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.