We started Wednesday morning by using the tractor and auger to dig our holes for our foundation piers. The ground was super hard and it wasn't easy, but we managed to dig and pour all 12 of them. We then began work driving our shallow well, which I'll let you know all about in a later post when it's complete.
Thursday morning we began the floor joists and subfloor. The cottage is 15 x 15 with an 8 x 15 loft for a total of 345 square feet.
By the end of the day we had all the sub floor, first floor walls and the loft up. It was a great day with a ton of progress. We knew the rain was coming up from Houston so we battened down the hatches for the overnight.
Friday the rain had arrived. It dumped 3 inches that morning and flooded everything.
But by noon the rain moved out and the ground was so dry it practically all soaked up in a matter of minutes. We started on the second floor walls around 1 that afternoon and then began setting the ridge beam and a few rafters. We finished more than was expected for the day considering the weather.
Saturday we were able to put up the remaining rafters and first floor wall sheathing. We were then able to install the roof deck and by now I had failed every single test of patience and was working on one hell of an attitude. It was a lot of long hard, hot and humid days of work and we were all wearing on each others nerves.
At the end of the day Saturday my folks and Gavin had had enough of my bullshit and decided it was time to head home. Really they were only staying through Saturday but I'm sure it was a relief for all of them to get back. They all worked way too hard.
Michelle and I stayed through the end of the day Sunday and ending up putting up the fascia board, the second floor wall sheathing, the roof felt, the first floor house wrap and installed the doors and windows.
It was a lot to bite off and proved to be too much to chew in the time allowed. It is however about a quarter of the way complete in just 4 and a half days and it couldn't have happened without the help of our terrific family. The goal was to get it dried in and it's practically there.
Next weekend we plan to measure for the upper triangular loft windows, finish the wrap, and put on the roof shingles. We will also build the interior bathroom and kitchen walls.
Then will come the siding, the front porch and the attached outdoor kitchen. Then finally finishing the interior.
Won't be long now and we'll be out of the camper and have a great place to stay while we build the big house!
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