Sill Plate Installation

Our men spent Saturday installing the sill plate so as to be ready for the house set on Monday. A sill plate is basically boards that go between the top of the concrete walls of the basement and the bottom of the walls of the house. The sill plate serves two basic purposes, 1: It enables the house to be bolted down more easily. (It might be a little difficult to bolt it into solid concrete!) 2: To act as a moisture barrier to prevent water from seeping up the walls of the house.

Countersinking the bolt holes in a sill plate board so that the bolt heads do not stick out above the board.

Josh positioning the next board.

Josh drilling in a bolt while Daniel holds the board down.

Daddy is hammering the bolts thru the pre-drilled holes in the sill plate and the concrete wall.

Sill plate in progress (The pink roll is Sill Seal. It acts as a barrier between the concrete walls and the boards of the sill plate.)

Daniel traversing the wall.

Almost done!

Josh is drilling in a bolt while Daniel is keeping the nut from spinning.

The completed sill plate

Just remember, TOMORROW IS HOUSE SET DAY!!

~ Amy

House Delivery Part 1

We found out Friday morning that we were only going to get two of our three trailers that day. Why? Well. . . apparently, when the workers went to put the countertop on the cabinets they did not have a man supporting the weak spot where the sink space was cut out so the countertop cracked. They were not able to fix it in time so they told us that the last (and biggest) trailer will be delivered Monday morning. (The same day as the house set.)

Also, the house company ended up parking the dormer trailer at the gas-station down the street from us Thursday evening so they could detach the truck and bring it back with the first house trailer Friday morning.

The dormer trailer parked beside the gas-station.(In case you’re wondering the dormers are laying on their backs with the windows towards the sky.)

Mr. Horne brought his bulldozer in case one of the trucks got stuck coming up the hill.

Our first view of the front of the house coming in from the road!!

Josh and Daniel taking pictures.

Crossing the creek! The man in the blue shirt beside Josh is our builder. (He was watching the wheels. They got really close to going over the edge of the driveway.)

The front door!

The back of the pod. (The white is shrink-wrap.)

The dormers crossing the creek.

As of today, (Saturday), the plan is still to set the house this Monday!

~ Amy

Entrance Trimming

This morning, Daddy, Josh, and Daniel went up to The Ranch to trim the slopes on either side of the driveway entrance. They borrowed a friend’s string trimmer and cut approx. 35 feet on either side of the entrance.  They took down all the small brush and grass but left the small saplings that were about 15 feet apart. Those, Lord willing, will eventually grow to be full size trees.

Before trimming it looked like this:

(to the left)

(and to the right)

Daddy cutting (Yes, it was as hard as it looks!)

And afterwords it looked like this:

(to the left)

(and to the right)

~ Amy

A Little Bit of Irony

Yesterday we got a call from the house building company saying that our house would need to come on three trucks as opposed to the original two, because they had underestimated the space that the 4 dormers would need on the trailer. That truck was scheduled to be delivered today around noon. The other two trucks with the rest of our house units are scheduled for delivery Friday, and the house setting is supposed to take place on Monday, October 1st.

This morning, we were notified that due to the severe fog and rain in our neck of the woods today the first delivery truck would be delayed untill tomorrow.

Also this morning, Josh got a call from a very bewildered FedEx delivery man. He informed Josh that he was at our address, (that is, our new address), with the flooring supplies. The good news the man said, the supplies are two weeks early, the bad news, there’s no house to drop them off at.

The irony of this situation? Well the house, which was originally scheduled for delivery 3 weeks ago has not arrived, while the flooring supplies which were not supposed to arrive for another 2 weeks arrived this morning. At our property. Where there is no house. Where it is raining.

All this to say, I am very thankful that God has written the story and already knows what the ending will be!! While I often do not understand God’s timing, or His way of doing things I am grateful that He is in control!

Now because I don’t like to post without pictures here are a couple of random ones from the past several weeks that have not really fit in with any of my previous posts.

Josh and Daniel talking about how to bush-hog around the trees.

Samuel driving the bulldozer with Mr. Horne (The owner of the excavation company we used for the driveway and the basement.)

As Samuel later said, “Making big, dirty, dust clouds!’ Just like a boy (smile)

~ Amy

Of Barbed Wire Fences

Hi! How is everyone today? I hope you are all enjoying getting a peek into what has been going on around here thru this blog!

The boys have been working on putting up a fence between ours and  the neighbor’s back pastures. They’re using field fencing, with a top strand of barbed wire, strung on T-posts and supported by H-bracing using Osage Orange posts, also known as Hedge wood. Osage Orange is an extremely dense wood that is naturally rot and pest resistant and should last for several decades.

The boys sprayed an orange streak every 12 feet to mark where the T-posts would need to go in.

Driving in the next T-post

Daniel wrapping the wire around a T-post (Note the orange spray paint beneath the pliers)

Josh with the next bundle of T-posts

Daddy driving a T-post

The finished line of T-posts

An H-brace (before the field fencing)

An H-brace after the field fencing

~ Amy

House Factory Tour

As you may know, we chose to build a modular house as opposed to building a normal ‘stick built’ house. What is the differance? Well, the first and main difference is that a ‘stick built’ house is constructed on site whereas a modular house is built in a factory. Secondly, a modular house is built stonger because it has to stand the riggers of transportation from the factory to the house site and the strain of being craned into place. Thirdly, modular houses are generally built faster as they are built in a more concentrated enviornment.

In our case, the house will be built in the form of two rectangular boxes or pods and transported by two semi trucks to our house site; with the main floor approx. 80% complete. The roof will then be lifted up and the house will be made water tight within 48 hours. From there we will finish the upstairs and the basement as well as installing the hardwood floor on the main level.

We had the opportunity last week to tour the factory where our house is being built.  We were able to see our house on the production line.

Below we are going to look at the first half of our house. (Ours is the pod in the middle.)

the master bedroom to be

One of our walls being framed.

Examining a place on the plans with the owner of the factory.

Drywall for the second pod

The floor of the second pod (It’s 70 feet long)

An up-close of the plans

~ Amy

Constructing the Basement

Digging the last of the basement

Leveling the ground with 6 inches of gravel for the walls to go in

The first load of pre-cast basment walls

Looking at the crane over the trees from the crest of the driveway

Several wall panels in place (The yellow pole is a brace)

Craning in the next panel

Hoisting!

Lowering into place

The last corner!

Easing it into place

Ta-da!

The walkout

looking toward the garage end

The first of four cement trucks

Pouring the slab

The completed slab, drying

Just in case you are wondering, the dirt is going to be filled in aound the basement. This is called backfill.

~ Amy

Views on Our Homestead

Cutting the fence for the driveway to go in

Digging the driveway

The driveway entrance

The house site

Breaking ground for the basement

An old two-room shack down the hill from the house

The front hillside (beside the driveway)

~ Amy

Welcome!

Hi!

Welcome to our new blog! I hope you enjoy reading about what goes on here at the Anderson household!

~ Amy