More Photos

Yesterday, my Uncle came up and saw the house for the first time. He has been a carpenter for centuries (it seems) so, his approving nod meant a lot to me. I realized that I haven't put any new photos up lately so - here are some updated ones:

Bill Gaither and Rafters...

Friday night Denise and I went to a Gaither Gospel concert. They are one of my favorite singing groups. We were working a table for Operation Christmas Child and got to go to the concert for free! Denise and I got our picture taken with Ernie Haase and Signiture Sound (another of my favorite singing groups that performs with Bill Gaither).

Saturday, We went out to the house and started building the roof. We put up the ridge and a whole two rafters. Whew! I was pretty unhappy. I just couldn't seem to get it together and kept cutting the bird's mouth wrong on almost every one of them. Finally we gave up (out of sheer desperation) and went home.

This evening, I went out and you would have thought a miracle happened. Nobody was available to help tonight and I had to work by myself. I put up 10 rafters in two hours. That's measuring, cutting, climbing up ladders and installing them all one at at time! I guess my dry spell was over and I was in the zone again. Thank God!

Our Plan...

This is the Floor Plan for our Bungalow. It is a little less than 800 square feet but, very livable. Since it is only Denise and I (and occasionally) 1 or 2 Grandchildren, we decided that we could live in a smaller house. We are also paying for it as we build it so, that also contributed to its compact size.

So far, I have $3,996.75 invested in the house. That includes the entire Framing Package. I shopped around (a lot) and asked people to beat each others prices. You will be surprised at how low salesmen are willing to go if you just ask. I have been all over the world (with the military) and I can tell you that we are one of a very few cultures that actually pays the sticker price without questioning it. Most other countries negotiate everything. Try it sometime and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

Anyway, I am an avid researcher of Aladdin and Sears homes from the early 20th Century. I have several old catalogs from 1919 and 1929 and so on. I was thumbing through my 1929 Aladdin Catalog the other night and came across this plan:

Denise thought that I had used the middle plan as inspiration for our floor plan. Here's a closer look:

I was amazed at how closely they resemble each other. Take out the wall between the Living and Dining Rooms, Remove the Basement stairs and slightly move some of the windows and it'a a dead ringer for the plan I designed. Guess I could have saved a lot of time if I had just looked through the catalog first! Anyway, I'll bet my next paycheck that I'm the only person in the country building a brand new Aladdin Home from 1929 right now.

Finally - A Clean Job Site!

I've been out working on the house for a couple of hours a day. The sun is now going down at 7:30 pm and that means I only have about 2 1/2 hours a day to work. What's worse is that Daylight Savings time ends in about three weeks and I won't be able to work in the evenings at all. There is a chance of rain all this week and I don't mind telling you it makes me very nervous. I need to get the roof up and dried in as fast as possible. Friday, I learned that my Grandfather had passed away so, I took the day off and went out to work on the house to try take my mind off of what had happened. It helped a little. Tim came out and we leveled the house (this time for good). We leveled it with water and it is right on the money! Saturday, I went out alone and worked all day. I raised the rest of the walls and installed all the top plates. Later, Denise (my wife) arrived and cleaned up the entire site. It looks great! She also was a tremendous help to me in finishing the top plates. It was very hot and I was getting really tired by the time she arrived. When I was building houses full time, I always liked to have a super clean jobsite. Unfortunatley, what I liked and what I had were two different things. Denise has always made sure that whatever jobsite I was on was kept clean. It kinda spoiled me. Tonight, I went out (and with the help of Lee and Josh) put up about two thirds of the ceiling joists. We worked well past dark and thankfully there was a full moon. We also installed "strong backs" or "rat runs" to keep them strong and stout.

Looking from Kitchen into the Living Room.

Water Heater Closet in Kitchen.



Kitchen window. This is where the sink will be.

Looking from Living Room into the Kitchen.

Looking from Living Room into the hall.

Looking into the Bathroom

High window in the bathroom so people can't see my sexy body!

Looking into front Bedroom from hall.

Looking back into the Hall from the front Bedroom.

Building Inspector........Or .........Mother In Law.

Elevation

Here is a small copy of the Front Elevation of our new bungalow. I will try to post the rest of the plans sometime soon.

Even More Walls...

This evening, we raised a couple more walls. I have finally conceded that I am just not as fast as I once was and I should just take my time and enjoy this project. It does give me a way to unwind after a long day of sitting in front of a drafting board. We put up the last long wall and the wall between the kitchen and the Living Room. Sure does show how small the house is!

This is Tim. He has been a great help. He's also a pain in the butt... But, I put up with him.

Somebody needs to go on a diet!

More Walls...

My friend (Tim) and I went to the site on Saturday morning and put up the two end walls. It took about four hours and neither of us was enjoying the heat very much so we went home at a reasonable hour. I am planning to go out on Monday evening and raise the last "long" wall. I took the camera but, forgot to take any pictures. I'll try to take some tomorrow evening. Went to Youth Group tonight and didn't chase any kids. I'm finally learning that I'm not 18 anymore!

Hurt Leg

It's Tuesday and I haven't been out to the site since Sunday. When we finished working (Sunday afternoon), I went to Youth Group at our Church (I'm one of the misguided Youth Leaders). While we were waiting for parents to pick up their kids, I was "rough housing" a little (chasing one of the kids) and hurt my calf muscle. It felt like my leg exploded! I haven't been able to walk much since then. I'm not sure if I pulled a muscle or tore a ligament but, I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to find out. This sucks! I want to work on my house in the evening and I can barely walk.

Deck the Walls! Er.. Well, Deck and Walls!

Sunday came and we decked the entire floor! It was only twenty four sheet of 23/32" OSB.

During the following week, I went out there and started cutting some of the Cedar trees that were going to be in the way of raising the walls.

Saturday came and I had help once again (my friend Larry P.) and we started building the walls. It took us both Saturday and Sunday to Build two walls! I used to be much faster at this sort of thing. Anyway, we raised one 32' long wall and tried to raise the other but, it was just a little to heavy for the two of us. I called my friend Lee (who was just getting out of Church - where I should've been), and with his help, we got it raised and braced.

Level, Flat, Square and Straight

The weekend before last, a couple of friends and I met onsite and started building the house proper. First we set the concrete pads and blocks and squared them (a foundation method that has been used for a very long time and has proven itself well for small structures). Then, we built the beams that would span between the blocks and carry the weight of the 2"x10" floor joist above. After that, we started laying out the floor joists and squaring them. When building a house, you must "re-square" and "re-level" every phase of construction. I haven't framed a house in about nine years and I'm amazed at how square this house seems to be at every level. Thank you God.
That was a lot of work for three guys on a Saturday so we called it a day and went home.