Month: April 2008

Project by Yourself

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Self contracting a project can be greatly beneficial since you learn all tasks and ultimately can afford certain luxuries that would normally go to a tradesman. I heard once that a construction project is a triangle with vertex points of cost, quality, and time, and normally you can only choose two of the three. Already I’ve blown my time schedule by months, but I am learning a lot about green construction.

By doing it myself, I can order tools that normally would have to be rented or contracted out. By reading other builder’s websites, a general contractor may charge between $6,000 to $15,000 to assemble a SIP structure. I looked into crane rentals, and they start $400 for two hours of service. It does not take too many crane hours to figure out that if a gantry crane costs $1,200 that’s just 6 hours of crane rental. If a tool is not too large, the answer is why not?

The material lifting I’ll need to do is no more than 600 pounds, easily carried. I’m looking into renting a conveyor belt to move debris to a recycling bin. They’re are so many time saving and labor saving technologies, that’s it worth my time investigating and ordering, well in advance of the project actually starting construction.

Faucet Detour

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I thought today would be the day I finish reading the Prescriptive Method for Structural Insulated Panels used in residential construction and some literature I downloaded from iLevel. Mom went to get her rear brakes replaced (drums and shoes), and I was going to do some lawn maintenance, and finish my drawings to present to building and safety. I tend to work best from 2 PM to 12 AM, so I finished with the electric lawn mower, electric edger, and electric blower early. At around 3 PM, from the kitchen, I hear, “The faucet sheered off.”

Thinking that the handle got loose, I took a look, and the plastic ceramic cartridge broke. The kitchen sink was already leaking from the spout, and the base was full of gook, but I disassembled the kitchen faucet and looked to the Price Pfister website for the correct parts. The parts would be more than a completely new faucet. Early this century, after looking at Delta, Grohe, Franke, Kohler, Hansgrohe,and Price Pfister faucets, and their ridiculous prices, I’ve ordered all my plumbing needs (faucet and sinks) at IKEA.

IKEA products are legendary, their design a superb European style, and their prices unbelievable. A faucet at Home Depot or Lowes that sells for $120 costs $20 at IKEA. I wanted to get a single control pot filler tall spout faucet, but the buyer wanted a traditional long spout, so the budget wend from $60 to $20 for a faucet. The replacement parts (shut-off valves, threaded connectors, supply lines) cost around $35, so almost double the price of the chrome plated brass faucet. I guess the price of copper is outrageous, as a 2 inch nipple now costs $3.00 and shut-off valves $7 each.

After an afternoon of removing the old faucet, and a an evening of installing the new faucet under cramped conditions, the faucet has flawless operation, and I hope lasts another 20 years, or when the sink gets replaced. Now I need more time to finish the foundation drawings.

The World of Concrete

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In the typical construction project, I suppose you need to start with the ground and move upward. I took the opposite approach and started form the roof, and moved through the skylights, doors and windows, walls, flooring, foundation, and earth. I’ve already selected the windows, skylights, roofing product, and building system, but have not selected the foundation yet.

I thought it would be easy. you have two choices in general in seismic design category D, continuous foundation walls, or concrete masonry units (CMU). I’ve investigated all sorts of technologies in anchoring a structure to earth. Everything from metal helical rods, posts and grade beams, and every type of gluing scheme. The foundation not only holds up a home, but acts the interface between the earth (air, water, fire) and your dry structure. It has to prevent moisture buildup underneath, hold fast during movement, and last longer than what stands on top of it.

I got the definitive word form APEX block that their lightweight composite ICF solution is not approved nor likely to be approved in the city of Los Angeles for many months. I have to select a plan B, which is either a tradition six inch formed footing and stem wall, or an alternative forming system, like an ICF. My idea is to eliminate concrete, or at least reduce it. The APEX system took this structure down from 6.63 cubic yards (cu yd) of cement to just 4.70 cu yds. All other systems reduce concrete use, but the next best system I could find was a waffle grid ICF called American Polysteel PS 3600, which will use 5.70 yards of concrete. Why this matters is concrete should be used where needed, and not extravagantly, because it has a extremely large carbon footprint in its manufacture. Concrete is also very, very heavy, and takes a lot of diesel to transport. That’s why CMU’s are out of the question.

The Polysteel forms weigh in at 7 pounds, compared to a CMU at 60 pounds. I calculate I’ll need around 75 blocks, saving over 2000 pounds from a flatbed truck. I’m hoping to design a monolithic pour of the footings and stem walls using some materials I found on the internet from Award Metals. they make a novel footing brace and monolithic strap that should accommodate the ICF forms. I chose the waffle grid, which by simple by having a irregular mold shape, it uses much less concrete than a form that has straight walls. I’m also hoping that since the walls will only be 22 inches high, my building and safety department will not require a stamp of a structural engineer.

I do have a few engineer names that specialize in ICF foundations, just in case. It’s always down to the budget. My time is basically free. This project has cost very little so far, but with professional consultants, I’m sure the fees go from zero to $1,500 really fast. I found the names through the newsletter of the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California. I hope I don’t need to call them.