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