blogging our home building process

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Shingles and Cool Signage

The roof to the entry way is now complete!

The fascia and soffit got completed this week.

shingles were started and completed this week.





This awesome rustic sign was created by Brandi Proffitt of Creekside Furniture in Gatlinburg, TN.  It is a solid slab of maple and is going to look sweet over our front door!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Entry Way....

This week at the bat cave...
This week started by finishing up the roof decking on the side porch with the 2x6 tongue and groove that Cristi has been staining endlessly.  After that was complete, Ron got to work laying out the logs and timbers on the ground for the Entry Way roof, piers and girders.  After confirming that the 2 main logs being used for piers were just too mismatched to use, I went down to Everhart Lumber and they traded me out for a very sweet specimen.  While I was in Tellico at the sawmill, Ron got started on the fascia and soffit.










Before it was debarked


starting the soffit
Wednesday, we chainsawed and measured, and remeasured, and measured again lining everything up on the ground.  There is no way this super structure of an entry could be built 30' in the air.  All of the holes for the log bolts were drilled and lined up. Then, the custom log king truss was built by Ron while I tended to my business today.
 






Thursday, we stained the 6 logs and set one in place. Then, we cut and prepared all the timber girders and rafters.  This doesn't sound like much work but it took 12 hours to complete.

Friday, we lifted the 2 main pier logs into place and marked out were the wrap around porch 8x8 girders intersected with them.  Once they were marked, we chainsawed out the cedar so the girders would rest inside the logs 5".  This was both fun and iffy (we have never attempted anything like this before).  One wrong move with the chainsaw and the log would have been ruined.












Saturday, Cristi stained like a maniac again trying to keep pace with our entry roof framing.  Ron finished laying out the roof where it ties into the main house.  We stained the timbers after we installed them as rafters.  This was dumb as staining from planks 25' above the porch deck was nerve racking!  But, it got done safely. As soon as the entry roof rafters were done, we started decking the roof with the 2x6 tongue and groove.  Yes, we spent 5 days on the entry roof, but when you have only 2 guys and a man lift, it takes time.  That Entry had to be laid out perfectly for it to work and it did.  Ron was amazing this week as always.  The Entry Way is pretty amazing, too!









Sunday, August 14, 2011

The Marathon

Right now it feels like it's mile 18 and all you can think about is getting this over with!  You're hot, sweaty, exhausted and feel like at least one of your legs might fall off but you can't quit.  You haven't reached that 26.2 mile marker and that is what you've worked so hard to reach so you keep going.  I've done three marathons and this is my first time building a house and I have to say, I've been having a lot of marathon reflections these last couple of weeks as I'm discovering this house building stuff is a lot like training for a marathon!

Jason has been through this before as he's built cabins in the past but I have not.  This is my first house being built from the ground up and right now, I feel like I'm at mile 18 of the marathon.  The time commitment, the physical exertion/aches/pains, the endurance of it all is almost overwhelming at this point, but I know the end is near.  And, from my marathons, I know just how rewarding it is to cross that finish line and get the medal around your neck after all the months of hard work/training.  I just have to keep the end in sight.  This house has a lot of sweat, blood and heart and I know it's going to be a very special place once it's all done but I had no idea before we engaged upon this journey that this would truly be a marathon in its own right. 

I haven't even put in as much time at the house as Ron/Jason but I think we are all ready to get this project wrapped up in the next couple of months.  So, we've been working like crazy this week.  We have a super cool tool; well, more like an awesome piece of industrial equipment:  the MAN LIFT!  <insert Tim 'the toolman' Taylor grunt>!  This bad boy goes 60 feet in the air, articulates and is all-terrain.  It has helped us sheath the roof, the walls and everywhere else we couldn't reach before.  Check out this week's pictures!

 



















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