J.T. Pennington - Week 2 Lessons Learned

Week 2 : September 5th - September 9th - short week because of Hurricane Irma

Lessons learned/reflections: On Wednesday of this week, I rode with James to a private residence on the main peninsula of Charleston that was under construction. While riding in the car, I flipped through the half size set of the residence to get an understanding of the home before we arrived on site, and James talked about a specific detail that Beau Clowney Architects has developed over the years at the jamb condition between two adjacent windows in a room.

The general contractors were working on wood framing of the house and trying to get sheathing on the roof when we arrived on site. While avoiding mud puddles as much as possible from the recent rain, we climbed up a 2x4 stud framed ladder to get onto the first floor of the residence. James walked me through the spatial relationships of the house, and showed me where the framers did not create a recessed condition at the showers for a sloping till floor, and the long span achieved over the double car garage through the steel beam. We then examined the windows, which was the reason for the site visit.

Private residence in Charleston, SC under construction; wood framing in progress.

Perspective view near the front driveway.

In the above image, here is a typical window framing - notice the double king studs on the outside of the jack studs. There is too much framing here - even for strong hurricane wind loads. The client is paying more money than needed for structure.

Instead of a traditional jamb condition for wood framing made of a king stud, jack stud, first window with header above, jack stud, second king stud, jack stud, second window with header above, jack stud, and third king stud, Beau Clowney Architects uses a LVL (laminated veneer lumber) stud that is 1 1/2" wide that acts as a narrow profile in the jamb condition, instead of a 5 1/2" jamb condition that most of the residential industry uses. Using clad windows, there are minimal sight lines on the exterior of the buildings and no gap for trim on the interior condition. The effect that this generates is a more open view out the window, with a wider range of vision for the homeowner. This was the detail we had come to inspect, because the framers were not looking at the construction documents and had framed it the traditional way. James had called the general contractor and told them to replace the framing, so we were coming to inspect the work.

Replaced stud framing for the jamb condition between two windows adjacent to each other. There is still too much framing on the outside corners of the sills - it makes me cringe on the amount of thermal bridging that is there where it is impossible to put any insulation - but the framer isn't going back to fix it (again). Some battles you have to lose in order to win the war.