Up goes the siding

Here's the siding going up on the North side of the house outside the bedroom window. Wow does it look good. This is the siding we had sawn from logs out of the woods. Also shown is the window and corner trim from Maibec (white). Maibec is wood treated with paint that's supposed to last 20 years. The effect of the white trim will be to offset the hemlock siding (which we will let go grey like an old barn). The hemlock tends to crack, but there doesn't seem to be more than 10% wasted for now.

Also shown is the white flashing covering the foundation insulation. Hold have put this on a long time ago. Better late than never.

East side of house enclosed

We had a wintertime lull in the construction (including an overnight 2-foot dump of snow that left us shoveling out the house site) so I've been a little despondent about progress lately. But things are on track again after two beautiful weeks of sunshine and maple-sap-producing temperatures (above freezing during day, below freezing at night). We've had steady progress with carpenters on the site 5 days a week, plus 2 days with the mason installing the brick chimney (next post). The lack of rain has meant a relatively dry site during the early thaw, with dry roads that let trucks and trailers make it up Pinnacle Road without carving huge ruts in what's usually a very muddy road.

Note that the carpenters took advantage of the scaffolding on the east side and installed the windows in the cathedral part of the house. These are fixed windows that cannot really be accessed otherwise. It's very tempting to get the porch on right away, but other projects await.

Revised wall system I

This is a revised wall system using insulated concrete forms (ICF's) from Arxx.

The cross section does NOT include the posts and pilasters for the timber frame.

The wall system above is flush with the foundation/form system below.

References:

• Aarx website
  
• Aarx construction guide