My new reality

Week 2 on the build: HOT HOT HOT! We are working with Dan and Anna to build their forever home on 10 acres of pasture farmland in southeast PA. They have a 3 bedroom apartment nearby where we stay. In the morning Greg and I drive separately to the house site since our individual vehicles are jammed with tools and supplies; mine especially with coolers of iced water and lunch, gas cans for refilling, and a sprinkle of sawdust on top of everything. My beautiful new car!!! Whatever, it’s a large tool on wheels and can get detailed later. Heat advisories have pushed us to working early mornings, taking a siesta, then returning to work for a couple hours in the evening. We have been progressing well, with Christopher rejoining us midweek.

The second week we prepped the second floor (or rather, the first floor ceiling joists, etc). We started with applying the ZipSystem plywood sheathing around the first floor exterior walls. What’s nice about this sheathing is it is already waterproofed (aside from the holes we put into it nailing it to the studs). No more slippery unevenly applied Tyvek paper wrapping!!! We’ll tape up the seams later to fully weatherproof the Zip. Nailing the plywood to the exterior actually strengthens the structure. Next up: installing the I-joists above the walls and band boards around the ends. The top plate is nailed on to link all the exterior and interior walls at their intersections. Of course, everything is going up 9 feet above the walls so some heavy lifting was required. Greg and Dan sat above while I cut and handed them the joists, then they placed them appropriately and nailed in place. That was the easy part. Of course, there had to be multiple super-heavy LVLs and more gignormous steel beams in the ceiling to carry the second floor load. To the rescue comes our rented lift (or skytrack or mull or giant forklift-not sure of what to call it). With about 3 minutes of training, Dan was at the controls and the beams were tied on and lifted into place. It went remarkably well, wasting a full day of anxiety on my part.

It was hot for the whole work week, reaching 97 degrees midday but the siesta-break plan worked well. Evenings eventually became cooler so we returned and managed to get in 6-8 hours of work each day between morning and evening sessions. Greg, of course, would have stayed the whole time but eventually conceded that breaks were necessary. Bob returned the following weekend with Tina and son Reed so we had a large crew and luckily the weather improved slightly. Their arrival brought a new shot of energy. They jumped right in and the second floor plywood went down fairly fast, again, with the forklift making material delivery so much easier. After the Saturday siesta, exterior second floor walls started going up. Having many hands attached to large biceps and strong backs made the wall-raising easier and we had a rhythm going with tools prepped for wall construction followed by lifting, plumbing, and bracing. By Sunday afternoon we made good progress and were ready for an afternoon break to regroup. The weather looks (somewhat) cooler going forward and a trip to the local dairy for ice cream will top off a wonderful week.