Seed Home v2 Data Collection

Data Analysis

An average intelligent person can take the CAD, compare it to Architecture Details to determine all the part layers and fastener schedules. Then total build time can be counted up. Because our build is highly modular, knowing one task allows one to extrapolate to an overall time for a given step, and yield a reasonble estimate of total time. Thus, these data points can be verified over and over until we get very specific and know the exact cost structure.

Reconciling CAD-BOM-Build is the key idea.

Total Time Budget Spreadsheet

edit

Heat Pump

• Mount blocking and mount for heat pump - 1.8 hr (behind existing beadboard, + 2 more for interior unit, + 4 for exterior. Drilled from outside to mark location. Had to move inner blocking. Careful about +/- 4" ajustment - we want to end up the mount on a low spot of siding so we can mount against siding without deforming siding. Use a socket to drive screws in, predrill with 1/4".

Finishing

• Nov 5 - 1:45 hr to QC electrical from C7-29 to C9-50. That is about 22 boxes or about 5 min per box. Meaning 6 hrs for entire qc - which is exactly the result of adding Nov 4-5 quality control. Next, 1 hr from C9-50 to C9-72-Fan or 22 boxes, 1 hr. Last step was unsheathing exterior of wire all at once or for an entire run, then doing all the wire stripping. This seems to work well as unsheathing takes more energy, and production lining makes sense. Indeed, 1 hr for 23 is 2.6 minutes or about half the former time. Thus, with production line it should take about 3 hours. We can probably production line the stripping. The Wagos + test points should be done all together. 3 hrs with 3 people, or 1 hour for a team of 3. It should be really fast in production line mode, it is the tool swapping that takes time.
• Nov 4 - 1 hr to get hang of qc procedure with electric rough. Total of 3:15 to qc up to Circuit 7 Box 29.
• Nov 3- 20 minutes testing first 2 circuits, induction cooker + fridge. Spent the time figuring out testing protocol - using 12v.
• Nov 2 - 1.5 hr to mount second shower. Fixed it by cutting hole larger so vertical tube is straight.
• NOV 1 - 1.5 hr - run 2 lines to bath tub vents. Mounted heat pump disconnect. Blocking was there. 1.5 hr - cut and grind slab pipe for toilet [recipe, diamond blade], welded in a toilet flange. Mounted shower head with 4" screws on one shower.
• Oct 31 Monday - 3 hr - installing second vent. 3" hole didn't fit so needed major rework, along with vent itself not fitting above tub with having to be under the main vent. Redid with flexible connector piece, relocated. Issue goes away with 9' walls. Expected real build time - 1 hr. Main challenge - drilling a hole. Hole location can be pre-done for tub module (vent fan hole), side of structural module (location of vent pipe to 1" +/-. In the exterior wall - we probably want to do that as the only required penetration after marking drill location. We can potentially do a knockout in exterior wall - which we just punch out after siding is installed, and we cut through siding with snips. Right now immediate route is - mount fan on tabs, use latch to hold top of fan in correct location, precut square hole and vent hole in side of wall module. Then drill from insid for locator hole, or drill from inside from cavity space - leaving room for interior drilling so we are only making final attachment from the outside. We make the final vinyl cutout with snips from outside - hole is drilled from inside to eliminate height/ladder risk on the second floor.
• Oct 30 Sunday - 3 hr - mounted bath vent floor 1 after documenting. Should take about an hour in practice. Need to send Wagos through hole first to post-connect to electrical. Drilling hole through wall took time, as hole is adjusted for location on siding so good seal is made outside on ridge. Cut aperture for bath vent.

+:

Second Walls

• Oct 29 Sat - 1 hr - final bottom blocking (by water lines) on first floor and sending water lines to sink through blocking. Thinking about final beadboard on second floor hallway.
• Oct 23 - plumbing test after setup. 15 minutes to test. 4 hrs to troubleshoot to 3 sigma- rubber washer on top of tub drain. 4" sausage works great. Cap of showers must b done before slip fittings. Mastered vac pump fitting assembly. Yesterday mastered water supply to house.
• Oct 22 - 1 hr. 30 min jb water weld. 1/2 hr cap all plumbing, figure out fittings for vac pump. Went with 1" PVC for heater pan drain.
• Oct 21 - 2 hr - leak test. Plugged 1" pipe with 3/4" pex - slips right in + shark cap. Leak fixed + took off water entrance any tightened. Still leaks with air at 120 psi. Can't tighten it. Used crazy glue, will finish with water epoxy if needed. Loctite 290 is only nsf 61 + wicking threadsealer I found.
• Oct 20 - 3 hr - finished all the upper blocking on second floor across Bedroom 2, then bath and end of Bedroom. Most of Bed 1 was the double wall, already done. Filled in blocking all over to stiffen panels - blocking should be added up front. Tired today.
• Oct 19 - 3.3 hr - pipe strap remaining PVC on first floor to make it solid. Note that modules can come pre-plumbed with PVC like this if parts are pipe strapped to modules. Built remaining sill plate and 2.5 wall sections for first floor. Did top plate integration, ended up doing a 2x4 on edge. Integration of second wall with laundry, where I added blocking as that blocking was missing.
• Oct 19 - 3.5 hr - second floor second walls. Technique is to fit them in, monolithic, no sill plate but will have top plate in next iteration. Wood grinder is the tool for very aggressive removal of wood material. Remember it's more dangerous than a metal grinder, which does not grab on flat surfaces. Finished lso pipe straps (2). And started about one hour (included in the 3.5) of final wall setting, doing the triangle section on top and alignment. Almost finished dividing wall between the two bedrooms.

Stairs

• Oct 17 - 1.5 hr - do shower drain floor one - documenting and studying drain assy in detail, fill hole with garvel. 1 hr - hanging final PVC with pipe strap on floor 1. did sill for second kitchen wall with ramset.
• Oct 16 - 1.5 hrs to prep gauges for pressure test, get parts for shower drain
• Oct 13 - 2 hr to fit 3 stringers,just using screws. Then 45 min to remount (remove temp screws, take down stringers, and remount tops with nails. Then 45 min to mount treads, fix stringers to sides with screws, suck the stringers even with treads. Then nailing off to fix completely to sides. These are temp treads.

Electrical Install

• Oct 12 - 1:30 to take down stairs. 45 minutes to hang first stringer, figuring things out. Lots of trim and ute chan detail to resolve and simplify wire routing - complexity there.
• Oct 11, 2022 - 1:20 hr - built landing. Measured, cut, screwed. Including 3 1x4s, and front face planed. Screwed into shape. Nailed off. 1:30 - put in utility channel 1x at 8.5" high behind the landing, so interior sheathing can be installed, and provided correct spacing for this with beadboard spacers. Moved landing into place. Next is hanging the stringers.
• Oct 10, 2022 - 1:10 hr. Cut 3 stringers. 8 hrs - touched up all trim paint - spackle plus ultra white
• Oct 9, 2022 - 1.5 hr - made 'sharkfin' template for stairs, and marked first stringer complete. Measured each 12.8 distance to keep stairs from compounding errors. Secured 2x8 from storage.
• Oct 8 - 5:45 hr. Finished all electrical rough-in. Biggest challenge: wrangling and twisting wires, working around insulation. Cable dispenser is an absolute must - probably will cut 30% time. Also watch out for threading - connecting something without first threading through in an easy way - so redoing or threading the long way. Irwin stipper is shit - maybe i got a lemon as it's supposedly well rated. Needs multiple hits to strip - first exterior platic, second interior plastic - and for all wires, multiple hits are needed esp 10 ga. All in all, 16 hours total. Expecting half of that next time. Time included documenting and pictures.
• Oct 7 - 4:30 hr. ran heater/light + bath through second floor, turns out to be much faster than around door. Finished SA + Washers. Time sink as panel was already installed by 1st bath, had to go behind cabinets to fish through. Time sink on going to second floor thru insulation. But down was easy,as landed down via utility wall in bath. Up by CSEd, down by utility wall.
• Oct 6 - 5 hr - ran fridges, start of living room, SA and Washers ran to south wall. Main challenge is twisting wires. May be better to staple single wires. Threading wire behind blocking - missed that 3 times. Ran first Living room line right instead of left to junction. Main optimization point: unspooling wire without twisting would likely decrease install time by a factor of 4. Critical point to improve.
• Oct 5 - 1 hr - induction furnace line run and connected to first breaker. Stapler is sweet.
• Oct 5 -2.5 hr - CSED breakers, blocking for ute chan around both doors on first floor. Slow die to picture taking and looking for some tools.
• Sep 24 - 7 hours - Blocking install. CSED install. Box locations set with taped markers. Lots of time could be saved if blocking and markers done at wall module step.
• 2 hours - the installing all boxes, some drilling thru walls for exterior boxes.
• All together much more time due to insulation present.
• Maybe mount boxes at same time that labeling is done.
• Some figuring out time was involved.

Water and Plumbing

• See the video tape

Interior Walls

• Goes well with nail gun. Steps: meausure, cut, nail. Bad nailing is not difficult to dismount.
• Forgot one 1/2" spacer by laundry wall - cut out a notch instead.
• Nail gun jams - clipped nails probably work better - they are tight, while the full heads can get bunched up at times.
• Ramset - works great, goes right down. Sometimes need to finish.

Canopy

• D78 - sun Mar 20 - 7.16 hrs - finished the deck. Spacing took a little time. Used starter strip 'springs' as spacer. Ended up being 48" joists so platform became 51 after spacers. Notched out next to house so contour of house trim is followed. 3 hours to hang canopy trim - after figuring out mounting. Detailed cuts needed on the PVC material - good working material.
• D77 - Sat Mar 19 - 7.25 hrs - corrected joists on canopy, finished canopy including light box prewired and roof, still needs bottom trim.
• D76 - Fri Ma4 18 - 3.5 hrs - started the canopy. Finished build instructions. Cut everything, ready to mount its ceiling [1]

Top - Gutter + Top Decorative Band + top siding

• D75 - Thu Mar 17 - 6 hr. Top band - siding done. 8 inch on sides with starter strip, 5" on front and back, loose hang with screw down through slots made with drill in body. Used 3/16 but as a mill in a cordless drill. Trick - mount pieces of siding as spacers to set starter strip location. Deck screws. Then remove marker starter strip and don the real starter strip - it can be put on over deck screws. Top band pinches nailing fin to cover nails - top siding is still nailed. Everything is intended to be loose for thermal expansion.
• D74 Mar 16 5 hr finishing top of house. Did the white band, some of front siding. J-chan on 4 corners. Marked all around for level of nailing fin. Nailed off the 5 and 8 inch bands. Now to finish the siding on 4 sides - 2-4 hours expected.
• D73 Mar 15 - 3 hr - finished additional 5 and 8 inches on bottom to plug up bottom hole of house top.
• D72 Mar 14 - 1 hr nailed off top band to verticals. Moved last of siding up to roof.
• D71 Mar 13, 22 - finished top plywood, corners, last ply. Next is starter strip, siding, white strip.
• D70 - 5.5 hr (330 min)- top sheething. Finished the verticals by removing corners and infilling verticals. Nailed off the top verticals, cut most sheething, attached some sheething. Sheething on the back needed holes, first located by 'transfer punch' of bolt head into the sheeting. Putting up most sheeting - cutting to fit along verticals. String pinched against verticals right next to corner, using wood blocks screwed down to pinch string.
• D69 - 7 hr (420 min) - mounted all verticals, started to remove corners. Mounted about 32' of the sheething. Process: notch and drill all. Note that the side verticals have different locations of the notch. Note back supports are 19", not 23". Properly supported cordless on low gear with socket works best. There is a solid state clutch that de-activates at end - otherwise torque on hands is significant. Proper hold is one hand on battery for extended leverage - other on trigger, not crossing hands as force is significant. In all cases, vertical was supported by 3" screw - do all supports with 3" screw first. Then do all pilot holes for bolts. Then one by one screw down the bolts - using bullet level. After bolts scewed down - release them with impact wrench, insert shims. The nailing fin side of siding works as a good spacer. On front, spacer went under bottom bolt. On back side, spacer typically went on top. On south side, no spacers were typically needed. On N side, spacers went on top usually. South side was most even - so that just the notch was sufficient to get to level. Lookign down the string, the result was even = +/- 1/8" usual, max +/- 1/4". Looking from ground - all looks level.
• D68 - 4 hr (240)- notched N&S verticals, mounted the full North verticals (about 10 total), trimmed the West verticals to size, checked string for alignment. Slight downward bow visible on white trellis band? Will see if that is still visible in daytime. Spacers were needed on top on the north side, not on the bottom side of verticals as expected. Turned around one notch, but it's better to shim below notch.
• D67 - 5.5 (330 min) posted the top verticals. Slit the notch. Cut 2x6s to 23". to size. Predrilled 2 holes. Attached with screw. Cut spacers from siding. Used pneumarltic impact wrenches. Still need to notch the n+s verticals.
• D66 4.5 (270 min)- put up corners for mounting top decorative band of house - 2 2x6 screwed together. Screwed down to house. Not easy to align - term bar + screw heads in the way. Did 3/8" bolts - with predrill + 11/64" pilot. 4 bolts per corner. Leveled. Marked 5.5" to know how far down to go. 23" long members - back will be 19 but all corners are 23". Put up string, reviewed string. Started first vertical support. 2 holes predrilled, then pilot in ledger. Moved it up to the string. Then cut out a slit for the termination bar, so that vertical support can be vertical. Marking each vertical at 5.5" - but don't need to as string should mark it. Used one screw to hold it in place to drill the pilot holes. Probably will need shims under the verticals to get them perfect vertical, where string runs half way through them, no more than 1/4" tolerance off center.
• D65 6.25 - strengthen nailed ledgers for roof, hung gutter, covered n+s with epdm + angle flashing double detail. Attached downspout. Releveled gutter. Measurements: South side is 16'2", and North side is 16'1" long. 16'1.25" is expected based on foundation, and 5/8" exterior ply on each side.
• D64 - 6 hr - did siding above trellis West side. Shifted entire starter strip to do this. Then finished the white band of trellis - about half of the 1x6 trim was left, corrected corners and stabilized the seams. Started mounting gutter with hangers. Re-tested gutter, 1.5" fall on south side, and 0.5" further fall on north side. 1x4 for hanging and offsetting gutter lays right on angle flashing, should slope with the gutter.
• D63 - 3.5 hr (220 min)- 1.5" flashing on top of trellis.
• D62 - 3 hr - cold. Finished Vertical extensions. Started top part of house - top band test. Changed blade on miter saw - took 45 minutes as guard spring came out. Do not remove guard center bolt - just metal plate bolt to change blade.
• D61 - 1.75 hr (105 min) - Vertical extensions of trellis for second 6" band of trellis. Did part of W and all of S side - need E Side - about 19 more? Did the filler of trellis where there were 20" gaps corresponding to 'successive overlap' of corners.
• D59 - 4.75 hr- Gutter work. Sun Feb 20. Leveled gutter with water. Gutter level from trellis level - 1/2" fall on far side, 1.5" fall on near side to downspout. Added backing 1x4. Installed downspout. Joined 2 gutter sections. Capped both. Vise grips do not work to plug end caps. Used a rivet. 2 rivets for mid. 4 rivets for downspout.

Top decorative band total only (no gutter or siding) - 39.75 hr. Major nightmare.

Vinyl Siding

• D60 Tue Feb 22 - 4 hr - finished north upper side of carport. Long time in freezing weather, had to warm up 4 times. Good gloves are a missing link.
• D58 Tue Feb 15 - 4.5 hr finished South side of house, set up for top of North side of carport.
• D57 Mon Feb 14 - 4.5 hr east side top finish, 2/3 of south side done. Gets slow towards top.
• D56 Sun Feb 13 - 2 hr top of east side near finish.
• D56 Sat Feb 12 - 2 hr - top of east side. 5"+43" on each side works for cutout by window. 2.25 cutout height. Left a 3/4" space between J chan and trellis. Used undersill trim to capture nailing edge on top. Undersill trim used on top of windows as well. Need to do second window tomorrow.
• D54 Thu Feb 10 - 2 hr. Went to see engineer about 3rd party inspection. Top of front. Slow - as it's at top.
• D53 Wed Feb 9 - 6 hr - 3/4 finished on East side. Working at height makes it harder.
• D52 Tue Feb 8 - 6.5 hr - finished north side of house, now East side. Got half way up. Double fire on nail gun wastes time. Depth is not consistent - joists in some places, panels in others.
• D51 Mon Feb 7 - 7 hr - North side of house in carport and above carport. Got up to 3/4 of the part above carport. Logjt fixture, trim, J-chan, starter strip. Pay attention to door being exactly multiples of 8 such as 88 so that trim can go over the top of door without cutting. See the video tape.
• D50 Sun Feb 6 - 4.25 hr - west side house - north section finished. Undersill trim + 2.5" section at top.
• D49 Sat Feb 5 - 4 hr - west side house, finished carport. Real pain to logic out spacing when end bar is a multiple of 8" siding. Here we had 32" for the railing height.
• D48 Fri Feb 4 - 5 hr - west side carport. 2/3 done.
• D47 Thu Feb 3 - 4 hr. Siding inside carport. Starter trim, J channel, door trim. No penetrations - all to be done later as it is rain-protected.
• D46 Tue Feb 1 - 4 hr. Door awning bar. Small space between features is a pain. Worked front around windows. Set up laser. All front lines up.
• D45 Mon Jan 31 - 5.75 hr siding, East side carport finish on top, finished North side.
• D44 Sun Jan 30 - 5.5 hr siding. East side carport. Towards top of east side. Difficulty - uneven gap on top.
• D43 Sat Jan 29 - 5.5 hr siding, did south to head height, started East side. Window cutout - takes time.
• D42 Fri Jan 28 - 5 hr siding. 1/3 of South side, finished south third of west side. Need to finish up top with 1" space left - to be done at end making sure I have enough material. Fatigued - too much ice cream yesterday.
• D41 Thu Jan 27 - 5 hr siding. Most of south third of west side.
• D40 Wed Jan 26 - 6 hr siding. Finished to top of the mid of West side. Got another ladder, extended length of ladder jack chains - another hour.
• D39 Tue Jan 25 - 4 hr. Siding. West side. Half up the middle. Then 2 hr making chain-hang ladder jacks. Got sucked in to figuring out heat pump coil.
• D38 Mon Jan 24 - 5 hr - siding. West side, half up the left side of west side. Did the 2 divider bands on the back.
• D37 Sun Jan 23 - 8 hr - siding. First layers. Mostly j channel - one last 12" band on carport.
• D36 - Sat Jan 22 - 7 hrs - J channel around windows on ground floor and at height. Finished south corners at height. Around carport. Everything is measured and fit in place, goes pretty slowly with height. This would be pre-installed on modules in next build.
• D35 Fri Jan 21 - 4.7 hrs - Finished second carport door trim (12" + vertical angles. Did the top angle (horizontal) after vertical angles. Started on siding j channel + starter strips.

Interior + Trim

• D34 Thu Jan 20 - 6.25 hrs - 2 hr to install 12" band, 6" band and trim around carport door. Verticals are made into angle, nailed with finish nailer. For 12" band - hung it up on 2 forks. Finish nailed with 2" nails - not framing nails - so it could be modified if needed later? 4 hr Interior - finished 6 more panels (removing one) - nailed down into joists. End panel of North room was 23" - had to modify it. Modified the adjustment panel. Added blocking for utility channel to many of these. About half way on 2x6 and into joist - missed a few with 3" screws. 2-3/8" would work at an angle to not penetrate floor (1.5+3/4=2-1/4". Just a small angle would suffice without penetrating out the plywood - just to hold the interior wall modules in place.
• D33 Wed Jan 19 - 5.8 hrs - 4.3 to reinstall window trim, nail it off with .112 framing nails. Nailed off all trim - corners of house and carport. 1.5 hrs to install 2 more wall panels. Breaks every 1-2 hours. Includes camera setup (10 minutes x2). Notes: trellis makes a good place to hang 24' ladder so it doesn't slip - it locks to the sides and backwards. Nailer would get stuck after hitting a nail etc under.
• D32 Tue Jan 18 - 3.5 hrs - Got southern trim corners up to trellis. Formed an angle from 2 trim pieces by 2" finish nailing trim, then putting up. Not nailed off yet. Cut vinyl flashing at bottom. Redid one corner which was finish nailed with 8by to 6by thus 9x6 inch instead of 8x7 inch. Set up 300mm focal length camera. Putting angle across 2 ladders works best for stapling. Next: 12" band, window trim replacement - and we're ready for siding starter strips and side J channels.
• D31 Mon Jan 17 - 3.7 hours. Converted wall to door, installed 3 interior door modules. Rough opening for 30x80 door is 32x82.5, and for 36x80 door it's 38x82.5. 30x80 and 36x80 are 'nominal sizes' - actual size is different. For door modules - they actually go up easily and are fixed on 4' grid.
• D30 Thu Jan 130 6 hrs - Trim on carport. Figuring out detail - straightness, alignment. Goes very slowly, as need to measure then cut, not digital design. Now North corner of carport, north corner of house, and railing is done (top x8 and side x6 all around. House to carport corner is such that inner edge of 3/8"x8" on carport matches the inner edge of the house 1x6 - with the x8" sticking over the top of the carport. This way inner edge is neat.
• D29 Wed - 4.7 hr - did carport trim - x6 corners on north side, x8 railing and started 1x up the house. Order of build is shown at [2]. Measuring and cutting takes long. Used trim screws to do initial hold then to adjust. Secondary - finish nails. Make sure to look behind the sheathing to see where studs are located. 2" finish nails are way too long where there are no studs behind.
• D28 Tue - 1 hr - moved second bathtub in. These days it's revisiting final design of all things rough-in - electrical + plumbing, + wall penetrations. Reversed night shift to day shift.
• D27 Mon - 1 hr - moved bath tub in with Catarina
• D26 Sun - 2 hrs - moved interior panels in the house, started moving bathtub up stairs.
• D25 Sat - reworking electric design
• D24 Fri - 5 hrs. Putting panels on. Rest was figuring out old work boxes and plumbing. Mounted 2 panels, base mount strip, cut out electrical boxes. Filled more insulation. Mounted one light for outside panel.
• D23 Thursday - 2 hrs. Started filling last insulation, one panel which wasn't done - plus moving electrical boxes after having planned apertures and studied interior finish plywood strategy. Worked out interior details of wall location and panel lengths, including 2nd story bathroom location.
• D22 Wednesday - 4 hrs. Fighting 10F weather. Trimmed off vinyl flashing on bottom. Started first 2 starter strips. Took down battens. Trimmed front door and J-channel around it except top where top J corner cracks trying to do the angle cut on top. Too cold. Assessed trim supply - decided on 1x4 for inner door. Will need more 1x6 for trellis band. 3/8x8 is sufficient for top house band.
• D23 Tue - 2 hours. Laser levelled line at bottom. Moved over trim from painting inside to work site. Mulched around house. Went to store to get pellets.

46 so far

Interior 2nd floor Ceiling

• D21 - 8.5 hr - 12 panels to finish at 3 am. Lessons: last panel - added block (1x10 stake) as underside to nail into. Some panels - need to punch in nails. Where missed the joists - could feel solid vs non-attach - if veered off, redid right there. Edges - nail every 2 inch. Otherwise 6-8" spacing throughout. Single side support works as triangle, single long roof attached 2x4 (6 foot undergrad) works no problem. Buy everywhere - support is not exact as everywhere one hand holds, other nails. 45 min per panel average, including little breaks. Messed up one edge which was too tight - cut with circular saw from underneath with plunge. This was mis-cut (wrong edge was cut so factory edge did not go against last panel. Packed insulation into some gaps. Unruly insulation makes it hard to press up when sliding panel in over support. Some edges very tight - used a board to hammer panel in. Some have 1/8" gap - will expansion be an issue? Could see ceiling suck in if already nailed and put in extra nails to even out edges. Overall - blocking works well, surface relatively decent.
• D21 - 8 hrs, first 4 panels of ceiling with learning curve. Cleanup initially - about an hour or two- see video tape for detail. Side triangles work well. Tall stand does not. Holders from 2 sides work - mid point support. Unsymmetrical support - too much strain on corner. Broke one panel edge this way. 4 mid-blockings work. 5+3 2" finish nails for blocking. On edge - nails every 6". Started with screws - takes too much time. Nails can break through panel - slight angle helps. Started in middle row, above the stairs. Start away from stairs - all the setup there takes too long. Last row is cut as in plan. Blocking is pre-attached. Last row is ted - quick. Summary: triangle support - _single one_ - is sufficient. 2 mid supports from side work best.
• D20 - 4 hrs. Site cleanup, moving materials. Covering for snow. Moved materials for doing vinyl siding. Prepped for vinyl siding all week including trim. Winterized Bosch heater in Faculty house and other final winterization (not counted in hours).
• D19 - 2hrs. Painting, site prep for siding. Cleanup. Messing with nail guns.
• D18 - Wed - 5MJ + 6KM. Ceiling side blocking. Insulation in ceiling, stapled.. Moved 4 bags of insulation insulation from workshop. Used some left over unfaced - bad idea. Batts are convenient 4' pieces, go in easily with one person. Make sure to use the 4' batts.Staple loading took too much time.

33.5 so far

Trellis

• Trellis Procedure Notes
• D17 - Tue - 6 MJ + 6 KM. Trellis white band corner pieces - 4 extensions. Trellis - second band of main trellis (not top extension) + stain wood. Cut verticals for second band. Moved treated lumber to site. Took down trellis supports. See the video tape for hour verification..
• D16 - Mon - 4 hrs total. Hanging trellis and white band, hung 4 white bands and 9 trellis pieces by now.
• D15 - 4 hr total - Sunday - Too cold. First white band piece. Second white band (first band on west side). Trellis lag bolts.
• D14 - 8 hr total. Laid up first to fifth trellis. Built triangle supports and hung them to mount trellises. Moved trellises to roof. Predrilling trellises for bolts and screws. 8 hours?
• D13 - MJ 6 hrs, KM 7 hrs - Began Trellis Frames - 2x6. Got wood over to house. Finished all frames, into dark with headlamps. How many frames? 12.

41 so far (30/24 for 1300 sf/1000 sf implies 51.25 for trellis). Note that the top band itself (see above) required as much time as this! or 40 more hours. Next time it's expected to take

Carport

• D12 - 4 hrs - morning 1 hr Marcin setting up stops to hang remaining carport + 3 hrs Ken on hanging and cutting more siding. We ran out of full pieces so used scabs in hidden places. Significant scraps are left at the end of the day - can be used on top for decorative trellis. Rest of day - 3 hrs with 2 people moving panels into a large 8x16 foot stack.
• D11 - 2 people - 2.75 hrs each. Carport - north side. Put in 4 remaining posts, banister, and under-carport base supports.
• D10 - 2 people, 6+5 hours. Punched post bottoms in, laid the next post on carport. More battens, more siding on gutter side.
• D9 - 2 people, 4 hrs ea - battens + Panels + top carport panels. With one person - one must check alignment by going downstairs. One panel was 45", had to take it down. Fixing on-edge battens to flat on east side. Fixing one uneven mid-batten on North side. Cut 5 railing posts, drilled 5 holesaws for bases, watered them. To knock in posts tomorrow once they soften with water. Needs big hammer.
• D8 (Sunday 12/12/21) - 2 people, 4 hrs ea - battens + panels + railing on carport
• D7 - 2 people, 3 hours each, rest was 1 hr setup. Panels on carport. Leveling with laser, adding battens. Some battens were twisted. Trimmed EPDM at North side.

45.5 so far (about 20 hrs for carport railing posts in this. Does not include the start of railing posts (half done?) durring the summer with people from under the bridge)

Finish Grading and Insulation Skirt + Carport

This started on December 5, 2021.

• D6 - 4:30 - 2 people - Spread gravel under carport. Marked level with laser, raked around the house for finish pebble skirt. Laid down landscaping strip, formed border with edging, spread gravel. Gravel is really fast - about 20 minutes with 2 people. 4x8 area for front deck was made. More loads of soil moved in by front deck. Landscape fabric stapled down with 4" staples, including edging, where staples fit around ears fo edging. One connection was made in edging, not by drain pipe. Lessons: graveling is rewarding.
• D5 - 2:45 - MJ - Tilled carport, added more soil to carport with microtrac. Laid down landscaping fabric, moved all gravel from remaining pile into the carport. Notes: lowered bucket on Microtrac prevents from tipping forward when bucket full. Tips forward if bucket is brimming to the top. Tomorrow plan: 1. spread gravel in carport, do gravel skirt. Finish grade around gravel skirt. Spread straw. Do greywater pond for SEH.
• D5 - 1 hr - 2 people - rake down skirt in preparation for pebbles with edging at 6" from top. Scooped some more soil with MicroTrac for low spots.
• D4 - 1.33 hr - covering skirt with soil - took down pile of soil more or less completely to the ground, about 20-30 scoops. Summary: not as fast as a skid loader, but not paintfully slow. Rough riding on rough terrain, and also case for remote control on comfort and safety.
• D3-1.33 hr - backfilling skirt with soil using Microtrac. Loader mount broke off after a few minutes, finished tilling carport inside and buried rest of sides by hand. Needs to use up backfill pile back from grading the carport. To reweld tomorrow. Loose tilled soil works great - whenever weather is dry.
• D3-1.23 hr - covered with tar paper on one half, plastic sheet on second half. 50 minutes for the covering with sheet, then cover with some soil. Made accommodation for 4" of insulation above water line. Did insulation cutout there for future trenching.
• D3 - 0.66 hr - finish south side of house with insulation, with outward slope. Raised 2 fiber cement boards - by lifting and tamping soil underneath with a hammer.
• D2 - 3.75 hr - install 3 of remaining cement board. Set up laser (for viewing) and lay down foam insulation skirt on 3 sides. South side remaining. Moved some of the cement board upwards a little if it settled.
• D2 - 1.33 hr - tilling prior to laying insulation. Measuring laser line 10" below top of foundation
• D1 - 1.33 hr- finished last side grading - until spray out of broken o-ring on pump. Replaced fitting.
• D0 - 2.2 hr - grading, with heavy root around carport. Finished drainage around carport. Moved carport exterior panels for the nth time. Prepared East side for shallow insulated footer. Technique that works is 20 degree down ange, and just lift, no curl - for successive digging about 6 inches at a time. Pump outlet port got loose. Mist of fluid comes out through o-ring (loosening is a disadvantage of SAE fittings).
• D-1 - 1.5 hr Microtrac time inc Time for camera setup - finish of bulk grading around back and around carport for water drainage of water that comes from northeast slope

+Bent QA plate before that when bucket-side pin came out on bucket cylinder. Heated it and hammered it into place.

• 1 hr - Back in summer time- another hour to start that trench under summer heat. Finishing work - repeated forward and lift with no bucket curl worked best to make long, controlled cut. Bucket height adjusted the grade. Good case for automation with laser guide for height like on quarter million dollar bulldozers

28 so far

Staircase

• 0.75" taper going up
• Right framing wall is about 3" skewed at the top

Notebook Data Collection Snapshots

Here.

July + August

• Day 34 - Fri Aug 6. Rigid foam insulation install. Should go quickly. Then EPDM. EPDM bond - scabs, don't puncture through. Precut on ground, makes it easier to cut. Do it in garage area? Notes: 6" screws with washers were sticking out, ripped EPDM when dragged across. Screwed screws in more and put sill gasket on this, taped with seam tape or butyl tape. Left 2x4 hole in roof, draped EPDM on it. Taping and screwing down insulation was easy. Technique of cutting insulation should be developed - go back and forth with a knife and that works well. Cut of EPDM was needed - to get roll up through hole in ceiling. We cut 1/3 off the 20x50 roll. Pictures - [3]
• Day 33 - Thu. Aug 5. Installed roof OSB. Cut insulation box riser - 4" - plywood + mostly 10' 2x4s. Screwed in insulation box riser. Slight rain rained through sloped roof. OSB installation was seamless, no pun intended. Laid first-laid row (row 2 looking from West) west of the 8' mark. Alignment was perfect. Procedure: screw down 0 and 8' marks, so that 2-4-6 foot location joists are movable. Then, lay the first sheet at 4' mark of first-laid row, staggering the pattern with 4' offset. This now locates the corresponding joist. Nowhere do the 2 and 6' locations have an OSB seam - so these can fall anywhere. The point of locating the 4' marks is - the joists can shift N-S, so that alignment of the OSB is perfect and goes fast. As soon as a 32' row is laid, 2 teams can work from this row. Heave-ho of plywood to the top of the roof is accomplished from the short edge of an incomplete row - otherwise it's more difficult to drag the OSB up. Improvement points - power ladder, or grapple for OSB that allows a handle to be used.
• Day 32 - Wed. Aug 4. Roof joists, riser, top plate installed. See picture of dimensions of roof [4]. Note that the measurements of diagonals at top plate were off by 2" - 35'7" and 35'9". At the top of roof box, cross measurements were 35'9" for the NW to SE, and 35'8-3/4" for NE to SW, or near perfect alignment. This indicates that the former measurement, off by 2", is bogus. How can we shift 2" when we measure at the top of roof box. Hint- do not let novices measure at the ring end of tape - have them measure at the reading end of tape because the ring is unclear in terms of where to measure from. 9 AM to 7 PM work day.
• Day 31 - Tue. Aug 3. Roof Joists, riser, top plate of second story prepped. MJ KC visit - Dean Truman
• Day 30 - Mon. Aug 1. Second story built, all day
• Day 29 - Fri Aug 30 - 4 second story windows built, afternoon
• Day 28 - 1st floor finish of joists
• Day 27 - Walls finish
• Day 26 - top plate, walls
• Day 25 - walls
• Day 24 - walls
• Day 23
• Day 17 - modules, window module
• Day 16 - modules with insulation, workshop

Day 9

• 1 hr spent with 2 people - final sand.
• Tree planting + house cleaning + MicroTrac upgrade start - rest of day

Day 8

• 8.33 hr tot, 1.5 cleaning MH 4. With 2 people.
• Finished Stain. Now needs varnish and final sanding.

Detailed Analysis, Long Clip 1

• Total clip - 17:38 min - or 8:49 hrs (1 minute to 30 minute ratio)
• Start - 0:15

  20 - first sand.

• 2:50 - finished sanding. 2:30 means 1:15 hr.
• Caleb did 10 from 21-54 sec = or 33 sec - meaning 3.3 sec per or 1:39 per panel.
• 10 painted from 2:50 paint start to 3:39. Or 2.45 minutes per paint.
• 3:45 to 4:01 break. 7 min.
• 2:50 paint to 5:42 paint - 1 hr 26 min.
• 5:42-6:33 cleaned up from paint, set up racks for 2nd coat. 25 min.
• 6:33 second coat start. 13:26 end - or 3:26 hr. That is 1.03 min per panel. - with 2 people working on it. So 2 min per panel for 1 person. Consistent time is 2 min per coat.
• 9:30-10:44 break. 37 min break.
• If we add up 200 panels - one sand, one coat, second coat - then total time should be 600 minutes. That is 10 hours. of time.

Day 7

Pix - [5]

• 8:20 for 2 people - remove and organize foundation forms, and keep working on 2nd story floor boards. Still a few left on 1st coat, still needs second coat according to procedure - [6]

Day 6

See video tape - [7].

• 8 hrs x2 people - cut all floor boards for 2nd floor from 1/4" sanded plywood, start painting, lesson on sanding and painting. Time spent figuring out jig. Time to cut all joists to size - according to [8]
• Caleb miscut 3 joists by 2 feet. Learning: don't use feet - use inches (189" - not 15'9" - the former cannot be mistaken on a tape measure). In this case, 15'9" was mistaken for 13'9".
• Josh mentioned a local contractor - charged $270k for a 1000 sf home, not including land and utility hookups - just build. Includes labor and materials, some outsourced to subcontractors (electrical, etc).

Day 5

See video tape for complete times. [9]

• 58 minutes for panel #2 - Caleb and Josh. First was figuring out how to do it - punch insulation under blocking.
• Sanded plywood - got a little wet on edges - starts to delaminate easily - it is fragile.
• Steve Grubbs - bible nondenominational - nice guy - contractor from Cameron - 1000 sf house
• Lux Construction Co - Eric
• Ed Riley - contractor
• Bolts - 3/8" for temp structure - not used - just screwed in
• Finishing paint touchup
• Missed part of indoor rafter
• Yesterday - did 1 gallon of 3 of Walnut stain with diesel, should be mineral spirits, but probably ok since the walnut stain itself is really nasty already
• Spraying treated lumber - came out way darker than panels and 1/4s - different wood composition? 'So can spray 1 time and spread with rag to get evenness' and more light color instead of overspraying

Day 4

• At end of it, about 1/2 bucket of white exterior paint is left
• 20 hrs - 17 + 3 hr at end to finish spray. Management - 8:30 hrs. Just Josh + Caleb.

See video tape - [10]

• Tree seeds, bugs, dirt get on beadboard on floor. Set up on floor only under clean conditions. Probably needs retouch. Many places where ridges didn't get filled in totally - bad angle on floor. Standing up gets ridges. Needs a jig to hold up panels leaning against each other, maybe touch-up of small holder points at end. Or design touch-up-less holders that allow full access to panel
• Got airless sprayers for stain fixed - 2
• One sprung a large leak, with walnut
• Finished on one
• 8-7:40 MJ
• 8:30 hr for Caleb and Josh
• Used 60% Jarrah Brown to 40% diesel for red stain - 2 coats + touchup
• Started with full Jarrah Brown - way too dark or airless
• Airless goes super fast - no point at all for HPLV Purple - 10x speed increase on airless - sucks 1-5 gallons at a time before refill
• Not a single clog
• Needle flipped for purging
• Nozzle must be released sometimes if 3000 PSI pressure locks up nozzle
• Nozzle must be exactly lined up - otherwise it will backspray on operator
• Wear safety goggles - can penetrate skin
• Prime with setting down
• Spray with setting on forward.
• Use high pressure setting
• It takes one breath to paint a panel
• Difficulty bending down
• One camera bumped - mini usb charge port seems to have gone out
• Beadboard Panels on back of pickup - lay them all out - easiest way to spray regarding all at one time
• Vast majority of time is materials handling - people can't keep up with sprayer re moving panels into place
• Do not use purple gun any more - night and day difference - if all laid out it would probably take 3 hours to paint everything
• At end, ceiling and trim went very quick
• Data on materials moving times______________
• Body count of empty 5 gallon jugs and paint remaining______________ - for gloss, white, red, walnut
• Seems like I have too much 2x6 PT stained - ____________ - needed- band holder = 100' = 6 long ones, that's all. But also - the roof hold-down? Another 6, so probably 12 total?
• One side trim paint for carport and window trim?_______
• Should be 2 sides trim for decorative band?______
• What actually got 2 sides - any?

Day 3 - 4/29/21

See video tape - [11]

• 20.5 hours + 7.5 hr management (did some lifting)
• 3 hours Matthew, 5.5 Brayden, 6 for Josh and Caleb
• Laid all panels on ground for spraying, with pro pump sprayer. Goes fast.
• Made racks for putting up the exterior treated lumber for staining and did all exterior treated
• Did 8 of the carport ceiling.
• Painted all purchased interior panels, needs second coat on about 24 (not finished) +28 (pile from first Sunday and Katie Crew).
• Laid out _____many____ beadboard panels on driveway and elsewhere
• Used up ____27.5_____ buckets of paint so far (120 sf/gallon - ridiculous - for ~120 panels).
• Used up _____lots_____ gallons of stain so far. 9 counted in garbage.
• Used up _____2.5______ High Gloss Exterior so far, 1.5 left ? 4 total?
• Interior panels got wet under tarp.
• Some 1/4" sanded ply got wet under tarp on edges
• Cleanup of 3 guns from oil paint takes 1 hour with one person.
• Conclusion: airless sprayer is a must. Each panel takes a minute or even less - check the video tape
• For trim and exterior stain outside of panels - limiting step is material handling, not paint time with HF purple gun.
• Compressor with 3 sprayers - works well. Airless is an absolute must next time - get everyone materials handling, and one person spraying.
• Beadboard - must be sprayed from 2 sides for it to get in cracks.
• Caleb hated the sticky stain
• Matthew went at it - self directed - we set up 5 staining racks total.

Day 2 - White Paint - 4/25/21 Sun

Video Tape - [12]

• Time budget - 9 hours work. 10.5 actual. Lots of moving things, HVLP is definitely not to be used here. Works, but takes too long. Not for production, but may be ok for 1-off. Calculate total time if Purple HVLP - compare economics to airless. Still probably faster than rollers.
• Katie Ousley, Daniel + Andrew Wilson
• Painting/staining - painted 28 panels white, but needs finish coat)
• Purple HVLP - needs 2 coats or more. Not easy to do full hide - too slow.
• 3.5 hr with 3 people. But - setup for taking panels down, and putting up interior panels for spraying.
• 3 hr at best with 3 people if exclude equipment setup (not spraying, clogged upon startup)
• check video for actual time
• I believe we used no more than 3 gallons - one bucket - which was not full - for the 3 hrs of 3 people.

Day 1 - Finishing Temp Structure + Stain

Video Tape - [13]

• House time budget - 15 hours. 10 hours stain, 6 hours concrete polish including 1 hr setup. 2 people.
• Prior time total from Foundation - 42 hrs, and Stain - 7.2

Exterior Stain Spraying

• Usage: 6 gal for 56 panels=300 sf/gallon. Half the stated max. Windy conditions outside + fuzzy surface can be the culprits. This includes stain from winter staining indoors, 9 panels per gallon about.
• 29 done - Randy + Caleb - Randy started at 11 AM. Caleb + Randy = 4+6=10 hr for about 30 panels so 20 minutes each. Check the video tape.
  • 27 left
  • Total was - 59+24=83 total
• Josh - all day on concrete polish. 3.5 hours on 50 grit and 1.5 on 500 grit. (before that, setup water, and finish of temp structure). Total hours from 8 AM to 5 PM.
  • 4 hours - temp structure frame finish up to trusses going on top starting at the 16x16 already done (1.2 min at 3 sec interval = 2 hr), water hookup, practice, comparison of triple grinder with single - both worked just about same speed, so settled on 1 grinder. Caleb finished putting up the trusses, after getting them to the top with Josh.
• 7" grinding wheel - for 500 sf minus the bathtub area and minus the stair area. Rest was not attended to since boundaries for cabinets are not clear.
• 1.5 hr on 500 grit - but that is too fine so that did not really do anything, as expected because one cannot skip steps.

Paint Available - as of Day 1

• Walnut 3 gal
• [3] 5 gal exterior semigloss - turned to [4] + 1 more or 21 gallons total.
• [1.5] interior white (one extended). Used up [0.5] already.
• 6 Jarrah Brown. Have 1 left.
• Return - 4 gold

Need

• Jarrah Brown - for 27 panels left. 17 need to be double sided.

Day -1

See the video tape - [14]

• Did the temporary covered structure - Caleb finished trusses 8-10 AM

Development Time Comment

Overall dev time until SEH 2:

• Former builds - 50 people*80 hours - 1 workshop - 4000 hours
• 30 people * 40 hours = 1200 hours
• 2 full person years direct development - 4000
• 1 full person year background - 2000
• Ancillary systems and machines - 1 full year of development time - 2000

Total - 13.2k hours of development.

Why large scale development is needed? - and the reason is that it takes tremendous effort to deliver the above stated goal. In practice, the Extreme Enterprise Manual can only set a pattern for one house model, but with the information provided, other models can readily be derived. First model will require about 40,000 hours of development/documentation to give it full digital scalability. Each additional model will probably require 1000 hours of development. The numbers add up to 24 hrs*2000 people = 48000 hours, where 1000s of hours (estimated time spent already is 8000 hours to get to the design core).

Wall Panel Predictions

edit

Stain

• Jarrah Brown - 9.2 panels sprayed per gallon, full strength.
• 60/45 PSI setting on both guns. 60 PSI initial, 45 PSI during spray
• Both guns on Ingersoll Rand gas compressor, 1 gas tank for 8 hours, about 2 quart?
• Initial panels - 52 minutes to stain. Have to brush them off before spraying.

2 handed spraying with an Ingersoll Rand compressor, 60 PSI with 45psi trigger pressure using the famous Harbor Freight Purple Guns and 32 oz gravity cups. https://www.harborfreight.com/20-oz-h...​. Strained with 60 mesh strainer. https://www.harborfreight.com/pack-of...​. Disclaimer: Harbor Freight is not paying us to advertise their wares.

Works well in sub-freezing weather as in the video. Each gallon of stain covers 9.2 panels. 18 seconds of video at 3 second time lapse interval means 27 minutes of video - or 1 panel stained with Jarrah Brown color every 9 minutes. Includes time to brush panels off with broom, as there is sawdust on these rough cut exterior panels, and time includes straining stain and moving panels. For an entire Seed Eco-Home 2 with 48 of these panels (1536 square feet of panels), that would be 7.2 hours for exterior stain at this rate. Is that good or can we do better?

Spraying Tests

• Note: latex, and acrylic 35F rated with addition of Floetrol, does not spray through HVLP gun. It does not even strain through 70 mesh at 35F.
• Settings on The Purple Harbor Freight Gun - full throttle on fan, minus until it starts to reduce diameter
• Water cleaning results - good results.
• Diesel cleaning results - point is to keep a little oil in the gun to prevent rust. Good. Just pump it.
• Spraying rate - for water at 40 PSI regulator. 350 ml in 2:31 minutes. 1000 ml is 33 oz. 3 oz/min spray rate, looks like. About 5 minutes per small 20 oz stock cup, about 8 minutes per 33 oz 1 l cup.
• Pure walnut for indoor, pure brown for outdoor. No thinner.

Spraying

• Prep - cleaning shop and laying out all of the interior plywood - 53 sheets - started about 2 pm, and finished 5:10.
• Typical camera settings for timelapse - 1 second for the time data videos.

Data

The all-in time for doing the foundation was 42 hours [15] starting from and up to finish troweling.

Final Foundation Result

• Length to outside of insulation -
• Length to inside of insulation -
• Lengths of diagonals to outside of insulation -
• Z difference on 4 corners and in mid point of long side -
• Location of plumbing hole -
• Actual locations of anchors (from outside of foundation)

edit

Grading

• Ample time spend preparing solar power stations for 3 cameras, and making outdoor industrial tripods for cameras for wind and weather and long-term timelapses.
• 7.2 hours machine time on Takeuchi rented tracked 72 hp 8000 lb traction bobcat to grade a pad to +-2". Pad size - 32x64 feet including garage and 8' outer perimeter for scaffolding and drainage later.Additional time marking, clearing with chainsaw, etc. One day of LifeTrac with initial clearing and moving logs.

Moving Gravel

• 26 minutes staking out the new 32x16 location for Rosebud, for actual foundation.
• 1:07 hr moving gravel from load dump to middle of foundation. Note that this could have been done on the spot with the gravel truck, if we got the dump truck here after the foundation pad was graded.

Preparing Foundation Forms

• 2:15 hr - Form Lumber prep. Making and sharpening 68 stakes (12 extra) from 2x2s, combining 2x8x8 to 2x8x16 (only 3 were 16s), cutting 28 supports, and making a 16' gravel screed board. Collecting spacer boards for putting under foundation.

Installing Forms

• 0:38 hr - making 32x16 box. 2 joints made. 1 mistake - joined on wrong side of board where extension was made of two 8 footers. Also, one 16 footer had an extra joint, which was taken off.
• 0:08 hr - Laying out all support boards and stakes next to box.

Day of Pour (Tuesday)

• Started at 9:00 AM, so total hours MJ were 11:30. Final cleanup of trench for 15 minutes. Cutting and bending rebar. Unloading the remesh (nightmare out of van as it gets stuck all the time). 9:28 MJ Day of Pour - trench, rebar, spread + screed gravel, pour, and trowel for about 2 hr more than Gary
• 5:00 Gary (1:30-6:30) - rebar, polyethylene, pour, float and trowel
• 3:00 Catarina - mudsill anchors, rebar, poly. Setting rough plumbing box level. Cutting wood blocks as remesh chairs, but they didn't really work.

Seed Home 2 Data Collection Plan

A part of our unique value proposition is a house that is easy to build, in a way that breaks the Iron Triangle.

The ease must be communicated well.

Ultimately, we say it takes X hours to build the entire house, at a cost of Y based on standard labor.

X and Y are to be the lowest in the industry, for replicable housing - not one-off projects.

Some of the numbers that we need to validate include details of the main build, outside of foundation, which is done typically by a helical pier contractor.

Links

• Seed Home v2