Many hands are needed for putting up walls, so we held a “barn raising” day. All the men related to the Jones side of the family came to help along with a few friends.
On the morning of the big day – Lance is ready to start work!
Flora is delighted with the color of the studs – pink!!
The plans are consulted and Michael marks where each board goes.
X marks the spot! For a stud that is. C K shows the edge of a window, calling for a special configuration of boards called a cripple and king stud.
I was taught how to put these together along with corners and “T” posts.
Lori grabs a ready made “T” out of the stack.
The studs were laid out where called for…
…and the top plate was nailed on.
Then it’s all hands on deck to raise the wall.
Up, up and away!
Then we all hold it steady until the wall and supports are nailed in place. This process was then repeated for the rest of the day.
Other aspects of the job:
Consulting.
Crowd control.
Cutting.
Cooler breaks.
More consulting.
Dirt work.
By the end of the day, our house was really taking shape!
A good foundation is paramount when building a house – if things are a bit off here, it effects the whole structure. The foundation for our house is going to be “pier and beam”.
First come the piers:
Concrete pads are set in the ground at intervals and leveled. This is back breaking work as each pad weighs 50 lbs. and must be put down and pulled up several times until you have the dirt just right underneath. After the pad is set, blocks are stacked on top – all to the same height or it has to be done again. I set three myself and my shoulders and back were sore the next day.
I can only imagine what my dad and brothers felt like!
After everything was stacked and leveled and checked several times, it was time to fill the holes with cement. This landed on a Saturday so it was a whole family work day!
Nothing like parents making mudpies to catch a child’s interest! Ivy helped with the mixing…
…and Lance with the scooping and filling.
Even Eden got in on things, helping me cut the rebar for each hole.
Katie supervised and I held up a shovel.
It all looked like so much fun that my mom had to try it out too!
Now that the piers are set – next step is the beams!
The main reason we’re building this house is so we will have room for all these kids that have appeared over the years. It stands to reason that, if you are building a house for kids, you might expect to see a few around…
They show up in droves – usually after breakfast.
They are good at digging…
…and a whole group of them can accomplish a lot in a short amount of time.
Some just supervise quietly
While others require constant supervision.
The rest need a total containment system.
Hitch hiking seems to be second nature:
Or maybe this is just the best way to make sure no one gets run over.
They distract the workers
and get all the credit for work done.
They are also good at finding artifacts.
In their world, everything is fun – Daddy is making mud pies? Can we help?
And with every outdoor project, there has to be a grub worm:
What is this, you might ask? Well, it’s the site of our long awaited house. May not look much like a house now, but we’ve a few experts on the job that should have it up and livable in no time! Let me introduce the crew:
First up is Flora the water bearer, bringer (and eater) of all good things.
Ivy, the ever-ready. Always in the thick of things, Ivy makes sure anything remotely fun is well attended. Currently she logs almost as many hours on the backhoe as her daddy.
Lance the naturalist. His job is to make sure the fire doesn’t get too big, the mushrooms are not run over by the big equipment and that all the little tress are transplanted with care.
Oh yes, the crew also includes one hard working young man, eager to settle his family.
And the crew chief, a wise man full of experience who is more than ready to help anyone out – esp. if they are living in his house 🙂
After knocking down trees (and replanting some). The next step is to put in the septic system. All weekend we grubbed in the dirt and had a glorious time –
at least some of the crew did.
Trenches were dug,
and leveled.
pipes were put in, piece by piece
And the ground crew filled it back in with dirt
Until all was up to par and ready for the inspector!
