Day 19 - 20: Raising the roof.

So today has been cancelled due to snow.  It's really not an issue I was anticipating when we began this venture, but I can't exactly get mad at nature, so we'll move on.

The last few days have been busy and full of heavy lifting.  The first major excitement is that the electrical panels went in to the houses.  The process for getting the house wired up appears to have several more steps than I expected, but one of them involves the largest drill bit I've ever seen on a hand-operated drill.

I know hits hard to see.  Take my word for it, though.  It looks really cool.

Once the tubing and wires were run into the house, the box went in and was hooked up.  The inspector came by on Friday, so here's hoping that we get hooked up to the grid this week and don't' have to run the generator all day anymore.

Preserved for optimum freshness.

The other big news is that the roof is starting to go up.  For the most part, the trusses will be lifted by a crane into place because they are heavy, awkward, and all around no fun. However, silly details like that won't stop us from doing some of them by hand.

Just enough to make it look like we did something.

If you're wondering how we get them up there, the answer is that Jeff is 6'1" and Mike is 6'4".  It kind of looks like a Scooby Do cartoon with Dave playing the role of Scrappy and dangling in the air.  So the roofing has begun, but in order to make things easier for the crane later (a concept that is totally foreign to me.  The crane is supposed to make it easier for US, right?), Jeff and I carried the trusses around to where they need to go.

So. Much. Fun.

Now that we're all officially tired and done carrying heavy things around, we can put up the trusses and then... wait, what!? I have to carry plywood up to them next?  Oh, COME ON!


Later days.


Alex and Linzi.

Day 18: The Pie Day.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.  This is probably for first time in a while that we've had two posts to string together back-to-back, which can only mean that there isn't as much work at the school as before.  That being said, today was a pretty interesting day.

The first thing that I did when I got to the site this morning was nail in joist hangers and install splash boards in the basement.  Splash boards are basically 2x4s which extend the window frames and areas that the roof will sit on down through the floor and onto the foundation.  That way, when the added weight and stress of the roof is placed on those areas, it's the concrete holding it up instead of plywood and our greatest wishes.

What is important to note, however, is that simple sounding job took forever due to the fact that the floor joists and plywood are already installed.  That means that all of this work must take place in a space of sixteen inches (between joists) and the ninety degree angle of the floor and the outer joists of the house.  Not fun.  Not fun at all.

What was fun, though, was the rather unexpected visitor we had in the morning.  Armed with coffee, paper plates, and a GIANT PIE, the older lady who none of us knew (save Jeff) came down to the house and served us each a massive piece of coconut cream pie.  She insisted that we all have a large piece, regardless of the fact that neither Jeff nor Mike like coconut.  When she left, we still had half a pie, and no idea what to do with it.  We even tried to pass it off on the port-a-potty man, but he didn't want it either.

Now we're spoiled.  Freezies ain't gonna cut it anymore.

While I nailed nails in the basement, everyone else installed fire-proof drywall in the garage.  The drywall is really cool because it's covered in a layer of fiberglass, which gives it a distinctive look. By distinctive, of course, I mean that you can probably see it from space.

I was thinking that colour for the living room too...

On our breaks today, we had Linzi's grandfather and uncle Wayne visit us as well.  They've been coming most days just to check in on things and give the old guy something to do.

Linzi brought her hardhat from home.

Finally, to top the day off, a whole bunch of insulation foam was tacked along the outside of the house where the siding will eventually end up.  Again, it's got some pretty wild backing on it, which looks kind of like you're going stainless steel everything.  It does mean, however, that the houses are getting closed off and look more like real places.  As Linzi keeps saying, now it's getting real.

If it looks like a house, and sounds like a house...

Later days.

Alex and Linzi

Day 16 – 17: The Fast Part Still Takes Some Time

We’re still framing away (and by we, I actually mean them). While Alex has been getting down and dirty with the big boys, I merely stop in on my way home from school to make sure they aren’t slacking on the job – so I apologize if this post doesn’t stack up to the humorous and tutorial-like nature of the others.

First and foremost, the days of referring to “our hole in the ground” are officially over. With all of the exterior walls framed, the house is really starting to take shape. A house shape.

It's an "open" concept.

The second neat thing that happened today is that the dividing wall went up. Built with six skids of eight-inch concrete block, the wall will not only spare my cousin Kelly from hearing Hanson through the walls, but it will also act as a two-hour firewall… which means we can watch at least four episodes of the “Big Bang Theory” before moseying our way to safety should there ever be a fire next door.   

Apparently exposed brick is in right now.

  

That’s all for now folks! Soon we'll really get this party started and "raise the roof." 

Cheers!

Linzi and Alex 

P.S. For purposes of historical accuracy, it should also be noted that Alex sustained his first work place injury. No, he didn’t sever a limb or nail his hand to a two-by-four. He didn’t even trip over the generator. My heroic boyfriend scraped himself on a pencil protruding from his tool belt when he bent over. 

Day 13 - 15: The Fast Part.

So I have been told that this is the fast part.  The part where things go really quickly and it seems like the house could be done at any moment.  It's true.  I still think I might show up Monday and there will be grass.  That being said, a whole lot has happened in the last few days.

First things first, though.  Frost.  What the heck.  It is still cold enough overnight that there is a fun little layer of cold on everything.  Here is an artistic photo to illustrate my point:

That's about as pretentious as construction gets.

When we last left off, we were putting down plywood in the rain.  Well, the plywood is done.  Now we can begin to frame the walls and walk around without feeling that death is around every sudden turn while carrying heavy objects along two inch beams.

It's not oak or anything, but it'll do.

Because the floor is down, it is time to frame the walls.  The following section will be kind of like a how-to for building a wall.

Step 1: Carry around long 2x6s and arrange them in a wall-like fashion.

There is more to it than that, of course.  beams have to be placed every 16", window frames are insulated at the top and joints where other walls butt up are built out.  Essentially, though, it's making a rectangle out of wood and filling that sucker full of nails.

Step 2: "Square" the wall.

You may not be quite sure what is happening in this picture, so I will attempt to explain.  Basically, Dave and Mike are measuring from corner to corner TV style to insure that both lengths are roughly equal.  If not, they use that sledge hammer to wail on the wall until it is.  I'm not kidding.  It really is quite a sight.  Once it looks square, braces are placed along the wall on angles to keep it from bowing or changing shape, which would defeat the purpose of all the sledge hammering.

Step 3: Raise that sucker up.

Both Mike and Dave are using these funky ratchet deals in order to raise the wall from horizontal to vertical.  You can't see it, but before they began lifting, the wall was toe nailed down to keep it more or less straight and to prevent it from kicking out.  Once it is vertical, braces are nailed in, as well as a thousand nails are put in the base to keep it in place.

Step 4: Tadaa!

For tonight's dinner: imaginary soup.

That's not really a step, just an excuse to use that picture of Linzi in our kitchen.  Now you have a wall.

So most of the exterior walls are up, which is pretty exciting.  Following that, the middle wall between the semis can go up, and then there's some more framing, and a roof to be installed.

Some assembly required.

Later days.

Alex and Linzi

Day 12: Along came the rain...

Hoo boy.  This was a damp day.  A damp, damp day.  In case you were wondering what it was like to be an extra in Paul Gross' Passchendaele, here is a picture of my garage.

There.  Now you can skip 3 terrible hours of pointless movie.

Despite the weather, we pressed ahead like intrepid heroes.  Although our super powers are things like "can pass plywood incredibly effectively".  Up until this point, you may be thinking to yourself that this whole house-building racket hasn't had a whole lotta "building", per se.  Well, that's all about to change.  After the electrical and gas hookups were installed,  It was time for framing.

Be really careful when you walk into our house, because I put some of this together.

Before we got washed out like Noah, we did manage to build up the landings on both sides of the semi, and get them covered.  In case you were wondering what that large, crazy looking apparatus is for, I can tell you it is a sort of rapid-fire screw gun.

If it's good enough for Rambo, who am I to judge?

Once that was done, we began the plywood process for the flooring.  It was at that point the heavens opened up and decided that there would be no more work today.  So, we've got floor for part of the kitchen, a little bathroom, and some bedroom.

This picture may be a little blurry.  I was a little distracted by not falling to my death.

It's calling for yet more rain tomorrow, so fingers crossed.

Later Days

Alex and Linzi.

PS. Just for you, Dad.  We used a large hammer drill and that crazy screw gun.  Also, we put some shims under the plywood to make sure things were level.

BREAKING NEWS! Part 2

So funny story. I haven't been at the job site for the past few days because I've been supply teaching. HOWEVER, this was an update that I needed to share. 


Yesterday, I was reading through the attendance list of one of my classes to make sure I could pronounce all of the names(the native students can be a handful). As I went down the list I got to a name which I recognized: ALEXANDER LALONDE. 


Now, this could be a coincidence. It's a common enough name, right? Well... I confronted Mr Lalonde while taking attendance. It went a little something like this: 


"Alexander Lalonde?" 
"Here." 
"Tell me, do you live near Cornwall Centre Road?" 
"Uhh... Yeah?" 
"You wrote on my house, sir."


That's right! I found that vandal in the most unlikely of places, and confronted him. Vindicated, I came home with a smile on my face and a story to share. 


Later days. 


Alex and Linzi

Day 10-11: Learning New Things.

There was no post for yesterday because I was at work for the day instead of being at the site.  A quick update: the foundation was tarred and insulated.  Here is what that looks like:

It's slowly creeping up the walls!

Now on to today.

This morning I was told by Jeff that I was going to learn how to shovel.  I thought "what an odd thing to say.  Surely I understand the basic mechanics of shoveling, don't I?"  What may have been a more accurate statement was; "today you're going to spend three hours shoveling gravel against the foundation of the house.  Have fun."

So. Much. Fun.

So for a back-breaking, arm-tiring, noun-verbing morning I did exactly that.  To everyone out there who's paying for a gym membership, stop being a sucker and start building houses.  I'm pretty sure that by the end of this experience I will be in better shape than any other time in my past and future life.

Take that, Crossfit!

While I moved rocks with a shovel, the rest of the crew prepped for floor joists.  Floor joists are basically two 2x4's with angled wood run throughout in triangular patterns to keep the house from caving in the middle.  Kind of important.  The type of joists we used is called "Tri Force", which isn't very interesting unless you've played a Zelda game.  Anyway, once I was done shoveling I got to hand-bomb joists from where the truck dropped them off into the "basement". 

"Take this pile and make a pile over there" doesn't sound like make-work at all...

Once the joists started moving, the other guys starting putting them in place.  When Linzi dropped by, she was really excited that her side had a floor and the other didn't.  That was, of course, until Mike explained that they were using her side to practice for the other one.

Don't step on the crack or... well... you'll pretty much die.

Things are moving right along, and hopefully both sides will have joists by the end of the day tomorrow.  Today I upgraded from rake to shovel.  The way I see it, I'll be an architect in no time.

Later days.

Alex and Linzi

BREAKING NEWS!

BREAKING NEWS!

A vandal wreaked havoc at the job site, in Cornwall, Ontario on Friday, March 29^th, 2012. Shortly after the pump truck drove off, leaving the fresh cement nestled in its forms to harden in peace, a cloaked figure pulled up in his ’73 Eldorado ready for an afternoon of debauchery. (Okay… it might have been a skateboard.) The trespasser scrawled what is assumed to be some top-secret gangster lingo (or his name…) on the surface of the foundation, “Alex Lalond,” stopping only once to use the rental port-a-potty. Like all too many, this tragic tale has an ironic twist:

“I asked (my partner) Alex (Powell) to write our names in the foundation after they finished up for the day,” said a shaken Leclerc, “thanks to the neighbourhood ruffian, at least one of our names will be engraved in the groundwork of the house for eternity!”

Powell was actually a prime suspect in the case on the basis of sloppy handwriting and well, being named Alex, but has since been dismissed. Authorities are still unsure if Alex Lalond had an accomplice, or if he worked alone.

Chester Leclerc Ltd. was unavailable to comment at the time, but it is expected that the project will proceed as planned on Monday and that Powell will be promoted from “hey you, pass me that” to “look out” guy.