Bird Block

All the rafters are up and leveled. Today we are working on the bird block. You can see the horizontal boards being nailed in between the rafters at the top of the logs. We had a good rain this afternoon that cooled it off quite a bit. Thank you God!

We have our yellow pine tongue and groove for the ceiling and for the second story floor. We want to put a clear sealer on the one side of the roof that will be seen from the inside of the house and had hoped to start on sealing it today but with the rain that was not possible. Even now as I write the rain has begun to fall again. Away goes the power tools and lumber gets covered back up. This could be a test of perseverance if the guys didn't enjoy building the house so much.

We need to push to get the roof finished before winter weather hits. Sitting in a hot trailer in August makes me think winter is far off, but there are only 16 Saturdays until December. We have chosen not to work on the Lord's Day, so Saturdays are the only full days we work besides occasional vacation days from the paying job. We also usually have four evenings available to work, weather permitting.

Meanwhile, Mom and Gabby have been recovering dining room chairs and teaching the littles how to set a table. Our space is tight but 6 of us fit around our table while the baby uses her highchair. Poor boy just woke from his nap and he is hungry.

The Rafters are Going Up

The rafters are going up fairly easy. We are doing it like we were taught in the class and what do you know it works. Our house will have 13 sets of rafters and last night we put up the sixth set. Once they are all up then we have to get them all level and then they will be pinned into place with rebar.

After the rafters are leveled and secured, we will lay tongue and groove on top of them. We don't have our T & G because we are still negotiating the price. After the T & G, we will build boxes on top to fill with insulation. We have decided to use architectural composite shingles for the roof. We hope to be finished with the roof by September. God willing!

There was a rainbow yesterday. It reminded me that God is in control of all things and it also reminded me of his long suffering and mercy. There was actually a double rainbow. If you look closely at the upper right corner you will see the second rainbow.

Blog Snobs We Are Not

We apologize to those of you who have tried to comment and were not able to do so.  We have now changed the setting on our blog to allow anyone to comment. We look forward to getting your feedback.

Problem Solving

The Problem: How to get up to the top of the ridge pole to pin it - safely!!
It was nightfall Saturday when at last the ridge pole was in position, but we were all puzzled. How could we get almost 30 feet in the air with no safely lines in place? We decided that we needed a 40 foot ladder.
But by Monday, Blane had another idea. He could strap a 12 ft. ladder to the top of the house.

It is safer than it looks. After strapping the bottom of the ladder to the top of the wall, we climbed up and strapped the top to the ridge pole. That ladder won't move! Then Blane Jr. attaches a safety rope to the lifting pole and pins the one side or the ridge pole to the RPSL (ridge pole support log) with rebar.

These things make Mom a bit nervous, but with a safety harness it's not too bad.

Next Blane Jr. wraps a chain around the ridge pole and clips his harness into it and scoots across to attach the safety line to the other lifting log.

With the safety line now in place, we need to raise the center RPSL into place and then we will start on the rafters which need to be planed and stained on the ground first before lifting them into place. 12 x 4 x 25 feet rafters will be another challenge to get into place, but our problem solving skills are improving!

Many Hands and Minds Continued

Daniel also came to help Saturday morning. Thanks Daniel!

We used the lifting poles to lift the ridge pole and set it on top of the wall to wait to be put into place later.

Next, Blane Jr. climbs the RPSL to trim them to the right size. 

Then, we moved two of the lifting poles from the corners to the center and strapped them to the RPSL for use in raising the ridge pole into position.

Lastly we got the ridge pole up. Yipee!!!

It would have taken us weeks to do what we got done in 3 days with a little help from our now life-long friends. Thanks again guys and gals.

Many Hands and Minds

Ron and Shelia from Mississippi arrived on Thursday and stayed for three days to help. Mark came from Benton, NC on Friday and Saturday. Gary and Cindy came from TN on Friday, and Jay came on Saturday. Because most everything we did on those three days had to be carefully thought through, it was great to have not only the extra hands but it helped to put our heads together too. A big thank you to everyone!!!

Here is what we accomplished:
First we got the two outside ridge pole support logs (RPSL) up and strapped into place.

Then secured to the wall with "all-thread". Here is Mark drilling through the wall and the RPSL.

Next we cut out holes to slide the girder log through. It was not as easy as it sounds because there was rebar running down through the center of the holes. We will plan better with the rebar next time. The girder log supports the second floor.

Ron trimming up the girder log.

Here is the girder log being pulled into place with Blane Jr. guiding.

Next the girder support log was put in the center on top of rebar and pinned at the top with rebar.

All in two days work!

Update

Since the last update we have finished the walls of the house! It has been a long process that we started in November of last year. We have battled with the weather. If it was raining it was not safe to work, if it  snowed we couldn't work, also a bad storm came through and did a lot of damage to the property and we had to take time off from working on the house to clean up, but we kept going through all of it and finally got it finished. Our next task will be to erect the ridge pole support logs and set the ridge pole. Also, we have to put in the girder support for the second floor. Please pray that God will continue to protect us from harm, and that we will make good time on finishing the house.