Upper walls being formed

Been a while since an update.  Lots have happened.
First, we got the basement walls mostly framed up, at least the load bearing ones.  There are a couple walls left, closet walls, etc, but nothing too pressing at the moment. 
Set the Ijoists and laid the subfloor.  This was harder than I anticipated mainly due to the 34' jiost we had to get over the wall with 6" #5 rebar daggers sticking up every 16".  Looked like a castle.  But we managed, and it took a few days to get the sheathing down.  I used LP 350 subfloor instead of AdvanTech.  They seemed like a similar product, but a couple bucks less a sheet, so figured I would give it a shot.  It did  go together easier than AdvanTech does due to their wedge shaped tongue.  They also have drainage channels in the tongues to allow water to drain faster and the deck to dry. 
However it did not have lines on it.  No idea why it would not, but it made nailing off the centers a lot harder.  Other than that, appears to be a good product so far. 

After that we started to back fill.  We burnt up most of our dirt files on the south and east, only leaving some black dirt.  The John Deere skidloader they brought out to use broke down after 1 scoop...a great start.  After their shop techs came to look at it, messed with it for several ours, they sent out the John Deere Implement tech.  He couldn't figure it out either....so what do they do?  Send a flat bed semi with a big Deere tractor to pull it away.  Seems very over kill...but it got the job done pretty effortlessly!  BTW...no, the tractor is not driving up onto my pile of foam and sheathing....

 

 

Spent a good 3 full days working on the main level Hobbs Vertical ICF walls.  All I know is there is no way I could have framed a double stud wall in 3-4 days, yet alone insulated it, sheathed it, and made it air tight at the same time.  (which it will be after the concrete is poured of course).  Not to mention its way easier building with foam than it is tipping up walls and sheathing. 
The first step is building the window bucks to the correct r.o. for the windows.  I used standard 2x10s which fit perfectly into the Hobbs studs.  The bottom is a treated 2x6 ripped...pics below with more on that.  We wrapped the buck with Tyvek.  I cut the foam and studs to fit, assembled the buck on the ground and tipped it up.  It is fairly time consuming to do it all, spent about a day and a half doing it.  But similar amount of time would have been spent framing the same thing cutting jacks, cripples, building headers, etc.

 

 

This is the window sill.  It is a treated 2x6 ripped in half to allow us to pour concrete into the bottom of the window.  There are #5 rebar above and below the windows, as well as on the sides for support.  

 

 

There are #5 rebar above and below the windows, as well as on the sides for support.  This pic below is looking into the side of the wall.  The vertical rebar continues on its 16" o.c. spacing.  The upper walls use #4 bars.  You can see the #5 bar below the window buck above. 

 

All of the walls are infilled with exception of the 11' section and above the windows as you can see.  The next series of pics are just of the various views.  This is standing in the mud room looking west towards the baster bath bedroom window in the far north west corner.

 

Looking south west.  The far window is the laundry room, with the 2 front bedrooms on the south.

 

 

(above) These are the monsters.  Looking south at the front door (3'x8' in the center), at the entry/foyer side window (2'x7'), and then the pride and joy (for the dogs I am sure) the dining room window that measures 8'wide x7' tall.  More on the windows and what we went with in another blog.  This window and the entry are my biggest solar collectors along with the 3 clerestory windows. 

I am certainly not looking forward to setting this window though....

 

(above) Looking at the 2 front bedroom windows and the laundry room window in the far south west.  The windows are sized to provide most of the heating needing in these bedrooms during a nice sunny day in the winter.

 

(below)  Looking north at the living room windows, patio door, and kitchen window.  This back wall is 11' 6" tall and will slope up to about 16' to form the clerestory.  The roof continues to the north, sloping down, and sits on posts and beams to form the covered porch out back.  14" deep TJI will form the framing here, with them stopping at the wall and sealed off obviously.  2x8s will continue over the porch.

 

(below) Another view out the dining room window.  You can see the pop bottle for a sense of scale.

 

Looking down at the stair opening.  I installed temporary 2x6 treads during construction.  Will take those off and install the superstep treads once all the mess is over with.

Looking towards the garage/shop heading into the mud room.

Looking north west at the garage.

Front view. 

 

Truss were delivered along with the beams needed.

 

Looking at the gable end trusses with a 14" energy heal on them.  Will allow me to get mid r50s over top of the wall, and end up with r60s in the main area. This was designed to sit 1/2" inside of the foam.  We will install 1/2" sheathing on the heal to form the insulation dam and tie everything together nicely.  It will allow the trusses to be sheathing/strapped down to the top plate which is anchor bolted to the concrete.  Makes for a nice strong roof connection.  Since its set back, it should allow the sheathing to flush up with the face of the foam and continue the siding right up.   

 

Here is my 5.5x19" architectural glulam I am really looking forward to seeing!  This will span the great room and support the clerestory roof.  However when they strapped it all together they did not use cardboard padding on all of the steel straps cause deep imprints into the wood.

   I will have to have a talk with them unfortunately...

 

Final view looking at the front (south) elevation.  The center area is 9' plates and drops to 8' plates in the bedrooms.  This change in plate heights allows my roofs to all plain out.  Plus I actually like 8' plates in bedrooms.