Did I ever mention how much I love putting in sheets of sub-floor? Well if I didn't it's because it's a terrible chore. I'm glad we only ever have to do it once. After 4 days (it rained too much on Friday), we have already installed about 70% of the upstairs subfloor. It's going quicker because we don't have to build upwards as we build outwards - on the downstairs, we could only put on upper beams once the relevant subfloor was in place.
We also put up one of the end walls and installed the first roof beam.
Most importantly, we can now sit upstairs and enjoy our view, or we can sit downstairs in the shade/rain cover!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Moving on up
The stairs went up today - and so did 62 sheets of subfloor, thanks to a rented scissor lift. Uncle Paul drove, while Charles, Ashley and I put boards onto the lift and then up on to the floor joists upstairs. Not a job for the faint-hearted or vertigo sufferers.
I then had to go to work for a couple of hours. One of our local doctors, Allen White, planted about 1,000 grape vines behind his office this year, and is looking at planting another couple thousand in a field not far from our own farm. He has some state cost-share funding to use and we discussed with him what we can do to help make his new vineyard successful. Dr White also said he would need to find an enologist before too long. I looked it up and that's a fancy word for winemaker. I can get a distance learning course out Rend Lake Community College in Illinois, so that may be a new project for next year. House first.
I then had to go to work for a couple of hours. One of our local doctors, Allen White, planted about 1,000 grape vines behind his office this year, and is looking at planting another couple thousand in a field not far from our own farm. He has some state cost-share funding to use and we discussed with him what we can do to help make his new vineyard successful. Dr White also said he would need to find an enologist before too long. I looked it up and that's a fancy word for winemaker. I can get a distance learning course out Rend Lake Community College in Illinois, so that may be a new project for next year. House first.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Oh, honey!
We finally have honey. I went down to the hives to do an inspection and there was capped honey up in the honey super (the layer of box with short frames to "catch" honey). So I stole it!
I don't have a machine to centrifuge the honey out of the comb, so I used the crush and drip method. I cut the comb off the frame, just dripping with honey, then mashed it all together with a potato masher. Then I put it all into a fine wire collander and let the honey drip out of the mash into a pan. It took 24 hours, but I got good, clear honey. Just under 4 pounds of it.
The beeswax went into a homemade solar wax melter, to be melted and filtered. I think I will use the wax to make more beauty products for sale - lip balm and perfume balm.
I have less honey than I would usually expect, but since I had a hive die last winter due to starvation, I decided to leave most of the honey stores in the hive. I didn't take any honey out of my second hive, because it was just started this year. Next year I hope to harvest from both of these hives.
I don't have a machine to centrifuge the honey out of the comb, so I used the crush and drip method. I cut the comb off the frame, just dripping with honey, then mashed it all together with a potato masher. Then I put it all into a fine wire collander and let the honey drip out of the mash into a pan. It took 24 hours, but I got good, clear honey. Just under 4 pounds of it.
The beeswax went into a homemade solar wax melter, to be melted and filtered. I think I will use the wax to make more beauty products for sale - lip balm and perfume balm.
I have less honey than I would usually expect, but since I had a hive die last winter due to starvation, I decided to leave most of the honey stores in the hive. I didn't take any honey out of my second hive, because it was just started this year. Next year I hope to harvest from both of these hives.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Main floor almost done
I haven't done an update devoted to our house in a while...I also haven't posted any photographs. That's because I have misplaced the cable that connects the camera to the computer, but I hope to find it this weekend. The number of places I where need to look is slowly dwindling.
I took Wednesday off work to help with the house and we made great progress. We finished laying the subfloor and putting up all the beams for the upper floor of the house. Now that doesn't sound like much, but we worked from 9:30 am to 7:00 pm. Yesterday, Charles put up three exterior walls, leaving him only one to do today. He will also probably finish the joist hangers for the upstairs floor.
Next week, Charles will start building stairs. We need one set at the front door, one at the back door, and one to go upstairs! The subfloor upstairs will be far less involved than downstairs - downstairs has tongue and groove flooring sheets, both glued and nailed in place. Upstairs will have less traffic, so it's just plain old plywood sheets and only nailed in place. Plus with the hole in the middle of the upstairs, there's just plain less subflooring to put down.
Our aim is still to have first two layers of "skin" in place before the end of October. That's one layer of plywood all over the house, and a layer of house wrap. That way it will at least be weather-resistant as we go into winter. At the beginning of November, we will install temporary electricity on site, so we will have light through these early nights, and get going on windows, doors and metal siding and roofing. By the end of November we will be moved in, by hook or by crook. Maybe by flashlight!
The contractor also arrived Wednesday morning and started installing our septic tank. Before they leave they will also complete our driveway/parking area.
I took Wednesday off work to help with the house and we made great progress. We finished laying the subfloor and putting up all the beams for the upper floor of the house. Now that doesn't sound like much, but we worked from 9:30 am to 7:00 pm. Yesterday, Charles put up three exterior walls, leaving him only one to do today. He will also probably finish the joist hangers for the upstairs floor.
Next week, Charles will start building stairs. We need one set at the front door, one at the back door, and one to go upstairs! The subfloor upstairs will be far less involved than downstairs - downstairs has tongue and groove flooring sheets, both glued and nailed in place. Upstairs will have less traffic, so it's just plain old plywood sheets and only nailed in place. Plus with the hole in the middle of the upstairs, there's just plain less subflooring to put down.
Our aim is still to have first two layers of "skin" in place before the end of October. That's one layer of plywood all over the house, and a layer of house wrap. That way it will at least be weather-resistant as we go into winter. At the beginning of November, we will install temporary electricity on site, so we will have light through these early nights, and get going on windows, doors and metal siding and roofing. By the end of November we will be moved in, by hook or by crook. Maybe by flashlight!
The contractor also arrived Wednesday morning and started installing our septic tank. Before they leave they will also complete our driveway/parking area.
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