Tuesday evening party for two

We went out this last Tuesday evening and did some more work on the house after we got off of our work.  Here is what we did!

Margo working on the opposite wall.  In the bottom of the picture is our roofing material ;)

Since we used both new and used materials it started to look a little like a quilt blanket according to Margo.  

Above: Margo is tacking in the last of the bottom sheathing.  You can also see that we put up the ridge beam.  We did this because it was easier to have the tarp over the house.  The beam isn't fully tacked in so when we start the roof framing, we will take it down and attach the hangers on the ground.  

We put the rest top layer on but we didn't get any pictures because we were in a hurry to get back home.  We'll be working on it again this Friday/Saturday so we will update you all then!  

-Jeff

Cinco de Mayo!

We are a little late on the post but this last weekend we were able to square the house up using a little creation with jacks and jack stands...  We got the walls squared up and put the remainder of the metal strapping on, including the corner braces which are not pictured below.  This does not include the roofing hurricane clips or anything else to do with the rafters.  These straps were re-enforcements to help tie the walls to the floor and to one another.  Typically this is done with just plywood but anywhere that you will be experiencing wind, you have to have them.

Im installing the last of the corner brackets, standing on the sleeping loft!  

Wall to subfloor connection

Attaching the wall to the subfloor.  

This picture shows a few of the 12" metal straps we used to connect the top plates to the walls.  

The base layer of the plywood.  We got this from the previously featured shed demo, thank you Tiffany!

We have most of one wall sheathed.  This wall will only have the door (full sized window door) for light.  This will ideally be the north facing wall, but that depends on where we eventually call home I suppose.  

This is one piece that will connect the ridge beam to the wall top plate.

-Jeff

P.S. Margo helped a lot today but was somehow not in any of the pictures... 

Lofts!

We got both of the lofts up today and put most of the metal straps that will help tie the walls to the subfloor.  We also, put the wall caps on and tried to square up the walls as much as we could.  They will move when we put the sheathing on but it always helps to not be too far off with that kind of thing... 

This is the sleeping loft framing.  We will be re-inforcing this with some beams that are parallel to the wall to give it more rigidity in the middle but for now it looks great!

Its actually starting to take form!

Just sittin on a wall...

This is the second loft that will be above our breakfast nook.  It is only about 17 inches wide.

Another shot of the sleeping loft.

From underneath, a shot at the cross braces we have to help the loft a bit.   

Screwing in the top place above the door.

Soon to be our door...

Our friend Sandy after we wrapped the trailer all up with two tarps.  It looks like a giant christmas present to me... I christmas present full of blood, sweat, and tears.. My Favorite!

We put in a good day but had to call it quits because Margo wasn't feeling too hot.  She had a really bad headache so we left a little earlier than planned but I am very happy with what we accomplished this weekend.  Next is sheathing in the walls and starting on the roof!

-Jeff

Walls!

Today was a great day!  We woke up, had some coffee and took off to the build site.  We were able to get all four walls put up and put into place. Below are some pictures that show what we completed.  

 This is the second wall after we laid all of our boards out.  We attached them using both, wood glue, and 2 1/2" screws.  

The second wall up and braced.  It is hard to see but this wall has no windows except for our door (which has a full length double pane window) 

Another angle...

Plan of the rear wall

Margo setting in the header for the breakfast nook window.  

The rear wall 

Last wall up! (front).  This has two windows, one long skinny window about where my right hand is and a window that will be in our sleeping loft above my head.

After we squared up the walls and screwed them to the subfloor.

Finally, we have four walls and a floor...

Tomorrow we hope to build the loft so we can start on the roof!

-Jeff