All done...For now.

Four walls, a door, a ceiling, a floor...how could I ever ask for more? Well, a tiolet would be nice, at some point, maybe a deck. But, for now, we're done. The last month or so was crazy. Siding happened, and the roof appeared (magically!) and shingles were nailed, doors were installed, I nailed lots of trim and smeared caulk until my fingers hurt. I chose a silly color for the external walls - looks like the easter bunny came by with a spary gun. But, it's all sealed up, weather-proofed and will be okay until I can get back to the west with some more money.







Huge thanks and gratitude to everyone who made it happen! It's a real house! Just a few short months ago it was a drawing, a million ideas, and a sculpture project. Thanks Megan (aka earth poker-breaker queen) and Kelly who came all the way from the big NYC and helped make a floor. Thanks brother Zayne of the awsome shorts for coming from London-town and becoming a master framer. Thanks brother Jai for all the window putting-in and shingle hauling up the ladder. Thanks Michael David Wright and Spencer for coming out in the hot hot heat to move big scary glass doors up a little scary hill on my food-poisioning day (I couldn't really get up off the floor, never mind pretend to be super strong). Thanks Adrian for moving shingles and jumping around for a great photo! Thanks Paula-mom for all of the superb measuring, cutting, tool handing, moral support and burritos! Massive thanks to Mr. Dave Nourie who always showed up with gusto right at the moment when I really really wanted to take a nap! And for helping make the roof magically appear...Thanks Sara for all the feeding of all the people, especially me...and for the endless supply of Kombucha, which I adored for a good long while. And most most most of all thanks to my Dad-ryl, without whom there would be no little house on the hill at all.

Four Walls

It's starting to look like a house! We framed the walls last weekend (dad, brother and I)...It was hot hot hot, but fairly fast, and much more fun than laying pipe. There is still so much to be done...!

The Floor is Done

We (really just my dad) built the house chasis from some old trailer hitches. So, it's really trailer-like; toe hitch, wheels and all. We dragged it up to the spot last weekend, and though there's no road and parts of it scraped on the ground, pulling up rocks and mowing the hill on the way, it was surprisingly simple.

Kelly and Megan came from New York and helped hugely with the whole floor project. We spent the first day getting the whole trailer contraption level, square, and supported by a combination of concrete blocks, patio pavers, and assorted scrap wood.


We had already welded hanger/brackets to the I-beams of the trailer, so the next step was cutting 2x6s to the correct length for the joists and nailing them all in to the hangers. This would have been faster had I measured properly, which I didn't and so had to recut half the joists with a skill saw. We got to play with the nail gun (huge, fun, and a bit intimidating) for attaching the rim joist...

Next we stapled heavy duty plastic between all the joists and laid the insulation in. This part was not fun...Several hours in and only halfway through we realized we didn't need to be stapling the plastic in at all since we had to staple the insulation to the joists anyway. Some serious learning had occurred by the end of the day.

Finally we started to lay down the subfloor. It seems that nothing is ever straight. After hours of MacGyver-ing, synchronized hammering, a series of strange dance moves (by both Kelly and my dad), some anchoring, and more hammering we got the floor boards (T&G OSB) on, and fairly straight. And yay! we have a floor!!! (Thank you Kelly and Megan!!!)

Water and electric... ...

Monday was "glue water pipe together" day. 340 feet of 2 inch PVC - that's the line of white running up the hill. I thought it would be easy, but the pipe acts like it doesn't want to get glued, and pushes apart, then the glue dries and you have to scrape it off and start all over again. Holding two 10' pieces of PVC level, while working on a hill, is also very fun. I would recommend it to anyone. But, it's done. (yay!)

The backhoe man came at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning to dig the trench! (Backhoe guys make $90.00 an hour! I never would have guessed). By 2 p.m. the trench was full of pipe, my spot was flat, and the septic pipes were underground! I am so grateful for the backhoe - I can not imagine digging 340' of 2' deep trench with a shovel. And then filling it up again.
Feels like the hardest part is done. We have water, and electric... almost time to actually build a house!

Concrete!

I spent a day moving this pile of concrete blocks and pavers up the hill - three at a time, in a little wheelbarrow. Later it was discovered that I could have driven the truck up to the spot from a back road... Moving concrete makes muscles...

House building has begun!

Here's the spot... Thought I would use this project to discover the wonderful world of blogging, and to share the progress. The little house grew; it will now be a "moble home", 12'x30'. The sticks mark the exact location.