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Happy New Year

2012-01-01T21:23:00.000-06:00

First off... A very happy New Year to everyone. May you realize precious goals this year and find blessings as you work towards them.

So here we are, our first New Year in the house. Yesterday evening, we had friends over to ring in the NewYear with us. It's great to have a spacious home for hosting groups in, and we're taking advantage of that often.

As a neighbor who did a self-build home about 10 years told us, "there was zero adjustment time". From the first real meal and sleep here, it's felt like our space. I think that's largely due to the many hours we'd already spent here. At the same time, it's hard to believe it's already 3 1/2 months!

A lot has changed since we moved in. Here are some then/ now pictures:

Kitchen: real countertop, and backsplash. New appliances.

In the kitchen, permanent countertop is here. The backsplash is finally tiled (but still awaiting grout). New appliances have arrived, and are in use.

A work station in the kitchen is functional. The bookkeeper has to get back to work on what this project has cost. No more excuses.

Powder Room: the addition of some art & a small shelf. Removal of industrial hand cleaner!

Loft: custom entertainment center from reclaimed pine with thanks to Dennis's carpentry skills.

And a few pictures without progress comparisons.

Master bedroom (photo taken in great haste, please pardon the clothes being selected for a weekend bag) & ensuite.

At midday.

A break with our tradition, we have a "live" Christmas tree.

Note that we have railing along the stairs now, much to the disappointment of certain younger, active family members, but to the greater safety of our youngest friends.

Here's hoping that when we file our T1's this year, the CRA finds in our favor and we can upgrade the loft furniture!

While we're upstairs, here's a quick peek into our teen's rooms and their bathroom.

Meanwhile, things are changing on the outside too. The temporary stairs have been replaced with much sturdier ones with a bonus railing.

A very noticable change, Dennis spent several days unhooking utilities, removing skirting, separating the porch from the main dwelling and jacking up the house trailer in preparation for moving it off the yard. To add to the challenge. it would need to be moved entirely in reverse!

There were some tense moments, and literal rough patches, but it went well. The trailer is parked on the pasture, waiting for us to secure a new owner for it.

I'm thinking that if we ever have to do this again, we'll just bring in a tough gal to shoulder the load & carry it away without worry or fuss.

Something we get questions about is the way the drywall is trimmed back from window and door openings. Concise answer: economy. We knew that off-the rack trim would be exceptionally pricey or look very fragile in this house, so this would be one place where we'd likely spend time to save money. Then we discovered the problem of the SIPs making a thicker exterior wall than construction standard, meaning there would have been a few thousand $$ cost to have the windows built with custom width frames so we could even consider aforementioned ready-made trim. Stay posted to see how Dennis makes custom pine trim that keeps the cost down, and looks fabulous.

In parting, here are close-ups of my current 2 favorite pieces of artwork. In case you misssed them, I hung both pieces before even the kitchen was properly unpacked. Directly and indirectly, they are products of high school art classes, one celebrating the joy of art and the other the special friendship of siblings. Obviously, both make me smile.

M-day

2011-09-18T15:57:00.000-05:00

But not as in the day of the week...as in change of location day!

That was yesterday. I cooked supper in the new house last night, and we all woke up in the new house this morning. Seems our friends are very excited. Don't get me wrong, we're happy, we're thankful for all friends who had time on very short notice to lift and carry furniture, and for the friend who borrowed us some temporary countertop that he's not using just now. Along with that, we feel a little relieved to be into the house in fall so we have time to do a few other very necessary things before winter.

There are still lots of little evening projects and many of our conveniences have an inconvenient element today--and will continue to for a couple of weeks. We're going back hourly to the "old house" to collect more things that weren't in the first batch to migrate. However, it's unanimous, we'd much rather be in the new house with some of our things than still in the old one with all our belongings. It's SO VERY good to have come to this stage in the journey. Amazingly, the move was only 2 days off our ambitious, optomistic target date. Lowering our standards of what consitutes "done" helped! :-)

Hope I can get some pics up soon for those who can't come to see it!

The pictures

2011-09-10T23:34:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick look at the laminate,

ceramic tile,

and granite.

I'd like to say I finished tiling today, and I did reach a milestone. I finished all the large tiles: floors & bathroom wall. In a week or more, I'll start agian with small tiles on the kitchen walls. That has to wait until the cabinets and countertop are in. Until then, there's grout to do, boxes to pack, tomatoes to can and more apples than I care to deal with (which really isn't that many...I'm just not feeling motivated, considering how much pie filling I still have from last year).

The cabinet installation seems to be coming along well. Here's a couple pictures from the end of work today, a first peek at the kitchen.

The island install is done. The rest of the cabinets are ready for all the pretty trims: light rails, crown mouldings, and toe kicks. In the next few days we'll be shopping hard for the countertop, and scouting for just the right drawer pulls/ door handles.

We are having a lot of conversations about what needs to be done before we move. Turns out the list of things that must happen after we move, but before freeze-up is the pushing factor now. Dare I hope for moving within a week of the optomistic target date?!?

More progress

2011-09-06T20:18:00.003-05:00

Again, it's 4 weeks since my last update, but there's lots of news. Seems that a blog is a lot of work! Either I have photos ready or I have text to share, but to get both ready...well, that has caused a lot of delays. A week ago I started on the text for this post, and since this time yesterday I've tried 4 times to upload the photos that are finally ready to illustrate what I want to say. No success with the upload. Maybe I'll post pics without words another day.

We've had a successful shopping trips for doorknobs, heat vent covers, a small piece of linoleum, ceramic tile, a vanity, 4 more light fixtures and towel bars.

There's visible progress everywhere these days! I'm getting nervous about how poorly I'm prepared to actually MOVE.

About a week ago we had our first look at the dining / living room areas without scaffold. That experience added greatly to the feeling that it's a home. Also a week ago, we commemerated the first anniversary of Frame Raising. The journey's felt long, but in some ways, it's only a year that we've been building on the house.

Except for the door & trim, the upstairs bathroom is finished! Vanity, fixtures, towel bars, lights, and linoleum.

All the light fixtures are up. The laminate flooring in the rest of the upstairs is finished. The last of the masking tape is taken off walls & beams. Granite tile is awaiting grout in the ensuite bath. The 20 sq ft of ceramic tile is laid in the main entrance. This evening Dennis reached the 2/3 point of the main floor laminate, which worked out exactly right. The end of the hallway just past the kitchen was the 2/3 mark, and we got the phone call (also this evening) that the kitchen cabinets will be delivered tomorrow, at the short extreme of the estimated 4-5 weeks since they were ordered! Amazing timing!

There is still 110 sq ft of ceramic tile to go, and all the grouting. We continue to look for an antique cabinet to re-purpose as a vanity for the ensuite. And the over-ambitious "countdown to moving" will switch to single digits tomorrow morning.

Last wall, last stair

2011-08-14T18:23:00.000-05:00

Prior to starting our "Days Until Moving" countdown, we had made plans for some vacation time. Obviously, ten days away from the project would set the odds further against us achieving the moving date goal. We all really needed the break and had some dear people we were long past due to spend time with. We went ahead with the planned road trip. It was a very good break.

Before I stop talking about vacation, here's a little something I picked up at our niece's beautiful scrapbooking & gift shop in Sylvan Lake, AB. It's wrought iron and measures about 30". How we squeezed it into our small car's trunk --along with all the luggage and two quilts my Auntie H had made for our girls-- is another story for another time. It is just right for the dining room, so it had to come home.

Now that we're home and back to work, we're making great progress again. If I asked him, Dennis would report crafting the missing stringer and bottom tread for the living room side of the staircase, and building the pony wall that separates the basement stairs from the living room. He has also made a lot of progress with finishing the electrical. Wherever the paint is finished, there are lights, plug-ins, switches and cover plates. The furnace and HRV have run for 10 and 20 minutes each to verify that they are wired up and working properly.

As a follow-up to my last post, here's another view of the stairs, this one before the pony wall went up. For now, every tread is wrapped with corrugated cardboard to protect the varnish until we're done wearing work boots and tracking drywall dust around.

Shortly before we went away, we celebrated a milestone that will seem odd: one functioning bathroom. Complete with light, lightswitch and door, it's both conventient, and promise that we will actually live in this huge "arts & crafts" project one day. Just a couple days ago I was marvelling at how every tiny bit of progress at this stage makes the structure feel more cozy, slowly tipping the balance from PROJECT to HOME.

Setting a target moving date has been helpful. We all find ourselves pushing a little harder, finding thing to do, or stopping our work an hour later.

Yesterday was a great day for the painting department. The last peak of the south wall is done, the last of the walls are primed, we've (finally) settled on colors for the two upstairs bedrooms & bathroom and started painting them. That leaves only the loft, one closet and two dormers in the vaulted ceiling areas untouched with color.

A slight tarnish in midst of all the good news & progress since we got home is the realization that our target occupancy date is likely to pass us by with no excitement. The kitchen cabinet order has had a few hiccoughs, the major ones being a bumpy staff change at the vendor during in the design process and us putting it on hold while we were on our vacation. Since getting home, we've finalized the design for the kitchen and decided on a few cabinets for the laundry. They are all ordered, but ETA is only 2-9 days before we had hoped to move. The vendor's preference is for contertops to be ordered after the cabinets are installed and can be physically measured for a proper fit on the first try. We'll trust their experienceAdding lead time for countertop could put us counting up "Days Late to Move". Still, though, it's exciting to be saying "next we start flooring".

Stairs - a quick preview

2011-07-18T12:25:00.000-05:00

So, this past weekend we assembled the stairs, hoisted them into place. They are functional, but still need the lowest tread on the living room side of the T.. Railing will come after the paint is done. (I need the area open right now for easiest/safest ladder access.)

We have a 2' section of railing that's already installed on the balcony edge; just enough to know we made a good choice in materials. We have every reason to hope that the "fresh" pine will age to color-match the pine that's been installed for a year.

Is this how warp speed feels??

2011-07-15T00:00:00.002-05:00

So much is going on. For the last week, it feels like I get home from work, eat, sleep and paint. Fortunately, the average is still that I spend just a little more time sleeping than painting when I'm away from my 8-5 job. We were drawn to a Sico color called Whitish Clay, but it was too light until we doubled up on the tint. As we cover more walls with it, our affection for the resulting color grows. Last night we got a good start on the third gallon of it. We're also approaching the bottom of the first 5 gallon pail of primer. To have a feature wall or not is my current dilemma, and the array of available colors is making it hard for the girls to settle on what we'll be doing in their rooms. The taper is hoping to finish the upper level today, so that's buying all of us some deciding time. Again, I realize that we choose to treat the timbers like finished trim, and protecting them slows our pace at this task too.

Eight more light fixtures could go up during the lull between drywall boarding & taping. My helper & I only got seven done, but the best part is that they are permanent!! We don't have to paint around them, so they can stay right where they are...for always!

Dennis has been back in the barn workshop with his timberframing tools. This week he's been working on building stairs from the main to upper level. They are turning out with a very sturdy look. Contrary to popular belief, we will NOT leave a ladder as the permanent route to the upper level. It will be a strange change, but we'll adjust. My bet is on the adjustment being quick! More pictures will be coming once I'm done painting the walls near them, and they are installed.

We finally have quotes and drawings for 2 different kitchen layouts. One is very open and reveals a lot of timber, but is weak on upper storage space. The other errs in the opposite direction on both points. We need to decide this week so the other minor changes can be made and place our order. Cabinets are 4-6 weeks away.

One fun thing we've done is start a countdown. We know it's much more ambitious than realistic, but it's been one more thing helping us stay focused on what's sometimes felt like "The Never-Ending Road".

and almost another 4 months!

2011-06-27T00:06:00.001-05:00

I had intended for blog updates to be more regular than this when I set out to chronicle the highlights. Since the last word here, life's been full of ups and downs, trips to work, school, church and home. Somewhere in there the house is still managing to make progress.

After months of feeling like we're only gaining baby steps at our project, there's been a sudden and exciting shift. Things are happening fast! Yesterday was another great day...aw shoot, it's been a great week. I can't bear tell it all in order, so I'm gonna skip straight to today's highlight and then fill you in on the journey.

Just starting the drywall last Saturday was wonderful. Then came Wednesday and our appointment to bring measurements, sketches and ideas to get our cabinet order started. Thursday we picked up the supplies for the taper and took advantage of great sale pricing on interior doors.

Friday the taper and boarders were all here. Today we got within about 2 hours of finishing all the drywall boarding. After all the months of Dennis working mostly solo, having this much help--family members who are pros at this stuff--has made things seem to go fast. I think drywall must always be a memorable step because it changes the skeleton of studding to actual closed in rooms.

Before long we'll be painting!! I'll be making final decisions on paint colors in the next week. We're getting a first-class job of the drywall & taping thanks to brothers of Dennis' but we have to be we willing to work around their schedules, meaning that we won't be starting paint for another 10 days at best.

Now, about all the necessary things that have brought us to this point.

It’s been a very wet spring. For the last month there’s absolutely NO way we could get the necessary trucks near enough to the house to cement it now. We’ve been very thankful that the basement was cemented in the winter!

Getting the cement done cleared the way for heating and plumbing. We’ve heard of contractors saying that this mechanical stage is twice as much work when there’s a timberframe to work around. It’s certainly been tedious, but it had to be done. We're thrilled at how invisible most of it is. The only real concession we had to make at this phase is that we have an 8" heat duct running floor to ceiling in the master bedroom's walk-in closet. In all, we console ourselves "that's a small price to pay to be able to heat upstairs bedrooms." Until we finish the basement, most of the heating & plumbing can be viewed there, if that sort of thing interests you.

Next Dennis got the permit, did some more reading and wired up the house. His handiwork passed inspection first try with flying colors. Which isn't to say that it was quick or easy. There are over 100 boxes and 2500 ft of wire, much of it run through blind chases inside the styrofoam insulation of the exterior walls.

Another issue we console ourselves about is the front lawn. It`s a mess! There were already shallow ruts in the fall. Although none of our property has been damaged or threatened by floodwaters, the abundance of moisture this spring has made it challenging to schedule delivery of heavy material like drywall. We've had wild ducks swimming on the yard, pumped water off the yard several times, and once when it was starting to dry, tried the old farming technique of tilling to speed drying. Neither were successful, but we did get a break of almost 4 days without rain. The local lumberyard was able to deliver our drywall hours before another good watering added to the puddles.

Summer 2012 will be for landscaping.

Two months gone!

2011-03-08T23:00:00.002-06:00

Well, here we are: 2011 is already flying by like it's eager to be as gone as 2010. Work, home, teens with activities, more work, and squeeze in some house building. It's time for a progress report. When I start choosing pictures, I realize a lot has gotten done since I last updated you.

The loft floor needed to be strapped in 2x2's to make a void to run electrical for the main & upper levels in places where the traditional solution would be between floor joists. Once the wiring has passed inspection, we'll sheet with plywood & install the laminate.

Then it was studding walls upstairs: a bunch of 2x4's, nails and a whole lot of head scratching. The sloped ceiling and working around the rafters made it a little more challenging. At every step we were re-thinking the walls a few inches one direction or another to keep the timbers visible in as many rooms as possible. In one place that meant trimming back some of the floor/ceiling boards to uncover a section of rough-cut timber, then sanding & varnishing that 8"x16' piece. That was nearly a full day of work for one person, but it's well worth it!

The biggest challenge of framing upstairs? I'd say the day Dennis single-handedly moved a bathtub up 10' from the living room to the bathroom so he could frame the last wall.

1. Rig up the hoist

2. Tie on the tub.

3. Swing tub to right of stairpost and into bathroom at the far right.

Sounds easy to me, but a simple explaination does not equal an easy task.

With the loft all framed up, and a couple of warm days in the forecast, we made plans to pour the basement floor Feb 4. It was great to have the help of a friend who's got a lot of experience with concrete.

Pre-cement

All done!!

About here there was a pause for information gathering and getting ready for the next phase. We ordered the heating & ventilation package, and got the permit for wiring. While all that was in the works, Dennis gathered his self-discipline and finished the gables. The plans weren't clear about where the gable would meet the roofline, so we had decided to wait until we weren't guessing anymore. Still, that meant the 2x6 ceiling boards now had to be cut away at the proper angles, boards had to be cut and installed on the ceiling of the gables. Then the gable walls had to be sheeted to make a surface to drywall later. All four gables had to be done off a ladder. For two of them, the ladder didn't even need to be on top of a scaffold. Tedious, but it's really improved the look of things! Here's a gable before & after:

We're also anticipating having more living space and have started collecting pieces of furniture we'll be needing.

One daughter loved the dresser, has claimed it as her own and is eagerly working on fixing one area where the varnish had some damage.

The re-thinking wall placements I referred to earlier left us with very few choices for layout in the upstairs bathroom. In choosing to have a mirror, we had to pare down the vanity to less than 1/4 of the size I'd planned. The chest of drawers will need a little TLC, but we're looking forward to it being the solution to storage in the upstairs bathroom.

With the basement finished and a small 220V construction heater keeping the house comfortable, we finally have a place to store such treasures!

And this little piece (30x18x18") with it's real leather handles just tickled my fancy at the antique shop where we found it. (Note to shopping friends: Here's a valuable lesson... ALWAYS wonder aloud "but what would I do with it?" when you stumble into something you really like but can't quite make practical enough to buy. A sales clerk just might overhear and give you several wonderful reasons to own it... blanket box, toy box, coffee table, and I've forgotten the other 3.) You'll have to come down to see where it ends up. I've got a couple of ideas, but I'm not telling!

This post has taken so long to assemble, it's almost all old news. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll have more to tell, and by the end of the month I'll find time to tell it!

Not my house

2011-03-04T06:47:00.004-06:00

We have a neighbor who is also building a timberframe home. One morning, about a month ago he phoned: "Today's the day! Come on over." Dennis had to see this!

He has shortened his project several months by hiring Cornerstone Timberframes to build and raise the frame. The frame has some similarity to ours, but there are also a lot of design differences. They are making good progress getting it closed in. It's looking good. Congrats N&S!! Enjoy the journey.

So, to summarize, this is not my house. This is not my yard. This is not even my dog!

Happy New Year...a week of firsts!

2011-01-02T09:30:00.001-06:00

In the last week we've chalked up a nice list of "firsts"

First meal in the new house...a picnic lunch of sandwiches & hot chocolate on Dec 27.
First box of Kleenex opened in the new house (I agree, a strange milestone!)
First nap taken in the new house.

And the really BIG one:

First floor walls all studded up yesterday. I'm actually surprised at how small many of the rooms look with walls. Maybe that's because I've seem the main floor as one open area for so long. It is getting easier to imagine kitchen cabinets and paint colors.

2010-12-23T19:55:00.000-06:00

Wednesday was a great day. Dennis & his brother installed the last 3 windows! All 21 pieces of the window & door package are in! They finished just before dark.

It's amazing how this step made the project look so much more like a home. Until yesterday, I thought of doorknobs as "finishing details". Dennis points out that it's reasonable to start heating enough to make working comfortable, but being able to keep the doors closed would be beneficial. We'll have to decide on the doorknobs soon. Wish we knew what color the siding is going to be!

Then today (Thursday), in a mix of yay!! :-) and yuck :-P ", a less exciting, but equally important event (drum roll please): installation of the septic tank!

A few good days

2010-12-16T19:29:00.005-06:00

"How's your house coming?"
"One nail at a time."

Today we are 52.4% done installing windows & doors! Well, Dennis is making progress. All I do is count the results. Eight windows and three doors, totalling 11 of the 21 are done.

The only picture I have right now is of the first 2.

Long time, no update

2010-12-03T23:35:00.001-06:00

Sometimes it feels like progress has been slow, or worse, not at all. But, then I took a look at the pictures I'd uploaded in early Oct to update this blog "the next time I have nothing to do". A lot has changed.

So I haven't told you that the SIPs are all on.

The house is shingled. All shingled!

I uploaded the above 2 pics, and then we had what seemed like a pause to catch up on some pre-winter yard work.

So the condensed version of the progress since then would be like this:

Cover all the window & door openings with poly. Initially we had some very wet, windy weather. That's changed to snowy, cold & windy. Real windows = very good, but for now, covered windows = good!
Shop around for our window & door package. Finalize opening directions, sizes, etc. This post has been so long in coming that we've had time to decide, order, wait 5 weeks and the windows were delivered today.
Bring hydro from the pole to the new house: trench dug, unusual amounts of fall rain pumped out of trench, line laid, water pumped out again and trench filled.

Light fixture sale!! Got lights for most of the main & upper floor rooms.

Basement floor: existing water line re-routed to utility room and back to current house. If you have a private water supply and pressure system, you can feel our anguish (and shortening tempers) when the late evening we were doing this phase, we broke the water line, had to drive to the Big Town for parts, repair the leak...and then prime the pump before we could sleep. Yeah, part of the huge patchwork of memories we'll associate with building our house.

The above-ground loop is insulated & heated so the supply to our current home doesn't freeze solid

Sewer lines installed for the basement bathroom and vent stacks where they will be below the floor level. Styro, poly, rebar & floor heat lines in place. Inspection passed. We can pour cement when we're ready.

We've laid the tongue & groove 1x6" boards for the ceiling of the main floor. They are one of several steps to building the second story floor.

Since these pictures, we've bought two bathtubs. It feels strange to be doing that already, but we thought at least one might need too large to get through a door later. And we found what we wanted at the right price. So we bought now.
While waiting for windows, Dennis got a start on framing walls on the main floor. Our house will be divided into rooms! So far just the master bedroom, it's ensuite & closet are framed.

So, there is progress. There's still so much to do, but there have been a number of great momnets when we see glimpses of the next step or the finished product.

4 Walls and a Roof

2010-10-15T09:43:00.000-05:00

Saturday Oct 3: A little trimming & modifying. Our understanding of the blueprint dimensions and the actual size of dormer openings differed. Always easier to make a hole bigger.

Tues, Oct 5: Men and crane ready to start work.

End of Tuesday...the fourth wall and half the roof went up today.

Tuesday evening: putting footholds onto the last roof panels so they are ready to go up tomorrow. Nothing escapes the watchful eye of Josie, the Quality Control Lab. Fortunately she's happy with being paid in doggy kibble & hugs.

The west wall - Sept 25

2010-09-28T18:26:00.000-05:00

People have often pointed out how convenient it is that we are living on the build site. They are right. This past weekend we had our first real encounter with the little cloud that comes with that big silver lining. There is very little clearance between the two buildings, adding a challenge to putting up the last 2 SIPs on the west side. Of course having a crane on site and maneuvering a vertical panel would be easier, if a lot more costly...okay not feasible for people who aren't building full time. I can't afford to pay a crane to be on standby for a couple weeks so we can use it an hour a day.

That said, John Deere is still our best bet. Dennis figured he could lay the wall panel on the trailer roof so we would start winching it upright from an incline rather than the usual horizontal. A good idea, really. It just had him using the tractor lift to near max and careful spotting at roof level so we didn't damage the nearly new trailer shingles. So... considerable risk of error, "oops!" and the resulting setback and/or damage. Next time I'll have to post a picture of how the SIP's are located in place and attached to the floor, positioned within 1/8" of their neighbor panel.

Anyhow, here's a brief pictorial overview of this craziest panel placement so far.

It went well. The last panel on that side, although not as tall, also took some creative maneuvering before we could winch it upright, but the west wall was done Saturday evening.

With winter closing in, our resolve to hold down spending is giving way to good common sense. We have a small crew of men coming next week to help with the taller north & south panels and the roof panels. This will be the crew's first experience with SIP's, but they are eager to evaluate whether it's something they will be able to use in their future builds instead of more common stud framing.

One wall

2010-09-17T07:37:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to the Project

2010-09-15T21:40:00.000-05:00

Today is one year since our Rural Municipality issued the building permit. A year already!! We're overwhelmed by how much is left to do, but chanced upon a picture from May and realize how very far we've already come on this adventure. Wish I had a picture, but that will have to wait for daylight and another day. So, just believe me: one exterior wall is up.

Tuesday, Sept 6 the SIP's (structural insulated panels) were delivered. These are essentially OSB & styrofoam sandwiches that will go around the outside of the frame to be the exterior wall/insulation unit. They are big, bulky and because of their size, heavier than you might guess. The largest pieces have the equivelent of 12 sheets (4x8') of 7/16" OSB, which would have a total weight of, well...more than I'm ever going to be able to lift! Here are a few pics from last week.

Roof - layer one

2010-08-31T21:24:00.000-05:00

Last week was great. We were so happy to have the frame standing, and have visitors from Alberta coming, that we hardly thought about the next step in this long process. The house could wait. Well.. turns out my brother can't stand to sit & visit, even if it's raining. As a bonus, he and his family spent last summer house building.

All I can say here is some people have NO fear of heights. Well, no...if I didn't LIKE this brother a lot, I could come up with something witty about primates.

Remember the 2x6" boards Dennis cut shiplap into with a customized Honda-powered table saw? Here's their place: they cover the rafters and are ~~visible~~ gorgeous from the inside.

Here's the new view from my kitchen window--

---and one of the girls took this view from their future bedroom window

The morning after

2010-08-27T12:26:00.000-05:00

In my youth, my parents built 2 new houses. I wasn't the chief worker or planner (or payer!) on either of those jobs, but I don't remember a day that came anywhere near what yesterday was here. It was a remarkable day that we won't ever forget.

If you are reading this because you couldn't be here, I'm sorry you missed the marvel of seeing all the pieces fitting together and the sense of community as huge beams were guided into place, some as much as 35' off the ground on the south end.

And if you were here, a very big thank you from our family. It was an amazing day that couldn't have have happened without you.

I don't have words, but we have hundreds of pictures. Here are a few.

The last peg!

From the southwest.

From the northeast.

Noon: Ahead of projected pace!

2010-08-26T12:54:00.000-05:00

From a couple angles when we stopped for lunch @ 12:10 Half the floor joists for the loft are in, one more set of queen posts to go, then 12 pieces (that will together make the 4 long beams to join the house from end to end) and the rafters.

We're excited with the progress!

9:30 AM--Off to a good start

2010-08-26T12:41:00.000-05:00

On the eve of Raising

2010-08-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

Well, here we are! 12 hours until the crane will be here. Dennis's list is done. The chili is in the slowcookers, coolers for pop & water are washed & ready. There are a few little things to do, like a quick tidying in the main bathroom, but mostly I need to relax and rest.

Morning will be here soon!

Countdown to Raising Day

2010-08-21T17:14:00.000-05:00

Monday evening: we made a list of things that need to be done before Raising.

sand 5 braces
varnish 10 braces
sand 8 large timbers
varnish 8 big timbers
assemble bents
mark timber footprints on floor
install one more floor jack in basement under stair post
put "stops" on rafters for securing lifting sling
repair "Big Bertha" (huge wooden mallet aka The Persuader)
prefit 36" braces in mortices
stack single timbers in lifting sequence
book crane
phone a friend -or several
trip to lumber yard for small supplies
bracing material on hand
rent scaffold

Tuesday morning: Dennis's brother & sis-in-law have an unbooked day and come by to help. They help Dennis move timbers onto the floor and start assembling bents. These should be quick & easy for the crane to lift.

Pounding the first peg. No more "test fits". This is for real !!

Making very good progress on the first bent.

It's been a good day: 2 bents done and there's still just enough natural light to clean up the tools.

Wednesday morning: Dennis read over the list again, sets the goal and locks it in by booking a crane for Thurs, Aug 26. The countdown has begun. Nine days!   Now we have a definate date to book off work, and we can start phoning the friends who wanted to try to be here for Raising (as per THE LIST).

Wednesday evening:   The euphoria of having a date booked for Raising eases off a little and I realize my list also includes hostessing: getting lunch and possibly supper ready for however many people--work crew, their spouses & kids and other spectators-- who show up on Raising Day, getting tables, garbage cans, adequate drinking water if it's a hot day, and ... My head spins for a moment. Put that against a backdrop of life where back-to-school is looming too, there are some large projects we're trying to finish at work before month end, and we have (very loved and wonderful) out-of-province guests coming for a few days at about the same time as the Raising. I have a mental near-meltdown. Okay, it's all good. Pick up the pieces, make some lists and GET WORKING !!

Saturday (today):   Things are progressing well. Only 5 more days. The menu is planned, the grocery shopping done and the baking is in the freezer. (Except for 2 items that family members have offered to bring..same thing though...on my list, that counts as done.)

Dennis is working this weekend, and we took some time to go to the parade in town this morning, but with the 3 1/2 hours we had, there was more progress on stacking timbers and we also have 3/4 of the work done on assembling bent #3.

We also discovered today that we need a new theory about black mold & discoloration on the timbers. Even some of those that have been under a dry roof since the day they were cut out of a log have some discoloration! It's not just rain, straw bales & tarps to blame. They were properly separated with 1" airspace on all sides...maybe they needed slight air movement too? And if so, where's the line between drying the wood too quickly, which causes excessive cracking, and getting enough air movement?   Sigh...we're just glad none of the damage we found today is major or in visible places. There's almost no action required to clean these up.

Making progress

2010-08-21T11:53:00.000-05:00

It's been a week of sanding & varnishing. There have been some where Dennis was right (Yay!!!) : washing with water is all a few of them needed.

There are smaller piles of timbers all over the front yard. Some days I've wondered how to drive through the maze to get my car to the house when a tractor's blocking the driveway. The piles represent various stages of resurfacing and sorting into sections for raising.

Last weekend we took advantage of Saturday (2 adults available to work on the house) to "test fit" the east wall of the house. Raising Day will go much smoother if all the 1/16 & 1/32" problems are worked out in advance. It's also a lot less stressful knowing that if there was any small discrepancy, you won't be discovering and fixing it with a crew of family & friends watching and a rented crane waiting.

There were a few places where taking a paper-thin slice off a tenon with a wide chisel was needed to fit it snuggly into the mortise. But that wall all fit together, the wall "squares" and is exactly the 42' long we thought we were building. Very encouraging to seethe many pieces of the project coming together and working right!

Just in this pic, there are 7 places where the fit is checked. And there's an ugly piece of blocking to hold it off the ground while also allowing us to level to whole wall.

I've got to go for now, but more news later today!

Filling in the hole, Assessing the damage

2010-08-09T20:06:00.000-05:00

An aquaintance of ours, an older gentleman who'd seen more than one person's share of grief, used to often say "it's never so bad it couldn't be worse". Today's headline reminds me of that. It sounds bad. But really, things aren't so terrible.

Filling the hole: The time has finally come to backfill around the basement. There is no longer a gaping hole in the lawn, and we can walk right up to the house. It just got WAY easier to put tools and building supplies on the floor!!

Assessing the damage: Not quite as happy a story here. It is now time to give serious attention to the 64 timbers under the tarp where water-damage has occurred: but not just water damage. Originally (in January) the plan was to put straw bales on the tarp so the wind wouldn't tear it up, and it would stay in place to provide reliable shade for the timbers so they wouldn't discolor in the sun.

That still seems like a good plan, but in hindsight, we can figure out what happened. There came an unexpected monsoon season, the straw molded to black from the inside of the bale, and the rain carried the black onto the timbers. By the time we saw any evidence the bales were molding, the damage was done.

We learned this past weekend that pressure washing won't fix the problem. But even if you know what to look for, sanding them down to the wood (80,120 & 220grit) and re-varnishing them (2 coats) is erasing 99% of the damage. It just takes time, and sets back the whole schedule by 5-10 days and will cost another $300+ in varnish. Dennis is still optomistic that last 1/3 of the timbers to go under that tarp haven't suffered and won't need refinishing. Here's more proof we balance each other: I'm much less optomistic. Hope he's right, though.

We keep seeing flecks of the "silver lining" in this. It gives us one more chance to admire the beauty of the raw wood. It also answers the question of how to address the color variation due to a running change the varnish/stain manufacturer made in their formula. It will all be the same now!

Starting the floor

2010-08-04T22:49:00.000-05:00

The professional opinion of the engineer is that the timber frame is too heavy to sit on floor joists that span the full 28' width of the house. The solution is a 6x16"x42' laminated "beam" and floor joists only 14' long. Guess we've been working with the solid wood too long, because this laminated stuff strikes us as very wimpy! Even a 6" thick sheet of plywood (which is the quick description of this product) has significant sag in one direction. Good thing the 16" depth of the beam that will be holding the weight has good stability!

But since this is prior to "Crane Stage", how will we get it onto the basement walls? At the walk-out end of the basement, that beam sits at least 10' above ground level. The best idea we had was to try 2 tractors equipped with bale forks & slings.

On the tractor, the VP of Operations

What a miserable time!! First we had to do this in the evening when everyone was tired: that alone could have prompted several relationship disasters. Then it was raining and getting dark. Also, the beam kept turning in the slings so the weight was borne by the flexible face. That LVL beam is easily capable of 2.5' of deflection (at center over a 41' span) if it turns the wrong way!!

Logistics Manager

On the ladder,
VP of Communications

(And on the other side of the camera, the VP of Publicity)

Anyhow, here are the HIGH moments of the evening:

Almost there!

Setting in the first end!

SUCCESS!! all slings & tractors removed! 9:45 PM

We must be keeping busy. I started this entry by uploading pics the same evening we set the LVL beam into the basement. Tommorrow those pics are 2 weeks old! We haven't taken many pictures, but my memory tells me that like the above picture, we've been worked 'til near-dark several evenings to finish up tasks that work best with 2 adults. Those have been long days for Dennis. I start late enough that it only takes a couple hours to work 'til sundown.

So, as I post this, the floor joists are in and the floor is sheeted. The outside of the basement is all covered with plywood and vapor barrier. We just want to dig a section of sewer line under the foundation, and then WE'RE READY TO BACKFILL. "Floor on" was a great milestone, and I expect "backfilled" will be another great one.

Where there's a will...

2010-07-16T07:22:00.000-05:00

I never thought I'd say it, but having a very busy life has been good for this blog. Most often there's just no time to burden you with the head-scratching that went on. All that makes it onto this blog are the PROGRESS reports.

We've been struggling with how to make tongue & groove in the 2x6 boards that will cover the 1500+ sq ft vaulted ceiling. The theory is that overlap will camoflage any shrinkage that may happen after the boards are up. Several ideas came up and were struck down. Final answer: cut shiplap with a dado blade on the tablesaw. Great idea until the tablesaw sucked too much hydro and the breaker had to be reset about 3 times for every 14' board. There's no way anybody here was willing to make 1000 trips to reset the breaker before this was done. Final answer: where there's a redneck will, there IS a REDNECK way.

The 5.5 hp Honda engine was borrowed from our gas powered air compressor. It was a pretty simple fit, to run the belt to the Honda instead of the 110 v motor. Only hurdle was that the two power sources turned opposite directions...not much of a challenge to compensate for that. (Says the family typist who heard about it after the fact and had nothing to do with the solution!)

Today I can report that the varnishing is still in progress, but the shiplap is all cut, freeing Dennis to start putting the main floor into the house. It feels like a huge step to be back in the basement hole, working directly on the house.

Have I said the SIP's are on order and we're tentatively talking about being ready to raise the frame in mid-August?

Major Milestone!!

2010-07-04T14:39:00.000-05:00

Thursday, July 1 : The day Dennis cut the joinery in the last 3 timbers!!

Yes! The frame is cut! All 146 pieces. Sorta like this picture, but not assembled yet, and obviously, a WHOLE lot bigger.

Not only is it done, we're within 10 days of Dennis's original estimate of "completion in 6 months IF it goes WELL". As all do-it-yourselfer's know...stuff happens ~~sometimes~~ often, and I'm not referring to the good stuff here. So share the moment with us before our attention turns to the next step: the outer layer.

We need to have everything ready and onsite to close in the house before we undertake frame raising day. The biggest part of this is figuring out the best way to cut tongue & groove into 270 pieces of 2x6, writing a cheque to the guys building our SIP package and arranging crane rental for the duration of the raising.

Two Steps Forward...One Step Back

2010-06-30T09:44:00.000-05:00

The bad news of the week: If you don't live in our part of the world, you need to know we've had nearly a month of rainy weather--and not just a little drizzle--I'd say two out of three days we've watched the water come pouring down from the sky. And it's accumulating. And developing patience. And testing character. And making a HUGE hungry crop of mosquitos.

So... we finally had a dry day with a forecast of 3-4 more to come. Dennis pulled back the tarp to see how the finished timbers were faring. Setback. Grey water stains. This pic is a very small sample of what we're dealing with. My early estimate is that of the 68 pieces under that tarp, 2/3 + will need attention. Washing doesn't work. Maybe pressure washing will, but more likely it will mean sanding them down to the wood and re-varnishing. This unplanned step in the process is reason enough to stack the floor joists in the barn as we finish them, sacrificing workspace. Though we are approaching the end of cutting the joinery, this latest development means we really aren't ready to break into our Happy Dance just yet.

But there is progress too: Seems that other things (a tree fallen down over the garden, cars needing oil changes, a burnt element in the hot water tank, High school grad...this list could get LONG!!) keep coming up. These "other things" are NOT contributing to the timely completion of the frame. They do remind us that there's more to life than a house.

That said, floor joists are coming along very well. There was a little hurdle to overcome at the beginning: how to cut the curved ends on the 6x8 timbers. Fifty cuts with a Swede saw would be effective, but maximum effort for very low production. Once again, Dennis rose to the challenge. If the wood is too big to manuever through the bandsaw, find a way to move the bandsaw through the wood. All you need is a freight trolly from your local Canadian Tire, a used bandsaw and a few blocks of wood. I tell you this so you too could be the proud owner of a RedNeck BandSaw!

The RedNeck BandSaw is working well. 14 of the 25 floor joists are done. Or the way I heard it: "only 11 more pieces until the frame's done". Floor joists have the simplest joinery. Three joists cut & varnished in a day is a very attainable goal, assuming Dennis gets an avarage number of hours without big interruptions. It almost feels strange to be coming to the end of this stage after being in progress for 6 months. Soon we won't be counting timbers at all!

***Condolances to our friends and coworkers who lost buildings, mature trees and had damage to farm equipment this weekend in the windstorm Saturday evening. Sure has been unusual weather this spring!***

Well this has sat in unfinished drafts long enough that the timber count is now at 141/146 or 5 TO GO!!!

Some new pics!!

2010-06-26T21:57:00.000-05:00

One day everyone was out in the barn helping. The mortising machine is pretty agressive, but well engineered to also be safe. We've all used it to make a hole or two now. Except for Dennis, we all need supervision when we use it.

The palm sander is our favorite for doing the final sanding. It does a great job and is very light...unlike the belt sander which (unfortunately!) gets a lot more use.

Tie Beam I, the one I've previously called a thing of beauty. When the frame is up, come over to see it.

The freight trolley...is it a workhorse? ... or toy horse?? Either way, well worth the $50 we paid for it! The big timbers move so much easier if they have wheels under one end. Apparently was being a lot of fun when this pic was taken.

Ready...Set...Floor Joists!

2010-06-23T15:16:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since we've updated anything here. We now have a loaner computer while we continue to wait for the parts. Gotta phone those guys again :-( But at least with the loaner I can post a few pics tonight -- if I'm not busy sanding all evening.

Last night Dennis finished floor joist #8 of 25. That would put the total count at 129 /146 done. Since the last post we've also finished 2 coats of varnish on all the tongue & groove 1x6's for main floor ceiling. Now we're playing catch up with the braces: 40 of the 48 still need the final sanding & 2 coats of varnish. That's more stuff the girls & I can help with.

Tie Beams VI, I and II

2010-06-15T13:00:00.000-05:00

Still no computer at home, so still no pics of the progress. On that topic, the parts should be in tomorrow. After years of great service, things have really gone down the drain at that computer shop. I think this is our last trip there.

Beams I & IV are done, varnished and stacked the barn to wait. Beam I is a thing of beauty. I'd love to show it to you. We finished off gallon #10 of varnish last night, and I picked up the next 5 gal. The girls were along on the trip to the paint store, and M brought home some paint chips. Seems bright lemon yellow and violet are her colors of choice this week...girls are allowed to change thier minds...right?...right?!?... Please say it's so!

Today Dennis is working on the joinery in Tie Beam II. It's only got about 14 places where it meets other timbers, but it will be visible from all 4 sides once the house is up. We've also crossed the half-way mark varnishing the 120 pine boards for the ceiling of the main floor. There's only been room in the garage to do them 7 at a time, but I think we can up that number to 10 by making the piles higher now that the "in" pile's a little smaller.

Oh, and the Structural Insulated Panels (hereafter referred to as SIP's) are on order fo rthe end of July. A person could almost get excited!

Tie Beam III

2010-06-08T12:35:00.000-05:00

This one is a 10x12" that will run across the width of the house (28'). It's the first tie beam on the sawhorse for cutting, but because of it's place in the middle of the house, is the most work of them all. Not counting the pegs, there are 29 places where this beam needs to be shaped for other members to intersect it. It's been a multi-day project. Hopefully we'll be ready for the first coat of varnish by sundown.

Based on the time professional shops estimate for cutting a frame of this size, and factoring in that Dennis is working solo, not in a crew, he'd mentally prepared for this stage to take 6 months...if it all went WELL. Tomorrow marks 5 1/2 months. Doing pretty well! 3 more tie beams, which will each have half (or less) detail than the one he's finishing up today, and then the 25 floor joists (most of the work in them is going to be moving them onto and off the sawhorses) The timeline's moving along well!

I'm looking forward to getting our computer back from the repair shop so I can post pictures again!

116 / 146 !!

2010-06-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

Another milestone, this one's phychological. I asked Dennis last night what the timber count was. He answered in how many pieces left to do! One more rafter, 4 tie beams (the BIG logs he recently milled down) and 25 floor joists.

Tractor time - May 21

2010-05-24T18:15:00.000-05:00

Thursday was a day for moving the timbers. One by one, little 2755 John Deere moved 7 finished rafter pieces from the DONE pile inside the barn, around the windbreak and added them to the pile in the middle of the lawn. Next, 6 rough cut timbers were moved from the pile on the edge of the lawn and put at the end of the barn where they will be wrestled into the building one at a time for jointing.

Then there was an aside: either eagerness to see the whole frame, the need for a little encouragement. or the need to physically confirm that things are going to fit when we start assembling. A west rafter and an east rafter are fitted here. A moment to pause, admire the work, and photograph before these go under the big tarp too.

With all the wood moved around, it was back to working out how to get the second big log milled down to 10x12 without bark on the corners.

Using the Sawmill - May 19

2010-05-24T14:15:00.000-05:00

For the record, our house frame is made up of 146 pieces of wood. Last weekend #106 was finished. Most of the pieces left have very simple or fewer joints to cut, so they are going faster. On a good day, Dennis has gotten 2 rafters cut, sanded and varnished twice.

It seems the main rule of this project is that when you think you are making good progress, something comes up to change that. This week we've had...well, not a delay...a change of pace. We stopped counting members cut, and turned to making beams. The bed on the sawmill needed to be lengthened to cut up the 4 tree trunks we got with the second shipment of wood. In our part of the world, trees don't get this big. Where this came from, the mill we dealt with didn't have the ability to cut something this big.

Cutting the first beam turned into a 2-day project. It was early evening yesterday before the modifications were done and a log was loaded onto the bed. Dennis put the last of the blades onto the mill, knowing that he'd seen a crack in the blade when he picked it up from sharpening and he'd ordered more. At the end of the second cut, the blade snapped, putting an end to the workday.

Today's workday started with a trip to pick up the 3 new blades. A neighbor stopped by (thanks Peter!) to see the mill at work and watch the progress. He's handy with a tractor bale fork too, so things went well today. Before Dennis had to go back to his "real job, the one that pays", they'd found a nice 10x12"x31' beam in the smallest log.

A Quick Shopping Trip - April 27, 2010

2010-05-24T10:16:00.000-05:00

Today we bought 1x6" pine tongue & groove for the loft subfloor/ ceiling of the main floor AND laminate flooring for the whole house. Okay, so we're a little ahead of schedule buying flooring now, but the sale was very good. The laminate is a wonderful color. I realized that making even one finishing & decorating decision is shaping the rest of the decisions to come, and making them a little less overwhelming.

Yesterday we finished a 4-day email conversation with the friendly staff at http://www.pegs.us/ . All the oak pegs to secure the frame pieces together are on on the way here via FedEx!

So much good news this week and it's only Tuesday!!

Previously (part 2) ...

2010-05-23T21:37:00.000-05:00

Christmas Day, 2009 - Dennis can report that he has started the part of this house project he was looking forward to the most: cutting the timbers. "A start" means 4 of the 48 braces, but it's an exciting step

Here about 2/3 of the braces are done and stacked, awaiting final sanding and varnish.

Winter 2009-2010 - In hindsight, this was a season of "little by little"; counting up how many pieces are cut. It's a time-consuming process. The tractor doesn't fit into the barn, so every piece of 8x8, 8x10, 10x10 or 10x12" has to be wrestled into the barn and onto the planer by various creative man-powered methods. Then plane all 4 sides twice over, lift it up onto the sawhorses, measure and mark the layout, triple check that,

and finally cut the mortises, tenons and pockets needed. All sides that will be visible are sanded with 3 different grits of sandpaper. Finally the end-grain sealer is applied to all the cross-grain cuts, and 2 coats of varnish are applied before the timber is moved onto the finished pile in the barn. After about 6 pieces are done, most of the available hours one day are spent moving the done timbers onto a growing pile on the lawn and getting 6 more rough-cut timbers piled up outside the barn.

This post and braces will stand between the kitchen and dining room. The occasional glimpse of the bigger picture keeps us going.

...And this one is a Queen Post assembly. It goes on the upper level, supports the rafters, and will help define rooms.

Previously (part one)...

2010-04-02T22:07:00.000-05:00

We've been on this project for months, even years, depending upon when the starting point was. Here are some milestones we've passed:

* 1993 - We said we'd live on this land. And some day we'll build a new house here.

* 2005 - Dennis is fascinated with timberframes, and I'm easily won over. We'd like to build our house that way, but we have so many questions. Dennis collected and read a small library of books on the subject, covering history, methods, formulas, wood species...

If we do build a timberframe, we'll need more tools to go along with the bandsaw Dennis built 10+ years ago and has been "tweeking" every couple years since. So, the tool collection grew: a mix of new electric and antique hand tools and everything in between.

* Fall 2007 - Our patience continued to be tested. We needed the space and heat efficiency of a new house. It looked like the timing might be right. I started sketching floorplans. Dennis started squaring logs on his mill and cutting the joinery for a test project, hereafter called "The Barn". (Our Rural Municipality insisted it's a detached garage because of it's overhead door. So, to humor them, the hip-roofed building with hayloft, standing all alone in the middle of the pasture with deep hoof prints and "organic fertiliter" in the place of a driveway leading up to it is on official record as Garage.)

* Mar '08 - Dennis spent a week in Minneapolis attending a hands-on timberframe building workshop lead by professional timberframer, Clark Bremer. http://www.northernlightstimberframing.com/

* Sept '08 - Cutting the frame took a little longer than we'd expected, but it's done! We had a few family and friends over one Saturday to help with a successful raising of "The Barn" frame. YES!! We can build a timberframe!...okay so it WOULD be more accurate to say "Yes!! Dennis can build a timberframe."

* Fall '08 - Third and final draft of the floorplan is just right. Another little step finished!

* Dec '08 - Clark Bremer of Northern Lights Timberframing designed the frame we were dreaming of for our floorplan. The 3D images are going to be well worth his fee: knowing all the dimensions and angles are right is HUGE, as is being able to have detailed dimensioned drawings of every timber from all sides.

We built a 12x18" 3D model to visualize the spaces. THIS IS OUR HOUSE !!

* Jan '09 - Finally found someone able (and WILLING!!) to draw and engineer-stamp blueprints for a DIY timberframer.

* July '09 - Had final blueprints in hand.

* Sept 15 '09 - Got the building permit.

* Sept 23 '09 - Had a quick sod turning cerimony after supper. (The girls with a shovel turned out to be nothing more than a photo op.)

John Deere was the real sod turner and rock digger on this job, so I thought it deserved a photo credit.

* Nov '09 - The timbers arrive!! This is the first of two loads of rough cut Eastern White Pine (12,000 bf) from Nickel Lake Lumber, a small mill in Fort Frances Ontario. We're excited to start on the frame, but the cementing has to be done before frost.

* Nov 16 '09 - The cement for the walk-out basement is finished. This has been a great concern. It's rare to not have frost in Manitoba by this time of year. We're thankful that we didn't have to tarp in and heat the construction area for the cement to set properly.

* Dec '09 - With the cement done, our thoughts turned to getting a weather-resistant work area ready for working the timbers. The work area's insulated and we've installed a small wood stove by the middle of the month. This is about the only angle and cropping where this building has any resemblance to a garage. As time passes, we've occasionally referred to it as "The Shop", but knowing we had a couple calves housed here last spring and a hayloft upstairs, we will probably always think of it as The Barn.