to be lowered, then turned 90 degrees, then lowered into position. We took our time and had the lumber staged temporarily in the Master Suite.

Loading the Two Temporary Steel Beams on the Truck

As soon as the truck was in place on Via Sereno, we moved the first steel beam from the street to the truck. Then, we repositioned the truck while rigging the second temporary steel beam. The second steel beam came out through the front of the house and then we moved it 90 degrees and placed it on the truck.
That was the last we will see of the temporary steel beams. (Yay!)

Staging Our First SIPs on the Roof

With the first three tasks completed, we focused on staging our SIPs on the roof.  This was a milestone occasion as we had a roof back in place!

Staging the SIPs required us to ensure that the panels were placed in the correct sequence (e.g., RA1, RA2, RA3, etc.) and ensure the panels were oriented correctly.  Taking the time to stage the SIPs correctly will reduce subsequent handling and ensure the assembly progresses expeditiously.

Since we were staging SIPs on the roof, we were creating more space on the project site.  This allowed us to move some of the SIPs around to make our site more accessible.

Family Inspection

Just as Bryan was preparing to leave, Jo-Anne arrived.  She walked the property, inspecting the beams and approving of the progress today. 

Then, Nik and Kate arrived.  They were most excited to see the SIPs in place.  It was much easier for Kate to understand her bedroom, now that it had a roof (temporarily in place).

Everyone was pleased with our progress

Completing the Week

Bryan is going to take a couple days ‘off’ so he can see the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada and visit a house on Bainbridge Island, within sight of Seattle, Washington.  The house on Bainbridge Island is just being completed now and should inspire us regarding finishing materials and completing our project!