Upwards

We went upwards another floor today. That was actually exciting. It happened in two places, one literal the other figurative. Literally, Eli and Ulisses laid the floor for the mechanical room and erected three of the stud walls. While Jake was up there helping, he remarked that I should have a sun porch, because the view is nice. So I climbed up to take a quick look, but didn’t actually look out over the trees at the view. (The trees here are really quite small compared to those of the temperate rain forest of Western Washington.)My real project of the day was building the first parapet wall, which rests on top of the outer walls we have built and surrounds the nearly-flat roof. Eli and I chose to modify the design slightly, resting the parapet atop the walls rather than atop the roof trusses. But that meant we had to ensure a continuous air barrier at the wall-roof juncture.

Airtight houses are a relatively new phenomenon — after someone observed that most of the heat lost (in winter) is through air leaks. This means special attention to taping joints between wall panels, between wall and foundation, roof panels, and between roof and walls. Also all penetration (such as exterior electric outlets and hose bibbs) have to be specially sealed.

So, when we changed the parapet wall construction, we had to ensure that we could seal the joint between the parapet and the walls below, and between the parapet and the ceiling. Also, the parapet will not have the 1 1/2” foam insulation on the outside (because it will not bend to the curve of the wall) so we need to ensure sufficient insulation at the perimeter of the ‘attic’ space within the roof trusses.

I jigsawed the curved parapet studs (I think of them more like boat ribs) out of 2x10 boards, nailed them to the 2x10 sill plate, added an angled, narrow top plate, and we nailed 1/4” temperated hardboard to the ribs to form the curved surface. Then a couple of strong guys lifted this 10’ off the ground (on ladders) while a couple more pulled it up onto the wall.

There are (is?) 191 linear feet of this parapet, with 14 corners, plus another 24' for the north portal (porch) and 36' for the mechanical room to cut, build, erect, and install. Of these there are four variants of height and curvature. All on a small house. Just one of many challenges to keep my mind from atrophying.

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