Framing
Finally, it's time to frame! We are running out
of time on the construction loan. We will have
to extend the loan, and the bank will jack up the
interest rate one percent for each extension. We
need to hurry up. Although it would be possible
to frame all of this ourselves, it would take the
two of us FOREVER! And there are a few
things that we would absolutely have to have
help with. So, we needed to find a framer. In
Colorado Springs right now, anyone that can
swing a hammer has a job, and framers are in
high demand. Not to mention, we wanted
someone with some experience and some
creativity. We looked for a framer for a couple
of months, anticipating this day, but we couldn't
find anyone. Then, by one of those sheer
coincidences, our concrete guy, Doug, hired a
fellow to help him, Art. Art happens to have a
son in law that is a framer! This was the very
day that the concrete work was finished. So
we hired Art's son in law, Jose, and his crew of
7 guys. All of the framing took about three and
a half days once I had all of the materials on
site. They really got it done. It cost $2000 to
have them do the framing, but it was certainly
money well spent.
I mentioned before that we changed the roof
design, and we changed it quite a bit. In our
blue prints, Michael Reynolds used tires to step
up towards the back of the house, to get the
right pitch. When the engineer looked at the
of time on the construction loan. We will have
to extend the loan, and the bank will jack up the
interest rate one percent for each extension. We
need to hurry up. Although it would be possible
to frame all of this ourselves, it would take the
two of us FOREVER! And there are a few
things that we would absolutely have to have
help with. So, we needed to find a framer. In
Colorado Springs right now, anyone that can
swing a hammer has a job, and framers are in
high demand. Not to mention, we wanted
someone with some experience and some
creativity. We looked for a framer for a couple
of months, anticipating this day, but we couldn't
find anyone. Then, by one of those sheer
coincidences, our concrete guy, Doug, hired a
fellow to help him, Art. Art happens to have a
son in law that is a framer! This was the very
day that the concrete work was finished. So
we hired Art's son in law, Jose, and his crew of
7 guys. All of the framing took about three and
a half days once I had all of the materials on
site. They really got it done. It cost $2000 to
have them do the framing, but it was certainly
money well spent.
I mentioned before that we changed the roof
design, and we changed it quite a bit. In our
blue prints, Michael Reynolds used tires to step
up towards the back of the house, to get the
right pitch. When the engineer looked at the
Almost $8000 worth of lumber.
plans, he wanted us to fill the top two courses of tires with concrete, completely. For some dumb reason, I
let him make the changes and later saw that his design would be really difficult, if not impossible, and more
expensive. Just about the time I started to think about how to get out of doing the roof the way the engineer
wanted, a designer/builder named Mike Shealy happened to stop by our site. He's built many tire homes,
including the one he lives in, and has tried to streamline some of the details, to include the roof. He gave us a
new design, we got the engineering done, submitted the changes to the regional building department and
pressed on. I think that this design is very slick. Essentially, the roof pitch is obtained by 2X6 cripple studs
that get longer as they go towards the rear. This gives the joists a flat surface to rest on, unlike the original
plans.
let him make the changes and later saw that his design would be really difficult, if not impossible, and more
expensive. Just about the time I started to think about how to get out of doing the roof the way the engineer
wanted, a designer/builder named Mike Shealy happened to stop by our site. He's built many tire homes,
including the one he lives in, and has tried to streamline some of the details, to include the roof. He gave us a
new design, we got the engineering done, submitted the changes to the regional building department and
pressed on. I think that this design is very slick. Essentially, the roof pitch is obtained by 2X6 cripple studs
that get longer as they go towards the rear. This gives the joists a flat surface to rest on, unlike the original
plans.
Working to get the correct elevation for the roof.
Here's another change from the engineer. This is the
header that spans the front of the building. The
Earthship books and plans call for building this beam
from 2X12's, 2X6's and plywood, if I remember
correctly. The engineer hated that idea. So, we have
a 16" micro-lam --doubled. Pricey stuff, especially
when compared to 2X12's and 2X6's. What you see
here is actually 6 beams, two spanning between each
bearing point. The bearing points are where the
sticks are pointing up. It took nine of us to get these
things in place. You can also see the cripple studs in
this picture, above the tires and below the beam and
joists. They get longer as they go towards the rear
of the building.
header that spans the front of the building. The
Earthship books and plans call for building this beam
from 2X12's, 2X6's and plywood, if I remember
correctly. The engineer hated that idea. So, we have
a 16" micro-lam --doubled. Pricey stuff, especially
when compared to 2X12's and 2X6's. What you see
here is actually 6 beams, two spanning between each
bearing point. The bearing points are where the
sticks are pointing up. It took nine of us to get these
things in place. You can also see the cripple studs in
this picture, above the tires and below the beam and
joists. They get longer as they go towards the rear
of the building.
Before we start framing for the greenhouse/hallway,
we thought it prudent to dig out the planters.
(Besides,some of the lumber was 'special order' and
wasn't on site yet.) Pro's to digging out now included
being able to use a track hoe to dig them out--which
was GREAT, whereas the con's were making the
front face framing more difficult to get to, and rain
eroding parts of the planter interior. Our soil is crazy
hard and to dig these out by hand would have been
long and difficult. With the track hoe, both planters
only took most of one day.
we thought it prudent to dig out the planters.
(Besides,some of the lumber was 'special order' and
wasn't on site yet.) Pro's to digging out now included
being able to use a track hoe to dig them out--which
was GREAT, whereas the con's were making the
front face framing more difficult to get to, and rain
eroding parts of the planter interior. Our soil is crazy
hard and to dig these out by hand would have been
long and difficult. With the track hoe, both planters
only took most of one day.
The next part is where we made a potentially
disasterous mistake. The engineer changed the struts
on the front face from redwood or pressure treated
2X6's to micro-lams. I hemmed and hawd as to
what to use. Surely most Earthships have used 2X6
with no problems. This would be cheaper and easier.
The cheapest would be pressure treated wood. I
chose not to use pressure treated because it's usually
very wet, and as it dries, it twists and bows MAYBE
cracking the windows. Not to mention the
arsnic/chromium issue I talked about on the Bond
Beam page. Redwood would not have this problem to
disasterous mistake. The engineer changed the struts
on the front face from redwood or pressure treated
2X6's to micro-lams. I hemmed and hawd as to
what to use. Surely most Earthships have used 2X6
with no problems. This would be cheaper and easier.
The cheapest would be pressure treated wood. I
chose not to use pressure treated because it's usually
very wet, and as it dries, it twists and bows MAYBE
cracking the windows. Not to mention the
arsnic/chromium issue I talked about on the Bond
Beam page. Redwood would not have this problem to
the same degree, but it's much more expensive than
pressure treated. Our plans were already approved using
the micro-lam, which turns out to be about $500 more
expensive than redwood. Micro-lam will stay straight
and true forever, wet dry, whatever. So micro-lam it
was. It's a special order item, so it took a few days to
get it. Here's where we made our mistake. Jose and his
crew came back to frame the front face. The plans call
for these struts to be 4' on center, which they did. Well,
the plans were drawn for 2X6, which is 1 1/2" wide and
micro-lam is 1 3/4" wide. When the micro-lam was put
on 4' centers, our window openings shrank 1/4", making
them too small to use the standard patio glass that is
used most often. We'd have to have custom glass units
made.
pressure treated. Our plans were already approved using
the micro-lam, which turns out to be about $500 more
expensive than redwood. Micro-lam will stay straight
and true forever, wet dry, whatever. So micro-lam it
was. It's a special order item, so it took a few days to
get it. Here's where we made our mistake. Jose and his
crew came back to frame the front face. The plans call
for these struts to be 4' on center, which they did. Well,
the plans were drawn for 2X6, which is 1 1/2" wide and
micro-lam is 1 3/4" wide. When the micro-lam was put
on 4' centers, our window openings shrank 1/4", making
them too small to use the standard patio glass that is
used most often. We'd have to have custom glass units
made.
Our immediate thought was that we'd just
cost ourselves $1000, but luckily, that
wasn't the case. It looks like it will only
be about $300 more, which isn't too bad.
Of course, if you add that $300 to the
$500 more that we paid for the micro-lam
that caused this problem, you start to see
the expense of making changes. Some
things you simply can't change if you
want the building to work. Our glass will
be at a 60 degree angle (although there are
plenty of Earthships that have vertical
glass), our kick-up--the part of the roof
directly above the glass--is at about 25
degrees, to make sure that the winter sun
can hit the roof and melt any snow.
cost ourselves $1000, but luckily, that
wasn't the case. It looks like it will only
be about $300 more, which isn't too bad.
Of course, if you add that $300 to the
$500 more that we paid for the micro-lam
that caused this problem, you start to see
the expense of making changes. Some
things you simply can't change if you
want the building to work. Our glass will
be at a 60 degree angle (although there are
plenty of Earthships that have vertical
glass), our kick-up--the part of the roof
directly above the glass--is at about 25
degrees, to make sure that the winter sun
can hit the roof and melt any snow.
Once the struts were up the house really started to look
like a house. The number of strangers just stopping by
really increased and many of them showed a great deal
of interest in the entire concept. It's been a lot of fun
giving tours and showing people one alternative to
conventional housing.
With the struts up, we could begin sheeting the roof.
We used 5/8" CDX plywood above the rooms and 3/4"
CDX above the greenhouse. Why, they are different,
I'm not positive, it was just how it was called out in the
plans.
like a house. The number of strangers just stopping by
really increased and many of them showed a great deal
of interest in the entire concept. It's been a lot of fun
giving tours and showing people one alternative to
conventional housing.
With the struts up, we could begin sheeting the roof.
We used 5/8" CDX plywood above the rooms and 3/4"
CDX above the greenhouse. Why, they are different,
I'm not positive, it was just how it was called out in the
plans.
The roof has a little more pitch than it looks like in this
picture--but not much. I would do this a little
differently next time. a little more pitch going north to
south, would result in more pitch to the east and west
by the cricket. Water runs off of it, but I'd like a little
more pitch. It was amazing to watch the size of the
rooms grow as the sheeting went on. One would
think that putting the lid on would make the rooms
seem smaller, but the opposite was true. Best of all,
though, we finally have some shade!!
The picture on the left shows how we used the cripple
studs to get the roof slope. The left of the picture is
the south side. The studs get longer as they move to
the right, making water run south into the cricket..
picture--but not much. I would do this a little
differently next time. a little more pitch going north to
south, would result in more pitch to the east and west
by the cricket. Water runs off of it, but I'd like a little
more pitch. It was amazing to watch the size of the
rooms grow as the sheeting went on. One would
think that putting the lid on would make the rooms
seem smaller, but the opposite was true. Best of all,
though, we finally have some shade!!
The picture on the left shows how we used the cripple
studs to get the roof slope. The left of the picture is
the south side. The studs get longer as they move to
the right, making water run south into the cricket..
Earthship Index
Here is one of the most important parts of an
Earthship: the sky lights. Each room will have one
operable skylight to ventilate the building. combined
with an operable window on the front face, excellent
convection is achieved, and cools the building. For
the time being, we just have the framing in for the
sky lights. We will cut though the decking (and the
roofing) later to complete them.
Earthship: the sky lights. Each room will have one
operable skylight to ventilate the building. combined
with an operable window on the front face, excellent
convection is achieved, and cools the building. For
the time being, we just have the framing in for the
sky lights. We will cut though the decking (and the
roofing) later to complete them.