Rotunda bones. Second floor.

We had an on site meeting with Jonathan and Tama of The Sound Vision so they could get a feel for the space they'll be designing in.  We're hiring them to design and install a system for lighting controls for many of the main rooms, sound and video distribution, security, and data.  No better day to be out there than on this beautiful October day.  It was great to see the progress on the second floor, as they got farther than I expected. 

 Here's where our master bedroom will overlap some of the garage space.  They're using a 2x6 support for temporary setup, but I think eventually, there will have to be a load bearing beam here.  Only a corner of the master closet will be in this overlap, but the floor will still be made of LiteDeck so we don't have to worry about impinging on the building envelope.

 Here's a shot of the rotunda steel through the front door.  Looks pretty crazy, but all the beams and posts will be hidden inside walls.

 The post in the foreground will be hidden in the study interior wall.  The curved I-beam of the rotunda will support the walkway above, which extends from the beam out to the upper rotunda walls.  The inside of the circle will be open to the second floor above.  Stairs will go up on the other side of the post.  It was engineered this way so there wouldn't be a visible post in the stairwell of the rotunda itself.  I think the section between the far post and the junction of the straight I-beam should be removed for the stairwell to be open, but I'll have to confirm this with Matt.  (pre-publish edit: Matt confirmed via text that this section will be cut away after the LiteDeck is poured.)

 Here's how the rotunda walk way is supported on the elevator side.  They couldn't use posts to support here since there isn't any structure in the basement to bear the load.  These L brackets are bolted into the concrete and will be inside of interior walls of the entry closet and powder room.  Because of this implementation, the powder room door will need to be offset a bit to dodge the diagonal bracket, so some rearrangement will be needed in the powder room.

 Detail on how the brackets are bolted to the elevator shaft.  Should hold just fine.

 Detail on how the L brackets are welded to the rotunda support.  Crazy how much weight will be supported by these brackets.  I think if we weren't using the LiteDeck, this wouldn't be possible.  The LiteDeck will be using steel for support, but when hardened, creates more structure and rigidity than wood or steel truss.

 Welding details of the two curved I-beam pieces.  I think the rebar was used to temporarily hold the halves together.  You don't see the plate that's welded on the other side.

 Shot of the rotunda steel from the greatroom.  The space between the beam on the right and the rotunda steel is for the stairwell.  It seems like there should be a beam welded between these two, to support the end of the rotunda walk way.  I'll have to confirm this as well.

 You can see the plate they welded on the outside of the rotunda support.  You can also see the crane used to hoist the heavy steel into place.

 They're welding porch posts into place so they can place the steel beams that will support the second floor turret.  Three posts will support three beams off the corner of the house here since 3/4 of the turret float above the front porch.  They placed plywood and 2x6 as temporary scaffolding so they could work out there.  I was tempted to venture out to get a feel how the porch will be, but I didn't want to get in their way.

 One of the welded posts in place.  I'm not sure when the actual deck structure will be laid, but I imagine it will be after exterior building materials are on so the deck doesn't get damaged.

 Beautiful skies make for great building days.  You can see some of the LiteDeck on the right.

LiteDeck installed over the kitchen, butlers pantry, mudroom and some of the dining room.  9' ceilings.  The LiteDeck sits inside these beams instead of on top of them so we won't have drop downs for the beam.  More temporary supports will be installed before the pour. 

 Looking into the kitchen and mudroom.  The 9' ceilings really enclose the space.  I know it's a huge room, but it still feels small.  Maybe it will feel bigger when walls are up and stuff is put in.  Does that make sense?

 Standing in the kitchen, looking at the mudroom and dining room.  Like the basement, every other wooden joist will be removed.  The remaining will provide a 16" nailer for drywall.  Talking to Jonathan, this should be enough space for speakers since the 6" in-ceiling units are designed to occupy the same space as a 6" recessed can light.

 Here are the three posts that will support the turret steel.  You can see the beam pockets in the corner of the house that will support the turret and rounded out porch roof.  I was wondering how this would be designed, and I have to say, it's pretty amazing.

It's really starting to resemble something we can live in.  On spectacular days like this, I really can't wait for this to be finished so we can move in.  There's still a TON of work to be done, but bursts of progress like this really help keep us fueled.

We have a second meeting with Margaret  and Eric, the kitchen designer at Cobblestone Cabinetry next week for the cabinet estimate revisions.  I think this will be pretty close to final design, but there will be some minor details to figure out.