Long Days=Fast Builds

The days are long but the build is progressing rapidly. My brother Bennet Thomas and I started on the wood portion of the build on 02~03~10 with sill plates and top plates done in one day. It's fascinating and wonderful to work side by side with family on a project of this size. Ben calls it the little house and giggles quite frequently about how small it is compared to other places he has built over the years. He has taken time off from his regular job of installing doors to help us with our framing. We are also working with another cousin who combined with Ben make a formidable pair!

Back to the build, we are fighting weather almost daily with rain or clouds almost every day. On Thursday 02~04~10 threatening rain for most of the day had Ben and I with a weather eye out. Ben cut headers and built them just outside the shop while I stepped to the weary task of re~tooling the ends of at least 45 J bolts. J bolts are required to tie the sill plates to the slab and during the pour I had to make a frantic trip to a local hardware store to pick up 10 more before the slab set on Tuesday. Little did I know that J bolts would haunt my dreams for the next few days. The 10 I bought locally were American made and the nuts slipped onto them pretty as you please. The others we received in our building package were foreign made and the ends of EVERY SINGLE BOLT had to be be re-tooled in order to put on the nuts! This was done with me sitting on the slab in the impending rain for the better part of the day Thursday. By the time the rains actually came, I was inside the shop moving about 150 2x6x10's to the corner of the shop to make room for the plywood to be moved. All in all, a dreary day but lots accomplished with all headers built and corner packs readied for the next day.

Friday 02~05 found us with a lake around the build and lots of lumber thrown down to make paths from the workshop about 70 feet away. Steve came in and made rapid progression on the lower walls of the house. The guys work extremely well in tandem and our first 12 ft wall went up at 10:30 that morning. The day also found me still re-tooling bolts and finally finishing the tiresome job! The guys worked hard all day and we had most of the lower exterior walls up by that evening. Chris called several times that day and sighed about not being able to be with us on the build. I assured him there was still plenty of work to do when he got there on Saturday.

Saturday 02~06 Chris finally laid eyes on what will be our new home. He had been working long hours for the past week and had been unable to come out and see the progress in daylight. I had been taking pictures, but they could not hold a candle to finally seeing it in person.We spent the better part of the day digging out the batter boards from the concrete pour. Lots of clay and muck thrown to the holes in our yard created by the trucks making various deliveries. We are also trying to separate some of the tile shards from the dirt we are moving.Chris was most impressed with what had happened over the past few days. We put in a long day and came home dragging but satisfied with our progress.

Sunday 02~07 found us cutting toting and lifting lumber for the guys that really know what they are doing. Lots of progress but not much to be actually seen. There are so many parts to a house with blocks and plywood pieces cut to fit between the joists and studs. I am amazed by the amount of lumber we have gone through in less than a week. I am so glad that this time we asked for help in the framing portion of the build. Chris and I would never have been this far in less than a week. More digging for us and we finally get to see the starfish shapes impressed into the concrete. We are both pleased with the look but disappointed with some of the finish on the concrete because the concrete guys removed the support stakes way too soon and the batter boards shifted slightly.

Monday 02~08 joists going up and all decking down in my studio! My studio will be amazing to say the least measuring 15x31 feet! Ben managed to make the side walls as tall as possible so my head room will be more than adequate. I certainly will enjoy setting up the studio when the time comes. More dirt removed and all batter boards finally out from the muck. We also had to put Thompsons water seal on the decking for the second floor. This is because there is more rain predicted for Monday into Tuesday.

Tuesday 02~09 finds Chris and I running errands for the build, and getting to the job site about 11 am. We also secured a quick loan for the build to continue. I was apprehensive about the decking on the second floor but the Thompsons Water Seal did the trick. No buckles in the plywood. We also bought 15 lbs of nails for the hurricane straps. We started applying the straps to the sill plates and ran short. We were having to hang off the sides of the house to nail them in because the rain water surrounding us created a moat almost all the way around the house. Each small strap from sill plate to stud requires 10 nails! I dread the straps for the roof as they will require even more! The mud surrounding the house is thick to say the least and will take your boots off if you are not careful!

We are certainly the rain capital of the United States this year. Our ain totals for this month alone are: Month to date 3.20" Normal month to date: 1.57" Year to date: 14.23" Normal Year to date 7.32". DOUBLE the norm! Wow! We have fought rain and or wet muck virtually every day of the build since last week! Needless to say I am a little worried about the predicted rain, cold and possible snow!?! for later in the week!

Progress, Predictions, and Processes are all a part of our lives now as we build our dream home in Fairhope, Alabama.

Few Days~Many Changes

What a difference a few days can make! The last week of January found us trying to beat the rain. We had plumber problems, (had to find a new one, the first ones estimate was WAY too high!) We went with our plumber that did the house we are in now. Got estimate one night, gave him the go ahead. He bought the license, got the parts and had everything for rough inspection in place the NEXT day! So much for people who are not sure of what they are doing! He passed inspection and we moved to concrete.
The concrete was a whole other story in itself! Al and Ricky came out and got batter boards up and it rained cats and dogs after they got the clay delivered. I got a call from Al telling me that the footings could not be dug until the clay dried out some this was Tuesday January 26th. Two days~more delays...........sigh. Reminds me of the military, hurry up and wait! Thursday came and they dug out footings and had gravel delivered. They also put in the re-bar and wire getting ready for inspection prior to the pour. Inspection scheduled for Monday February 1st. Then the rains came, again.........Al and Ricky came out again to find footings partially collapsed and the re-bar completely covered in a soupy, muddy, sticky cake consistency batter in all the footings. They spent the better part of Sunday scooping out all the re-bar and squaring the footings for the inspection. Chris and I rearranged the workshop to get a delivery of lumber the next day. Monday morning found us nervous, but our nerves were unnecessary!Our inspection passed! Chris and I spent the better part of Monday unloading the lumber and stacking it to keep it dry in the shop. What a delight it is to work side by side with my husband of so many years!
Tuesday, Chris is at work and sighing into the phone. What's wrong I asked? I just want to be there with you he replied. After the pour was finished we began laying out the J bolts. In the process of doing this, I discovered we were short 10! Concrete setting rapidly and I only had a window of about 1 hour. I jumped in the car and went off to pick up bolts. The main highway was closed so I had to make a detour which wasted precious minutes. I finally arrived at the store after 25 minutes of driving and got the cargo. Back to the lot! Just in time to place the last bolts with minutes to spare. Chris called a lot that day checking on the progress of the slab. Our estimate of 24 yards went to 29 yards before the day was over. I left at about 4 that evening with them polishing the slab in preparation for stain later.
Wednesday found me and Bennet (my brother) out on the new concrete laying out sill plates and discovering I had missed one J bolt in the wrong place. (The day before during the finishing, I had caught 2 bolts way too far in to the slab and had them moved.) No worries he said, we'll work around it. We laid out all the sill plates, I drilled almost all the holes for the bolts. Before the day was done, we had all the top plates cut, marked and laid out on the slab. We left at 5:15.
Thursday Ben built headers for all the doors as well as all the corner packs, T's and I packs. Lots of work for me as I re-stacked a load of 2x6x10's that had collapsed. I put them into the corner of the shop to make room. Rainy, nasty, cloudy day. Ben worked mostly in the shop. Great day, lots accomplished and then I had to teach a class that night! The rains came down hard that night as well.
Friday found us with a lake of water where there used to be just squelchy clay. Ben built bridges that would be used that day by all of us! Steve (a cousin) came at 10 am to make our jobs more efficient. Starting to make walls with the first 12 foot one up by 10:30. We tried to put up the next 12 foot wall and ended up dropping it and breaking some of the studs. We got it up the second time with much pushing and grunting. The rest of the day went like clockwork, with all outside walls up for the lower floor complete with headers!
Wow! what a difference a day makes.
I know Chris will be like a kid on Christmas wanting to go and see the progress and lend a hand on Saturday. I am certain that he will be up at the crack of dawn ready to hit the road!