Lower Siding Completed !

While Casey has been wiring our house (we have more outlets and circuits than ever!)- Mike has been siding the lower section of the house. This is the same material as the roof- green galvenized metal that clips together and hides all the screws. Once again- no holes equals no water in the walls. The upper siding will be Hardie board that looks like cedar but is made of cement.

Casey and Mike also lifted all of the big windows and huge door into place- this was quite the task without a boom truck. With the combination of a forklift and strong backs- they were able to get those upper windows and doors mounted without any breakage.

Plumber Richie has started his work and is plumbing his way through the house. Thank goodness we have 9' ceilings in the garage to allow for the correct drop for outflow. I can't wait to get into that Japanese soaking tub (right of the shower in this picture).

Casey's friends- Mike and Linda Walsh arrived this week to enjoy Alaska for a week's reprieve from Washington State's unusual heat. Star has arrived so now we all get to play for the week with bits of work intermixed each day. My mom is to arrive with friend Ivanelle. They drove Mike's new truck from Iowa to Alaska and will be here today.

So at the end of "Week Five"- we have the house water tight and ready for the rest of the plumbing, insulation, sheetrock and then the design details such as flooring and trim.

Talented Kids

With all that is going on this week, Mike and I have decided that we are very lucky to have good talented and healthy kids.

My daughter -Justine- is finding her way through life on her own and at her own pace. She is financially independent and paying her own bills at the ripe age of 21. I know that most of my friends and co-workers kids still have their fingers in their parents checkbook so I feel very fortunate that Justine has taken me seriously about being on her own. She has a great work ethic and will be very successful at whatever job she is doing. Justine works at a bank in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Mike's son Brady is a Information Tech in the Navy. He is located in San Diego with his two kids (Dylan and Travis) and wife Jeanette. He too is talented and working hard to raise his family. His co-workers are enjoying Brady's ability to trouble shoot most any issues they have.

You all know Casey (Mike's oldest son) - Casey is located in Marysville, Wa with his wife Star. He has impacted our life this summer with his strength, great ideas and constant patience.

It is amazing how each one of these kids is doing so well. We are both very proud of their abilities and lives. Thank you -to all three of you.... for being you.

Windows Delivered

Monday- what a day! The windows were delivered in the afternoon. All of the windows look great- Mike started to put them in and the lower level is complete.

With the creative use of a upside down ladder (shown above) - Casey continued to get the wiring strung as we mounted all of the boxes yesterday. Seems there are alot of blue boxes all over the house to accommodate for power, lights and smoke alarms. Just looking at all of the wiring makes me confused- it looks like spaghetti factory. I know Casey has it under control and knows where all of those wires hook up.

Now we are attempting to find someone to complete the drywall- everyone is busy as is it the season for building.

Tomorrow I go to the electrical association to get us signed up for power- this has been quite a process of "learning their system". MEA wanted to charge us over $36,000 to dig a trench and string a cable for power over the 1000 feet from the existing transformer in the neighborhood. Of course I like to find ways around this expensive endeavor and proceeded to get bids from other contractors. Finally we secured a bid for $30,000 to do the same work- hopefully the neighbors will want to sign up for power and we will get a rebate with every new hookup.

A Busy Week!

This picture is the rear of the house prior to the metal roof. This week was spent getting the overhangs built, then sheeting the roof with OSB, laying down Grace ice and water shield. The big deal of the week was attaching the metal roof. Mike hired two guys to help Casey as it was too high for Mike to climb and too much work for one person. It went really fast when they got started and it was all over by Thursday afternoon. The metal roof was in 16"wide sheets x 29 feet long. It all clipped together so our roof has no exposed screws. Now if it rains- we won't have any water inside.

When the roofing guys left- Casey and Mike got busy building the balloon walls on the interior. The interior ceiling slopes inside just like the roof and to get the division between rooms- they had to build up to the slope. The task is tedious and slow so "picture taking" livened up the day.

Friday was spent (the entire day) shopping for electrical parts- wire, breakers and ground posts as well as for the last plumbing materials to get the infloor heat upstairs. Today- Saturday July 21st- we Tyveked the outside and cleaned up. Saturday afternoon we spent trying to find a good fishing hole. We did not find any fish but it was a nice day to spend time on the riverbank.

Panning for Gold!

So this last weekend- we all took a break from the house building activities. It has been a busy, difficult week for the guys- Casey the "I'm not scared of heights guy" and Mike "I don't like ladder' guy" were doing things very slowly. Due to the height issues- it made the week a rough one but they got alot done all the same.

Saturday- we decided to go pan for gold at Cache Creek. The state maintained road had mud holes big enough to swim in and the going was very rough but once we arrived the scenery was great. We found some gold flakes and had great fun just messing around while watching out for bears.

Trusses are UP!

Let me get you all caught up....I was in Fairbanks working this last week.

So after an afternoon of waiting (everyone took naps) for the "Truss Guy" to call back- he finally called around 4pm. We found that the trusses were correct and that the overhang would tie back into the taller trusses. Once that was all understood- the guys got back to work flying those huge 52' wide trusses to the house.

Thank goodness Arlene's brother- Ron- came out and helped the guys. Without his, Zack's (Ron's son) and Pat (Arlene's son)- the job would not have been accomplished in one day. Then you have Arlene- back at the house cooking up a storm so we had good food to enjoy after a hard day. So a big "THANKS" to everyone for their help.

So by 9 pm, the trusses were up with temporary bracking. As you can see- Casey was actively being a monkey- hanging and sliding between the trusses which were 12-16" apart. This was a very difficult thing to do for the big guy that he is.

The rest of the week has been spent getting all of the trusses lined up permanently, completeing the bird blocks, building the gable ends and then sheeting them. We also had the garage doors installed and the front door was put in- now the place can be locked up. The picture below shows Casey working on the gable framing.

Next week (7.16.07) the ladder framing (for the eave overhang) will be completed then the roof will be sheeted, grace rain and ice rolled out, and metal roofing/siding installed.

Truss Day!

Arlene's son - Pat works for Spendards Building. On Friday afternoon he brought the boom truck up to set the trusses this weekend. Before the trusses could be set, he "flew" the one piece shower kits into both of the upstairs bathrooms. This was so much easier than trying to get it up the stairs. Saturday morning was slated for setting those huge trusses.

Once again- Casey was designated "monkey" as he climbed up and down the walls and trusses. There are three different trusses that were set 12" and 16" apart. The first 6 went in without a hitch, then "Murphy" aka Murphy's Law showed up....As you can see below these trusses are not the same size. They are supposed to be exactly the same pitch and size. After many phone calls (on Saturday when no one works)- we gave up trying to get any assistance.

Building Walls

The last few days have been spent building the second story walls complete with openings and then sheeting them. This makes it heavy to lift but lucky for us- Casey brought his wall jacks to lift the walls into place. I have never seen this done before and it was amazing that you could pull up a 48' wall with two wall jacks. Then Casey pulls the wall into place with the wall puller to it is exactly in place.

And on the Seventh Day- we rested

It is Sunday July 1st and we are resting after seven days of house building. Everyone is tired and sore after yesterday's push to get the second level floor joints completed and then the floor sheeting installed. It is a good thing we finished that portion up as today it is raining steadily. It will be a good day to go to town and get more lumber.

Let me get you caught up.
On June 27- The middle beams and the garage post were put into place with the help of Mike's brother Terry as well as nephews- Tyler (background) and Levi (parks uniform). All hands lifted this glu lam into place with alot of grunting and sweat. Levi is working at the State Park this summer but has time to help out as needed.

On June 28- the upper floor joints were cut and nailed into place. The rear of the house was completed first. The front and rear deck supports come from the interior of the house with 2x12- 20' allweather pressure treated wood. Of course all of these had to be lifted and pushed up to the second level where Casey was walking the walls again!!

They even got Mike up there to help with blocking the joists- but only for a short while as his skill in high places is limited. The vertigo/ scare factor outweighed anything he did even with a cheater board to sit on.

His best work was done on the ground- measuring and cutting everything the guys needed to get the joists and sheeting completed. But his head is suffering- first he hits his head on everything, then the 35' tape measure was dropped on his head. He looks like he has been at war with somebody but only on the top of his head.

It only got worse on that balance and walking thing.....now Casey has Terry walking the joists as well. I just kept hoping that they would not fall and hurt themselves as they trimmed off the tails (joists). For the beam- Casey broke out the chain saw and trimmed it down out of the stairway area. I tried to get up there but could only crawl along the joists- I just didn't trust myself up there.

Friday- June 29th, the trusses were delivered as Spenards did not have room at their truss plant to store them. Rather than get them damaged at the yard, Spenards decided to send the truck and boom.The truck and boom truck had to back down the driveway between the trees to the offload area. The trees that we debated cutting down proved themselves a challenge in offloading the 52' long trusses.

The boom truck had other supplies on it and offloaded it with the crane while the guys got the offload area ready for the trusses. The trusses were laid on their side positioned on timbers to keep them even and untwisted.

Of course the neighbors came by to see the action while we all watched the trusses move between the house and trees. Next Saturday- these trusses will go on the second floor walls with the help of the boom truck again. Casey will be climbing the walls again when they block up the trusses.


Saturday June 30th, we finished up the front of the house's floor joists and then started sheeting the floor.

My job (when not taking pictures) was to pick up nails, hang joist hangers, fill the water jug with icewater, glue the floorjoists prior to sheeting and sweep the garage floor. Just call me the "jack of all trades"!

To get the 4x8 sheets up to the second level- Mike lifted them as far as he could then Casey swung them around (while standing on those joists) and piled them up. Once they were up on the seccond level- Casey and Terry laid out the sheets and the gluing/nailing began. Before long the job was done with time to rest on Sunday.