Framing begins

August 13, 2007
Our framing start has coincided with some very rainy weather here in Maine. What is typically our the driest month has turned out to be one of the wettest. Monday they were able to level the sill plates, a green plate (pressure treated) on the foundation and a regular plate on top of specifically for leveling irregularities from the concrete pour. In 80' we're out of level by 3/4"...all taken care of by the top leveling plate. They also set the triple 2x12 girder at the center of the 20' span and temporarily braced it. Tuesday they cut all of the concrete filled lally columns and installed those beneath the girder. They're using full 20' 2x8s to speed framing and lessen floor deflection (it changes it to complex beam instead of a simple beam, which reduces the bending on both mid-spans). I wanted to use 2x8s to frame the floor to keep the overall thickness of the floor construction to a minimum, again to keep the connection to finished grade as close as possible. Framing should move along quickly now as the only opening in the floor for the basement access stair has been accounted for and the rest of the floor is straight 16" o.c. sticks.

East end

South Flank