The Latest News

I haven’t posted for awhile because it seems like things at the house, while still happening, are not quite as dramatic as they were before, thus the pictures aren’t as good.  But, looking back on the past two weeks, there actually has been quite a bit going on so I thought it was finally time to post something.  So here goes:

Cale hired another worker – Danny.  We passed the electrical inspection for the loft floor and so Leonard insulated the section above our bedroom and then Cale and Danny were able to put the floor on and start framing upstairs.  I didn’t take pictures of the process but here is is all finished!

Here is the loft now with the floor on and the walls framed.  There are two bedrooms in the back and a bathroom on the left (you can see the pipes for the bathroom).

Here is the bedroom on the right side of the loft.  The bedroom on the left side looks exactly the same but is a mirror image.  They are going to be perfect kids rooms.  (And guest rooms!)

The only difference is that the bedroom on the left has is a small door. 

This was our one change during construction.  We decided we wanted to make use of the space above the garage so we changed the plans to include bonus trusses.   So we moved the bathroom around and put in a door and now we have additional space up there for whatever we decide to do with it.  It’s a little weird that you have to access it through another bedroom but we decided that it was worth it to have the extra square footage.

Look at all that space!  Plus we LOVE the view out that window.  I will have to take a picture out the window next time I am over there.  It’s beautiful.  We aren’t really sure what we are going to use the room for quite yet.  We’ll see.

Here is the newly framed bathroom.

All the plumbing has also passed inspection so we are excited about that!  Just a few more wires to run and then we will have the final rough electrical inspection and we’ll be ready to sheet rock. 

I love how the prow over the deck turned out.  They trimmed it with cedar and it looks awesome.  The deck is still my favorite part.

Yesterday, Cale cut out a hole for our fireplace. 

It was a little scary watching him cut into the logs with a chainsaw.  You would think that we would be used to it by now. 

It’s probably also important to mention that HE CUT IN THE WRONG PLACE.  Seriously.  It going to be fine because the logs will be covered with rock where he did it but WOW.  We had been discussing where we wanted the fireplace and we wanted it center on the wall which is where he cut it to begin with, but then we realized that the chase outside for the chimney was not center of wall.  Cale realized that when he saw a little too much daylight coming in through his cut in the wall.  OOPS!  Here is the finished product.  It is ready for the insert which is coming on Monday.

See that line to the left?  Yeah. Not supposed to be there!  It’s going to be fine, but still!

Other than that we have mostly been sanding, wiring, sanding, and wiring.  Kay took a picture of me sanding last night.  I think it’s the first picture of me working on the house.

The camera picked up all the sawdust in the air.  When we are done sanding we usually have sawdust EVERYWHERE.  We look like regular dust bunnies.  I can’t wait until that part is over.  We are actually pretty much finished inside.  There are a couple of beams to finish and then it’s done.  I have been working on the railing and I am about half finished with the hand rails.  Then we have to do the spindles – I think there are 360 of them!  AND THEN we get to start on the outside of the house.  I wonder if my lungs will ever be the same.

Here is Leonard wiring. 

I liked this picture because they set up some scaffolding and Neil is on it, holding a ladder that Leonard has climbed up and is using a drill to cut a hole in the ceiling for a light.  Crazy.  I hope he makes it out of this project without getting hurt.

Here is another one of Leonard on top of the scaffolding sanding the ridge beam.

  I leave the highest, toughest, parts of the sanding to him.  Nice, huh! :)

Here are some finished pictures of the outside.  It’s not going to change much out here any more because, other than the railing and the sanding/staining, it’s pretty much got a finished look.  We think it’s perfect.

And to end the post, here are some random pictures of messy kids at the house. 

They have been really good.  It seems like every morning Kaydra  and Kanyon watch Miranda as we work at the house.  We will be glad when everything’s finished and we can move in!

House Update

I just finished updating the blog but I was unable to publish it for some reason and I lost the whole thing.  I will try and do it again but I am really frustrated!  I haven’t posted for awhile and I am going to try to update and get caught up.  Mostly, this post will probably be pictures.  I just had a busy weekend with some of my family visiting. My parents, Jackson, Markell, and Andre came to visit for the weekend and help us on the house.  We taught them how to sand logs.  They might feel like they didn’t help much but the things that they were able to do in two days would have taken many days for just me and Leonard to do so I am truly grateful for their help.  Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead when I went to grab it on Saturday so I didn’t get any pictures of them working on the house but I want to make sure to note that they worked hard!  We also had time to play in the lake everyday and go to dinner one night and dessert another night.  Grandma was an excellent baby-sitter to the kids who were so happy to have someone to take them places.   Thanks to all of them for their hard work and for taking the time to visit us.  It made me realize how much I really miss them.

The last time I posted we were just starting to put the Tongue and Groove on the house. 

It was fun to see the house really start to take shape.

We also got a good feel for how it will look on the inside.  The T&G is what we will be looking at when you are standing in the house.

They worked on this until they ran out of T&G and we had to order more!  Kyle Livingston came out one day to see what was going on and, of course, we put him to work!

We also became familiar with the Osborn brush.  I’ll admit, I have been in denial about the brush.  I have been searching the internet for a more efficient way to prep the logs for the finish but everything says that it is the best way.  We use a bristly brush connected to a Makita grinder that spins about 9000 times a minute and takes off the top layer of grim and dirt from the logs.  Because they sat in the rain and the sun for several months, the logs are a little dingy and they need some freshening up to help remove the weathering that has taken place.  Each log has to be brushed and cleaned up.  I am not sure how this will work but I will try to post a before and after picture.  Here are some logs before we brushed them:

And here they are after:

It’s hard to tell in the picture but I promise that there is a significant difference when you are in the room.  They look much brighter and cleaner.  Plus, they will take the finish better.  Everyone says that if we take the time to do this now that the finish inside will last forever.  That is just about how long we need the finish to last, so we are doing it the right way the first time!  Each log will need brushed – inside and out --- we are getting well acquainted with the Osborn brush! :)

While they were waiting for more T&G to show up the garage roof trusses showed up.  Leonard called me to come take pictures of the process and by the time I got down there (about 15 minutes) they were on the last one! 

I think they have done this before.  They brought a big crane out to set each post and they nailed them into place.  Before we knew it, we had trusses for our garage all in place.

You’ll notice in the above picture that they also found time to finish the framing of the deck while they waited for more T&G.

The T&G arrived and they continued to work on placing that. 

I like this picture of Cale admiring his work. 

Cale is the guy that has been out here every day stacking logs, framing walls, putting up T&G and just helping us with any question that we have.  He is quite the craftsman and we are grateful for all the work he has put into the house.

After the T&G was up, they put the roof on the garage.

Then Cale started putting up the BCI’s on the roof.  This is where our insulation for the roof will go and also where the electrical wiring will be for the ceiling inside the house. 

Leonard started cutting holes and wiring for our recessed lighting for the kitchen and hallway downstairs. 

In fact, the electrical inspector came out on Friday and passed all of his work so we can cover the loft floor and start framing upstairs!  He was glad to have the first inspection passed!  I must say, he’s doing a great job!

He also started cutting holes for the recessed lighting and other electrical things that will go in the ceiling.  It’s a big job, wiring the whole house, but it is saving us a TON of money so I am grateful that he is up to the challenge!

Early this week they framed in our window wall and the window guy came out to measure and order the windows for the house.

I love how the window wall turned out!  It is so beautiful and I can’t wait to sit on a couch in the great room and look out the window.  We are so blessed!

Here is the most recent picture of the overall house:

It is really coming together and I love how it is turning out.  Most days I say to myself that I can’t believe this is our house.  We feel so blessed to be able to do this and can hardly believe that it is turning out to be better than we imagined.  We are having a great time doing it too and I know we will look back on this time with fondness, even with all the struggles. 

As a final note, it has been really smoky here lately because of fires in Canada.  This has made for some awesome sunsets.  One night the sun was almost red and because of all the smoke in the air, you could look at the sun without hurting your eyes – at least too much anyway:)  I tried to take a picture which doesn’t do it justice but turned out pretty good anyway.

I love how pretty it is up here.  We feel so blessed.