The weather favored us in November, with beautiful, warm, sunny days. We got the walls finished downstairs on our house, thanks to help from my mother, stepfather and uncle. We even had our first family meal in our house on November 7. Ma and Scott were here to help put up plywood wall cladding, so Aunt Bev brought Uncle Steve, Scott's mother Juanita, and a pot of chile out to keep the workers working. After the walls downstairs were done, we started working on framing the upstairs walls and putting up the beams that will support the roof.
Ma and Scott returned for a second weekend of work in November, and we tore down a couple of old sheds so our electricity pole and transformer could be installed. That was my birthday present from the electricity company - one very tall pole and a shiny new transformer on top!
The weather in December was not as cooperative, but Charles soldiered on, getting most of the roof rafters up before Christmas. On December 19, he had to stop working because his cutting jig froze to the board he was cutting. That was also the day I went to St Louis airport to pick up my cousin Joe, who flew in from Minneapolis. He came to the farm to work for the week before Christmas to work off his airfare. Charles and Joe did a lot of work on our Uncle Paul's house getting it ready for Christmas guests - fixing the outlet to the septic tank, installing new heating ducts, and building new steps and porch off the front door.
Christmas was really nice, with family split between Paul's house, Dad's house and the Morganfield Hometown Inn. I cooked roast mutton for Christmas Eve and roast turkey and ham in Coca-Cola for Christmas day. All of my father's brothers and sisters were here Christmas eve and morning. There were 16 of us for Christmas Eve supper, including Ashley (my Girl Scout/farm help). She spent all of Christmas eve with us, and really had a great time with my family, especially my cousin Sarah from Minneapolis. Now, they're the modern version of pen pals - they text each other!
The week after Christmas, with everything done and everyone gone, I didn't know what to do with myself!
Showing posts with label walls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label walls. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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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