Earlier this month, Coastal Connection spent a day on site on Cape Cod, Massachusetts as local contractor Mike Hill framed the walls for a walk-out basement room at the lowest level of a new addition. This week we're back on the job as Hill and carpenter Russ Laffin work on the upper story of the addition.
Hill is the framing sub on this this job, working for builder and remodeler Mike Horgan. Here, Hil and Laffin are framing in the floor structure for a second-story loft (see slideshow), starting with an LVL main beam system to define the loft floor and the stair opening, then filling in with 4x8 Doug Fir joists. Connections for the floor are made with 6-inch FastenMaster structural screws and Simpson steel connectors.
Once decked, the loft will serve as a platform for pipe staging, which Hill will use to set the building's LVL structural ridge and I-joist cathedral roof. Then, Horgan will be back on the job to help with construction of the airtight exterior membrane, which will extend all the way up the building's exterior walls and continue up onto the plane of the roof.
