Two Steps Forward, Maybe One Step Back

So the guys were out in full force today, Miked included.  They worked all morning and for the first part of the afternoon on the rest of the trusses.  They were goinng to start on the middle section of the roof which they are framing by hand, when it was discovered that the trusses were built using 2 x 8s and the joists that we have are 11 3/8 so there is about 3 inches of difference in the 2 flooring levels.  So the guys stopped work around 3 today.  I am glad for them that they were able to have some Sunday rest, but I am also really annoyed that this happened.  It was a total oversight on the lumber/truss company and they will be hearing from Miked in the AM.  Let's hope that it can be rectified quickly. 

In other annoying news, the weather is supposed to be rainy again tomorrow.  The weather reports I have seen are saying chances of rain all week.  YUCK.  Let's hope this is one of those times when they are all wrong!

Miked spent a great deal of time out at the site today and at Home Depot.  He installed the sump pump and ran pipe through the rim board of the house and attached that to some drain pipe so as to direct it away from the house.  Now we don't have to worry about turning the pump on and off or setting it with the timer.  This new one will pump until the water level gets low enough to turn itself off.  Good stuff!

Look at all those trusses!

 

 View from Lincoln

 

 View from Pine on the field side looking towards

Lincoln

 

 Raising the last gable

 

 Gable

 

I really would not want this job

 

 Or this one

 

 This one either

Setting it in place

Nailing it down

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is...

Well it's not on fire thank goodness, but it is going up as we speak.  Since I last wrote, there was more rain that we were contending with, but there were also sunny skies to be had.  The guys were able to get the second floor framed and the interior walls framed out on the second floor as well.  This is really cool because it gives us a really good idea of how big everything is.  We took some pictures that are at the end of this post, but they will be hard for you to see because you just see the framing right through to other framing.  So take our word for it, it's way cool. 

Currently the only way up to the second floor is via a ladder that goes up where the chimney will be.  It is not my favorite way to go up and down and I must say that I am really looking forward to the stairs being installed so that I can use them instead!  I have an amazing respect for Jose and the other guys who walk around on the tops of those walls like they are 20 feet wide.  You couldn't pay me enough money to do that!

Thursday of this past week was too wet to work, but the rain had stopped by Friday so the crew was back Friday, Saturday, and today as well.  They are working on the roof.  Yesterday they were able to get 3 of the 4 gables sheathed and up.  They also set about 8 trusses.  Miked also got to help out yesterday.  Jose got back from lunch before all the rest of the guys and so Miked and Jose worked together to get it set up to sheath.  Miked had a good time.  Unfortunately he was only able to hold the rope not drive the forklift.  :) 

It's 9AM Sunday morning and they are already back and ready to keep going today.  Showers are being predicted so it would be really awesome if they were able to get a roof on by the end of the day today.  I don't think that is going to happen though.  We will see. 

Some good news...the windows are in.  They are being staged at the warehouse until the crew is ready to install them.  Also, we found out that the crew who is doing the framing also does tile, electrical, plumbing, drywall and painting.  It would be great if we could just continue to work with them throughout this project. 

Here is what she looks like now...

Putting up the second floor walls

More second floor walls

 

Second floor from corner of Lincoln and Pine

Looking from Mom and Dad's side

Looking at the front of the house

Second floor before interior framing

More second floor

A view from the corner of Lincoln and Pine

Front of house

Some of the second floor framing

Miked helping Jose get a gable where it needs to be

Good thing he used to do this with pipes in CO

Having fun

Untying the gable

View from Lincoln and Pine

Front of house

The guys setting a gable

The side of the house that will face mom and dad's house

More back side of house

Morning sun hitting the back of the house

Front and side of house from Lincoln and Pine...again

Updates

So did I mention that it is still raining?  Hmmmm?  Did I?  Thanks for nothing Ida! 

I mentioned in the last post that we were able to get Matt out to the site.  Last weekend Miked also worked on sealing the space between the sill plate and the foundation.  Here are some pics to catch everyone up on what was happening before the rains began. 

If anyone has building plans for an ark, please let us know...we have some wood that we're not using.  :)

Sealing the sill plate

Thing 2 picking up trash

 Looking into the kitchen with all the wall bracing for

the second floor

 

 Looking into the office

 

Hunting for acorns to throw in puddles

 

 Miked driving Matt up the makeshift ramp

 

 Thing 1 and Thing 2 with Uncle Matt

 

Checking out the zip paneling

We cannot control the weather...We cannot control the weather...We cannot control the weather

So can you guess what the weather is like here? Yep, more rain. It has rained all day today and it is now supposed to continue into tomorrow. Deep breaths, deep breaths.

The framing crew had some hiccups last weekend. Miked discovered that there was some surface mold growing on the floor joists that were being put up on the second floor. He talked to the folks at 84 Lumber and they pulled all the moldy wood and replaced it! I was pretty bummed about the setback, but having a mold free house is worth it. I am impressed with 84 and the fact that they offered to do that for us. The manager told Miked that if we had been a spec house, they probably would have just sent out the mold fixing crew, but that since we are building our own home, they decided to swap out the lumber.

Another exciting event from last weekend was getting Matt out close to the house. Miked fashioned a ramp from the moldy floor joists to get him up onto the garage slab. From there Matt was able to get over to where the door at the top of the ramp will be. Thing 1 and Thing 2 were excited to have him out there.

On Monday Chuck, the guy who did our excavating, came and got his big digger. It is nice to have it off the site. Monday and Tuesday the framers worked on getting new floor joists up on the second floor and they are almost finished. At the moment the sump pump is running with an extension cord to the house, the lumber is covered with tarps, and no framing was done today. Boo for the rain. Perhaps if the rain ends tomorrow afternoon, the framers will be back, but I am thinking we are looking more at Friday or Saturday. We shall see. If anyone out there has any suggestions for shooing the rain away, I am all ears! Pictures of Uncle Matt at the site coming either later tonight or tomorrow.

Houston...We Have Walls

OK...I admit it. I have been veeeerrrrry bad about posting updates lately. Suffice it to say that life around here has been a bit busy with house, work, the littles, and life in general. So here I am with this extra hour compliments of Daylight Savings Time and I am using it to get some pics up.

Since I last wrote the workers laid the floor joists and decking for the first floor and began framing the first floor walls. The first floor walls are almost all finished. The only part left to be framed is Matt's area. If he doesn't start being nicer to me I am going to tell the framers to leave him out in the cold. :)

The Littles and Miked and I have been spending lots of fun time out on the site on the weekends. There has been some rain and therefore it's pretty muddy out there, but who doesn't like to play in mud? The Littles have been building bridges, playing super hero, setting stakes for horseshoes, climbing mountains of dirt and otherwise entertaining themselves out at the site. They end up filthy and totally happy, a great combination I think.

Miked told me today that he hopes that the second floor floor and walls will be finished by the end of the week. Fingers crossed, but the weather is looking great for working. No rain in sight for the moment.

So, without further ado, here is what has been happening over at the old homestead...

The beams are set

Floor joists are set

A look at the joists from the front of the house

Thing 1 playing in the mud

Our framers setting the deck and building some walls

This is the front door and 2 of the office windows

More framing

Looking from Matt's space towards the back door
where the ramp will be

Looking toward the front door

The window above the pile of green board
will be above the kitchen sink (it needs to
be reframed to sit up higher)

The 3 windows will be the area where we
have our dining room table

Me looking out the front door

From view of the house. Matt's space will
be the unframed area on the right side
of the picture

Miked and Thing 2 looking out an office window

Grandpa Teddy checking out the view

Thing 2 helping bring wood up to Miked

We haven't figured out a way to get Matt
much closer than this. We are working on it!

Thing 1 and Miked looking up from the basement

Peek a boo out the office windows

Thing 1 looking out the back door

Mountain climbing

King of the hill

I was going to put in some pics of Gram's house when it was being built, but they are too small to see. I will have to rescan them and then post....