A tip. If your build is going to take you awhile, use some wrong color house paint from the homarama on your 2x4 bracing. It will keep from twisting. Same thing for the deck sheathing.

Oye, thank you.  Would have used this tip sooner.

I've been throwing it out there for years, ever since I began using Zonts and Zuckles. With Z&Z's you can brace from the outside which leaves the inside free to pour your rat slab at the same time as your walls. Saves time and money. One pump rental for the whole thing. For the floor system I use either Watkins hanger or the Burmon hangers. Easier than the Simpson system.

My tip...listen to Smartwall...

My wife doesn't .

You had best listen to your wife...happy wife...happy life!

That's what I've been told.

I call BS....It is a trap....it is the wife's job to be happy not mine...

Touche'. I agree.

It's been a long while, but still at it.

The horrible contractor that I was utilizing for the pours and agreed to do the final lift abandoned the project. I had to finish the 2nd floor myself and do the pumping myself. Lots to post but now I feel I'm finally at a good place in the project.

Setting in the beam for the 2nd Floor

Setting up the i-joists.

Master Bedroom Framing

2nd Floor subfloor down

Window Bucks and 2nd Floor Stacking

Easy part done, time to do scaffolding and the high wall

By the way - I'm terrified of heights

I don't have many good pictures of pump day.... it was close to a failure.

My fault entirely from pushing each weekend trying to do as much as possible without slowing down more often to think through.

Had a serious blowout at the INSIDE corner of the 45 degree, going into the master bedroom. I had screwed the trusses into the form work but didn't add additional support between the webs of the trusses. About a yard of concrete, yes almost a full yard poured out. It was a mess to clean but it was salvaged and used as part of the patio pour.

After that issue the windows were the next to...ooze... just those three large openings so close together, they didn't have enough connections between the buck and the form so the concrete oozed a bit. We paused and shot several more screws and a couple of 2x4's across them just to be safe and then finished the pumping.

Oh and that was only half of the issues. The boom pump operator was older... eyes weren't too good... so while I was up high holding the tube, he managed to yank it out of my hands more than a few times and pepper me with concrete. Guys that have done this know what I mean when I say that stuff hits you... it isn't water (duh) and it has force coming out. Not exactly fun when you are up on scaffolding getting slapped in the face with a tube of crete.

And the icing on the cake... did I mention the boom operator's eyes weren't too good? He managed to hit the power line and generate arcs all around the boom pump, creating several fires. After we doused the fires with dirt and thought the show was over, the operator was looking carefully over his rig. BOOM, one of his tires he was standing near burst, sending him flying several feet. His arm was cut up from the rubber and steel, he couldn't hear, and he looked like he had just climbed down a chimney. Once we were able to ascertain he was going to be okay and he gathered his wits - he quit. This was the second time in as many years hitting a power line - he thought God was letting him know, it was past time to retire. I think he was right.

Truss Day was my favorite day thus far. Didn't have to do anything dangerous or stressful - just send up the correct trusses in order to the crew.... yeah sub-contracting is where it's at - if you can afford it... but for craning in trusses, not much choice.