Cold and Rain

Wishing for Warmer & Dryer Weather!

The last few weekends we have not been able to lay blocks either due to rain or cold. So for everyone looking for an update, please pray for some dry days and some warm weather.  All of our research says that unless you are a professional mason you shouldn't attempt to lay blocks if the over night temperature is expected to be below 40 or if rain is forecasted within 12 hours of the last block you lay.  So at this rate it is going to take a while to get the block wall done.

Christmas is right around the corner, which means we have family coming in and Ken will be working a lot of overtime so we may not post again until after the New Year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Flooded Foundation

Update:
It rained for the 3rd weekend in a row!  Only as you can see it rained a lot more this weekend than it had before.  We are going to see if it will dry out on it's own over the next few days of sunshine, but if not we have a pump to get rid of the excess water.  Rain rain go away!


 

Foundation Blocks

       We may have mentioned in previous posts that we are not building on a slab, instead we are building on a crawl space and we will have a concrete block wall for our foundation. This type of foundation is not used very much in our area but it is highly recommended when building a log home.

Our first 17 blocks.

       This weekend we were able to begin the task of stacking blocks. Our crew consists of a plumber, a photographer and a high school student, none of which have ever buttered the first block.  Ken has watched masons at work on the jobsite, and Lisa has watched hours of video instruction on the subject; needless this should be an adventure.  Since we had to make a few attempts to get the right mixture of the mortar and we are still trying to find a good rhythm for the job; we didn't get a lot done the first day.

The good news!  The next day when we checked on the blocks they had all held together...Yeah!

In the weeks to come and as weather permits we will be stacking more blocks, it is a very detailed undertaking.  We have decided that we need to weld additional rebar to what is already there so that it comes up to the top of the foundation, next we will stack everything 3 blocks high (8x8x16 blocks) and follow that up with pouring concrete into every hole that has rebar in it and finish up by stacking a 4x8x16 and a 4x4x16 block on top to make ready for the floor joists.

With the Christmas holiday fast approaching we can safely say that we won't be finished with the blocks by the end of the year.  While all of these steps are necessary we are all ready to start stacking logs.

More Concrete Work

Footings for the fireplace and several piers.

In the crawl space of our home we will have 7 piers and a foundation for the fireplace and each of those had to have a 12" deep footer.  We are proud to say that those footers are now poured and curing.
In a few days Lisa and John will go back and take off the forms and fill in around the footers and hopefully get the ground smoothed out some.

Welding

While we were getting the initial foundation footing ready we discovered that it was quicker to weld the pieces of rebar together than it was to use traditional rebar ties. 

Now that the perimeter footer is in place we have turned our attentions to the footers needed for the 7 piers and the fireplace.  We chose to weld these rebar sections also. 

 

The plus side of this is that John got to practice his welding skills too.  In the picture you can see that John is welding the fireplace rebar and behind him you can see the pad and uprights of rebar that will go in each pier.  We hope to have the piers and fireplace footings poured in concrete this weekend.

Research ~ Research ~ Research

We fully believe that research is the key to making the right decisions.  We don't go buy a new car without doing several months worth of research on different brands and models (although we usually come back to Ford and Mustangs are a family favorite), we just feel more secure in our choices if we have studied them to death.
At any one time we are researching and learning about several different topics, this week our list toppers are ...
1) The size of a fireplace so that we can determine the size that we will need to pour the fireplace footer.
2) Different types of metal roofing; with a top runner being Interlock Slate Roof.
3) How to make your own rock for the fireplace, foundation wall and around the porch posts. These "rocks" are made from colored concrete in a mold, it is a lot more time intensive but we project the cost savings to be HUGE! (over $5000 saved)
4) How to lay cement blocks.
Of course we will post links to the companies that we choose to work with, when we make the final decision.
Since we need to know the size of the fireplace footer before this weekend that one had to take priority, and next will be the block laying and we have to make sure that we get it right. (You-Tube videos are GREAT!)
Even though we won't be needing the roof or the rock for quite a while, it is good to have a game plan.  I have estimated that if I make the rock myself I will be able to make about 24 rocks per day and it will take me about 3 months to make all of the rocks that I need, but I can wait for warmer weather to get started on those.  The roof seems to be one of the hardest decisions for us; we like metal roofs but we want to do something different than all of the other log homes out there.  Most log homes that you see have a hunter green standard metal roof, and while we agree that this is a great look we are trying to figure out how much of a statement we want to make. (also how big of a statement our bank statement can handle!)  We may end up with a standard metal roof and just choose a different color or we may find something else along the way that is unique and affordable.

So grab an extra cup of coffee (our favorite is Kona from The Bad Ass Coffee Company) and get ready to Google your fingers off.