Thursday, April 26, 2007

Day Seven

I managed to move all the lumber inside and then I made a template
of the rafters so I could measure the seat cuts where they will sit on
the walls.
This is what the loft looks like from downstairs.

Here I am on top of the sleeping loft. I still have to
nail down the floor/ ceiling boards. First I have to see how
the rafters will sit.

Rick in his new house.




After the reverie of completing four walls, I decided to get back to work.
These ceiling joists will support the sleeping loft and reinforce the walls
as the roof presses out.


Maybe I should have invested in a tool box.



Number Four!
Here's the south wall, framed and up, but not sheathed so
I can access the inside easily.

And it's up! Ultimately nothing but brute force was going to
raise this wall and unfortunately I was the brute. There
were a couple of dicey moments when I wasn't sure what was going to happen and I can't honestly say how much this wall weighs because I think there may
have been some sort of spiritual intercession.
Here's another. The come-a-long simply pulled the wall straight
out instead of lifting it up.

I decided to side the east wall before raising it. That might

not have been the best idea. Wet lumber, wet siding, load bearing wall-

so a double top plate, windows four feet wide-so double headers there, sill plates,

cripple studs, trimmer studs, and king studs. Basically it weighed a ton.

This is one of the methods of raising the east wall that didn't work.


P:M: Momentous day. Rick and I got to the property early and the weather held all day.


A.M.: Up at 4:00 so we can use whatever good weather there is. Forecast for the next few days is not promising so I hope to get the walls up and figure out a way to cover the cabin well enough to keep the rain out. More later.

1 comment:

Jim said...

Nice work, Aaron. Your craftsmanship and work ethic are both impressive. I know how difficult construction in bad weather can be. You’ve got the skills to pay the bills, man. When did you learn all of those framing techniques? Your cabin reminds me of the log ones that I helped build in Alaska, though there were two of us to do the heavy lifting…thank God for leverage, and come-alongs, eh. Keep it up…we are all rooting for you.
Jim
P.S. Just watched the weather channel and I bet your brook is a full-blown creek by now. Good luck, cousin.