Man down.....

Not much to report this week, after all the frenzied activity in getting the porches finished we are still
sat here waiting for the roof to be completed *taps fingers on desk*

Mr M managed to hurt his back whilst finishing up the porches so he just finished up a few jobs at the beginning of the week.  He added some corners where the front porch and the front overhang meet...

Then he added some blocking to the inside walls to increase strength....

And then it all went to pot! his back got bad enough for a doctor's visit who diagnosed a herniated disc which is pressing down on his sciatic nerve.  Mostly it is painful when sitting and when going from sitting to standing, fortunately once up he is quite agile, but no heavy lifting for a while.

It is a total Pain In the Arse.... quite literally too!!!

 

But he has plenty of drugs to get him through.....

We were due some time off so this is the last blog for a while.  We are going to be practicing the 4 R's "Recover, Recoup, Rest and Relaxation"

See you on the other side......

Rain, rain go away.......

... before the rain arrived Mr M got the posts all bolted together....

Then we had to get the ridge beam into place.  I had to help with this strategic placement, another ridiculously heavy piece of wood......

Once the ridge beam was up then the rafters were cut and put into place....

Hope whoever built the porch made it strong enough to withstand huge weights....

Then he bolted them all into place and added the rafter ties (I know all the lingo)..

Next he had to build a California Valley? a what? I hear you cry.....  This is a structure that ties the porch back into the roof...

Next...... yes there is more.... you add the cedar slats...

And FINALLY the plywood sheathing....

And then it is finished...

Just in time for the rain....

But fear not, the sun is set to return this week for the foreseeable future, we are hopeful the roof will be finished shortly.   Until then Mr M is taking a deep breath!!

Couples that build together, stay together!!

So final push then it will be all systems go to get the roof finished.

But first the front porch needs to be built.  First job was to dig some holes, Mr M loves digging just not sure he enjoyed digging a foot down through the rock, but he got them done...

Then he got his cement mixer out and filled them with concrete and set the post holders...

Next he started working on the posts and beams that will frame the front porch.  There was a lot of this...

 

Using a variety of tools.....

 Including this manly looking thing......

Which personally I think looks down right dangerous, but Mr M loves it, apparently it makes cutting through beams like slicing through butter....

He also got his trusty router out and did some pretty routering,....

Few more joints made.....

Practice putting it together to make sure it fits.....

By this time the concrete had set so he moved outside and started assembly!  First the ledger was put on, this is where the back beams are placed and also where the deck will eventually fix onto....

We both put in some extra hours this weekend..... the back beams were lifted into place... and YES they are still really heavy a week later...

Then the front posts were put into their post holders and all strutted to hold in place....

And then with the mixture of wall jacks and muscle we got the side beams up to the top....

And then slotted into place....

Put the opposite one up....

 

Then move onto the front and back cross beams....

Nice joints Mr M.....

 

Bloody hard work.. who needs the gym....





So this week he will be putting in the ridge beam and the roof rafters and the cedar slats and the sheathing and *breathe*

The fire restrictions have been lifted for the season and so we are able to make a start on this huge pile of off cuts that has been accumulating over the summer...

I see many bonfires in our future...

Finally quick garden update, I have been harvesting the rest of the greenhouse produce, don't think the peppers will be getting any bigger at this point....

I have my chilies hanging to dry...

 

And I didn't grow the lemon, because if we had a lemon tree and life was giving me lemons, I would at least be making lemonade!!!