74 NovaMan's Home Improvements - AKA 1979 Chevy Truck Backburnered

[74NovaMan]

At a time when we should be looking at being empty nesters, my wife and I have been looking at ways to make our current house work better for us for the next 15-20 years. Our 2 sons are 18 and 20 and are on opposite ends of the autism spectrum. Due that and various other variables, no one is moving out anytime soon. We have decided to make 2 major changes to our existing house. The first of which is to turn our existing deck into a 4 season porch. The second is to turn the bonus (trampoline) room above the garage into a master suite. This second improvement will allow us to use our existing bedroom as an area for our youngest to hang out as well as give us some private space.

Plans:

[74NovaMan]

First materials pick up



Existing Deck



July 1st - Digging the footings

[74NovaMan]

Next up is adding supports in the existing walls under the deck to carry the new loads

Water intrusion issue - issue is with the drip cap on the ledger board and will go away once the space is enclosed.



This is my buddy Dan:



The engineer wanted 2 studs. We added 3 for a total of 4 due to the notching for plumbing.

[74NovaMan]

Same thing on the other side

[74NovaMan]

After the new 2x6s were in we replaced the sheathing and siding and you cannot tell we did anything.

Next up is the ledger board for the new deck (for the grill)

[74NovaMan]

Next up is to pour the footings now that we finally have the permit!

[74NovaMan]

Installing the first set of LVLs (3 @ 14"+ long). More plumbing in the way as well as an interior floor joist. We notched for the plumbing and cut the floor joist back a couple of inches so the LVL and existing floor joist could share the top plate.

[74NovaMan]

Deck Demo:

[74NovaMan]

More Demo

[74NovaMan]

We salvaged most of the floor joists and the remains went on the burn pile. Sold these for $75 on craigslist!

[74NovaMan]

Next up were the 8" x 8" supports. 8 x 8 in a 7.5 x 7.5 bracket



2" x 12" s did not want to line up so I used this contraption to encourage alignment.

[74NovaMan]

Next up was to hang the floor joists. I made this "tool" to mark the locations and attached each bracket with 2 screws. Once the joists were in place I cam back and nailed in the hangers completely.

[74NovaMan]

Installed the subfloor last saturday.

[74NovaMan]

Sunday we added 2" x 6" s to the upper walls (for load and wall attachment).







Of course we ran into plumbing and stuff on the one side again.

[74NovaMan]

We started building walls yesterday but had to stop because the lumber yard sent framing nails that are not compatible with my nailer.