Sand After September

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Oct. 10

It has been quite a month! Coming into September I was wondering if we’d be able to get the house sealed up before winter hit. There was so much to do. The plumbing rough-in had to be completed, the furnace hooked-up,  The radiant heat tubing laid out and covered, the insulation sprayed in, the gas and electric lines laid, the remaining windows installed  and finally the brick chimney built up through the roof. As of today, everything is done except the chimney, which is nearing the attic rafters and the electrical hook-up of the furnace. Looks like we will make it but it still keeps me awake at night. While the insulator was at work we laid some of the finished stonework at the front entrance, which is a great improvement over the concrete block. I’ve alerted Sam that I plan a 2 week hiatus from the place as soon as it is ready for winter. Then we’ll have to plan the interior layout and prepare the walls for thin coat plaster.  Jim

I just want to be happy. I want a big flat screen television with very high definition and hundred pixels. A large freezer with dozens of hungry-man meals, and a fine microwave oven to cook them instantaneously to boot. Enough of this stone lifting, sand toting, cement mixing, and near constant drudgery. I could have my feet up on a plush faux leather sofa, remote in hand watching how people move supplies and build houses. Instead I keep my head down, watching my shuffling feet. At the end of the day I have something more than cheeto stains, and a sore remote. I have mud on my shoes, and a pile of stones.  Sam

Electricity!

September

The electricity arrived today. Hook-up was completed just after the noon hour to our great relief. All windows and doors are in, and the plumbing rough-in is done. We are now preparing for the insulator to arrive and seal up the walls and ceiling for winter. We still have to get a chimney up for the heating plant but that should only take about a week. When the gas pipe is laid, we will be able to get the fill sand we need to get the radiant heat piping into the first floor. I am waiting patiently for the day when the house is sealed-up in preparation for the winter. I plan a two week hiatus to recover from the work, the summer heat, and all the pressures that come with racing against the weather. We will have a long winter to work inside framing partitions, hanging wall board and building staircases, but right now, I need a break! Jim

Indeed a lot has happened. Today, while the electricity was run and hooked up, I was up on the cupola roof finishing up the shingling. Thankfully the weather has been improving. Sam

My uncle requested that we post a picture of what the finished house will look like. Below is a link to the Hudson, WI house that will be very similar in size to ours: http://community.pressenter.net/~octagon/

Grunt and groan

Aug 3

The heat here has been enervating. We’ve had only two days of normal temperatures in the last six weeks. Every other day in the period has been in the upper 80’s and nineties. But, by far the humidity has been the worse problem. We sweat just standing still. The afternoons are often unbearable. As a result the progress is slow. We have the sheeting up on four of the eight walls. A rudimentary staircase is in to the basement and the second floor, and I have begun to frame out the interior walls on the first floor. Today the electrician stopped by to begin wiring the exterior walls and to set the electrical panel. The cupola is framed and six of the eight sides are roofed. We have also begun the stone facing in order to prepare for the setting of the electric meter. This has been one of the hottest summers on record here and has delayed progress by at least three weeks. We are hoping for a long cool fall in order to catch up. Jim

A real pattern has set in. In the morning I grunt, Jim groans, and we decide to start the day working on the house. Depending on the humidity we are able to work until ten o’clock and have a tea break. A few complaints from Jim about the weather and arthritis, and I smile, nod, and wipe the sweat from my brow. After we are recuperated, we head back to the worksite to either continue on the task we had left off on, or as the sun turns full bore from behind the maple and hackberry that shade our site shift to a shadier spot and start a new task. A groan from Jim to show he still moves. I grunt to acknowledge and move in the pattern of our day. Sam

Spinning our web

There are spiders in our house. Some are big some are small. Most spin webs others do nothing at all. They weave in the basement. They crawl up to the cupola. From the bottom to the top there seems to be no crevasse that they do not take up. This has been made their home more than ours. They have appeared from nowhere and disappear out of sight. They weave and toil all through the day and night. I saw and I hammer until heat or dark ushers me home. They ignore both and spin, spin, spin. I do not quit, each day anew, I toil and nail until this building is through.
Sam

Cupola

July 12

The heat and humidity has really slowed things down here. It was a whole week in the 90’s and outside work was only possible for a few hours in the mornings. We did get a two day break and managed to get the cupola framework up and in place. The roof will have to wait as the heat has returned. The final shape of the house is now visible and it is quite a show stopper. We have also begun to get the sub-floor in over the kitchen and some of the second floor. Jim

The roof

June 16

The roof is almost on. We are now able to keep the plate dry in the rain that comes every couple of days. After tomorrow we hope to begin to put on the wood sheeting on the second floor walls. That will entail installing the first windows on the building and should provide a hint at what the finished structure might look like. (With the roofing in place the third floor attic looks a bit like an Indian teepee.)

The days are becoming hot and humid and we should be able to work inside in the shade once the roof is complete. There is still so much to get done before the weather changes in the fall that the mind becomes numb contemplating it all. Overall the shape and size of the building is pleasing to the eye. In order to install the electrical hub at the back of the house we will have to complete a small portion of the stone facing. It will be interesting to see how that changes the appearance of the house as a whole. Jim

I told Jim that I have nothing to say. What is there to say? There is morning cool and work. There is afternoon heat and work. There is evening shade and dreams of more work. I cannot look too far forward or I may become overwhelmed. I cannot look backward for that is a pit where no salvation may be found. I look down at hammer, nail, board, and am work. Sam

Roof rafters

June 1

Last week we began work on the roof structure of the octagon. We hired Nick to help out and Dave, back from the north, helped for three mornings. All but 9 rafters on a single side are now in place and we are nailing up the first rows of roof boards in hopes of keeping the incessant rain off of the plate. It has been a lot of long hours and days. I tell Sam that when he is my age he’ll wonder how I’ve managed to keep up the pace. If the weather cooperates we should have a dry work place in a couple of weeks. The wood structure was tough, especially with 48 jack rafters to cut with a handsaw, but it looks good and the final height and shape of the finished house is now visible.  Jim