The house goes up

When Rob said we were about to move into an even more intense phase of building, he wasn't kidding.  It's been two months since I posted on this blog, and looking back, it's all been a bit of a blur! It's only as I try to sort through the photos that I can suddenly remember - oh yeah and then we did this and then we did that....  I have so many photos that I will have to split this one into two blog entries, and tackle one at a time.  I'm also going to do most of the writing, then tuck in the photos and hope that Rob has time to add a few comments before I post them!

First of all: the weather.  This was not our best summer.  We had well below normal temperatures and it seemed like almost every day, dark clouds would roll in and the heavy rain would arrive again. While Rob continued to work in the rain whenever possible, there were days when it brought his attempts to a complete standstill. On the plus side, the cooler weather was pleasant to work in! And August did occasionally have some almost summer-like weather.

Before Rob could start anything, he had to finish attaching the foam slabs to the sides of the concrete foundation. Unfortunately we had left the OSB board forms in place, and over the course of the very wet summer some ants had moved into the wet boards and then chewed up the foam that was next to the nest. We had to replace the sheet.  We worried a bit about ants moving into the rest of the foam, but apparently it was only due to the wet wood being in contact with the foam and the amount of moisture in that location; we haven't seen any further problem areas.

It was interesting to see how the pink panther logo had transferred from the foam onto the concrete when we removed the sheets!

No matter how much Rob wanted to get at erecting the timbers, there was a lot of preparation work still to do. But it was an exciting time when he began to bring some of the finished timbers down to the job site.

Next he moved in some scaffolding, and we both began to realize that we were finally about to move into a whole new phase of building.

With the scaffolding in place, even with locks on the wheels, Rob wanted to ensure there was no possibility of the scaffolding going over the edge, so he got all the sills in place, using a rubber sealing strip underneath the wood, and holding it in place with special bolts.  Unfortunately, when the heavy rains hit, the concrete pad was now sealed like a shallow wading pool, and the water gathered and stayed, so Rob had to ease up on some of the bolts, and make sure there was a way to get rid of some of the water, even resorting to using a giant squeegee.  As it continued to rain, this became almost a daily chore!

He also found special anchor brackets and bolts to hold the timbers in place as well.

I found myself working 4 and 5 days a week at this point, in the funky good karma store. I would rush home every evening and head for the building site to see what progress had been made.  After going home and getting Jet out for a quick play and a good walk, I'd get the cats looked after, and prep something for dinner. Then, as the last light faded, and weather permitting, I would head over to the site with a cold beer for Rob and I, and we would sit and talk about the days adventures.  When this "test" post went in, we couldn't stop admiring it! It's the first time I had any sort of feeling as to the height of the living room timbers.

Rob had decided to assemble the base of the frame piece by piece rather than raise it as completed bents (a bent is a section of the house - usually two posts, a tie beam and the principle rafters). A piece by piece assembly allows a slower pace of work and errors (if any) can be corrected without undue stress. And it allowed Rob to do the base alone. When the first timbers went in, I thought the living room looked pretty small, but Rob assured me that the house would seem bigger once they were all up. He was right!

The living room was the first to go up. I think we both had pretty big grins on our faces the first time we placed our chairs there and gazed out at the river!

It was fascinating to watch the wooden pegs go in. There will be several hundred pegs in the frame all hand made from an oak tree that we had to take down.We still have to decide how far out they should extend and then Rob will cut off the excess.

Next to go up was the guest room. It will have a beautiful ceiling, and is going to be a very cozy room!

I don't know what I was more impressed with - the blue skies or the fine timber joints. Maybe both...

I was just a tad surprised to notice that some of the trees were already turning colour. In August!

Rob and I have continuing discussions about knots in wood.  In fact he wrote a funny quiz one day and here is one of the questions:

After spending huge amounts of time (and money) ensuring that every visible face of every timber is reasonably free of knots and defects, you show the completed main living room beam to your wife. She replies (and I am quoting exactly here) -  "It doesn't have any knots in it. I like knots." Do you:
    a. Not reply. Life is too short.
    b. Not reply. Life is too short.
    c. Not reply. Life is too short. :o)

Well - after discovering the perfect heart-knot in my soon to be mudroom - I'll say nothing more on that issue!

With the living room, guest room, and mud room in, Rob proceeded to work on our bedroom, and then the kitchen and dining room.  I couldn't wait to see these go in as I was having a difficult time envisioning the change in roof line of the kitchen/dining room.

Looks like even the wildlife likes to check out the building site. These two young deer were timid but curious.

Oops, Rob forgot to stain one of the timbers. Luckily he could do it in place.

I love this shot.  Standing on a piece of timber, with another nonchalantly tucked under his arm. Rob has built up a bit of muscle this summer!

It's been a bit rough on his shoes though....

Mid August arrived with a bit more nasty weather. I was scheduled to be at a yoga and music festival for the weekend, but opted in the end to just go for the day. Things seemed a bit hectic here, and I wanted to be here as much as possible. The morning I left it was cold and teeming with rain. I threw a pile of warm clothing into the truck and drove over to Quebec. By mid afternoon I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, hoodie, down vest, and raincoat and rain pants. Despite the weather, everyone at the festival was pretty upbeat, and Elizabeth treated me to a lovely henna tattoo!

It took a while for the tattoo to dry due to the rain, but it finally set. I arrived home that night to a swimming pool on the concrete pad, and a dejected looking Rob pushing the water out, dressed in multiple layers as well. We were both a bit disheartened I think.

Fortunately, the following week, summer arrived! Jet was happy to finally see the arrival of his pool.

We also saw the arrival of this winter's firewood, and despite the heat, I had Rob set me up with the splitter and started splitting.

It's still not finished but I got a good chunk of it done.  We keep it covered with a huge tarp to keep it dry, and it is a haven for the garter snakes. Well, I thought it was one garter snake, but apparently there are actually several.

I was worried I would hurt them when I was tossing wood in, but they usually slither safely off on their own into the nearby garden.

Almost the end of August, and for the first time all summer we were hot enough to jump in the river, and it was finally shallow enough that I could walk safely against the current. The water was a bit chilly, but refreshing. We wanted to get a good look at the building site from the river, and were pleased that it wasn't easily seen. We have neighbours across from us, and we didn't want to spoil their nice view!

Although I kept thinking we had all the timbers ready to go, there were actually a few more left to do, and Rob set up in front of the cabin to work on one.

I caught him one morning heading over to work on the house, timber tucked under his arm, cooler in another....

As the kitchen and dining room progressed I began to get a much better feel for the house, and Rob was right, it began to feel bigger again.  Which is probably good, as this was not the right time to announce that I thought the dining room was too small to fit our dining table! (It's plenty big enough)

And here in the "kitchen" one day was this bin of screws.  A funny little blast from our past....and it seems rather a long time ago now!

It was finally time to get the scissor truss timbers off of the porch and cut the curve in them.

Rob had me try to help him with this earlier in the summer. "Just try to pick up the end" he said - well...that didn't go so well, so he put them away until he figured something else out.  He rigged up some good supports, and I just had to help guide the timbers through, and be at the other end when they came out.  I felt a lot of pressure in helping with this job because each piece was several days work and it would not be good to mess one up, but it went quickly and smoothly!

Not exactly sure what we'll do with the pieces we cut out though. They look useful for something.

They then had to be sanded and stained.

The final timbers for the kitchen and dining room slowly went in, sometimes with a little adjustment! Rob lost count of how many times he went up and down the scaffolding.

Walking up to the building site, it began to feel like a real house was going up!

Rob made it look easy to put these kitchen and dining room rafters in.  With the ceiling in place for the kitchen I got pretty excited.  It's going to be beautiful!

I keep admiring the timbers and pegs. And the blue sky.

However, it was hard for me to look at the pile still to go:

And envision where everything was going to end up. Rob of course knows every timber inside out!

I have hundreds of photos of the frame but it is only fully exposed for a fleeting time so we'll be glad that we have lots of photos. Some day soon there will be a roof on and it will be completely closed in!

On one of my days off I walked up to where Rob had worked on the timbers, and was surprised to find I had a hint of sadness at the emptiness of this special place. I guess it's because we camped here many, many years ago when were building the log house, and up until a few short weeks ago it was a hub of activity again for the timber frame  It has a special place in our hearts.  I had to remind myself though that there is at least one more frame to cut (the workshop) so Rob will be working here once again!

And suddenly this phase was done. After 3 years of planning and cutting pieces the bottom part of the frame was done! Rob managed to take a break and and enjoy a quiet moment in the finished base.

He didn't stop for long though as it was time to get to work on the roof trusses.

The trusses are assembled on the ground and then lifted in place using a crane - sure hope they fit! We had friends lined up to help, and the weather was looking perfect. Unfortunately the control system on the crane got damaged the day before it was to arrive and we had to postpone for a week.   In the end, the week's delay turned out to be a benefit as it gave Rob time to make sure everything was truly ready, and the time was spent on carving more pegs, finishing the jack rafters checking that everything was plumb and level,

rechecking all the trusses.

and getting the scaffolding secured to the second floor and ready for the first truss to be lifted in on roof day.

Hard hats were at the ready.

One more view of the sky through the timbers, and soon we will be on to the next phase....

And then, there is this - a gift from the past.  Rob was 11 or 12 years old when he made this as a school project:

It's a shoe shine box made with mortise and tenon joints and dovetails. His mom has kept it all this time, and recently, when she moved from her house into an apartment, gave it back to him. I wonder if that young boy had any inkling that some time later he would be fashioning a house - with those same mortises and tenons and dovetails....