Drip Edge & Facia Installed across the front

I couldn't get the whole front of the house because the sun is right behind the house...so you can see this part. All of the tar paper is on the front half of the two story portion of the house. This morning we installed the facia and drip edge to the front and I am not sure what else we'll get done today as the hubster is going camping/hunting tonight and we have company coming tomorrow...you gotta live right?

Roof Update

He got all the sheathing on the front of the two story roof and started on the tar paper about dusk so I got a shot before he gets it all covered up...I bet he'll have the back done by the end of the weekend too!

Sheathing going on the roof

Wow, what a difference it makes when the roof sheathing goes up...this is what he got done today. Thanks Dad for the help today. He's out there now in the dark still working on it.

Truss bracing & other roof tinkerings

Here are some photos of the stuff my hubbie has been working on in the roof...first one is the front of the house -- second one is me standing by the fireplace looking up. Kind of a wet dreary day today so we'll head to church to hear the kids sing and probably not much else tonight...

Blocking & Bracing the roof trusses

Nothing exciting to take pictures of -- a whole week of bracing, blocking, putting nails on the hurricane fasteners, permanently setting the columns...nothing you can really see in a picture, but it isn't going to blow away in a hurricane!

Next he has to build the eaves (I think!) on the sides of the two story portion of the house -- maybe it is called the soffet? I don't know! It will have a foot overhang, and now there is nothing, I promise some photos.

All I do know is that I am not standing for one moment on the top of the FIVE, I repeat, FIVE layers of scaffold it is going to take to work at the peak....

Ooh, I got a little shiver on my spine just thinking about it.

Upper columns are installed

Upstairs columns are installed!!!

Just hubbie and me working today -- got it done before dark!

I also was the officer in charge of sweeping the entire upstairs & downstairs, taking nails out of every board I could find picking up every nail (I bet it was more than 100) and sorting out all of the scraps -- putting the trash ones in the burn pile...

It is looking good out there now!

If it doesn't rain tonight we'll do more blocking in the trusses...if I can stand up there!!!

Welcome to our "Country" home

If you don't live rural like we do, you don't probably have no appreciation of how far away your mailbox can really be -- I thought I'd take you up our driveway! First photo is with our mailbox on the left, please notice the "end of state maintenance" sign on the right...

I took the second picture from the bright spot you see in the center of this picture...
The "road" turns off to the right and our driveway is straight ahead in this second picture.

The third picture is when you get out of the woods and hit our yard...

Second Story Trusses Installed!

All of the second story trusses are installed -- there is still a day's worth of bracing to do, but they are up there -- only one interesting tale to tell, the crane broke down on the way to return it and my dear hubbie is out there somewhere trying to fix it as we speak -- the clutch broke, and he just needs a part and they weren't open on Sunday.
You can see the two story portion and the south "wing" which doesn't have a roof yet, and there will be a north "wing" on the other side too. He also is putting in a "dormer" thing in the middle, so there is a lot of work to do before shingles...and he also has to stick build the roof over the bay window on the back of the house.

First Truss

It isn't totally attached yet, but here is the first truss in action!

Super thanks to Dad and Mr N for helping us today!!!!!

Crane is here

Hubbie picked up the crane this morning and I believe he'll use it to put the upper columns in this afternoon...

The crane is big enough, thank goodness

Crane is on the way

We have a crane on the way this weekend and are planning to put all of the trusses on the top of the house -- The house will look a lot different after that is done!!!

We have a South Wing!

Due to some delay in sealing the upper porch floor (which is now solved, so no need to go into details) we got to work on the south end of the house -- it is my bedroom and bathroom...this side is only a one story portion of the house. I must say it was nice to see some walls go up over there, and it sure was fast with Dad helping! Yes that is my little girl there in her fancy robe...

Fourth side sheathing is on

This past weekend - the wife, that's me, took the girls to two halloween parties, church, and the fair so, I didn't help on the house at all, and my hubbie worked all night friday and all day saturday at his paying job so only work was sunday...but he did get the fourth and final side of the 2 story part of the house sheathing installed all by himself...that is a lot of scaffold work by yourself...

he has a 3 day weekend coming so maybe we'll have exciting results after that!

Sheathing on Back & Side

as predicted, we got the sheathing on the back of the house and thanks to my dad coming to help on Sunday, we got it on the side too -- the bottom side of the house doesn't get sheathing, that is where my master bedroom & bathroom attach to the house and it is a one story room...now we have to get the sheathing on the other side and finish the front porch. Then a roof!

Before Sheathing

We plan to get the sheathing on the back of the house this weekend -- here is a before picture, you can see that we already got a couple pieces up -- but we'll see if we can finish...should be nice weather now. Our rain gauge maxed out at 5 inches yesterday...wonder how much more we got? Our road was flooded in 2 places...anyway, i hope the back will look different in the next pic!

6 Columns Installed

the first 6 columns are installed on the front of the house -- there will be 6 more right on top of these on the upper porch -- maybe next week! Also the decking is installed on the upper porch so you can walk up there too! Now we have to apply the deck coating before the upper columns and then on to the back of the house...

First Column Installed

This picture on the left is the first downstairs column installed...YIPPEE! It is 10 feet high and I think it is like 12 inches in diameter at the bottom.

The Picture on the right is a glimpse to what is inside that column. This 3 inch wide and 26 foot long stainless steel strap goes from the foundation, through the center of the column and then wrapw around the roof trusses and holds the roof down, while the column itself holds it up -- neat!
You can also see the columns are completely hollow in the back of my hubbie's truck in the background.

Front Porch Joists Installed

We finished installing these floor joists last night (we had run out of the hangers and nails this weekend!) so I thought I'd show you a picture of the front porch now. I believe the next step is to either install the flooring on this or put the columns in I can't remember...I'm getting pretty good with that left hand hammering now...

Front Porch Header going up

Got this triple 2x12 header put up today -- maybe tomorrow we'll get some of the joists that go from the house to the front up...if it EVER STOPS RAINING!!! thought you would enjoy seeing how the tractor is doing the heavy lifting for us...thank goodness.

Sheathing on Front!!!

All the sheathing is on the front of the middle section of the house -- that column sitting there isn't installed yet, just getting sized...cool huh?



BIG thank you to Dad & Curt for helping with this part of the house this past Sunday...I am glad I didn't have to work a piece of plywood on top of two pieces of scaffold...no thanks...

We're working on the porch now, you can see we mounted a 2x12 strip all the way across the front where it attaches...

Hurricane strapping

Here's a peak at some hurricane straps on the house -- These in this bottom picture are what attaches the trusses to the house...WAY UP THERE!

Helping Daddy put on that Hurricane Strapping

The kiddos love it when their daddy lets them help build the house...even up on the scaffold...yikes~

Sheathing going up and Trusses are here

Wow, what a difference a day makes...exciting things going on here!

Lots more done on that second story this weekend

Front view (first Picture) & Back view (with the bay window on the right)

It sure is taking shape lately! Those second story walls went up pretty fast. Thanks Dad for helping with all those headers & top plates yesterday!

20 foot wall

Thanks Derek (on the top of the staging!) for helping us with that 20 foot wall on the back of the house...

More 2nd story framing

All of the playroom side walls are up on that side of the house...

First wall is up on the south side of the house.

Still a lot to do though, as they don't have cross bracing, headers for doors & windows, and the top plate...but pretty good for one girl and a guy working right?

Doesn't that bay window in the breakfast nook & playroom look cool?

Second story walls started!

Hip, Hip, Hurray!!!

The second story of the house has its first walls. These are three of the walls on my younger daughter's room -- she was thrilled to go up there and check it all out. More to come tomorrow as there isn't supposed to be any rain!

My sweet husband

I thought you would enjoy a look at my husband's favorite build-the-house clothes. I promise I bought him two brand new pairs of carpenter pants and he has several pairs of work boots in the closet, but sometimes the new just can't replace the old lived in ones.

Please note the shoe laces on the boots are half white because they are falling apart and the leather is worn down to the steel toe...

These shorts, wow, what a fashion statement. When he puts them on I know this is a business day and we are going out in the yard to WORK! Note the aeration channels built into the "business region" so you get that air flow through there. I noticed that he took a utility knife to one of the hems the other day when some strings were hanging down...

I wonder how many more days of hard labor they will last? We'll probably have a little memorial service for them and bury them in a little box in the yard next to the poor dead lizard who is buried in an old Gatorade bottle, but that is another story for another day...

Sub-Flooring is In!!!

Today we'll finish up the subflooring for the second floor of the house -- we're keeping it covered in black plastic to help with moisture prevention -- Hubbie still has a few strips to install on the edge but that is it, finally!

Looking Good!

The girls LOVED getting to walk around in their rooms today but mommy doesn't like it at all -- I am so nervous when they are up there!

Labor Day weekend

Here's a shot from the top of our "dry room" -- the office is the only room that has any flooring above it so that is why it is covered in plastic to save it from the 10 inches of rain we got in August -- or was it more than 10 inches!?!

The "hole" to the left you see is our foyer and the stairs will be on the edge closest to the plastic -

Well, I better get back out there, I think we are about to install flooring on all of this!!! exciting things are happening!

Labor Day Weekend

Standing in what will be my older daughter's bathroom, looking at the big hole is the living room, to the right is the kitchen and you can see the balcony/bridge to the left...

"Labor" Day weekend

We labored this weekend for sure -

Finished the rim boards and trusses for the indoor balcony

Here's a shot of the balcony before flooring goes on.

Today's Update

My older daughter stayed home from school today with a stomach bug so I didn't get to really help as much this morning but by lunch she was feeling fine so I went out and joined my hubbie out on the house for the rest of the day...we (Mostly he) got all of the I-joists up on top of the first floor...wow, that was a big step finished! Now we have a bunch of cross-bracing and rim boards to put up on there before we throw the floor on it, but at least the I-beams are all on it now...the rooms are really getting their shape now...I am so glad we went with the 10 foot ceilings...it looks so nice!

Anyway, it is already dark so I didn't get any pictures, but maybe tomorrow I'll snap a few!

I am proud of myself -I know the difference between an I-joist, rim-boards, and cross-bracing!!!I think my hubbie was proud of me when I hammered about a hundred 16D galvanized nails on his I-joist hangers by hand night before last...I slept good that night!

Foyer taking shape

This is a picture standing beside the fireplace looking back at the front door. You can see overhead how the upstairs balcony is taking shape over the foyer area. The stairs will be to the left on this picture...can't wait to watch a sunset from the second story porch - which doesn't exist yet...all in good time

I Beams up over Kitchen

I am standing by the side door of the house (which doesn't exist yet). to the right is the dining room with a the ibeams up over it and to the left you see the Ibeams up over the kitchen, we had to stop there because the joist hangers aren't in yet -- oh well, we can always find something else to work on!

I Beams up over dining room

This is a picture of my dining room looking into it from the foyer/living room area -- you can see the rooms are actually taking shape now! This opening will be just that, no door between the dining room & the foyer...

Progress this Weekend

We got most of the floor done in the upstairs bedroom on the side you see with the plastic, but had to stop that and cover it up because of the rain all day yesterday so we set up shop under it and did other small jobs like the "blocking" (short horizontal pieces between the stude)-- that was a lot of little pieces to cut, but at least it is something I, the wife, can be trusted with!

I even used the nail gun!