Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT LeBoeuf's path to a new sanctuary

[leboeuf]

As every new build thread starts: I've been lurking for years and finally have some substantial progress to share.

First I had to build a couple of sheds to store my spare car parts and tools that I don't use often.
Hmmm need to spam a couple more posts for embedded pictures... Spamming achieved:

First time doing block work... It's a little rough

Also first time doing a ridge board... Again, a little rough

Basic slab so I can store random engine blocks/etc without worry about leaks...

 

[leboeuf]

A few months after finishing the shed a sheldon lathe fell into my lap. Its pretty full featured, but something is off with cross feed lead screw nut...
This filled the space that my shed freed up in my attached 2 car.

 

[leboeuf]

At this point I went from 0 to 3 kids in 22 months...
An additional shed was built for my wife. A little simpler construction this time around.

 

[leboeuf]

At this point I was trying to accomplish as much as I could before my twins were born. Unfortunately that meant most of my time was spent renovating a rental property (the responsible thing to do) and not working on my shop. I think I was nesting hah.

I did however get my plans drawn up and after a few issues with the department of transportation of all things, I had my permits.
I did all of the drawings in the free version of sketchup. Then combined with the parallel projection feature, screen shots, and vectorization in inkscape, I had valid plans.

My property is fairly sloped and rocky, so I decided to leave the site prep and foundation work to a recommended professional. This worked out really well and I made some friends in the masonry business along the way.

After a day of just a skilled guy in a bobcat... About 15 trees removed and around 1/2 of the dirt work done.

After a few days the site was ready. My contractor had someone call in during the compacting stage, so I spent a day tooling around with the compactor.

Foundation ready for concrete

Ready for blocks

 

[Boosted1]

Nice plans.

 

[captain14]

Nice leaning curve with the two shed.

Are you laying all the block yourself for the garage ?

 

[leboeuf]

The shed experiment showed me that while I technically can do the block work, it would have taken me weeks... So I contracted that out. With the bond beam and grout every third cell, it should be good for decades to come.
The masonry contractor hit my specs within 1/16", sweet!

Now I was ready to start framing... After a 6 month break to finish my rental and change 1000000 diapers.

 

[aka.eric]

Straight joint in blockwork....all the strength gone

 

[leboeuf]

There's actually one of those on the other side too. The uphill side was designed as a retaining wall, so the top two courses are both horizontally and vertically reinforced with rebar. Every cell on that side was also grouted. It does look bad though! We use special blocks in my area for this purpose with various amounts of internal webbing removed.

 

[leboeuf]

Well things sat for a bit after the foundation was finished. Newborn twins will do that to you...

My parents decided to visit during the summer for a couple of weeks and my dad and I starting chipping away at the framing. It was really fun to have an adult father/son project. We got all of the walls up in about 3 days with just the two of us. I think the rainiest year in the last 20 here in NM started a week after this point hah.

 

[Notgrownup]

Nice progress...LeBoeuf? Ca sonne Francais....

 

[leboeuf]

Well despite my name I don't actually speak a lick of french... But thanks!

Next up was to get the floor joists up. This was the final day that my dad was visiting. This step ate up an entire day. Those rim boards took a while and about 1000 ladder movements. The day we finished this we got about 3 inches of rain in 30 minutes... Considering we get about 18 inches of precipitation per year... yikes.

I designed in some lvl's to carry the stair case load. One day I'll probably close the floor up and put in an external entrance to the attic area.

 

[PugetDude]

Looking good!
Cherish the time you're spending with your dad.
Wish mine was still around.

 

[Notgrownup]

Like that build, looks like it will be a nice place to hang.

 

[aka.eric]

Out of interest...why build the walls up to joist height in wood as opposed to 4" block.Is it cost,speed.."because we prefer it".
Im looking at the project from England...we are mainly into the traditional brick/block construction style.
Good progress...

 

[leboeuf]

Cherish the time you're spending with your dad.

It's been really cool. We didn't always have the best relationship during my youth, so having this adult project has been a lot of fun.

Out of interest...why build the walls up to joist height in wood as opposed to 4" block.

There are a few reasons. First I'm a terrible mason but a passable carpenter. Second, it gets pretty cold here, low temperatures at night through the winter get regularly down to single digits (F). The wood walls are a bit easier to insulate than masonry. Third, here in the states, construction grade lumber is fairly cheap and abundant so there is a substantial cost difference.

At this point I was solo. The floor sheathing wasn't too bad, other than having to schlarp 30 something sheets up there. I think this brings us to the September time frame. At this point we were getting rain every third day...

 

[James-W]

Looking really good. Keep the pictures coming.

 

[leboeuf]

On to the roof framing!
The dormers are supported directly to the foundation over 2x 1.75" x 14" LVL's. Overkill, but we can get 6+ foot snow drifts. I may or may not have used that drywall lift to place each piece of the beams haha.

Making my rafter template. This was interesting with a 16' 2x12 and our on going weather.

Probably not necessary but I doubled up the ridge boards.

I decided to splurge and get the lssu brackets for the rafters. These were spendy, but man that simpson strong tie catalog just made me feel warm and fuzzy...

 

[Boosted1]

Nice build

 

[leboeuf]

I convinced my brother and Dad to come "visit" me in October. My brother used to own a farm and now is a professional ski instructor; the three of us really made a lot of progress.

First up was to get the gables framed.

Then the dormer walls went up.

Finally we started placing the dormer rafters. Hey it looks like the model! I was about 1/4" off with the beam placement so there is a little offset that we'll deal with later.

I decided to make my own ridge beam/ridge board/valley rafter hanger using a normal 2x hanger and two LSSU hangers. It worked out really well.

 

[sponaugle]

A very cool build. Nice forested area too!

 

[leboeuf]

Thanks! Definitely following your build as well. Funny enough I lived in your area for a few years back in my Intel days and almost bought a moldy farmhouse off of Cornell.

 

[Aaron P.]

nice job on the outhouses....nice large house project....are you building this as you say "solo"

 

[leboeuf]

Hah, yeah basically just me. I enjoy the building process so that's part of the fun.

Overhangs finished

Starting to sheet the complicated sections

The weather pattern continues

First snow of the year.... This was mid October.

 

[atxgsa]

Nice work!

 

[leboeuf]

It certainly felt like the sheathing process drug on. Just as I finished this phase I learned about sheathing nailers haha.

The snow continued... we got our first real snow in early November.

 

[jkeyser14]

Looks awesome, can't wait to see more.

 

[leboeuf]

Well, I never stopped working on my shop, but with 3 kiddos within 22 months of age I have had ~3 hours/week to work on this...

By last spring I had finished the roof. This time period was full of sketchy scaffolding, lots of snow, and shingles. I did this solo with the exception of a weekend of help from my dad.

The snow was relentless

The last shingle! I wasn't sure how well that final laminate shingle would work out, but we've had some 100mph winds and everything is holding up fine.

 

[welder4956]

Nice build! Looking forward to seeing the final product.

 

[leboeuf]

Well time has sure flown by, but progress continues to be slow and steady. I've spent every minute of kiddo naptime working on this thing and now am at the electrical install end of the project. All that's left after this is to get it insulated and wall boarded.

Some highlights: Siding done, garage door is in, floor done, uhhh retractable staircase completed

This past weekend saw me attempting to install the service mast which was quite the scary undertaking. I had to drop it in from the top...

Stair video, my wife was certain I was finding ways to extend the project

 

[arathje]

This is a great build! What do you plan to do with the upstairs? Living space, bedroom, bathroom?

 

[leboeuf]

Somehow it's been 5 years...
I did officially "finish" my shop recently. Unfortunately the drive to finish was because I'm selling it
My family ended up growing in unexpected ways with special needs twins and I found myself needing a larger house. We found that house this past spring.
Hopefully someone will enjoy this property as much as I have.



35 ft of frame built cabinets!








Brutally paid for new roof out of pocket... I think my insurance coverage might be a scam

 

[leboeuf]

Going through old photos, lots of work was done... Fully insulated with cellulose, heated and cooled year round with this lovely heat pump (tucked up against the downstairs ceiling). Ahhhh memories...

 

[leboeuf]

This place officially sold It is sad; very difficult to not think about the 1000+ hours spent, but at the same time I learned so much building this and mostly enjoyed every minute.

On to the new! My new house came with a sizeable garage with one bay being a dedicated shop with a 50 amp sub panel and a "ratty" 24x40(ft)ish barn. The barn was interestingly constructed: 26x24 of it was built first and it is in the early stages of roof collapse; 14x24 was added later and built well in some ways and poorly in others. It has 50amp power and water so some nice to have things.
I have plans: full roof replacement, redoing the load bearing design. I spent 7 years building my last shop. A lot of that time was spent making it nice, I think this time I'm going to focus on making things functional.


Winched that shed out of the barn to see what I have to work with. Construction is a little odd, the two sides of the barn are not really connected. I'll be changing this.


I removed ~4 inches of rat poop to discover the support posts are rotting out. Note the "water line" of rat dooky


Interesting timber frame like structure. I think the house is built the same way. This all looks like ponderosa pine, likely milled from the property.

 

[Notgrownup]

Well as I always say, it’s just stuff right. Easy come, easy go. Make the best of what you have.

 

[leboeuf]

Slow but steady progress.
I've finished the new load bearing wall section. This involved cutting out sections of the concrete, digging, placing a new footer, and building a new wall to carry the roof load.
The main reason for this is that I intend to link the two structures together and this new(?) wall will carry the new roof load.










I tied the old wall and new wall together as this section will remain and carry some retaining wall load.




A nice 9ft opening that will eventually link these two structures.