Building Construction

Insulated Concrete Forms. This is a residential home being constructed in Teton County. It is over 5000 square feet, so it shall be sprinklered (County ordinance). The walls are 6" of poured concrete with a cold roof overhead.Here are a series of pictures from this site through a Flicker slide show.

Turns out, the garage will be sprinklered and the storage area above as well. Notice the steel beams supporting that light weight construction floor. I will try to learn if there will be more than one layer of gyp board covering that garage ceiling.

I also learned yesterday at this site, that the ICF forms have a hard plastic on the inside. This plastic becomes a mounting location for applying drywall directly to the ICF walls. I still haven't figured out how they run the electrical chases.....

AREA OF REFUGE So, I don't know much about this code, found both in the Building and Fire Codes under 1007.6 Areas of Refuge. Having a building presently under construction less than two blocks away, I decided to use this opportunity to get smarter on this code; much to the chagrin of the General Contractor! Here is another series of images from the area of refuge. Note the little silver box with button and speaker. One would wheel one's chair out to this safe area of refuge, push the button and talk to someone......ooops, my building may not have a 24 hour attendant! And I don't think this button will talk to the local phone, which it must do, per code. I also learned code states that each area of refuge must be labeled with illuminated signs, INCLUDING the International Symbol of Accessibility AND tactile signage must be located at each door as well. Tough stuff to dump on a GC four days before his CofO!!(Did you see the nice little sprinkler head at the top of the stairwell?)

Lastly, as you probably figured out, this is my personal blog site. You can get an amusing glimpse into my life by clicking on past posts! It is a great way to combine photos with the written word and pretty darn easy to do, I must say. I will do it again if it proved helpful for anyone. Maybe follow the construction of the ICF home....

Thank You for the Great Party!

Despite the dark clouds looming above, a great time was had by all at Michael and Kenlyn's birthday party. Nearly 40 pounds of giant king crab legs were devoured and a table of dishes brought by well-wishers complimented the meal. Most of the 10 gallons of beer was consumed as well! Just click on the right arrow to watch a fun slide show of the party!

Thanks to our 23 friends who helped make this a real celebration! Kids and dogs added to the festivities!!

What a great picture of Michael and Earl bringing in wood for camp. Earl did great; he's a very good horse! More pictures of camp set-up below!