workin in a winter wonderland

Tis the season to be jolly... and we have reason to as we are getting going on our -fourth year in a row- wintertime home building project.  It's a smallish home out in the West Danby area of New york.  Easy to build -compared with other recent projects.

As I have said before, I like building in the winter.  The way I look at it, if I can't be cross country skiing, out playing hockey on the frozen pond or just gazing at snowy mountains across the valley from my cozy wood fired hot tub unfortunately I no longer have one, I can at least go to work out in the snow and cold.  Crazy right.  Well maybe, but seriously i have always been a lover of winter.  As i kid growing up in Seattle where snow was more of a treat than a regualr visitor, I used to stand at the front windows for what must have been hours looking to the sky for that first snow flake.  I'm not so different now tho i use the NOAA radar page to help know just when to look out the window.  These days as a father of two and breadwinner for the family, I must go to work on days I might rather be skiing, and although it has its unpleasant moments, working in the snow and cold does something for my mind and body that is hard to acheive in more normal work envirnoments.  Frankly I like the bracing wind on my face, the crunch of snow on the ground, the colbalt blue sky, the threat of snowfall in the air. 

Here in central New york Lake effect snow is always a possibility-bright and sunny one moment, a white-out the next, and back again.   Of course outdoor work goes a bit more slowly in the winter and one has to be more careful when climbing around on ice covered rafters and ladders, but when it come to feeling alive and well while at work, send me out in the winter weather. 
Okay its only December, we'll see how I feel come march.

every picture tells a story or (how not to detail a building's exterior)

Sometimes a simple construction detail - done well- can save you a huge headache later on. Proper flashing and use of building paper such as Tyvek or good old fashion tar paper, with taped seams are essential to avoid the kind of water caused damage I got into yesterday.
This client, in a 12 year old co-housing development with 30 similar units called me after he noticed a small problem. Two short pieces of cedar siding located at the top of and between 2 large south facing windows had fallen off the house at the exact spot where an arbor had been attached. (see photo) Upon closer inspection it was noticed that the reason the 7" long pieces had gone missing was that the sheathing and framing behind them was well...gone!
I agreed to do the repair and after getting my tools, i peeled back the neighboring siding boards to get a closer look inside the wall. I was careful not to remove more of the expensive cedar siding than necessary, but each piece I took off revealed more and worse damage. At about 4 feet below the leak there was hardly any lumber left in the wall. I was shocked to see the extent of the rot- both in how far it had traveled and how much wood had been destroyed. I'd seen this in 100 year old houses a few times, but never in a newer home. The problem on this relatively young building was caused by poor exterior detailing especially where the arbor mounting block penetrated the siding and was attached to the house. The carpenter who put this all together obviously needed a solid and flat surface to mount his arbor to, but he had not taken the necessary measures to prevent rain water that drips from an overhead roof and splashes on the arbor and around the arbor mounting block, from getting behind the cedar siding, against the osb and wrecking havoc. For 12 years the water that made its way behind the siding was able to soak into the OSB sheathing that had not received it's required layer of Tyvec or equivalent building paper. To make matters worse. Once behind the siding the water was able to move down the framing to the bottom plate where instead of running out of the wall it was caught by a section of plastic that came up 5 inches from the sill plate and ran 24 ' along the front of the house! This plastic appeared to have been added as a bottom plate moisture/air seal of some sort but was in fact working much better as a holding pond for the unwanted rain water. There's more...this plastic membrane encouraged the water to move horizontally and in both directions along the bottom of the wall where it also sat soaking day after day year after year into the OSB sheathing, the cellulose insulation and the 2x6 framing material. Talk about your perfect storm of poor weather detailing! Fortunately the inside of the house was protected by a well installed plastic vapor barrier so the interior drywall was unaffected. Also, the majority of the roof and floor load above this point was being successfully transferred away from this "post" by a huge 24" band joist running to the sides of the house. I imagine if this was not the case, this rot issue would have also become a serious sagging and cracking issue long ago.
As I tore out the damage yesterday, the occasional passing neighbor noticing the extent of the damage, stopped, gawked and gasped, and then wondered out loud whether their house (which had the same arbor and siding) might have the same ugly issue lurking behind it's lovely cedar siding.. My answer to them? "...we'll have a look and let you know." And I'll let you know too!
The moral(s) of the story? Don't skimp on the building paper, the seam tape, the flashing, and the caulk- and when in doubt double up, oh and, gutters aren't a bad idea either--
A picture's worth a thousand words--

too hot to build

Like other outdoor work, Major league baseball, or farming for example, construction is a weather dependant endeavor.

And you'd think that all things being equal, summer would be the best time to build things, just as it seems like the best time to grow things, or play catch. Most would agree that whether your setting trusses 20' off the ground, or plowing a field for corn, it's pretty nice to work when it's 68 degrees and there are puffy white clouds drifting across a sharp blue sky.

Unfortunately in Ithaca, it's not 65 degrees very often, especially in the summer. In fact, it tends to go pretty quickly to 80 or 85, even in late May or early June, and there are frequent days when it pushes 90 or more. Keep in mind that as a carpenter you're often working without shade, and with east coast humidity doing it's part, by mid afternoon you're not making sense to your co-workers because you're working with a fever.

That's why when folks ask me if framing through winter (as I did the last two winters) "isn't it just awful...you know being out there in all that cold, wind and snow?" I reply, "actually no, in fact I prefer working in the cold of an Ithaca winter to slogging around through the dog days of summer.

I was considering this question another humid 92 degree afternoon as I stumbled around the work site in a weather induced fever, lifting material, climbing ladders creating my own heat wave, and I found myself longing for the kinder, biting cold of winter.

During early winter when high temps might reach only into the low 30s, being out in it seems pretty okay, a bit unpleasant at first, especially if there's a wind, but okay. Hey, you're not going to get frost bite, and you can always add another layer. Anyway, you gradually acclimate. As the winter progresses and temps continue to drop, you just go with it, commenting about how cold it is to the person on the other end of the 2 by 12, checking the radar for possible snow squalls before heading to work, and agreeing on a low temp cut off point (LTCOP) with your work mates for the following morning. That is, the forcasted high temperature at which you'll all just stay home. In early winter its 32 degrees, then a week later its 28. By January you're okay with working outdoors all day at 25 degrees, but you pick up a box of those magical hand warmers on the way to work just to be safe. As long as you keep moving your okay, so you take a short lunch break to avoid getting too cold while sitting. Gradually as the winter reaches its depths, you find you can tolerate 19 or 20 degrees with out much complaint and are willing to continue working with temps as low as 15 degrees, if there's not much wind.

None the less, winter does bring forth some days that are just too cold or too snowy to build, and on those days you're glad to stay home with your family and make soup or something. What I decided the other day is that we need the same allowance for the summer. Frankly, there are days each summer when it is just too damn hot to be out. Days where it takes a couple hours after getting home just to get your body temp back to normal and your brain restarted. Days when it would have been better to have gone to the lake with the kids. How does the saying go something about...mad dogs and English men?

hot pizza on a cold day

A decent measuring tape and a good circular saw are essential tools for any carpenter, but sometimes Pizza is the builder's best friend. I can say this from experience. It was two winters ago that the 20 minute drive to and from the house we were building happened to pass by an establishment that offered up fresh hot slices to hungry passersby.



I was a hungry passer by on many occasion, and not just in the afternoon either, a morning stop could never be ruled out. Breakfast pizza you ask...Yes indeed, it looked kinda gross, but it was in fact a tasty meal -complete with eggs, bacon, and cheese...came with a cupa coffee too, organic & free trade no less.


I could have benefited from a frequent flier punch card, as I soon discovered that 2 slices were better than one. Those hot fresh pizzas not only lifted my mornings during that long winter but they got me through some difficult late afternoons as well, when blood sugar was bottoming out, and fingers numb from the cold cried out for something warm to hold.

Working outdoors in sub freezing weather builds an appetite unlike any other. The kind of appetite that is not easily tamed with salad and the like. Oh no, you need something quite a bit heartier, something hot and tasty, perferably triangularly shaped, and packed with oozing cheese and yummy goodness.... Well, I think you know what I mean.





P.S. don't worry I am now on a diet of moderation, but I still love to get a good slice here and there... like the one you get at...



rob