It’s been a long time since the last house update. Looking back over the last three months, we are seeing a lot of slow, steady progress. I’ll share the highlights here.
Around mid-January, Dad and I finished laying down the second story floor. It took 18 sheets of 1-1/8″ T&G plywood. We hauled those up the half-finished stairs by hand which was a bit of a chore.
Before starting on the second story framing, I knew I had to find an easier way to get material up to the second floor. After evaluating a couple options, I ended up spending a few hours on building a flat platform that sits over the bucket of my tractor. This has allowed us to cut-to-length whatever wood we needed on the ground, put it on the tractor and raise it with ease up to the second story. I even raised the 250 lb cast-iron tub into place with it! (The crate in the LH picture contains the tub.)
The second story layout and plating steps only took about a day. I starting assembling the wall sections in mid-January and by early-February we had raised (using a come-a-long) the first two walls. The next weekend, friends and several men from my local church came out for part of a day and we were able to assemble and raise most of the remaining walls. It was a huge help! It’s amazing how fast things go with so many hands!
In late February, I moved on to the roof framing. Because it was an open beam ceiling, the load is carried by the second story walls and a single, structural ridge beam. Getting this the right height wasn’t hard but it’s easy to miss one or more of the factors that need to be taken into account. I second- and triple-guessed my calculations just in-case I was missing something. In the end though, it was right on. 🙂
Once the ridge was in place, we first added in the hip and valley rafters, then followed with the jack and common rafters. Dad helped cut the rafters while I worked in the air installing them which helped speed things up a lot. Still, doing it right and safely meant slow progress and, together with weather delays, it took us well though March to finish the rough roof framing!
Once the main roof framing was complete, laying down the sheathing went fairly quickly. The last two weeks of April has been the framing and sheathing the small pop-outs over the stairs and bathroom. As this post goes to print, those are almost completely done, now.
And with that folks, we are up-to-date! I hope to try to update more regularly in the future in shorter posts.
There are still big tasks to do for the rough framing, but the list of remaining items is shrinking. Besides the first story roof (which itself is a large project), some interior wall framing on the second story needs to be finished, the last three stair treads, ceiling joists in a few locations, and some blocking all need to be completed. I feel like I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
At this point, I’m planning to finish the rough framing in early July. That’s about 6 months past schedule. Although it has been slow progress, I am enjoying the building process and have learned a lot over the last few years. I’m thankful that God blest me with the opportunity to build my own house!
Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it.
Ps. 127:1
