Construction Update - February 2012



La Fortuna building 5 on February 25th



La Fortuna, Renton:

February 25^th

Nothing special happened this week... Other than we had 1 day that was good enough to paint.

LF5-

Electrical rough- in 98%, we just need to put on some mudrings, nail plates, and wire a furnace. Low voltage was started by the journeyman and 2 units are done (except for the homeruns) and a third started.

Air sealing started in earnest this week and #6 is almost done. Other draft stopping was worked on during the rainy days.

More siding is completed, now there is only the panel on 2 units and some lap siding on the porch roofs. More painting, caulking, etc. was also accomplished. One or two more nice days and we could take finish some areas up and take down the scaffolding!

LF7-

 

More subfloor is down. Now just "b" isn't sheeted, but it has stairs and is ready to go as soon as the guardrails are finished. "c" only has 1/2 a flight of stairs to go and all of the units will have stairs. We have a couple of Thrivent and Microsoft days lined up in the next month, so "a" should start catching up.

Wetlands/ site work-

We worked on mitigating storm damage and repaired the fence that had been smashed down. We also tidied up some catch basins.

PCL's Grant Moorhead, also on
Habitat's Board of Directors

Work next week will include; floor sheeting, exterior wall building, painting (hope for good weather), low voltage, air sealing, and draft stopping.

February 18^th

Today the future homeowners had a potluck lunch for us. Everyone ate too much, but it was delicious! Many families brought out their children and ate lunch with the volunteers and AmeriCorps.

LF5-

What a difference having an electrician! With 1 journeyman and a couple of volunteer trainees we roughed in 2 units completely, nearly wrapped up a third, and pulled string and measured the conduits to the meters. We should finish next week. We are working on getting volunteer electricians to do the phone and cable TV wiring.

5 of 6 decks are sided and the sixth is started. We will build more scaffolding next week and maybe finish siding! Then we just have to caulk, spackle, paint, paint a second coat, and take down the scaffolding.

We are insulating the waterlines in the garages and still boxing ductwork. We started sealing penetrations for fire code and air infiltration, probably about 2 weeks of this work.

LF7-

We sheeted another floor ("e"), started more stairs and got all of the joist up in "b", and all of the beams plus the joists started in "c".

Work next week will include; floor framing and sheeting, sealing penetrations, electrical rough- in, stairs, guardrails, siding, caulking, and hopefully more painting.

February 11^th

Another good week. The volunteer numbers were low, but the NCCC team really picked up the slack and helped us progress.

AmeriCorps Phil, NCCC Molly, and Home-owner Bashir
shown tackling the hard-to-reach siding above the porch!

LF5-

Issaquah sent down some scaffolding and we were able to build 2 more towers in the front. Siding on the decks progressed with 2 decks finished and 1 deck the slider door wall is complete. All the decks have been trimmed and flashed and are ready for siding. More panel went on the top floor at #2 and the batts were also installed. A few dry days to paint and we could take down scaffolding for the last time!

A journeyman electrician was hired to work with our volunteer trainees and will start on Tuesday. The entire building should be ready for electrical inspection within 2 weeks. We passed mechanical and gas piping inspection this week. We will try the fire sprinkler inspection again after we get the pipe tenting in the attic done and NorTech brings out the approved plans.

LF7-

Finished the joist on "e", built guardrails, and sheeted the floor in "d". Stairs were also finished in "e" and started in "d". Floor beams were started in "b". We might have a Thrivent/ Lutheran build day next week and get some more work done on "a".



The trusty Bank of America crew
got to work sheeting the floors in building 7.



Site work/ wetlands-

We planted most of the native plants the NCCC team earned. There are some downed trees in the wetlands that are laying on our plantings and we are checking to see what action is needed. Someone ran into our rail fence and broke 2 rails and a post. We will repair it next week. A paint brush washing station was built and used on Tuesday. We will need to open a manhole to dispose of the painty water soon.

Work next week will include; floor framing, wall framing (if Thrivent build day fills up), painting (if dry and not too cold), siding, scaffold building, and maybe deck railings.

February 4^th

Wow! What a difference a couple of days of sun and weather in the 50's can make. Everyone has a bounce in their step and we actually got to paint a lot.

LF 5-

We made good progress on the siding, getting the 8" plank on the second floor of 5 units, finishing the 4" on 1 unit, finishing the entire end of unit 6, repairing a siding field, and Hardi panel soffits at 4 front porch ceilings.

Painting, finally! We got a first coat on almost all of the siding on the building (except the cantilever on #1), pre- painted all of the remaining plank, primed all of the eaves that had scaffolding, and started the first color coat on the eaves. Spackling and caulking also progressed well.

All of the duct boxing/soffits are done except #6 garage.

Electrical rough in should start again soon. The plan is to hire a journeyman to work and supervise trainees and/ or John and I.



La Fortuna Building 7 February 25th



LF 7-

The floor beams and joists were installed on "d" and blocking started, beams were installed in "e", and beams were started in "b". Three stair landings were started and 2 finished. Stairs were started in "e" and are ready to install. Exterior sheeting infill continues and nears completion, Seismic hardware is going up as we finish the sheeting.

Site/ wetland-

We got a mop sink from the store and today I used the Kubota to try digging up a sewer connection to hook up the sink for washing paint brushes. At 4' deep the locator board was still going down. I dug a small test hole with a shovel and when I got to another 18" it filled in with 6" water and the pumps are at Issaquah, so it was completely filled back in. We will have to develop a good 3 bucket system for the brushes.

The NCCC team worked at a plant salvage in Redmond and earned quite a few new plants for our wetlands. We will plant them soon, so if anyone has a green thumb and could help out, it would be appreciated.

Work next week will include; floor framing, painting, stairs, siding, scaffolding moving, and maybe planting in the wetlands.

Issaquah Highlands:

February 28^th



Alvaro Cornejo, home-owner and current
new Driver for the Habitat Store, installs his own wood
floors for his future home!



It was a busy week for flooring. We started tile training on Tuesday morning. By the end of the week tile was installed, grouted and sealed in all 6 bathrooms and both laundry rooms. Laminate wood flooring was picked up early in the week and installation started on Friday. Most of the morning was another training and good progress was made. On Saturday the 4 bedrooms in 5B were complete and most of the upstairs hallway. The subfloor in 5A was cleaned and prepped for the laminate to begin next week. Window sills were installed in 5A and most of them have been cut for 5B. Two more scaffolding towers were removed from the back of the building.

Next week we will continue with laminate flooring in both units. Cabinets are scheduled for delivery on Tuesday and will be getting installed the rest of the week. Millwork installation will also continue.

February 18^th

Interior finish work has started in Issaquah. The NCCC team worked on site Tuesday-Thursday and were a huge help getting the interior walls of both units painted. The also assisted with completing some exterior painting and several more scaffold towers were removed from the back of the building. Tile work continues. Backer board is about 95% complete in both homes and tiles were cut for two bathrooms. The doors and mill work arrived and 5 doors were installed. On Saturday a good deal of base and casing was cut for 5B.



NCCC team member Jessica and the rest of the Silver 4
team helped paint the entire interior of building 5!



Several more loads of scaffolding were removed from the site and the yard was condensed.

Next week we will continue with mill work, tile and hopefully start some wood flooring.



February 11^th

Interior finish work has started! The majority of the scaffolding was removed during the early part of the week and several loads were taken to Renton. Sheet rock finish continued all week and by Friday it was primed, textured and ready for paint. On Saturday we had 11 volunteers. The majority worked on interior wall paint in 5B. In 5A the temporary stair treads were removed and the permanent treads installed- 75% complete. Tile backerboard was installed in the bathrooms and laundry and the majority was cut for the kitchen, entry and dining nook.

Next week we will have the NCCC on site to assist with the interior wall paint and continue the tile backerboard. Interior doors and mill work is schedule for delivery on Tuesday and installation will begin once the painting is complete. We are also having another blower door test to compare the results from before sheet rock and after sheet rock. Hopefully the results will be favorable and we will be able to have the attic insulated soon. Exterior work may include siding on the roof and painting.

February 4^th

Good week at the site. The furnaces are on so we now have heat. Sheet rock finishing started on Tuesday. It is going a bit slower than normal but the contractor made decent progress the last two days. They will continue next week. The sunny weather allowed us to complete a good amount of exterior painting. 75% of the building has a finish coat. We will be able to remove a good portion of the scaffolding very soon.

Next week we will be removing scaffolding, installing siding on the roof and may start retaining wall work on the north and south hillsides. If the good weather sticks around the focus will be exterior painting.



Issaquah Highlands buildng 5 exterior shown February 25th

Construction Update- January

La Fortuna, Renton

January 28th, 2012 -

We had 33 volunteers today, if you count the NCCC. The NCCC team is settling in and giving our winter production a boost as we hoped. They should be able to lead crews soon and get even more done!

LF5-

More siding went up and we are making good progress. The deck railing materials were delivered, but we want to finish the siding above them with scaffolding, so they won't be built for awhile.

Still no progress on the electrical rough in.

The duct soffits in the garages are nearly finished. We have a couple of hood vent ducts to soffit in the kitchen and we will be done with that task.

 LF7-

"a" was worked on Wednesday and we got a couple of interior walls built and the exterior walls sheeted.

"b" had the tie plates finished and the bracing started.

The major wall SNAFU was corrected and now the interior walls were built today and "c" is ready for tie plates.

"d" & "e" are braced and laid out for the floor joists and beams. The floor load will be delivered early next week.

Work next week will include; Floor framing, stairs and landings, exterior wall sheeting, siding, punch list, and maybe painting?

January 14th, 2012-

Between MLK holiday, snow, freezing rain, and power outages we were only open 1 day, today. We didn't have any inspections or materials delivered. The snow completely wrecked our volunteer tent, collapsing it, bending and breaking the legs, plus tearing the top.

No other damage occurred and we scraped the snow off the road with the Kubota before our volunteers arrived. The CVLs and NCCC shoveled the floors in LF7 so work could go ahead.

  

LF5-



We worked on a little siding, but the dripping snow melt made it very uncomfortable, so we switched to framing punch list in 3 different units.

  

LF7-

In "c" we took down a wall put up on last Saturday because none of the wall sheeting seams were on studs, the window was framed wrong, and the sill gasket hadn't been installed. The sheeting was remove, the window fixed,  the re-sheeting was started, and the gasket installed.. We also put up the last party wall section for the second floor.

In "b,d, and e" we worked on tie plates for the walls we built last week.

Work next week will include; interior wall framing, exterior wall framing and sheeting, framing punch list, siding, and paining (weather permitting).



Volunteers from UW join our visiting NCCC team and Habitat EKC AmeriCorps to raise some walls in La Fortuna

January 7th, 2012- 

The NCCC team will arrive next week and give us a production boost during a traditionally low volunteer time. At the all- staff build day work will be siding, framing, punch list, and maybe weather allowing some painting. Dress warm!

LF5-

No electricians. Will try to pass mechanical and gas pipe inspections next week. Fire sprinkler inspection scheduled for Tuesday. Heather is working with Geek Squad to do the low voltage installation on 31 Jan.

Siding continues and is nearly finished on the north end. We are starting to take down the scaffolding in back to bring around to the front to work on the siding over the decks and roofs.

Waterline and duct soffiting continues in the garages. Other punch list work to continue next week.



LF7-


Faithful volunteer Dave Sanford with our HP group!



 We built and raised several more walls this week. Started and finished interior walls in E today. Plates and layout for interior walls ready in B. Partywall in C framed, sheeted and fire rock started.

We also cleaned up around the front of the building and in the garages.

Site-

The streets were scraped and swept, plus started cleaning drain socks. Plastic was straightened out and some straw spread.

Work next week will include; framing walls, siding, punch list, and maybe painting.

  

Issaquah Highlands:

January 28th, 2012-

Things are starting to move along in Issaquah. We were closed for a week due to the snow and the early part of this week was used for some site clean up, metal recycling and working in Renton. On Friday we finally had the gas service installed! So exciting I attached a picture. On Saturday we started to reinstall some scaffolding and worked on restoring the hillside between buildings 4 and 5. We are scheduled on Monday for our HVAC contractor to get the furnaces running. Tape and mud should begin on the sheet rock on Tuesday.

Next week we will continue with scaffold work, possibly roof siding, exterior paint prep and start picking up materials for tile work. 

January 14th, 2012-

The building has sheet rock! Insulation was completed on Tuesday and a contractor completed hanging the sheet rock by Friday evening. On Saturday volunteers removed and swept out the sheet rock debris and worked on sealing the electrical boxes to the wall board. We are still waiting to have the gas service installed. Hopefully this will happen next week and we can get the building heated. Sheet rock finish will begin once the heat is on.

January 7th, 2012-

There were some big changes this week for building 5. Permanent electric service was installed on both units. We now have working exterior outlets, several temporary outlets throughout the building and the lights in the garages were installed and functioning. Unfortunately this also means that our temporary power had to be disconnected so we no longer have power to the job trailer. We are operating the computer off of an extension cord. The refrigerator and a microwave were put in one of the garages.

On Thursday we conducted a preliminary blower door test to check the air leakage of the building. We were satisfied with results to move forward with insulation and sheet rock. We sealed up some additional problem areas that were revealed during the test and the majority of the insulation was completed on Saturday.

Exterior painting was able to continue on Wednesday with a good amount getting covered.

Next week we will be finishing the insulation and having the remainder of the sheet rock installed. Garage doors are also scheduled for Wednesday and hopefully the gas service will be installed and we will be able to get the heat turned on inside the building.

 

Construction Update- December

La Fortuna, Renton

December 17th, 2011

This morning we had 3 Americorps CVLs call in sick and 1 more on vacation. Kristina and I both took work crews and Marla just happened to be coming out and led another crew, plus 2 family members worked on a project they had started last week without further supervision. Jahna also helped when she wasn't doing volunteer hospitality things. 22 of the 15 vols scheduled showed up making it rather exciting.

LF5-

Siding continues with Hardi- panel on the 3rd floor and over the low roofs in the back. We are nearing the time when we will need to tear down the scaffolding in the rear and move it out front to work there.

Electrical is still waiting for journeymen to come out. Jahna has a contact who might be available to help out.

LF7-

All of the stairs are in. Unit "e" has all of the exterior walls are up and the partywalls are framed, sheeted, and fire rocked. Unit "b" has 1 partywall ready to stand and all of the front and back walls up.

Work next week will include; framing, siding, and maybe painting?

December 10th, 2011
 

What a week! We were inundated with tools after the news stories on the radio and KOMO- TV. The response was amazing.

LF5-

Siding continues with panel on the third floor in the back and some plank on the north end and front. The belly band at the third floor has been completed, encircling the entire building. With this belly band finished we can now complete the last of the window trim on the third floor.

We failed gas piping inspection in 2 units and still haven't had a fire sprinkler inspection.

The journeymen electricians didn't make it in this week, so the electrical rough- in has not progressed.

LF7-

We had another Microsoft house day and got the partywall closed up, Strong- Walls installed. Asa and Josh came out on Saturday and framed a couple of walls on the ADA.

We finished floor framing on "b", guardrails,  sheeted the floor, started walls and put in the stairs. "E" has three walls up and another long wall started. "D" has one partywall framed, sheeted, fire rocked and 1/2 stood. "C" has some plates cut and ready to start framing.

Work next week will include; wall framing, siding/trim, electrical rough- in (depending on journeyman availability), framing punchlist, and draft blocking.

December 3rd, 2011

LF5-

Siding continues with siding across the front at ground level and on the north end on the second floor. Trim has started on the third floor on the front.

HVAC is complete and passed the duct blaster test and is scheduled for inspection.

Wiring is 99% in unit 6 and started in unit 5. We currently have 2 journeymen committed to Wednesdays and 1 apprentice who is working at IH when we don't have supervision. We are going to reach out to the Geek Squad team that came out last summer to work on the low voltage.

LF7-

Framing continues with 3 units sub- floor completed and another has the floor joists and beams in and blocking started.

Kip put in the temporary steps at the front doors of all 4 units. LF7e has a complete set of stairs to the 2nd floor, "d" has the stringers cut and rready to install, "c" has the landing completed and ready for stairs to begin, and "b" has the landing started.

The ADA unit was started by a Microsoft group on Wednesday and the partywall is framed and sheeting started. There is another group coming next week to continue framing.

Work next week will include; wall framing, floor sheeting, siding and trim, electrical rough- in, and framing punchlist.

 

Issaquah Highlands

December 17th, 2011

This week we had a series of inspections. The electrical, communications wiring and framing all passed. Insulation started in the garages with the ceilings and party wall. OSB was also installed on the party wall. We continued sealing the building with foam and caulking as we look for ways to improve our air leakage. Sheet rock was stocked in the building. Next week the ceilings will be installed and more foaming will be done in the attic. After the holidays we will be testing the building for air leakage and then proceeding with insulation and sheet rock.

On the exterior we shifted and removed some scaffolding. Decent weather allowed us to have several paint crews on Saturday. The south side of the building is now finished.

Next week Marc will begin trenching for utilities on the south end, removing additional scaffolding and continue with the foaming.

December 10th, 2011

The mechanicals for building 5 are complete. HVAC passed inspection and the Energy Star duct testing. The electrical and communication wire was finished on Friday and will be inspected early next week.

Siding for the building is complete except for an area over the main roof. A lot of effort went into caulking and foaming areas inside the units to help seal the building against air leakage. We also worked on punchlist items to get the building ready for framing inspection next week.

Next week we will continue with air sealing, insulating and closing up the party wall and hopefully be able to start insulation in the garages and some other areas of the building.

December 3rd, 2011

Good progress over the last week and a half in Issaquah.

On the exterior we've been continuing with siding, exterior paint prep and even a small amount of exterior paint. There are only two areas left to be sided, a portion of the front gable and a small field over the main roof. The soffits in the back were installed and the porch ceiling on 5A was insulated and installed.

On the inside we the plumbing system passed inspection, as did the gas piping. The HVAC contractor decided to change the design of the main duct system. They were nearly complete and have been removing and replacing duct work. Hopefully they will finish by the middle of next week and we will be able to have the system inspected and tested. Electrical rough-in started just before Thanksgiving and continued all of this week. 5B is about 90% complete and 5A is at 75% completion. We also started installing boxes, drilling and running conduit for the phone, cable and internet wiring. On Saturday, volunteers started sweeping out the units and caulking sill plates to better seal up the homes.

Next week we will continue with siding, wiring and exterior paint.

Construction Update- November

La Fortuna, Renton:

LF5-

The entire building is officially "dried in" (all windows, doors and housewrap on) and we passed the final moisture envelope inspection. Dave Buck commented the work was very good quality and the system we use is better than most normal construction he sees. All garages are pre- rocked for garage door installation which is scheduled for the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Siding is complete to the top floor across the entire back and belly bands, window trim, and corners are complete on both ends and the back.  Hardi panel started on the third floor and siding and trim started on all sides of the building.

Fire sprinkler contractor should finish up this week and be ready for inspection before the Thanksgiving break.

John helped set exhaust fans in three units for the HVAC sub to connect the ducts.  HVAC contractor is in the last unit and should finish up on Monday. Inspections will start on Tuesday. We have begun soffiting and boxing heat ducts in 2 units.

Electrical volunteers are scheduled for Tuesday to start rough in.

LF7-

With the help of Bank of America, we got the party walls up and sheeted,  and we set the back corner for the entry way walls. 

The experienced crews from GLY and PCL helped finish the floor framing in 7e, start and finish the floor joist and beams in 7d, and start the floor joist in 7c. They also helped finish wall framing in all but 7a and sheeting to 95% and fire rock 90%

Floor joists have been completed in 3 units and layout is finished and ready for beams and joists in a 4th.

Guardrails were started in LF7e and will be completed before sub- floor is started.

Stair landings are in 3 units and the lower set of stairs in LF7d has been cut and is ready to install.

Interior sheerwalls are complete in 3 units and started in a 4th.

Work for this week:

Siding and trim, caulking, painting (weather dependent), floor joists, stairs and landings, guardrails, and maybe sub- floor.

Issaquah Highlands:

Progress continues to be steady with the siding installation. We are now complete in the back, south gable end and the north gable only has a few pieces left. Completed areas under the porch and several gables in the front are now started and one is finished. We were able to start the final coat of exterior paint on the south gable and the back of the building.

On the inside, the plumbing is complete and was tested. There is one minor correction that will be made on Tuesday. Insulation and sheet rock was installed in the garages in preparation for the HVAC installation, which is about 95% complete and should be finished early next week.

 Work for this week:

We will continue siding and start building soffits around the plumbing and duct work on the inside of the building.

Another AmeriCorps group, City Year, came out to both of our sites last Friday!  They were a fun, enthusiastic group and worked hard in the cold.  Here they are pictured in front of the Issaquah Highlands site!