Walls Up~ Starting to Look Like a House!
This morning some good friends came over at 7am to help put frames up! We are so blessed with some good community!
Ini and I have been working hard in the background building frames, but we can't put them up alone. It's a true testament to the power of "many hands make light work" that early in the morning on a Sunday friends come over to help us and get shit done!!
We've been largely working on prepping everything for these major communal pushes. The wood is simply too heavy to lift on our own... we gotta save our backs!
We love that it's local wood and we're trying to use eco-friendly materials as much as possible, but we need materials that will boost the longevity of the building like that tar paper shown above that goes under the pressure-treated sill plate. Not ideal, but we won't have to fix it in 10 years!
Mindy, Billy & Brian, all local neighbors, came over and we got the first 3 walls up in a hurry as they were already assembled - we just needed the people power. As the nut and washer screwed firmly onto the anchor bolt, I felt something click into place. All of our hard work is paying off and the house is taking shape. So much goes into an endeavor like this and seeing these steps materialize into something increasingly house-shaped is amazing to my eyes.
We worked from 7am to 11am. It's simply been way too hot to work into the midday sun.
As our wise old friend Gene told us recently, only mad dogs and Englishmen go out into the noonday sun....
We completed a few more frames (Ini had all of the wood cut and lined up already) and then called it a day and feasted on some cucumbers, tomatoes, cinnamon basil with crackers and potatoes with hot sauce - all from the garden. We feel extremely grateful to be surrounded by such good people.
We're already hankering to get the rest of the ground level frames set up. Hoping to have another work party this week and rock it out.
After that we'll set up the cedar logs we felled and peeled last week and get them onto their pier resting places. Then we can secure the ground story and get started on the second story! Then roof!
It's an extremely satisfying project to build ones own house. Plenty of patience is needed for such an endeavor and we're reminded by many good souls to enjoy the process and not try to rush it along. As goal-oriented individuals who work quickly, we're learning to pace ourselves and take it easier than our minds tell us to. Not everyone gets to build their own house, a good neighbor told us, and he reminded us to enjoy the process. We're doing our best in that regard while also being absolutely stoked to keep moving forward.
Of course the heat slows us down as it's 95 (in the shade) most days so we're limited to the mornings and evenings -- but let me tell ya, Ini does still get out during that midday heat and I'm not quite sure how... mad dog Englishman....
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Mad dog englishman...lol you guys! This is amazing :) 95 degrees is way to hot to work, I'm sure you're worn out! Pretty exciting, isn't it amazing how things look with walls! :) We're so glad you have a wonderful group of friends and such a supportive community. btw...your dad was just itching to help this weekend, lol oxoxoxoxo love you!
The heat takes it out of us, but i feel it also makes us more resilient. I agree, the walls made it imminently real today and it was big boost to see them go up. It seems a lot bigger in person than on paper. YIKES! I was asking what we got ourselves into. We are indeed very blessed and honored to have such great community. Would have love to have his help... in due time right ;) <3<3<3
It's coming together!
I feel you on stopping at 11. I've been working a side gig doing construction after big work and I quit at noon. It is entirely too hot.
Piece by piece it's becoming a house. We humans have such a narrow comfortable temperature range... Best to take it easy when the sun says so. cheers
That is amazing. You guys are crushing it. It won't be too long before you are sitting and staring at your done house! Keep it up!
Thanks for the encouragement! Progress seems to go in waves and it's helpful to keep the end goal in mind; Inhabiting our very own house.
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That is super cool! Always been a dream of mine to do this. That mid day sun can be a serious killer! Be careful and make sure to drink a lot of beer, I mean, water. Can’t wait to see the progression.
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Thanks. I hope you can realize this dream too! It's been many years in the making, and the evolution of the idea, concepts and skills has been steady. Yes... water ;) It's a must. Happy you're into it.
Ecofriendly for the win! When you gonna have Hempcrete?
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Haha thanks! No hempcrete until hemp production is legal where we live! Awesome product tho!
Don't think Hempcrete is illegal for you to use... Though it would be so. Much better to have it sourced locally.
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Yeah that would be totally awesome! Straw this time around :)
4x4s on 48in centers?
That what it looks loike to me too.
Never saw that before.
More framing pics to come?
true 4 x 4s on 40 in centers to accommodate straw bale length. we'll be sharing more pics and details as the project evolves :)
ok, that makes more sense, it's a bale house.
Can't wait to watch it progress.
That explains the extra wide footing, too.
Yes the footing is the width of the bale! Thanks!
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Our first part of the house was tiny: 16' x 18' and went up in sections, to 1.5 stories over Labor Day weekend in 1983. The 2nd part was bigger: 20' x 24' and went up much slower to 2 full stories. That worked for us until the last few years. Stairs were getting to be a big problem.
So our new addition is all 1 story, moving the 2nd floor to ground level.
I guess, being a straw bale house, I thought yours was to be all 1 story....
It's fascinating watching yours go up!
Heat left last night, the house is cool this morning, finally. Now I can get back to work!
Glad you got a break in the heat; us too!
Cool to hear the story of your place :)
Really cool seeing it go up step by step. Great series of posts. We are doing the same thing on our place and the heat is killing us too.
Thanks! Best wishes on your project as well and hope it cools down for ya! Luckily we got some cooler temps this week!
So awesome, I'm so jealous of your adventures
Thanks!
A neighbourhood "barn raising' - oh yes!! Lovely. That sense of community somehow contributes to the strength of the walls etherically, I think. Wish you many more wonderful building days and a growing sense of achievement as you see your dreams manifest.
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Thanks so much dear 💖✨✨✨
I love that! Many beating hearts and minds going into this 💙extra special.
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So adventurous and so much fun building up your own place. I don't think I can imagine myself doing something like this but I am sure it would be awesome and the feeling at the end of it would be so incredible.
It's so great to see all the progress you're making. I'm really happy for you.
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So exciting to see your home take shape! It is so wonderful to have folks come work with you to make the building part more manageble. I was fortunate that i built my house in a community who were mostly all building at the time so we had lot's of work bees and helped each other build our homes - such a gratifying feeling and you learn so much from all those hands on projects! Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to the next update! ---
Oh that's do awesome, you guys have gone so far with the house already!!!! I'm very happy for you 😁.
I bet when you felt that something click into place with that first wall, it must have been so satisfying!!!
I'm interested to see how you did the foundation... heading over to your page to see if there's a post on it. Thanks for sharing your build. And remember to enjoy the process!