Week 6 -- Trying to move up

As contemplated at the end of last week,  the better part of this week I worked alone while Sebastian helped the sawyer make a lot of lumber and some cabinet wood too from various trees that we have either felled or been given by neighbors to use.  That process is pretty
interesting.  It starts with a log being squared up like this on the machine:


And then boards get cut.    I'm having no luck loading a video of that process,  but ultimately we end up with quite a few piles like this:
It's tremendously satisfying to put to use these trees that we cut to clear.  They were not considered "merchantable" by timber standards here becasue they aer too small,   but there's plenty of wood that we will be able to put to good use when the time comes to build my shop and maybe also a carport that's in the plan.

For my part,  I continued on the floor framing.

Midweek we got delivery of three big tall steel  posts that sit on the basement floor and extend all the way (over 16 feet) to the bottom of the second floor wall.  I was able to use the tractor to get 
the posts tilted into the house hole,  but from there it was a pretty muscular and 
a bit harrowing job.  Fortunately the sawyer -- Clifford - was willing to lend a hand as we neede all three of us to pull it off.  
We managed, and now the building is finally making SOME moves upward.  
  

The weather forcast for the next few days is HOT again... which is better than rain,  but can
be hard on us  here... nevertheless, I have "high" hopes of making a lot of progress on the
floor, so that we can soon get the earth moved back against the building and start moving
the walls up another layer....   WIsh me luck!  

Week 5

As predicted,  we spent the week with Sebastian "scratch coating"
(smearing with a cement and sand mix) the outside and I worked on getting some
framework for the first floor up.  
He was sick a bunch of the week and I was suffering the intense 
heat -- gone now... so things were slow.  

The walls look a lot more like a basement now, at least from the outside.  
Meanwhile we also had some other
work going on -- I hired a local woodsperson to fell a dying walnut that a neighbor gave me
as a gift,  and tomorrow he'll cut a half dead oak we have here and then mill those
and also a lot of smaller fir that we cut for the house.  

The point is to have the Fir to use to build my shop eventually,  and the oak and 
walnut will start to dry so that hopefully they can be cabinetry or maybe even 
flooring in the house someday.  We'll see.... depends on how it looks once milled.  
Clementine proved invaluable,  once again.

 We are waiting for a couple of steel posts that I hope will be delivered this coming week, to really be able to complete the skeleton of the floor.   

Also, there are a few more layers to the waterproofing the outside basement walls... but I hope  that by sometime next week we might be able to resume laying blocks 
and get ourselves working up toward the top of the first floor walls.   

Even with a little piece of the floor in, and some plywood thrown on top,  you begin to get a different feel when the orientation of the house starts to be as it will be -- from the top
and the other side,  rather than from what will be the basement door,  in the end.   
Here Jennifer "enters" through the front door spot
for only the 
second time ever.  And here she explores what will someday be 
her study. 


All in all,  not the most productive week ever... but things are moving and turning out pretty well,  so I'm trying to be nice to myself about the pace.

Belated Lookback on Week 4

The weekend got away from me,  for an update.

Last week was a big week for changes, although they are mostly not too interesting to show in pictures.  We "grouted,"  as it is called,  meaning we poured
concrete into the first 8' of walls.  

The structure  looks a lot like it did at the end of last week,

 but the feel is completely different.  Solid as a rock now, you might say.  
The process was smooth.  No major mishaps and things went pretty well how I had
organized them.  (Except for an underestimation of the amount of concrete to order,  
but they gladly sent another truck up with more.)

Now we need to make quick work of waterproofing the outside, which sebastian is doing nearly snglehandedly.  I am framing the floor
and when all that's done we'll install drainage and backfill so that we can get moving up another layer from the first floor to the first floor roof! 

That's the short post for now.  Gotto keep moving!  

Week 3 -- Briefly this time!

Things are moving, including the sun -- light later,  dark earlier -- so much to do.  

We did get a bunch done this week.  I hope that we will be able to fill the forms with concrete on Tuesday or no later than Weds. so that we can get started with steps to finally get above ground!  

Today (Sunday)  I worked some on the layout of rim joists for the first floor.  It looked like this:
Hot in the blazing sun for a few good hours each day.  THen,  in the evening,  comes the greatest time to get some things done and enjoy the breeze and the view and the shade.   I really can't complain about the work environment when it looks like this: 

That's it for now from your tired homemaker!


How about an e mail now and then, y'all?