Patty in Wisc

This is a 16X18ft 'sunroom' I did on back of my house just a few years ago. I dreamed of this for years & after many drawings, I applied for a permit in Oct '05. Insulation & roofing was done by Christmas.
..At it's worst!

I dug 4 ft footings with my post hole digger & filled w/ concrete.
Here is 2 walls up. South wall is 9ft & north is 6ft high. I built them - neighbor helped me raise them.

Inside...fr doors to kitchen - where window was.

Facing south...12 ft of windows. Styrofoam ins. & rubber window flashing done. 2 skylites above on roof.

Northeast corner


Facing east. 12 1/2 ft ceiling. Window cranks open to vent...wish it was bigger, so there's room for citrus art!

The door is now a glass one & there is a nice big deck the width of room. I can't find pics of it finished!

It is really considered a enclosed porch cuz it doesn't have heat/AC. If it's too cold in winter, I open the door to let house heat in.
Friends & neighbors donated some lumber - mostly from cleaning out their garages, & I bought everything on sale. I did pay a carpenter friend to help with rafters. No one can do that alone!
Inspecter never asked if I drew a permit for electrical. I just did it & he never asked LOL.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

just j

nice

Scuba_Dave

Looks good, I did the same thing in '07
Mine faces South, all windows & skylights
I think I spent close to $10k on windows, skylights & doors

This is before the 8' wrap-around deck was finished



6 skylights: 3 that vent, the 4 outer ones are 606's
Almost 4' square

Patty in Wisc

Thanks Dave, ours are similar. I wish I had 3 skylites...none open but the back upper window is my vent. I did same footings too. I found the pic I was looking for. The deck measures almost 9 ft out, right of steps...no room for a wrap around. It's loaded with plants in summer LOL. On right, by lattice, I did one long step of 2-2x12's for more plants & the door is painted.
I went over budget with that ceiling fan @ $350.00! It has a heater in it - too expensive to use though.
My sister in Minn. had a glass "patio enclosure" sunroom built. 10 or 12 X15 & all glass except roof I think. Low ceiling so no fan. Too hot in summer & too cold in winter. Cost her $27,000.00!!! Mine is pretty well insulated.

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CookieCows

Patty that is awesome! I can't tell you how impressed I am that you know how to do all this construction work! Makes me kinda want to put my glue gun down and go in the workshop and ..... make a wooden planter or something!
You are totally cool!

Deb

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Scuba_Dave

I'm currently working on our last major project
I did the rafters alone, it's a task tho
I started this Oct 4th
This pic is maybe from 2 weeks ago

Patty in Wisc

Oh m'gosh, that is huge! I can't figure how you could do rafters by yourself.
The framing was not hard - I could stand low to ground LOL. The roof shingles was not too bad except that it was getting very cold (Dec) & I drove every nail by hand (no nail gun). The big windows & skylites, I got a neighbor to hold one end & I the other & walked up 2 sep. ladders.
I also sided my house, did fascia, soffit & aluminum trim around all windows. It's amazing what you can do when you think of money saved!
My biggest project is what I'm finishing up on now...my basement apartment. Holy Moly...plumbing underground, moving gas lines, water lines, concrete floor w/ laminate floor on top, electrical. I hired a plumber to do major underground plumbing. Secret is to know when to hire & what you can do yourself.
Thanks Deb, you could do it too I'll bet

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Scuba_Dave

That's a lot of work!!
Once you start doing stuff like this it sort of gets easier

The rope you see on the roof I used to tie myself off when installing the 1st (2) rows of shingles. After that I just kept it close by to grab. The front is 26' off the ground

I also nail by hand. I actually bought a nail gun & nails, but forgot I had it. I had some reg nails & started by hand to finish off the reg nails. Then I forgot & bought another 50# of nails
The top rafters were only 12' long
The back lower rafters were 20' 2x12's - fun!!

It sort of dwarfs the sunroom

Patty in Wisc

Yes, my sunroom is a peanut compared to that. 20ft 2x12's...uh uh. Impossible to get one up that high & in place (for me anyways).Couldn't be too bad with that top rail (what's it called) in place. How did you get that rail in place by yourself?? I think you did overkill w/ 2x12's though - for rafters. No one uses 2x12 for rafters - unless roof has almost no pitch. Mine were 16 ft 2x6's. That's all you need unless the pitch is real low like almost flat. Even my floor is 2x8's w/ 16" OC & 8ft span (coulda been 12ft span by code).
Thank God my cousin loaned me his scaffolding for rafters & the drywall inside. I was climbing around like a monkey LOL
My house is over 100 yrs old & the original rafters are 2x4! Back when they WERE actually 2x4 LOL - and w/ 2 ft OC! No sagging either!

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Scuba_Dave

The bottom 2x12's were needed due to the distance spanned
The top could have been 2x6's, but on th eback I opted for 2x12's to match the lower roof. Basically to put more insulation I went all 2x12's, heating costs are not going down
The great room has a 12' cathedral ceiling
I guess I could grow nanas indise - maybe not enough light

Scaffolding is a huge help
For the sunroom I rented a drywall lift - $22 for 4 hours use
The fun part will be doing the siding on the front & big side

There are (3) 16" LVL beams in the garage that hold the middle support wall up. They are just over 24' long & I estimated their weight at close to 200# each. It was very interesting getting those in place. I had offers to help from friends - but that would haven meant waiting for a weekend . And I woudl have felt bad taking one of their weekend days when I was out of work

Cathedral ceilings make a huge difference in the way a room looks
It really makes a room look huge
Keep up the good work

Patty in Wisc

I too rented a drywall lift. Even w/ 2 ppl, I cannot lift 3/4" sheet up.
I rented one for a day. Took 1 hr to get it home & set up LOL.

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alpha010

You two do wonderful work! Dave, your home kinda looks like the one me and 2 others built ourselves....no nailguns, only one ladder and 1 extension cord and did it in 2 months, surprised us after we finished it.

Now Miss Patty, wanna come down and visit my place long enough to help out with 2 home additions?? I figured it would be no prob with the missus since she is a Packers fan and wouldn't mind if I sent her to your place to tend while you work, ummm, help here!

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alpha010

I do like the style rafters you went with Dave, instead of the hard to handle cut-side 'a' frames

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Patty in Wisc

?"cut-side 'a' frames' ??? What does that mean? I thought we both had A frames LOL.
Shaggy, send your wife here & we will have a ball!! I'll learn her real good LOL
And then we will go finish your project & fix all your mistakes. hee hee

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Scuba_Dave

The a frames I think are pre-built trusses ?
This all depends upon the size of the house/addition
In my case due to the shape stick framing made sense
The roof facing South is just over 30' long
Eventually I want solar panels on it for electric power
The bottom left I am going to build a solar water heater for an outdoor shower

I actually have 4 extension ladders & a 5' step ladder
And I generally use at least 3 of them every day
Many people are afraid of doing this type of work
It's really not that hard & the framing goes up pretty fast
The harder part is making sure you meet/exceed the building codes

alpha010

Cut-side are pre-built 'a' frames with one leg below cross support cut off.

I only make mistakes when my wife rushes me, she thinks it will take only 2 hours or less to pressure wash, stain and water seal my 16'x12' deck, rails and all...... she also thought it would only take me an hour or so to put my 10'x12' shed together.....she has no idea. But, if you want to tackle the job of teaching my wife...go for it. She is a wonderful woman but cant read a ruler (even though she was taught 3 or more times) to save her life!

As far as projects go, I have to seal, water paint (dry-lok) and frame in and drywall all walls in my basement and build a center wall that is sound proof and sound proof the rafters above the created room so I can play my drums while kiddies are sleepin. We also want 2 additions added on and to extend the basement with them, the one shouldn't be too hard since we are just going to push one wall outward 10' and the other one is gonna be a bit tedious with a 2 story, 4 room addition with plumbing in the lower level and a large all greenhouse glass enclosed sunporch.

Shaggy

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sirmoebly

Hey bob, good to talk to ya again, I've been doing masonary for twenty years and own my own business & if you are using dry-lock knowing you have a water problem It's probably not a good idea to drywall over it. Its a temp fix only to haunt you with mold later on.....Then sickness!!!! Not good. In ohio you can't beat #6 stone and tile.....for drainage.

alpha010

No water problem here moe! Good looking out though! My house is less than 5 years old and sits well above water table and has french drains. I have never had a problem with any water any where, but I'm thinking of the future, I don't want the light moisture (which every cinderblock wall gets) that shows through to mold up or disintegrate my framing and drywall from the inside out. The outside of the block walls are sealed with tar or whatever the blackstuff is the put on below the window / dirt line and above the black stuff is sealed with Thompson's for block walls.

#6 stone and tile? Lol thats greek to me at the moment, I'm a steel worker.....

I appreciate the advice and may have someone double check everything before I start building just to make sure.

Shaggy

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alpha010

Oh, and patty, if you wanna come down and learn my wife something, be my guest, you two can start fabbing walls while Moe comes down and lays the footer and 11 course! I am willing to watch women work with power tools, not to be a pig or anything, but guys my age tend to be pigs....sorry.

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Get a little Love in your life. Jump in a Mosh Pit! The only place where every emotion one person can feel will join together and express all at once.

sirmoebly

hydro-ban is the name of the tar and I was just trying to help, If you lived a little closer I would of been glad to help..... good luck to ya..