They’re out of the mud and into the air! Since graduation Myers’ Home team has made quite the stride in construction. With diplomas in hand Saturday and a zip back to Hale County Sunday, the three students prepped for framing Monday!
Put that on your plate!
Riley, Madeline, and Judith installed sill plates as one of their last moves before Pig Roast. This involves placing a bead of silicone caulk around the perimeter of the slab. They lay thin strip of foam the width of the wall framing, a sill gasket, atop the caulk before it cures to create a seal. This makes an air barrier between framing and slab on the finished stud wall.
Then, the team places 2″ x 6″ boards on the foam with seams staggered from those on the stud wall above. Myers’ Home will have a double bottom plate. This means two 2″ x 6″ pieces will be sandwiched between the sill plate and the one making up the bottom of the full stud wall. When installing on a slab, one must attach the sill plate directly to the concrete. There are several options for this connection–anchor bolts, TapCon screws, or a powder-actuated nail gun.
Myers’ Home team opted for the nail gun for efficiency. After speaking with their favorite engineer, Joe Farruggia, they determined a nail size and pattern for the home’s lateral load capacity. Shooting all (roughly) 150 nails into place and sprinkling in a few TapCons after a nail malfunction, this team was ready to get framing!
Walls up, dude
A quick note — Madeline has been keeping up documentation of the project on 35mm film! The majority of the photos of those couple days framing are her wonderful doing. Kudos and love!
Andrew Freear and Steve Long joined these folks on site as extra and enthusiastic hands with plenty of tips and tricks! Without delay the gang got to it, and moved fast! Riley cut studs and the rest laid walls in place based on framing elevation drawings.
Nail guns at the ready, they had the front (west) wall of the house and half the southern wall up within the first afternoon.
Jumping to it again the following morning, the shape of the interior, windows, and doors began to appear. The team braced new walls to the ground and each other throughout the process. A smaller crew has an easier time raising a 40′ when built in segments. In this case, the front and rear home walls were in three pieces each.
Move into place 
Nail it down 
Level and brace
The team leveled and plumbed, then attached walls as they went up. Complete stud walls stay in this measured position with aformentioned bracing until sheathing is installed and the walls are rigid.
One with the level 
The biggest window in the house!
By lunchtime, all walls were up and braced awaiting the second top plate. The whole perimeter is stitched by this 2″ x 6″ piece before trusses are hoisted atop. In (record? who’s to say…) 10 hours the five had finished exterior framing and dodged a few showers in between!
Day 1 of framing 
Day 2 of framing
Truss them when they say they can’t wait for what’s next!
Attic ho, matey!
They arrived, those revolutionary attic trusses that have been in progress since the holiday season! A small hitch in production meant the top six inches of the trusses were delivered separately. But Judith and Madeline attached these to industry standard with a simple toenail.
the silliest and teeniest of trusses 
tip top, nailed up!
After moving them from the delivery zone in the driveway to a crane optimized position, these folks were ready to hoist.
Sure it took a couple tries and mud sliding, but on a heck of a Friday Myers’ Home finally took shape as the trusses made their way through the air! Thanks to Shane Jackson and his wonderful crane, Judith, Riley, Madeline, Andrew, and extra help, Addie, from Rev. Walker’s Home, began a truss-raising that went off nearly without a hitch.
In preparation, Judith and Madeline had marked each truss location on the top plates. The team also raised scaffolding inside the walls for easy access to placed trusses.
Picture this: the cable descends, Andrew secures a single attic truss to the crane hook. Shane moves the truss into place across the stud walls. Judith and Madeline man the nail guns and ensure the truss is lined up and flush to the walls before tacking them in securely. Addie cuts the blocking to site-measured size between the two foot truss space. Riley scampers to the attic area braces the truss near to plumb. They do it 21 more times.
They wrapped it up just in time for a lunch on site and took a first look at what that big ol’ attic is going to really be! 40′ long and 12’6 wide, who’s to say what it could hold?
as above… 
…so below
Nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night
With the shape of Myers’ Home finally visible on site, trusses plumbed and strapped down, the team looked to the next step in building to make this house a full volume.
Temperatures rising here in Hale, so these folks are in a race against the heat of the day to get their roof on and a shaded interior to work. Check back to see where they’re headed, to sheathing, roofing, taping, and flashing!
