Prefab Cottage Floor System Is In!

After some unfortunate delays, including weather, we finally got the floor system put in. The place looks like a bunker now, gun ports and all. I had never worked with TJI floor joists before. TJI stands for Trus Joist I-beam joists. Like a steel I-beam, but made of wood. Stronger and more consistent than dimensional lumber. 

It feels like you could drive a truck on it, very firm floor. Because it will be another 10-14 days before we get the panels, we taped an waterproofed the sub-floor to provide some protection from water getting on the TJI system, which my brother says can compromise its strength. We also reviewed the shop drawings from R-Control of the panel plan. 

We made some substantial changes from the architects "vision". As designed the house was very tall, over 25 feet to the peak of the Great Room roof. we decided to lower that for 2 reasons. First, since we are looking to build an energy efficient house, we didn't want a lot of energy used to condition air in such a tall space. Cost was also a consideration. We also reduced the radical 14/12 pitch down to a more reasonable 8/12. Hope the architect wouldn't be offended, but if your name isn't Frank Lloyd Wright, I figure your work is fair game for practical adaptation.

I'm currently waiting on a quote from a Canadian company on triple glazed windows. They claim they can come within 5% of comparably spec-ed double glazing. I hope so, because it would be a considerable improvement to the efficiency of the house. They also use fiberglass framing, which they say expands and contracts at close to the same degree as glass, reducing stresses between window glass and frame which eventually leads to some leakage. Makes sense to me.