Closing on the Stage 1 finish...

The last two weeks in the Houston area has seen daily highs at or near 100F (38C).  When the temperature gets that high, our humidity actually drops into the upper 20s/lower 30s percent humidity.  All that means is that shade can provide some escape.  For the framing team, they get shade in the morning when the humidity is high (80-90%) and in the late afternoon when it is low.  During the middle of the day, from 10AM to 3PM, they are in the full heat and breezes do not always make it through the trees to cool them.  They take a two-hour lunch to eat and recover, and I have no problem with that.

All that being said, progress continues.  They raised the beam separating the kitchen and Great Room, and they have installed the trusses which form the outside front entry.  Ceiling joists have been added, and today the posts and frame of the porch overhang will be completed.  They also have to add "pony walls" -- walls any height built on top of other walls -- in order to build the vaulted ceiling.

Here are recent pictures:

The partial build of the entrance truss-work.  Each column timber is 7 1/2
inches (19cm) and the build is custom -- the mortise and tenon method is
used to put the wood puzzle together.

The completed entry truss-works soars 16 feet (5m) into the air.  The
wood is Douglas fir and will be stained to complement the theme

This is the headboard dividing the kitchen and the Great
Room, which is 7 feet (2.1m).  It was done to the architect's
specification, but looked awkward, so we changed it.

Here is the modified headboard, now 8 1/2 feet high (2.6m), and looks
much more like it creates flow in the house.

The change of direction of ceiling joists creates interesting optical geometry,
at least I think so.  The picture above shows the change occurring between
the master bedroom suite and the exercise room, a.k.a. bedroom 4