Dickman Legacy Lodge

The sun room is now covered and ready for the next rain.  Sure wish it had been done 24 hours earlier.

The Isokern fireplace is made from volcanic pumice that is mined from Icelands Mt. Hekla volcano.  The pumice is compressed into fireplace component sections in the U.S.

We have gone over two months without rain.  Heavy storms were predicted for Sunday night.  The team worked Saturday and Sunday to get the main roof decked and covered.  They were successful except for the sun room and part of the great room.  Between Sunday midnight and Tuesday morning we had ~9 inches of rain.  The last picture shows a tarp over the south upstairs wall.  That effort and the main roof covering kept the upstairs dry.  The open sun room trusses are also visible in the last picture.  Monday morning I built a redneck swimming pool in the sun room and collected 10 inches of water by Tuesday morning.

The radiant heat barrier is a breathable polymer reinforced aluminum foil sheeting.  It has a 95% reflectivity and l <5% emissivity of radiant energy.  This will result in an attic temperature that is 30-40 deg. F cooler and a 17-20% reduction in cooling costs.

The radiant barrier is cut to length and stapled between the rafters.  There is a vapor barrier between the roof decking, the radiant barrier and the insulation.  Where the insulation will not be in the rafters but in the ceilings, the radiant barrier is run across the rafters as seen in the last picture.  Energy efficiency for the legacy lodge.

We have been blessed from many perspectives, but especially from the fact that we have gone over two months without any rain on the house.  This week saw two minor showers.  We are now all out to get the roof decking on and get the house closed in before next weeks scheduled rain.  The team will be working Saturday and Sunday to help make this happen.  We have over 200 sheets of plywood to put down.  Change Order!!!!!

Fascia boards are installed around the roof perimeter in preparation for receiving the roof decking.  Zooming in on the pictures reveal the level of detail.  The second and third pictures show the additional framing required to secure the scissor trusses installed in prior blog.

Many, many small details require a great deal of time.  The nice part about a custom house is that you know there isn’t another like it.  The bad part is that it hasn’t been done before so many details have to be figured out on the fly.  Tub and showers are installed in the second floor bathrooms.  Second picture is looking down on the fireplace foundation.  It will be installed next week and will rise up that wall.  Third picture is Jeremy and Mary’s chosen bedroom.  The closets were moved back into the wall to create additional space for a king size bed.  In so doing, the ceiling span increased necessitating a change from 2 x 6’s to 2 x 10’s.  Fourth picture shows a channel being cut and chiseled into the logs to accept the 6 x 6 transition post from logs to frame for the garage.  The last picture shows hurricane straps being installed between the roof rafters and the wall.

Scissor trusses arrive for the sun room.  Initially, we were going to put a trey ceiling in the sun room to accommodate Marianne’s Chandelier.  Using scissor trusses instead was faster and creates a ceiling height of over 15 feet.  That’s the good news.  The bad news, as you can see in the last photo, results in dead wall space that is crying for a window.  Consequently, we will had a 24″ x 24″ octagonal window.  This addition will allow her chandelier to be bathed in the later morning sun in the summer time.  Change Order!!!!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  Lots has happened since I last reported.

New longer valley beams were delivered and installed as can be seen in the first picture.  Rafters were also installed completing the structure for the great room.  Front porch roof structure was also set, including cypress tree logs and rafters.  The sagging ramp, seen in the bottom right of the last photo, is visual proof that we ate too much during the holidays.  I now exceed the load limit and have to use the steps.

Thanksgiving is harvest time at the legacy lodge.  Kumquats, Meyers Lemons, Oranges, Tangerines, many species of delicious fish.   Duck and deer season is also in.  Many things to be thankful for,  and for family and friends to enjoy.

P.S.  The crappie at the bottom are only half of what i caught in about 40 minutes.  The others were released to grow and multiple for another day.