The past week has been a snowy and cold one for the carpenters working outside o
n projects. Our new home under construction made some progress in spite of the cold. We managed to install the underground plumbing and the in-floor heating tubes and pour the basement concrete floor. With temporary heat in the basement it stays fairly warm.
The carpenters have been working on getting the roof system in place. One of the tasks last week was to install the large….5-1/2” x 24”….laminated wood ridge beam in the living room. Once the beam was in place the truss rafters were installed. The end wall of this room gets framed right up to the rafters. It includes custom trapezoid windows. We are now working on getting the roof decking in place and protected from the weather.
This home has a rear deck that is covered with an extension of the roof. Because of that the trusses at the exterior wall line have a very large “heel” area. This is where many homes are vulnerable to what is known as wind wash. Wind wash occurs when air entering the attic through the ventilated soffits and roof vents creates enough turbulence that insulation is pulled away from the interior surfaces. To prevent this from occurring we install regular wall sheathing vertically up the “heel” of the truss above the exterior wall. This creates a vertical break where wind cannot grip the insulation. It is a fair amount of work to do this, but it is an important component of the home.
