Our sealed floor is performing very well. It is so non-pourous and sealed that the crew used three colors of chalk. First yellow, then green, and finally red. The green just powerderd on the floor leaving no line at all. I had drilled into the GC to not use red on the concrete so he was surprised and concerned when his framers used red chalk. No worries, however, as even the red barely worked on the floor. A simple wipe removes the red chalk. I would recommend to any barndo builder that wants bare polished concrete to use the Hiperguard as the final sealer. It is designed for industrial and commercial concrete flooring. 

You can see the floor layout chalk marks in the photo. Also shown is the master bedroom framing. 

We had several accomplishments this week. First our septic tank and drain fields were installed, inspected and covered. There is a bit more work to level the slopes and run a sewer drain connection to the garage corner for us and our visitors to dump RVs. Next, our closed cell spray foam in complete (2" everwhere and flashed over the girts and purlins). Then we had the garage portion painted white-ish to make it look nice and keep the foam from yellowing. Next week we start grinding and polishing the interior concrete. 

Last post we reported that there were issues with the front patio truss height. We and Worldwide Steel came up with a solution to extend the column height by adding I Beam shim to the bottom of the column. The CEO of WWS was concerned about the look of the column, but we assured him it was not a problem since the trusses will all be enclosed and wrapped in stone. Installing the shims allowed our guys to continue the roof framing and build into the front to side hip joint. 

Meanwhile as the crew builds, Mrs. BluffBarndo met up with the Pony Express rider that travelled through town. 

A little off topic, but with this long weekend and no building activity, we had the chance to watch the annual Dayton Sheep and saw some wild goats in the same area. Click on the sheep photo to see the video.

One thing to consider with chosing a metal building over a conventional build is the benefits of this type of construction. Obviously, the esthetic is different but that is a personal choice. Here in Northern Nevada there are many steel buildings and as you can see by the photos, the finish can blend with the surroundings quite well. I want to detail some of the advantages and disadvantages of this construction style:

1. Fire resistance. Out here in the country, having a fire resistant structure is a real plus. While I don't expect the level of fires that the forests of the Sierra Nevadas can have, having steel facing on all sides and roof gives peace of mind.
2. Maintenance Free. Our GC mentioned this when he was talking about the construction and resontated as true. The paint is warrentied for 30 years even in the harsh Nevada high altitude sun. The structure itself is warrentied for 50 years. 
3. Earthquake and wind resistant. The design is good for in excess of 115 mph wind and constructed for this earthquake zone. 
4. Tight weatherproof structure. After the closed cell foam insulation is in, there are few penetrations in the structure that aren't very well sealed. I anticipate a very tight home from the blower door test that is a code requirement. 
5. Alternate construction techniques. In the end we are basically building a home inside a building due to code requirements. Since the web trusses are not necessarily sightly and the chord bracing is difficult to sheetrock we chose to frame inside the trusses. This adds cost, and decreases interior space. 

Web strusses, girts and purlins are constructed. Also window and door framing and windows are installed. Click on the photo for the video:

The crew from Clint Jensen Construction have done an outstanding job of not only erecting the steel structure, but also in framing out our window and door openings. We have had to adjust several window opening to accomodate the web trusses, chord bracing, and wind rod bracing. Take note that in a hybrid steel structure such as this, these components are part of the engineering of the structure for wind and earthquake shear and cannot be removed or modified. We had to move one window in the front  from the wind rod bracing section and several were moved to alternate locations due to interference from the chord bracing and trusses. Also the top floor windows were a challenge to fit in due to the need to have them up six inches off the patio roof. 

There was a week of no activity after the last post, then it got active. NV Energy came out for the Pre-con meeting with our GC and approved construction. Our GC immediately began trenching for the three inch conduit and two one inch conduits to the street for power, phone and cable (neither of which have service in our area). At the same time, our metal building crew began staging the metal trusses for assembly, and Maddog and I retrieved all the hardware from our storage unit. While the ditch crew began their dig to 5.5-6 feet down (the conduit needs to be below 5 feet from the surface) the metal crew began assembling the roof trusses and wood purlins for every other truss (see photo). The plan is to use a crane a spreader to lift the entire roof truss assembly onto the column trusses and adding the shear rods so that the erected assembly will be stable. The winds can really blow here to 40 mph or more and we're expecting a quick storm to come through on Monday.

Meanwhile a new visitor and baby came to visit last night. This is the first time we've seen deer here. 

Click on the photo to view the Episode 5 Patio pour. This demonstrates some interesting construction concepts. The base is brought in and then the water pipe is installed below grade (twice since it was dug up by the trenching backhoe). The patio itself is designed to be about six inches below the house slab with a 1/8" in 12" slope toward the edges. If this were completely exposed it would have been around 1:12" slope. Also note that the footings for the web trusses that support the patio cover are up to the same grade as the house slab, so the footings had to be designed to be on the same grade. My contractor Kyle from K&C Construction is really a smart guy when it comes to concrete. He not only wants it to be functional, but also look nice. 

After a week of snow and wet weather in which we see the freeze thaw cycle that deteriorates exposed concrete demonstrated in the middle of this video. Finally, the weather cleared and the crew poured the footings on day 1, front patio on day 2, and rear patio and side on day 3. The crew had a long day on day 1 and didn't get to break from 7 AM to 2 PM. Like my GC says, "You don't work concrete, it works you" to say that once the pour starts, there are no breaks until done. The other phrase he says that I like is that "there are three things guaranteed with concrete: it will crack, it can't be stolen and it doesn't burn."