Little steps - Big reward

There are three season around here. Spring, Summer and Hunting Season.

We continue on with the walls and ceilings. The goal is to have the electrician back to finish his work in March. Until then, we will be working steady on the tongue and groove boards on the walls and ceilings. As you can see below we finished one bedroom. Well, 3 walls and the ceiling.

Sometimes we have to re-adjust our priorities.
It often depends on the weather, but then when hunting season starts. Well, like I said, we hunt.

In preparation for our Spring garden. My husband designed and built these beds. We had a successful crop last year, but we believe we will have better water control with this system. Will let you know.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Resting our weary bones and admiring our kitchen cabinets. We are going to clear coat the wall behind the cabinets before we install them. We are also going to stain the cabinets so they stand out more. It may be a clear coat, if that provides enough color. 

Started ceiling in the master bedroom. These smaller rooms are going fast. I suppose that was the ultimate plan. We did the largest room first, so these seem easy. In planning for the electrician and A/C man in March, we will complete every wall and ceiling to the point they require. Then if we have more time, we will just keep going. The cut outs are going well. 

Had to take time out for Christmas tree project at entry and decorate 9ft tree in the house.

Merry Christmas!

WALLS !!!

Walls!  It makes me feel like we are getting closer to being done, although we are far from it.
We worked through all the hassle of getting the tongue and groove boards to the house. Now I am in training on installing boards as high up as I can reach (that is not far).  This way I can help while the Foreman works on other things. Here is my first wall. Short and sweet.

  

As luck would have it, the nail gun bit the dust and we both had to stop working. The process is relatively easy. My main goal was to get them on straight, level, tight, with the groove side out and nail in the top, not the notch, so the nail won't show. No problem....you can only see a couple nails.

Back to business

12-8-16 update

Beams up an installed over 1/2 of the house - bedrooms, bathrooms, washroom

The beams over the living area are a work in progress. 

Each 20' beam is being lifted and installed by myself and my husband. No small feat!  

Break for Deer Season

Just a quick post :: After our Break for Deer Season and our First Annual Thanksgiving Family Dinner, we are getting back to building.

The rafters are going in slowly and carefully. Ladders don't take kindly to your knees after continual usage. Never the less, as of today, we have rafters up and over 1/4 of the rooms.

Oh and deer season went well:

Beam me up!

Oct 22 2016 Beam and wall framing

One man - SOOO many boards

After a brief hiatus we are back at it! All the walls are framed up to 10'. The wall in the center of the house separating the living space from the bedrooms is 90% complete. Wall sections above the 10' height are being completed now.

Photo of center wall. The ceiling in the living area is a cathedral ceiling. The wall up to 10' was built in sections and lifted up and bolted down and to the adjoining sections and floor. Above 10' is a work in progress.  An opening on the left will remain there until the A/C and plywood attic flooring is completed.

The last two days we have focused on our 24' foot exposed I beam in the center of the living area and preparing it for rafters. First we attached a 2' x 10' to the top and bottom of the metal beam. These 2 bys will make installing the 40 rafters easier and more stable. Then we added two metal straps for just a little extra support. The straps will not be visible once the ceiling boards are installed. Finally, we added 24" wide plywood on both sides of the beam.  Our final vision is for the beam to be finished off with a nice finishing wood. It is way up there!

While waiting for the sun to rise high enough to work inside, we installed our first set of shutters. We tested out a few ideas and finally have this set installed with supporting block between the shutters and the exterior wall ridges. We think it looks great! What do you think?

DAYS 57- to month No. 2 Interior walls

Here we are at DAYS 57-58

The builder, Huff Welding, finished most of the outside. The underpinning for the side porch looks great! They also installed the wind vane for us. So glad we didn't have to figure out how to get up there!! They will come back when we have the front porch ready for underpinning and wood burning stove stack ready to install.

LOOKS GREAT!!










We are pre fabricating the walls in sections inside the house and have installed the two 6" wall sections for the laundry room and the small 1/2 bath. Not as heavy to lift as we thought. Laundry wall includes cut outs for dryer vent to outside wall. All walls will be bolted to the foundation.

Bathroom and laundry walls - 6"

Next,  the framing is complete for the interior walls within the master bathroom. There are two interior 8' walls separating out the shower and toilet. These walls are 8' leaving ventilation space to the remaining areas of the bathroom. The ceilings will be 10'. Door for master bath is a 80 x 30 opening. We will be fabricating a sliding barn door with reclaimed wood and barn door rollers for opening and closing off bathroom.

Now we can see shape of master bedroom(lft), master bath and 2nd bedroom(rt)

Hummingbirds are passing through town!

The cedar shutters are coming along. Using cedar fencing to reduce cost and increase ease of construction. All will be covered with a clear polyurethane which adds a nice color to them.  Here are a few photos. First photo is of back side.  Each shutter will have 3 panels and angled cross support. We are still working on the process for attaching them to the house.  Note: scorpion stings HURT!

Next up: hallway walls, finish shutters, getting really close to contacting electrician and A/C man!
9/18/16

DAY 50-52 Scaffolding and so much more

DAY 50-52 Scaffolding, plumbing and interior framing

Finished installing all support boxes inbetween the side wall beams to support the ceiling.  We received some scaffolding on loan for the duration of the build. We put together one large 14' section with two landings. The wheels are coated so hopefully we won't damage the floors that will be eventually stained. That should help us work smarter and not harder.

 In the center photo you can see we started the interior plumbing. These pipes make up the vent from the master bathroom that will go up and vent out the cupola. We are using 2" pipe for that section and metal straps to hold them in place in a slight upward angle.

Break time in the hammock on a hot day

DOORS!  Finally, no rain and time to polyurethane the doors. One coat complete. We will lightly sand and put on another coat to seal the deal!
That's Bailee photo bombing in the right photo.


















Ended the day with leveling and adding sand around
the foundation that had washed away with all the rain.

BTW, these 5 apple trees are doing great!

Can you pick them out? hint, there are cages around them.

NEXT:

For Gary: more plumbing & interior walls

For me: finish cedar window shutters, boards have been cut

DAY 38 - Exterior walls - antique barn door hardware

DAY 38

Every day we have rain, lots of rain. Today was first chance to start install of exterior sheet metal. Looks like a good match to the coupala.

Got a great deal on some antique barn door rollers through Instagram! These will be used on door to master bathroom.

8/22/16

DAY 29 - Door install

DAY 29 - Door install - kinda

Started and finished staining large entry door with sidelights. The smaller side door was purchased already stained(door company mistake).  The front entry door was stained with Early American Minwax stain and covered with clear polyurethane.   Racing the rain..again.

Side door install proved to be more of a test of nerves than originally thought. But it is in. 

Note: you tube videos are a wealth of information!                                      

 Front entry door was a breeze!

 And then it rained and rained and rained and rained.
                                                            If we get a dry day the sheet metal install will get started.

8/13/16