Category: House Construction

Our apologies for the temporary website unavailability. Unfortunately, though, we lost the entire Fry Ranch website, my brand new work website and my old website when our host’s servers were ‘hacked.’ The company then decided to go belly-up the next week, providing NO backups for any of our pages (or refunds!). So Steve has been tirelessly working on completely rebuilding and improving this site. We hope you like it. And – oh yeah – he did all of this while building all the porch overhangs on the house.

In mid-September, Steve began installing ledger boards and posts as the first step on our four porch overhangs: front door, office, master bedroom, dining room. On Oct. 11, he officially finished the very detailed porch project that included 70 pieces of tongue-and groove, six gallons of stain, more rough-sawn lumber than we could image, 100 sheets of metal roof tile and accessories, hundreds of screws and lots of sore muscles. Special thanks to neighbor, Mark, who helped us get a man-powered crew in to lift the giant header beams instead of a crane. Next step is stucco!

Take a look at our September construction photos for wood staining, manual-beam-hoisting, joist placement and fascia boards. View October construction photos for final details, tile and electrical box placement.

Anyone who knows Steve knows that he is in love with White Castle sliders (mini-burgers popular on the East Coast). So – now that the house is wrapped in Tyvek and resembles a white castle due to the angular parapets, his eyes glass over, and he salivates every time he pulls in the driveway, murmuring dreamily, “Ummm…. White Castle….”

So – in between hunger pangs, we chose a stucco crew that wrapped the entire house in Tyvek. The roof crew also finished up, and our window installers worked tirelessly in 103-degree heat to “dry us in.” We did it! We beat monsoon season, and we now officially are waterproof with all windows and sliders in operating order.

Melissa was devastated when her hummingbird pets continued to get caught in the house. Their traditional window openings – which they’d been using for months – suddenly were covered in glass, and once entering through the still-open door pockets, they couldn’t figure out how to escape. Steve had to rescue the hummies with a plastic bucket, the poor tuckered out guys!

Check out our progress under New House Construction June 2009 and the great fast-forward daily progress videos on “New- Construction Timeline.”

As we inch closer and closer to Arizona’s official rainy “monsoon” season (mid-June), we have come to realize that trying to finish the roof install and parapets ourselves is too great a risk… Unless, of course, we want bucket loads of water falling on all our hard work. So – kicking and screaming – we agreed to hire a framing crew for assistance (we prefer to do our own work). Even with a four-man crew, and Steve working alongside them, it has taken days. And, as luck would have it, the very first day of roof panel placement, you guessed it … RAIN! But fortunately, it only got the crew wet once, and the torrential downpour lasted for only 30 minutes. We’re hoping the kitchen space will feel less expansive once we get cabinets in, but with 14-foot walls, it’s feeling a bit overwhelming. All the more space for Steve to cook in! Check out the our May Construction Photos.

Here we are into May already, with April’s whirlwind of activity behind us. Amid splinters and sore muscles, we worked throughout April on interior framing – finally seeing the rooms take shape. We even added a few vigas to the entryway! Toward the end of April, we rented a “Genie” lift to move the exposed “Glulam” beams into place – a piece of equipment that turned out to be anything but magical or wish-granting. While it helped us get beams up on the top plates of four rooms, we finally called in the big boys –crane operators – on May 1, to help with the larger beams. And, thanks to Charlie, our neighbor from Phoenix, we were able to get all the beams spaced/toe-nailed in, and the mini top-panels in place as well. We’ll tie up loose odds ‘n ends over the next few weeks with the goal of roof panel placement soon – again, with the big red crane. Check our April and May Construction Photos.

Although it may not look like we’ve made much progress since our impressive six-day wall raising in February, the past three weeks have been spent completing the unglamorous tasks of framing all the window openings and adding headers and top plates. On March 28, we were able to dive in to a task that actually shows some progress: interior framing. We’ll continue to post photos of progress – and images of unwitting friends who “think” they’re coming for rest and relaxation in the desert, but who find themselves hefting lumber and playing with power tools (special thanks to Lindsay and Tami from PA, and Dave from Phoenix!)

Feb. 22-27 was a good time for our three-“man” crew (consisting of Steve, Melissa and Shannon) to establish some solid sock-lines and farmer’s tans during 85-degree weather. We kept shaking our heads in disbelief when every panel went up perfectly square and level. (Thanks to Steve getting the sole plates installed perfectly). And Steve indicated that he will never be involved in a traditional stick-build in his life. We’re big fans of the SIP (structural insulating panel) system. How else could three people get all their walls raised in six days? Enjoy our photos of progress. Next up: top plates, interior framing and window framing.

Thanks to the help of our Colorado buddy, Kory, sheathing was completed Feb. 6 – just in time for Mother Nature to surprise us with 1.5 inches of snow. Although we thoroughly covered the sheathing with black plastic, 39 MPH winds ripped it off the largest section of the house, which meant Melissa was shoveling snow the next morning.

The biggest excitement was the delivery of a portion of our walls a day early on Feb. 15, and the remainder on the 16th. (Steve might argue that the delivery of the forklift was equally exciting, as witnessed by his toying around with it … That is, until the first driver asked Steve to remove 25 ft. panels that were on our truck, but going on to a ski resort in Telluride, Colorado. Then Steve had to rearrange the whole truck for the driver and put the 25 ft. panels back!).

Ironically, the Murus walls came all the way from Melissa’s home state of Pennsylvania. Visit our Web Cams when you can, as we’ll be taking a week off from work (Feb. 23-27) to work on panels. Melissa’s sister, Shannon, will be assisting – and anyone else we can coerce into helping!

We survived January’s precipitation and have moved on to sheathing! Thanks to 4,000 sq. ft. of black plastic (applied in darkness) and a submersible water pump, an estimated 500 gallons of rainwater did NOT end up in the crawlspace. Since then, we’ve been lucky enough to complete all joists and blocking, and we’re over half way to completed sheathing. Special thanks to Phoenix neighbor, Charlie (joists) and Mammoth neighbor, Mark (sheathing) for their assistance. Next step is sole plates to accommodate the insulated panels (i.e. walls), and wall delivery in mid-February.

Check out our joist progress and beginning sheathing photos under the House Construction Photos – Jan. 2009 and our continued sheathing progress under House Construction Photos- Feb. 2009.

With 2009 here, weíre making progress toward a February/March wall-raising. After final touches, including finishing all the LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beams, adding bearing plates and nuts to the sill plates, securing post caps/post bases, and adding the courtyard drain pipes, we have begun floor joists. Special thanks to neighbor, Mark, who helped us heave the biggest 30-ft. LVLs into place and to our Phoenix neighbor, Charlie, who has made the trek down to help with joists.

The rain that has been plaguing our build actually took a break ñ and was replaced by snow! On Dec. 26, we got about an hourís worth of snow, which melted about 20 minutes after the last flake fell. It was still a treat to see snow falling at the ranch. Check out our snow photos under the House Construction Videos Dec. 2008. Enjoy our joist progress photos during 
Jan. 2009 and on the 
Progress Timeline.