One, Two, Three... Lift!

A few years ago whilst we were still in Washington, Mr M took me on a journey to purchase some "wall jacks" that were a huge bargain and we definitely needed in order to build our house! Well TBH I was not only amazed that he hadn't lost them, but we actually did use them! What a bargain, well worth the shopping trip Mr M.



Another week another 2 days of rain... but even so it is amazing what you (Mr M) can achieve in 3 days.....

 

Start off small....

Once that was up he then put some props onto the outside to stop the next big wall from continuing to tip over....

Then he got the jacks in place....

And called in the big guns..

As you pull down on the arm the jack climbs up the piece of wood and lifts up the wall, it is actually very clever (don't tell him I said that).

And its up, struts on the inside and the outside edges stop it from falling in or out.  Look there, that's the front door "welcome"....

Rinse and repeat (minus the big guns as some of us have real work to do), and you have a back wall...

See that window in the middle, that's my kitchen window, I will be able to peruse my kingdom whilst doing dishes.... there I am slaving away up in the garden....

Window and door headers have been put in..... 

 

 



And one of the side walls...

 

The tall window at the end of the wall is the spare room window, there are 4 of these in the living room, there is going to be lots of light coming in.



That is pretty much as far as he got before the rain stopped play!  The sunshine is set to return this week so the final lower wall will be put in and then we will be working upwards.....

The only way is UP baby.....

Morning Campers............

Another week has flown by, and mostly its been chopping, sawing, nailing, screwing and sawdust. 

Oh that's a big pile.....

 

Before you start to build your wall you mark out your base plates (that's the piece of wood along the bottom of the wall to us monkeys), you mark all your door and window entrances and stud positions..

 



 

Then  follow these simple instructions...  First you survey the worksite and the workers....

Then you cut the wood to length.....

 

you then nail the studs together to form the wall components...

 

Some of the wall studs are triples as they are sheer walls and door frames, then the 'u' shaped studs are for where internal walls meet external walls, the 'L' shaped ones are the corner posts... its all very complicated but eventually when all the components are put together they form a wall...

Yes you are correct, the wall is lying down, but eventually it will be stood up, I just need to eat a bit more spinach so I am strong enough to help!

Window header.....

Mr M is fully getting into the builder mentality, most builders have a van but as his commute is so short he has plumped for a pull along trailer....

I on the other hand, use it for much more practical uses.... like hauling my paving slabs up to the top of the garden! All the "Good Life" fans out there will understand the requirement for ski goggles...

The weather has been glorious (apart from the inch of rain on Friday morning)..



Consequently my seeds have been growing like weeds... this was last week....



 

And look at the difference a week makes.....

 

I have 1 new bed to fill and had better crack on as those corgettes need to get outside into the ground...

We've had a bit of dissent within the FU.. Dippy the white duck has taken a bit of a shine to George the little red hen, and like most men he is pretty single minded in his pursuit of a shag and doesn't seem to understand that physically it won't work, but that hasn't stopped him trying, relentlessly trying, and trying and trying.... relentlessly.... so we have had to separate the boys from the girls!

Now he is spending his days mostly swimming... cool your boots Dippy, cool your boots!



It's amazing... I'm Floored!!

Last week involved some rain (3 days to be precise) and 3 days of frantic working once the sun arrived and involved sorting out a supply issue and a 120 mile round trip dash for flooring!

Almost too much excitement for one week.

Once the rain left and the sun made a reappearance......

 

 and the supply issue was resolved.....

the work began...

 

Inspections were completed throughout the project....

and finally it was all laid.....

OMG the crawl space is covered up, how can we get down there to hang out...

Hello, hello is there anyone there....

Obviously its not just as simple as laying sheets of plywood, there was glue involved, each sheet is tongue and groove to the next front to back, and there were other tips and tricks to getting it laid, Mr M still needs to go round and trim up the edges and something else (I might have stopped listening to that bit of chat) before moving on to framing the walls.

Impressive hey - I'm Floored!

The sunshine and warm weather are welcome in the garden, my seeds are starting to show some real potential at last....

 

It has also coincided with a super low tide so we have been exploring parts of the beach that are normally under water....

Starfish that have been known to eat a man they are so large *old pirates tale*

In this week's edition of Homes and Gardens....

... things are moving along!

Just incase there was any doubt, Mr M does work :)

 

 

Rim joists are placed around the outside of the building and nailed to the mudsills, then the floor joists are nailed to the rim joists (see I DO pay attention)..



Double joists are where the walls will be....

All the joists are lined up neat and tidy 16 inches apart like little soldiers... or people planking...

Keep on working Mr M....

All the joists are spaced with central blocking.....

Looks really cool... maybe we should leave it like this... make a maze and charge people to come and find their way out! we could be millionaires...

Moving forward the floor is next, plus all the drainage needs to be put in around the foundations and it needs backfilling, lots of things are now on the to do list!

Onto more interesting stuff......

I am working on the next phase of my veggie garden, I plan to have the veggie garden all completed by the end of this summer "yeah right" so next year I can work on the garden proper.

So all of last year (and still a work in progress), I have been laying down gravel pathways, the next step is to edge them all with pavers (anyone who knows my Dad will understand where the obsession with straight and tidy lines comes from)...  I figure if I do 30 at a time it will not only spread the cost it will save my back...

 

 

The garden is getting all planted up, potatoes are in their bins, peas are in, turnips and beets are on their way up as are the first round of radishes and carrots...

I am diligently working on keeping the deer away from temptation, raspberries are fully netted this year..

And everyone is putting in the full effort to make this a successful growing season....