We’re expecting to finish the framing this week, so I figured this might be an appropriate time to reflect on what we encountered along the way. Aside from a few tweaks, I’d say the framing has turned out quite well. However, that’s not to say we haven’t encountered a few unexpected complexities… most of which stemmed from the specifics outlined in the structural drawings.

I’m obviously in no position to question what our structural engineer has outlined, but each of the trades has expressed the opinion that our home is over-engineered. I don’t know if it really matters at this point (and I certainly can’t argue with the craftsmanship), but there’s obviously a fine line between quality-construction and over-construction.

For instance, our floors are built with TJI joists, which are engineered I-beams made of wood. We have a lot of them and each is supported by a joist hanger. I don’t believe this actually all that uncommon (and I would have requested them regardless), but I’m told our approach was far more involved (so as to eliminate bulkheads). This meant that each joist had to be cut, glued, nailed into a hanger… ultimately resulting in more work for the framers.

Similarly, we apparently “have enough LVLs to build three homes” (as one of the trades told me). LVLs are dense beams engineered from laminated veneer lumber, and we’ve got them all over the house. We also had to reinforce the structure with shear walls, which meant we needed to sheath the exterior walls with thicker plywood, and affix the walls to the floor with a series of substantial bolts.

Beyond the TJIs, LVLs and shear walls, we also have plenty of steel beams and columns… All of which have added up to a pretty substantial structure. Too much structure? It seemed that way, so I inquired why the house was designed as it is. I got a pretty detailed explanation, but there were 3 primary reasons:

1. Windows. In retrospect it seems painfully obvious, but the size and number of windows demanded that we increase the structure to compensate for the reduction of studs. Apparently glass isn’t as strong as wood. Who knew.
2. Aesthetics. We wanted large open spaces and crisp clean lines. To accomplish this, we obviously had to reduce the number of load-bearing walls and bulkheads throughout the house. Similarly, we decided we wanted to cantilever the 2 overhangs instead of supporting them with beams.

1. The clerestory. The large two-story opening displaced everything in the middle of the house, which meant we needed to compensate by beefing up the structure around it.

   I can’t say I expected to build the house this way when we began, but I understand how we got here. I mean, I obviously wanted to build the best home we can, but I also don’t want to overspend on it.

   So have we gone overboard with the structure? I certainly hope not.

   You can take a closer look at the structure in the photo gallery

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