Tuesday, July 14, 2009

We Did It

Wow, what a huge week we had TWO WEEKS AGO! I just haven't had any time to sit down and get this done.



Day #1 Saturday, when I was at work 6 hours away, Stuart, Matthew, and Doug put the I-beam and the floor on the basement. Stuart's Dad and I left Hiawatha when I got off and we arrived at the Bed and Breakfast in town a little after midnight. We had the BEST breakfast at 0-700 Sunday morning and went to work.







This was our blank canvas on Day #2.




The exterior walls came in 8ft. sections and were pretty heavy, but as you can see we had LOTS of help. Anyone that knows Western Kansas is aware of our wind issue but our prayers were answered that day and we barely had a breeze. I was nervous about our ho-hum bracing system but it worked, not one wall fell over.


The interior walls were much easier, just like putting a puzzle together.

By the end of day #2 we were lifting trusses up. Due to our steep roof pitch the tractor didn't even get close so we had to man power (8 men, 1 woman) lift 27 trusses. I can't believe Stuart, Jeff, or Matthew didn't fall off their 6 inch ledge during this process and we were even done before dark. In all we had 11 family and friends using their muscles for us and it was definately our most productive day.




Day #3 we were down to a crew of six with Kriss coming out after noon to help. It took us the majority of the day to stand up and brace the trusses. That night I had to get up and take a Dramamine because I had the feeling I was falling every time I closed my eyes. I was so tired and sore and I couldn't go to sleep and there was my lovely husband sawing logs right next to me. I think I had a vision of quietly placing a pillow over his face but that was a fleeting thought, I needed him too much the next day; )



Day #4 This was probably one of the most challenging days. Our house is designed to look like a barn so it has an 8/12 roof pitch and "look-outs" on the ends, well the last two trusses had to be finished by hand so we could incorporate the look-outs. Lee and Matthew worked on one side and Stuart and I on the other. I had to stop about 5 feet from the top and let them finish, there wasn't much to hang on to and the ladder was such a tight squeeze between the trusses I had to be a contortionist just to get off. I ended up getting a bucket truck for the outside finishing so no one had to risk their life there. Lee left at 10am that day so we were down to 5 when it came time to work on the roof, which really meant we were down to 3. Steve and I kept our feet planted firmly on the ground. It didn't take long to realize the roof was a much bigger project than we anticipated, so when a gust of wind came up and took a sheet of plywood with it over Stuart's head I started calling roofing companies. The roof didn't get finished until 5 days later because of the July 4th weekend but it's done. All of the windows are in and the back door, the front door is still on back-order. We are ready to start electrical and plumbing whenever Doug can get here again to tell us what to do.

1 comment:

  1. nanakriss says== you are so right on the info love ya kriss

    ReplyDelete