Nelson Frame

Granite countertops in 3 days

2012-02-07T08:40:00.001-06:00

So, I did shitty job (probably salvageable, but I'm too tired to care) on the concrete counters. I smashed them apart, shopped for most affordable granite locally. Got best quote on Thursday, installed on Monday. Not bad. Still have some electric loose ends to tie up, then do the tinberframe porch, finish siding. Done.

- FAXed to Blogger from my FAX machine LOL

Concrete Countertops

2012-01-29T21:55:00.003-06:00

Complete video tutorial on concrete countertops provided below. Providing you dont cut corners, have too much confidence, and dont follow best practices - they are easy!

LOL

Radiant floor heat in bathrooms

2011-12-11T22:15:00.001-06:00

Did I mention I'm not done siding yet lol

- FAXed to Blogger from my FAX machine LOL

Lights

2011-12-11T22:05:00.001-06:00

Our electrician is too busy to do the lights, so we've been installing them as we can. Finally got the kitchen lights done.

- FAXed to Blogger from my FAX machine LOL

The END is fairly near

2011-12-08T09:04:00.003-06:00

I was just going back and looking at old posts. I, at one point, was all bent out of shape that I couldnt install the roof SIPS by myself. In hindsight, the greatest joy a man can know; is having someone work on your house and your not involved at all.

Will this be my last post?

Nah, I'll post a few more entries before its done or the bank takes it back LOL.

Stairs

2011-09-18T20:13:00.001-05:00

“Thence up the Devil flew, and on the tree of life, the middle tree and highest there that grew, sat like a Lefty.”

- FAXed to Blogger from my FAX machine LOL

Oh my f'ing Gee!!!

2011-04-12T20:05:00.001-05:00

Still to sand

In sanding mode:

- FAXed to Blogger from my FAX machine LOL

Housewrap hysteria

2011-04-10T21:26:00.001-05:00

We were planning on varnishing the housewrap for our final exterior finish, but even with 3 costs of varnish - it blows right off!!! So, we have come up with a house wrap retention system. We have commissioned a series of rough sawn lumber in two distinctive widths. We would go on to classify these as: boards and battens. We have placed these vertically on the house in a fashion that we have coined: reverse board and batten. If you wish to replicate this system to protect your housewrap, fax me a handsome sum of money, and I will fax you back a certificate of approval and scratch and sniff mystery sticker that laments: 'I hope your happy with yourself'.

Please see below for the manual:

- FAXed to Blogger from my FAX machine LOL

Weekend update

2011-04-04T09:44:00.001-05:00

We are finally getting some siding on. We have decided to go with mostly reverse board and batten, white cedar shakes will end up on the gables and a spot or two elsewhere. Rest of this week dedicated to sanding weathered timber members inside

- FAXed to Blogger from my FAX machine LOL

Sanding :(

2011-03-29T22:29:00.001-05:00

This f'ing sucks

- Faxed using my FAX machine LOL

I am Connect.

2011-03-29T10:38:00.004-05:00

Recent advances in my personal tech arsenal have enabled me to blog voraciously if I choose - no matter how busy I am or whether or not I have a Packard Bell to work on. Below is the Fax machine that I use to both print the internet and to upload all my txts, emails, and blog posts to. I am still trying to master Sketchup using just a standard number pad and a paper tray.

- Posted using BlogPress from my FAX MACHINE LOL

Winter

2011-03-29T10:26:00.001-05:00

Most of the winter has been consumed by building the garage and miscellaneous projects that dont show a great deal of progress.

I had Lefty and Shaun out to help with the garage. They got the walls up straight away, but a blizzard put a halt to further work on it. I spent the next couple months framing the roof alone - all the screwing around climbing up and down, installing toe kicks, moving them, etc forces you to move at a snails pace. There was a nice weekend not long ago, and the mrs and I hammered out 1/2 of the garage steel roof.

We have started siding now as well, and hopefully will make some decent and fast progress on that.

A visitor coming by to check things out:

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone LOL

Stick Framing Garage Walls

2011-01-11T08:37:00.009-06:00

I'm not using SIPS on the garage, so I'm framing 2x6 walls and 2x8 rafters around and over the garage frame.

In the first photo, you can see that we have sawn out the rough shape of the OSB kite, and are affixing nails into the center support and rope attachment point:

Next, is a flight check of the OSB kite:

And finally, all systems go - one of many failed launches. The 50mph gusts did take it once though, and took Lefty for a little ride - good enough for us.

So that was the 2 days, doing what we could on the garage. Right. No photos of the garage. Well, the walls got put up before the blizzard hit and brought most everything to a screeching halt.

JACK! or Cloverfield 2

2010-09-27T08:46:00.003-05:00

be sure sound is on! LOL

Flying Timberframes!

2010-07-20T10:19:00.002-05:00

We had a little raising out on the Fields of Sorrow over a month or so ago. Everything went pretty well all things considering. The garage frame had been left sitting in the elements for almost 2 years now. I could walk by the pile and just see some of it had twisted. I expected the worst when assembling. While cutting it, I could tell we could do better, and I'm glad I switched over to square rule for the house. The garage was mill rule with some mapping for over/under sized timber. All things considering, it turned out fairly good (our first timberframing project prior to the garage were timber sawhorses after all). I am glad to report the final product is mostly really good joinery. The couple ends that twisted bad...are a little ugly though.

Thats great and all, but once I got the rafters and purlins on, I came to the conclusion we had the garage sitting 90 degrees off. I went back and looked. Well, at some point (after printing and probably cutting the garage frame) I'd decided I liked the garage better rotated 90 degrees. I thought I'd just go with the garage as raised, but I couldnt stomach the roof lines. So, I called the crane company and asked if they thought they could pick the whole thing. So, on a day that started relatively calm, we ended up lifting an entire frame in 30mph+ winds with just a couple people. Thankfully my dad ran down on his lunch break and provided a hand.

We were able to get video, but only fleeting moments - as we needed all hands to do this thing. When in the air, the garage was 7500lbs. We had it suspended for the better part of 40 minutes. There were some creaks when first lifted, but after that it hung in the sky in the same way bricks dont (quote from Douglas Adams).

Very short video beginning to rotate:

Now, I couldnt help myself. The best video I have is just blaring wind noise. I removed the audio and didnt like it. So, true to being the only metal timberframing blog.....

Coal Chutes and Ladders

2010-07-18T20:07:00.007-05:00

Its been awhile. I reckon some of DIY timberframe bloggers lose interest after the frame is cut and raised on account of everything after that sucks.

I need a perfect storm to happen to chronicle the raising and LEVITATION of the garage. I will get to that soon. Very soon.

I dont know where the summer is going and what I have to show for it really, there's been plenty of activity, and not as much to show for it as I'd hoped. However, we are on the tail end of getting our DWV (Drains, Waste, Vents) plumbing done. I wasnt 100% sure I was going to do this myself, but after getting quotes and how ridiculous the going rates are - I took it on.

The DWV part should'nt have been that difficult, but the fact that we refuse to have soffits has made it a challenge. We stacked our bathrooms - kinda. We ended up with enough shared wall space going from the main floor to the second to basically make it work. We did have to settle for a soffit in the main floor bathroom to hide the upstairs shower trap. The worst part was in the basement where every drain in the house comes together. We got that section all assembled, glued, and ready to go. Done wrong.
Started over.
So, we re-did the basement drains - this time no gluing. We proceeded to do the whole house sans glue. I had the inspector come out to see how we'd done. We passed straight away. Going back and gluing everything was sort of a trick, but we eventually got it. And now we are 'this' close to sending horrible things down 'em!

Here is a handsome set of PVC!

A Close up of a mess of drains and such!

What else..Oh! All aboard to the septic tank!

I have just started on the actual water supply. I went with PEX, and after soldering a few copper joints I was furious with my decision to go with PEX, as copper is so terribly easy to work with. PEX is simply just done if it kinks (with Wirsbo brand I've heard from good-looking sources that you can heat-gun kinks out, I haven't tried yet.) Pex kinks if you look at it just sideways or menacingly. But, I made one supply line live using PEX and the crimp fittings...and it was easy and am at a bit more at peace with it. I thought doing home runs to all fixtures would be easy, so I went with that. In hindsite...whatever. A couple diagrams would've told me how to do it all in copper.
Here is the home run distribution block:

Thats all for now. I hope to try to be more consistant with updating this thing. I wont judge you for visiting often!

2010-07-15T09:22:00.000-05:00

1/2 assed post: framing done

2010-05-05T11:07:00.002-05:00

Interior framing is done (I keep forgetting my camera - so, that post is coming soon). I must now turn my attention to plumbing, getting the garage up, roofing the joint, and siding. Hopefully the roofing underlayment and housewrap stays on - 60mph winds are in the forecast today :( I just ordered a slew of supply plumbing parts, and before I start that project - I present you with the following quote LOL:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

Garage Assembly

2010-04-19T08:07:00.005-05:00

Hmm, I dont have all my latest photos on this computer - so, I'll have to cover what I've been up to a bit later. But, here is last weekend's progress.

This weekend we worked on getting the garage frame inventoried and put together. The intent was to cut and build the garage frame first - to gauge how we did and tweak what we needed to on the house frame. I figured the garage frame would take a week to cut, we could throw it up in another week or so and go from there. No, that didnt happen. It took a few weeks to cut - we test fit some, I determined it sucked, and went to square rule instead of mill on the house frame and left the garage timbers in a heap to think about what they'd done.

So here we are after all this time - the garage timbers have been sitting in the elements for about 2 years now. I am really enjoying putting together a system of cork screws and silly straws. To say these timbers have moved would be an understatement. At this point, we're just doing our best to get it together. Not much I can do to fix it now. Actually, all things considering, It is going together and looking better than I thought it would.

Below is proof...here are the dogs after they drilled and pegged two of the three walls:

Insert New Update Here

2010-04-14T16:26:00.003-05:00

Well, I reckon I've probably lost whatever following I had LOL

But I'm gonna get the last couple months up here soon.

Installing Windows®™ 2010

2010-02-13T17:19:00.013-06:00

The last couple weeks I've been mostly snowed out, which has been basically the same story since late December. Any time I'm able to get out there I just do whatever I can. I've been working on interior framing here and there, we got in all the North windows and the lone West window, I foamed in the roof peak and got two courses of roof underlayment on, I flashed the dormer valleys - just whatever I can manage weather permitting. This weekend was supposed to nice and I had a workforce at my disposal for once. So, I took a couple days off to rent a boom lift to take advantage. We got in a good 2 2/3 days...and then snowed out. So here is some of the stuff we've gotten done the last few days:

Chris and I worked on getting the most rotten parts of getting the house wrap on - the gable ends. Dad, Chris, Leah, and I all worked on getting in the large, high up windows.

Here is the East side - wrapped, flashed, and the highest, largest winder installed:

2nd floor East window from the interior:
I am furious that I forgot my camera every day. There are no stairs or anything to get to the second level at this point. And that window proved to be too big and heavy to shot-put 10 feet up. So, Chris whipped a rigging system with pulleys and a frozen rope. And we hoist it up to the second story - it was pretty cool and effective as hell.

Here is our hero with a North kitchen window in the background:

Large Southern windows - what a pain in the ass it was to find something affordable that would allow for windows to have solar gain. We worked and went round and round with Fibertec until we finally came to a deal. We are very impressed with the windows so far: Fiberglass, glazing is tweaked as per the direction the window faces, and wood interiors.

Its very important to me that no one knows where I got my insulated panels from...I think I pulled it off.

I've always meant to review various products I've used in this process. To date, the single best thing I've bought for this whole thing are Red Wing boots. My god...its like working in bad ass slippers. I wish I had a pair for every occasion: work, working on the house, ballroom dancing that I like to do when Leah is out of town...etc..

Boxed Wine.
Holy Shit! did you know wine comes in a box? Say. Did you? Say.

LYNX

2010-01-23T09:08:00.004-06:00

My brother (and dad - see photo credit) recently made a local newspaper. The middle Mr. Nelson, who coaches youth in the fine arts area, has been working on a mural for the high school he teaches at. Its turning out pretty bad ass. How he'll finish the job without putting in a heavy metal skull from his high school days...I'll never know.

SNOW!

2010-01-11T17:45:00.008-06:00

December and January have been brutal. Cold and snow - worst in years. 2 feet of snow on the ground so far, and big drifts in the country. Above is Wally standing in front of one by the house. Now, Wally is a big dog, his chin is 30" from the ground. We know this, b/c his chin rests comfortably on any standard dining room table - his face his omni present during any major dining event. My point, that's a sizable drift back there.

I havent done a whole lot the last few weeks. A huge blizzard hit at Xmas, and by the time I was able to get back down to the site, days had passed and it took a solid afternoon to shovel the snow out of the house. By the time I got the snow out, then a crazy cold front came in. So, I spent a day boarding up as many of the door/window holes as I could to at least shield me from the wind.

While I'm waiting for the windows to get here, I've started some interior framing projects. I built the basement stairs and started framing the interior partitions on the main level.
We've had some new friends in the area lately. Fall brought coyotes around, and winter has brought a couple owls. One is damn near the size of a turkey and is only out prowling at night, and the other comes out at sun down - I do believe this guy is a barn owl. Judging from piles I'm founding in the house and talon marks in the snow - I think this guy is roosting in the house from time to time. Soaring past my jacked up rafters:

Jack is here!, Roof panels on, not done timberframing....

2009-12-08T20:42:00.010-06:00

Dec has brought all kinds of changes and challenges. Dec 1st Jack decided to make an appearance, on my Dad's birthday no less. Jack is our first lil' ol' runt. His fighting weight is 8lbs 9 oz and towers at 20.5" tall. What a change and challenge. Dont cry little guy, let your dad do that down at the building site.

So, back to the house:
After putting on the paneling, I realized I wouldnt be able to get the roof panels on alone. I never knew that a guy right down the street deals in SIPs and installs them at a fair price. For what it cost me to spend a month putting the wall panels on via a rented telehandler, I could've had the walls installed cheaper..oh well. I know how to install SIPs now, and where the major mistakes will happen and how to avoid them. So, here is the joint almost dried in. The peak needs lots of foam along with most every butt joint..but almost there. So, here it is with the roof SIPs on:

Just as I was finishing the frame virtually using Sketchup and the TF Ruby scripts, I figured the second floor would just end up with floor trusses on them, so I stopped putting in joists. Upon raising the frame and walking around in on the loft joists...I didnt want to to put in floor trusses. Where I left out floor joists (upstairs master bedroom walkout area) I figured I'd throw in some 2x and joist hangers and just cover it up. Lefty was dissapointed with this as I detailed the plan. I thought about...christ...fine...so, I cut more joists and all the timberframing nonsense associated with it. The stock I cut these from was crazy twisted. I had levels out, snapping lines - my first real square rule challenge. Joinery is dead on and Joists are dead flat and level. So, I hope your happy Lefty:

Time to pat ourselves on the back here. I have to say, the view - not the surrounding countryside, but the valley rafters and dormer that we'll have in the master bedroom is..well its f'ing fantastic. How cool is this? turned out better than I could've hoped:

And finally, here is a bit of a glamour shot of the paneling. I have some trim to add at the peak, but thats almost good in hindsite. Before I foam it up, I think I'll install some conduit for electrical since something happened with the roof panel install and lots of chases didnt line up.

Thats about it for now. Up next: get ready to roof it, windows are ready to ship from Fibertech, with the introduction of the runt and the snow finally came...I'm about to redefine the word 'slow'.

It's a church!

2009-11-18T19:49:00.004-06:00

Dad, Leah, and I got the West, North, and East SIPS on. The process went quite well - once we got a handle on the appropriate prep work to do first and not mash up everything together...we found our rhythm. Some panels would cause us problems, some of it was done in mud, some panels were pulled together with hook plates, some pushed together with the forklift ;) At this point we have a bit of a church on our hands...

"Hey there Old Boy, get on to your own church!"

Nah...Dad has been instrumental in getting the SIPs on. He's been there with me every step sacrificing weekend after weekend helping me get the SIPS up. I rented a tele-handler and we dangle the panels from a strap and plate and drive or do whatever we need to do to get the panel into position. I didnt like the panel companies spacing of the panels from the frame, so I tweaked that. So, some corner panels required going up and down a couple times, trim it, and back into place.

Well, I'll be damned if Lefty didnt come down for Sunday services! With the baby due any day, the time limit on the construction loan looming, and a winter that has yet to come, but will - I needed help. I whistled Lefty down from Minneapolis to come out and help us get the South wall up and the tongue and groove on the ceiling.
The paneling project was brutal but fun. Dad was the cut man, Lefty the runner, and I was up on the roof installing the T&G. My knees took just aweful punishment, I tore my sack, am bruised up and down - but it was fun to see it fly up when we had our act together.

As it stands, we have the T&G on. I dont see how I can get the roof panels on with so few people at my disposal. After I abuse my friends for a weekend, I basically run them off the property to never return. So, I am going to have to resort to having the roof panels put on by a contractor. I felt good about the decision...but now, I kinda feel like I've betrayed myself and the project. I dont want anyone else touching the house at this point and I feel some loss of pride. Shit happens.

Joists and Jack Rafters...Done with the frame.

2009-10-13T07:43:00.006-05:00

Wow..its taken a long time to get the remaining timbers in place. The changing seasons have made for very few good weekends to get anything done. Jason and I got the floor joists in a couple weeks ago. I then spent quite some time tuning and re-cutting 3 of the 6 stub rafters. I then tuned the valley rafters...and then it was time to see just how well I did on the valleys and jack rafters.

When I first set out to do this, I designed the dormer as a shed dormer. Easy to cut - but I never liked how it looked 100%. I redesigned the dormer using valley and jack rafters. I took one look at that and though "I'll never be able to figure that out". I then got it in my head that I could never be a decent timberframer until I do some compound joinery. Compound joinery is tricky stuff - I'd like to revisit it again having some trig under my belt. I think once a guy can sit back and basically just visualize when and where angles repeat themselves - that it would be easier. As I was laying out and cutting these I'd have a-ha moments as this bevel or that angle had been used elsewhere on the stick.

During the first snow of the season - the jacks went up:

DONE! - there it is....well, I still have to put the garage up too.

Raising! Timberframe down! Raising again....

2009-09-21T17:57:00.034-05:00

The frame, by all intents and purposes, is raised.

Leah and I assembled the inner bents, that went..well, it went well enough. We named each bent and wall by its major problems. Let see who we have in the frame..there's: Patches, Holio, The Artist (formerly known as Mr. Perfect), and Bartlebly (who kept preferring not to go together). There are more walls and bents - but fantastically, not entirely worthy of naming.

So, it was time to raise this thing. I rounded up my friend Jason - probably the smartest, hardest working, most genuine person I know to assist me with raising. I cheated us terribly here. 2 - 4 section high sets of scaffolding with one plank total for each. Hahahhaah..sorry Jason...I didnt feel terribly safe either.

Jason - the old pro:

We got to work, raised one bent! awesome!!! raised another! Sweet!
SHIT!

Well, that didnt stop us....we plodded on and raised our Lazarus from the dead...
RISE AGAIN (you sombitch):

Well - two weekends go by, we got a decent amount of the frame up - but I was burning through too much crane time. It was basically just Jason and I trying to do this. We had Dad and Leah on the ground doing what they could. The crane operator, Dave, he was in and out of the cab doing as much for us as he could. He was great to have around and really was digging what we were up to. Anyways - It was time to call in reinforcements. I had budgeted $4000 for raising. After two weekends of paying extra high crane rates, and just not having the man power - I called Clark at Northern Lights Timberframing and discussed some raising assistance. Best decision I've made on this project to date..and best money spent (checks in the mail - I swear, Clark) on this project so far.

Enter Patrick and Lefty from Northern Lights Timberframing.

They jumped in, got the last interior bent up like it was nothing. I actually almost got misty - I knew I was in good hands and had an overwhelming sense of relief now that these guys were here. Then, it was time for the 42' wall Leah, Dad, the tractor, and I assembled the week before. This was cool. It was one of the slickest operations of the whole raising. Here it is going up:

One of my favorite pictures from the whole raising was assembling the final girt in that long wall. Patrick and Lefty up top. Dave (the crane operator!), Jason, and I getting the kneebraces in.

Once the rafters starting going up - they just starting going in right after another. I dared to attempt valley rafters, and was fairly concerned that I'd be ordering more timber and trying again, and then moving onto building a shed dormer if I just couldnt do it. So, the last order of business to was to fly up the valleys. Up they went, shucks..no good. A couple tweaks..and........success!

This is another of my favorite pics, I'm glad Mom was able to capture it. Valley rafter #2 flew in, fit, and the Northern Lights crew declared victory.

Here's the crew after the victory laps. Patrick, Lefty, me, Leah, and Jason.

Some thanks are in order for this: Leah - is always the rock who wont let me get down...just cuz your shaped like a rock right now doesnt have anything to do with that though.

And then there's Jason - you've really busted your ass for us on this one. Thanks a ton.

Mom and Dad - thanks for all the support, work, and food. We all appreciated it.

And to the Northern Lights TF crew - thanks for a job well done. The guys bent over backwards to see this job done. I had contracted them for two days, but they stayed four days to see this thing through. I told them they were not bound or expected to go beyond the two day agreement - but they wouldnt have it. You guys are true pros and we had a great time hanging with you fellas on and off the job.

So, one big job out of the way....more to go.....SIPS will be coming up....I havent even ordered them yet. Installing SIPs in the winter...stay tuned....

Summer - July

2009-08-13T22:06:00.014-05:00

By July, the foundation was poured, septic tank was in....and hmmm what else. It was time for us to get to work. I had originally wanted to build on a slab, and never made any plans for a basement. However, the bank appraisal wouldnt go through w/o a basement. So...we pretty much winged what we were gonna do. I'm out of timbers, I dont want to buy more or transport them. So, we made some built up beams, some built up posts, and some dimensional posts to support the frame above. The basement posts and beams are a true hybrid of post and beam and timberframe. There are mortises in the built up beam and tenons on the posts. My dad, bro, Leah, and I installed these with no lifting equipment.

But, July was not to start hitting the ground running. We got hit alright. Lordamercy!

Working on the house with out the trusty Forester sucked. It holds all our tools, the damn

dogs...everything. For 3 weeks we switched over to our Ford Focus aka: Hocus Focus. I dont see a whole lot of construction crews working out of compact cars.

But, back to the house. I got the mudroom and basement plumbing installed. I had a ringer come out and show me the ropes. Plumbing passed inspection on the first try...I dont see any photographic record of that - so...on to getting the joist system

in place. Here's my bro (Chad), me, and Dad getting the built up beams and posts in place....

Another highlight and surprise of the summer was Leah's older brother, Josh, coming up for a week from Florida. He is not well known in any circle as being a high test carpenter. But, he was a great help to us and I feel we did an excellent job ruining his vacation.

Josh (a programmer for the worlds most popular football videogame franchise) and I (worlds most misunderstood network analyst) doing what we dont do best:

Lasers be damned - I dont go too far or do too many things without the trusty water level

Decked:

Oh, and.....

Summer - June

2009-08-13T21:45:00.013-05:00

Summer hasnt been kind. Lots of rain - which hasnt stopped much of the work really, otherwise I'd have updated this blog, but working in the mud...It just makes things go sooooooo slow.

So, time to recap.

June.

We finally got to see and participate in a

timberframe raising. I figured I'd be hanging around with my hands in my pockets just kind of observing.

I ended up doing pegging and being in a bucket on a telescoping forklift screwing SIPS to the frame. It was a good time - and I picked up a ton of tricks of the trade. This was a project done by Buffalo Ridge Beamery - the only professional timberframers I know of in South Dakota.

Pegging and installing SIPS:

The biggest bent in place:

Foundation poured....

2009-06-19T07:32:00.008-05:00

This weekends projects include waterproofing the foundation. I was gonna use a sheet membrane and do this myself, but its difficult to find concrete guys with forms that dont have a brick impression on them. If we used the sheet membrane, we'd have to have parged the entire house foundation to make it smooth. So, I figured - fine, we'll trowel on some liquid rubber membrane. NOPE! no place in town sells anything like that for below grade foundations. I was ready to start calling places from here to Omaha and Minneapolis and just drive to go get it. But, I settled on having a local contractor come out and do it. It wont be as thick as I'd want - I'm having him make two passes, so - its a near-miss almost happy medium of cost/frustration/etc.

Once that is setup, I'll be applying rigid insulation from footing to sill (under slab too - but thats next week). I need to get my basement plumbing septic lift basin in too and the corresponding below slab plumbing to connect to it. I'm just rough plumbing this in, so it wont have to be done later. We dont intend of having to use it. The main septic drain leaves the house in such a way, that everything should be able to be gravity fed out w/o pumps.

Adventures for next week: digging trench for water supply and the flatwork for the garage floor and basement floor. I think we'll just move in when thats done.

Footings!

2009-06-11T22:15:00.011-05:00

Well, alright then. So, my passive solar slab idea is now my passive-aggressive 9ft basement. Hole was dug on Tues/Wed and footings are in as of Thurs. Wow! Its moving along. I'm totally thrilled so far with the contractors I've put together thus far.

House footing:

Mudroom:

Garage:

Fury....and then progress resumes

2009-06-10T08:29:00.007-05:00

Well. I finished 98% of the frame in early May. I'm not totally finishing the valley rafters until the frame is mostly up - just so i can adjust if the frame is slighty skewed. So, I figured a quick call to the bank, and I'd be up and running to get a line of credit going in days. Wow. Was I wrong. First, needed an appraisal. Appraisals are taking ~30 days - Ouch. So, 3 weeks go by and the appraisal comes in. It just, just barely covers the cost of materials. I mean no room for labor - and certainly no 20% fudge room. So, here we sit. I had designed the house to be passive solar - i was gonna have 1/2 slab and 1/2 basement. The slab would've acted as a battery to hold heat and release it at night and temper large swings in indoor temperature. As soon as I axed that concept and said I'd do a full basement - the money was there, with slight room for some play. But still, the appraisal is basically all based on Vinyl this and vinyl that. Cheapest of the cheap. No extra allowances for higher quality materials or systems. Sure, if we did propane (insane in this climate - unless you want $300/mo heat bills), vinyl windows, vinyl siding, linoleum - we'd be gold. But, I wanted to build a green-ish house and do some cool things like geothermal heat, metal roof. Well, there is room to play - but frustrating as hell.

So, after sitting around dealing with bank related stuff for almost a month - finally things are

under way again. Yesterday Wally dug the foundation hole...Here he is putting on the finishing touches.

Wally surveying his progress from the dirt he's removed so far:

Yup, job well done boys....

The Boys

2009-05-14T15:28:00.003-05:00

The boys havent had an appearance here lately..cant have that.

Valley Rafters

2009-04-14T08:54:00.018-05:00

Well, the timbers I've been dreading: valley rafters and jack rafters. The compound joinery was a little intimidating at first, present, and past.... but I wanted to know that I could do it. I have two designs for the house - one with valley rafters and jack rafters, and one with a shed dormer in its place - in case I totally f-up the valleys and corresponding jacks.

One thing..how the hell does one cut valley rafters in the right sequence? In hind sight, I'd saw all the major bevel planes, but not cut all the way thru. I had a hell of a time getting the tenons of the valley rafters cut out. Just getting the valley groove and tenon cut has been about 13 hours per - And I'm proabably 2/3 done. I still have some pockets to cut and the ass-ends (traditional term??) to do.

Then there are the jack rafters:

Note:
I am soooooooooooooooo sick of the South Dakota wind. We learned how to remove things from eyes last summer at the doctors office. So, the other weekend, I was reclined in the Forestor passenger seat as Leah exctracted sawdust out of my eye - reclining is the key for the excavator to get under your eyelid and retrieve lost items. Good news though. We're almost done with the frame. Finishing up the valleys and then two small girts..and DONE.

Field Trips, Back out at the lot.

2009-03-10T22:49:00.004-05:00

Over the last couple of years - Clark, owner - Northern Lights Timberframing, has been a wealth of information for me. I finally met him last winter attending his timber frame saw horse trestle class in Grand Marais, MN (not to mention we hung out alot at the 2008 Easter Timberframing Conference). In late February, we visited Northern Lights Timberframing in Minneapolis. We got a tour of shop, enjoyed a beer of the month, and I (the worlds worst card player) kicked ass in Finnish Uno. I also declared this the South Dakota Timber Framers Conference...but Clark and I are not seeing eye to eye on that one.

the NLTF crew: Patrick, Shaun, Clark, Lefty

Those fellas are particularily proud of their indoor lift, crane, whatever. I do believe its called the Gravitron something or another...I was quite surprised at the speed and how whisper quiet it is while in operation.

Spring has damn near sprung. I'm nearing completion of this and thats around our current house to get it ready to sell eventually so I can devote the next year to the timberframe only. I went out a couple beautiful early spring days and got started on the floor joists. I pulled up to the gravel drive - tested the ground with the front wheels of the Forester -no good, thank god for AWD. I left the rear wheels on the gravel and pulled the car right out. Temps were near 50, and the mud was 8" thick. I tried getting the tractor over to the joist pile - not happening. I have tractor wheel mud ruts almost a foot deep.

So I lifted and walked, one by one, 8 - 6x8x16' timbers over to the saw horses. Not the greatest of ideas - but I had to get moving.

The floor joists have been left unprotected all summer and winter. They have seen some movement. I have some twist I have to deal with. So, I've been using framing squares as winding sticks and squaring up the timbers, then planing them for layout and final sanding.

Metal

2009-03-10T22:25:00.006-05:00

Well, I do claim to have the most 'metal' timberframing blog/website.

In May, we'll be seeing a few of our favorite bands: Opeth and Enslaved May 9. Lacuna Coil on May 11.

Opeth:
Progressive and amazing technicians. Micheal Akerfeldt (singer, guitar) is funny as hell live - half the reason we're going is just for the standup.

Opeth live antics:

Enslaved: Norwegian Progressive Metal

Lacuna Coil: Italian Female fronted band...losing their metal edge...Cristina is hot enough that I can forgive them for now.

Spring

2009-03-10T22:16:00.008-05:00

This is why I like being in the country - peace and quiet, and watching the wildlife do what they do. I was hoping while working on floor joists I'd catch a flock of geese heading North. I was not dissapointed. Here are some of our feathered friends in action:

Whats funny though, all these assholes were flying South...

And a view looking towards Netwon Hills:

Kneebraces done, slippers worn.

2009-01-15T09:06:00.009-06:00

I've covered the downsides of timberframing off-site - especially lacking a barn/outbuilding to work and store things in. The plus side of working in the basement is being able to work in slippers!

Last weekend, I completed all the kneebraces that will be required for the house and garage. There ended up being 60 something of them. The garage kneebraces will have no embellishment at all. The ones for the house all have curves, chamfers, and 120 grit final sanding. The smallest kneebraces were all hand planed and the curves were all spoke shave(n?) - If only I were crazy enough to hand plane every timber in the house...but I'm not!

In the picture below, I have probably my favorite kneebrace (taken in low light flourescent lighting - the red heart wood, gold sapwood, and blue sap stain are not as bold as it really is.) Anyways, in this pic are: an example of the smallest kneebrace in the house, destroyed basement, and a dog wrapped around 2 dishrags. Leah accused me of throwing away the kitchen sink dish rags - I pleaded innocent, then Wally (he's been opened up before for retrieval of goods) was spotted milling around somewhere - and the pieces of the puzzle were put together.

So...I'm done timberframing for a spell. We're working on getting estimates nailed down. I'm really leaning towards installing geo-thermal - the sticker shock though, wow!. Bids have been $23,400 - $28,000. I may cover all of this stuff later. But, time to make the outstanding repairs on our existing house and get it on the market...

Oh...most importantly. I'd been saving the last bottle of my all time favorite beer for the milestone project of putting the kneebraces behind me. Let me take this time to introduce you to Goose Island Bourbon Stout. At $5 a bottle and 13%ABV - only the scalable and robust need apply. Handily one of the finer points of being alive. Shockingly - I raced to consume it before bed Sunday night. Its a sipper, and I didnt respect it like I should've. I may have to buy more to mourn the celebratory one that went just all wrong.

Multi location timberframing

2009-01-05T16:07:00.009-06:00

I've been outside nearly every night since Nov 14th working on kneebraces after work and on the weekends. I've been planing and sawing like crazy. The nights I was outside and it was 10 below zero or colder, I couldnt help but think to myself 'This is horsesh*t'.

Actually I'm glad to be back in it headfirst, but dragging pieces of the frame all over creation is getting sucky. The building site is open and exposed, and many a large drift of snow right now. So, I brought three trailer loads of kneebrace stock to my house. Planed everything in the driveway, cut every thing to length and roughed out tenons in the garage. From there, I hauled everything into the basement where I could do the finish work inside. So, in the basment, everything was stacked and stickered. The floor had stacks of kneebraces, the pool table was stacked with them, the weight room, and the bathroom. Now, they all needed curves cut in them. Damnit.
Back up stairs they went, 3 trailer loads across town over to the folks' place. Over New Years we (Leah, Dad, and I) got all the curves cut in our largest (ridiculously so) 24 kneebraces. This last weekend Dad and I made a great deal of progress on completing the 24 started on New Years, and got all the curves cut on the remaining 30. At this point, we have 36 completely done - I took one trailer load of finished stuff back to my house in town. By the time its all said and done, each kneebrace will have been transported 54 miles, moved, and stacked 4 times. But it is kinda funny driving across town with a trailer load of finished timbers. I get some goofy looks.
I'm still not done with the frame yet. I have 10 rafters to do, 3 beams, and..ugh the valley rafters and jack rafters. I figure i have a good month+ of solid timberframing work to do before I can raise anything. But thats getting ahead of myself. My goal was to complete the kneebraces by Jan 25th - I'm gonna beat that easy. I'll be spending the rest of Jan and Feb making long over due repairs on the house we live in currently. In late Feb I'll start working on the remaining frame members on nice weekends - if any. Late/Early Spring will be spent finishing up the house timbers and assembling the garage bents to get a feel for assembly and tweaking. Its my goal to raise the house the first week of June.
In the mean time, we'll be dialing in the estimates for the house. Windows, doors, HVAC, cabinets, etc, etc....

The adventures continue...

Tough Sell

2008-11-20T08:49:00.002-06:00

I've been looking for a true 3-4-5 square, but I guess I was on the fence cuz a product that is exactly what I'm looking for just isnt quite enough. JAYSUS!

2008 Timber Framers Guild Eastern Conference

2008-11-10T20:17:00.011-06:00

We attended the 2008 Eastern Timber Framers Guild Conference Nov 6-9 in Rockport Maine. I learned a lot, but most importantly, learned the winning formula for the components to skillfully build a timberframe:

The conference was more of a who's who in the bearded gentleman community. Some beards were brutal, others epic. And some of the few were nothing short of brutally epic -I frantically scribbled mine on at the last second.

Actually the conference was great. Its very well organized - great seminars and opportunities to meet with other people. Our room was next to Tedd Benson's (for those not in the know - one of the guys who brought back Timberframing in North America - and I'm assuming the biggest timberframing operation in existence.) We got a chance to chat with him and his wife in the hallway - good people. We also got to meet up and hang with our internet timberframing buddies. Spent some time with Jim Rogers, who answered many of my early timberframing questions on the Forestry Forum and a timberframing hand tool czar. We also spent quite a bit of time with two fine gents from Northern Lights Timberframing - Clark Bremer (owner) and Lefty. Had a great time with those fellas - lotta cards, meals, and maybe......just maybe, a pint or two. Those guys are class acts. Northern Lights crew HERE.

So, unrelated to TimberFraming...Leah and I have never been to Maine before. Its a very, very beautiful place. As part of the conference, we took a historic barn tour - We're not into barns so much, but it was an excellent oppurtunity to see what Maine is all about. The tour had us taking an hour long ferry trip to the island North Haven. It was a great way to see the coastal landscape.

I did come back with one item of SWAG. Clark has re-invented the way 'the rest of us' can design timberframes with his Sketchup ruby scripts. He has now donated another 'open-source' hardware gem to the community. I dont recall if it has an official name, but I brought it home and tested it out. Boring plumb holes free hand is..well, it sucks. You can get guides or use a boring machine if you have one - but if you're on a budget or even if your not...but Clark made a mirror with a hole...hmm I like it...i'm calling my guide the 'A-Hole'. So, you take your A-Hole and put in on a timber where you'd like your desired peg. You basically wanna drill thru your A-Hole so your bit looks like its traveling right into itself in a straight line. More description will only get me into trouble. Pics:

Dueling A-Holes:

I laughed and laughed thinking of how to title this one, but you can see how it works:

Häus von Blüd

2008-10-23T21:46:00.002-05:00

This past week has seen me in the doctors office having wood removed from my eye - yeah I was wearing safety glasses. Fast forward three days, now we have one appendix beating for the two of us. It takes more than thousand pound sticks to put this wrecking crew down. But the rain is doing a good job...which its been doing all week. Time is running short, winter is almost here. We're about ready to abandon the Fields of Sorrow and focus on knee braces, and return in the spring to finish the valley rafters and floor joists...and, you know, build this thing.

common rafter success, principal rafter tragedy, knee braces, and a trip to Maine - updated

2008-10-14T19:50:00.007-05:00

Late summer we took some time to take the yearly vacation to Lake Vermilion and even tossed in a weekend to go see one of my favorite bands, Opeth, play in Minneapolis. Otherwise, its been business as usual on the Fields of Sorrow (the name we've affixed to our acreage). Chris, who had a loose schedule this summer, is now pretty busy. Leah is back teaching, and the dogs have plain just gave out...so our nice long days are gone. Its been pretty much just me going out after work, Friday afternoons, and weekends. Progress has slowed. I just want to get the rafters finished before Nov, abandon the floor joists until spring, and finish kneebraces at the folk's house over the winter. My goals of getting the rafters done before Nov are vanquished I do believe. The story is about to take a chilling turn here folks...but first, some success!

6x8 common rafters assembled! (I lent my dSLR to a photography student for a few weeks, I didnt notice the white balance was jacked...really, my timbers are not THAT sap stained)

Right then. There's that. See the timbers on the right underneath the assembled rafters, yeah - I spent 5 days on those (they are not completed in the photo - I'm choosing to remember them the way they were.), which yielded me ummm...firewood I reckon. I made templates for my tenons that would insert into the posts. I apparantly forgot to double check my template, and most certainly did not measure critical lengths after layout. I was THAT confident in my templates. I still think templates are great, but in my haste to get done before Oct - I simply never checked multiple measurements..just overall length. I dont know what I was thinking...but, a colossal mistake that has already cost me 5 days, probably at least $1k in more wood, and the frame has filed for a divorce from me. I'm letting the frame think things over this evening as I take a night off and reflect on this. I'm flat out burned out, and need a non-traveling day off. Back to work tomorrow night after the day job is through.

None the less...onwards and upwards. I've been meaning to get a picture up of how the knee braces are gonna look. Dad made one in early summer - just straight forward - no embelishment, still rough sawn - just cut to fit with no frills. After it was confirmed it fit handsomely, Dad took it home and gave it a makeover. Here are the dogs taking full credit for the first completed knee brace:
And coming up, Leapin' Leah and I are flying to Maine in November for the Eastern Timberframing Conference. I'm thinking its gonna be a great time. Hopefully I come back with some stories, alot of new info, new friends, and a monster hangover.

I took yesterday off to stave off injury...this morning getting ready for work, I hurt my back. damnit. I didnt want to get this thing done anyways...

Current Happenings...

2008-07-28T12:46:00.009-05:00

First of all...here is where we need to get to:

here is what we'll have finished by July's end. We have been going every day after work and all day Fri- Sundays. By the end of August we may have every major post and beam done - and focus all energy on rafters, joists, and the rest of the knee braces - hopefully be able to raise it this winter:

We have a ways to go yet...Looks like we'll be braving the winter too. Its pretty crazy how long this takes. But this is what is all about - when every possible combination of profanity has been triumphantly declared on these great plains - it'll be worth it. Now that the possibility of completing before summers end is simply not gonna happen, its been much easier to have fun. We have made some additions to the site to spice things up. One of the best purchases to date has been a little $50 Weber portable grill. Get that fired up and a cooler of cold beer and just take the day as it comes has been really nice. Chris unveiled a shelter to us this weekend - finally, we can get out of the sun! I had picked up a canopy earlier in the summer - I forgot to take pictures, but its in a pile of mangled and twisted tubing and its tarp is downstairs on the pool table covered in knee brace shavings. Here is our on site royalty beckoning the site fool to amuse him under the fancy shelter:

For comparison of Timberframing vs stick drag racing, we have been blessed (cursed) to watch our neighbors house go up - they started the same week we did. This is being built by a husband wife team too. I sometimes wonder if Chris has jumped ship and been working over there the days he leaves us for dead.

Leah and Chris marching on...

I had the local conservation office plant ~ 200 trees and shrubs, I'll be doing this again next year on the west end. This year has been the perfect year...lots of rain at the right times. The shelterbelt is really taking off - I'm glad we got a head start on it. Next year, the Silver Maples should be as tall as I am. Seen here is a row of Oak:

Horns!!

Up next....vacation!!

Really good weekend....

2008-07-07T08:55:00.006-05:00

Having fully entered the 'despair' phase in the six phases of a project...Saturday was a turning point. I have been losing confidence in our ability to do as accurate of work as I'd hoped. We've had a couple false starts on test fittings - especially braces. So, dad came out Saturday AM with a brace he'd cut for us in his shop. I was expecting the worst....I'll be damned, if after a slight tweak in the brace mortis, if that brace didnt fit like a champ. After seeing the fit obtained - and how good things looked...I was over joyed. I'm re-invigorated and enthusiastic - we all are. When we assembled that little section...I could see that everyone (Leah, Dad, Mom, and me) all had a sense that: yeah, this is gonna happen. We all stood around and admired it for awhile and kept this section assembled for over a day for inspiration. So, a little victory that is certainly going a long ways.

Dad, Chris, and I chiseling away...

I thought this was a cool pic of Dad and I taken by Leah.

Not too many places to get out of the elements on the site, but Wally certainly doesnt know anything about that.

Chris (why arnt you working??), Leah and Dad...
v

of Dunnage and Deep Hurting

2008-06-23T12:52:00.003-05:00

I can see why many of the other timberframing blogs have black holes during the most interesting phases of the process. So, its been about a month since we got the timbers. We have the garage cut - learned some lessons there. It hasnt really been fit together, so - I cant say I really know how well we did/didnt do. We have one little section assembled on the ground. We did..so/so in my opinion. Hard to really tell without a sufficiently large and level area to assemble more pieces. That being said, we have 4 posts for the house laid out and ready to cut. I wanted the garage up and really sit back and assess where we need to improve - time isnt going to permit that. When I can finally get a concrete contractor who knows what 'pilasters' and 'plinths' are we'll be in good shape. I called a large outfit in town....and they told me I should just do it myself since its out of the norm. Ahahaha..k. I'll just make all my own PVC, shingles, siding, etc from mud, mice, and weeds (these are the most common elements on my lot: MU, MI, and WE being their periodic table abbreviations) too.

So...where are we on this thing??? I dunno. We are still sort of within a realm of what I expected. The timbers were a month late due to weather. The sun is taking its toll thats for sure - Not to mention the wind. No shelter to be had out there. We do huddle under the Foresters hatch every once in awhile though to escape the sun. My neck is like a gradient chart of various degrees of scalding. And the fact that its a 20 minute drive from our current house...cant just go out back and knock out a mortis when I feel like it. Progress continues....thats the important part..

most of the garage in a couple piles:

Chris and I discovering if my tears have the healing powers to make this brace fit:

hey there Slick...

Work Site

2008-06-02T12:43:00.001-05:00

I certainly hope this is a good sign.

Brutal!! - Blacker than the Blackest Orange

2008-05-29T12:43:00.003-05:00

Tractor! doesnt get any more 'metal' than that.

In our downtime, we'll be playing a new sport that was advertised on the tractor. We'll be keeping score and posting standings here.

Note on TF Software

2008-05-28T15:13:00.007-05:00

More progress pics and posts on the way, until then...a note on probably the most important part of the process so far:

I drew the frame entirely in Google Sketchup, which is freely available, along with some super amazing ruby scripts (plugins created by the online community). Of note is Clark Bremer's TF Scripts. These do a variety of things: such as timber/joint/peg counts, shop drawings, best of all - these scripts automatically make your mortises for you!!!!! I used these scripts to submit to engineer for county approval, order my lumber, order my pegs, and I am doing the shop drawings right now. The TF rubies are freely available - go to the Northern Lights Timberframing page to download - classes are also available. (Link is on the side bar of this blog)

I learned how to use the software by using all the tutorials available from The Sketchup Show podcast - great, great SU resource.

Example of show drawing:

the drawing is not perfect, exporting .jpg's from SU doesnt always give 100% results. When printing, I print the drawings as vectors, and the results are about 99%

Timbers Arrived!!!

2008-05-27T08:21:00.011-05:00

Things all came together last week and a pile of timber is now in our possession.

The arrival of the forklift caused Chris to start dancing....

Then I joined in.....

I have no experience operating heavy equipment, We were fortunate that a local construction company a couple miles away was willing to come out and give us a hand.

Leah is seen contemplating why her X-Mas list comprised of only 6x8 common rafters and the wisdom in wishing for them.

I'd be lying if I said i was 100%....even 50% ready for the timbers. I am getting a tractor for loads of reasons...one being to assist in lifting timbers. But, i dont have it yet, so we stickered and stacked 206 timbers the old fashion way.

Chris showing his enthusiasm for hand placing 24ft 8x8's and 16ft 8x12's. In the background, I too question Leah's choices on last years X-Mas list.

As always, this is for the ladies...

Fin

Curses!!!!

2008-05-09T08:28:00.002-05:00

Nothing going on right now. I cant get wood....

Road restrictions preventing my timber from being delivered...., my timber is convalescing in the red area - which means no trucking heavy loads until the ground is thawed. This long winter has given me the 'red ass' to match the color on the map.

Done!

2008-04-09T07:49:00.009-05:00

Finally got the new dining table done! I am extremely pleased with the results. I really need to make some matching benches for it...but timbers arrive in May. That could turn into a "Hey Dad, as long as you dont have anything to do...." type of deal. Anyways, Pics!

First up are the dogs discussing the phases of a project:

1. Enthusiasm

2. Disillusionment

3. Panic

4. Search for the Guilty

5. Punishment of the Innocent

6. Praise and Honors for the Non-Participants

And now for the project itself:

Details:

peg:

Wedges:

Top:

No project is complete without approval from my barely huge and merely enormous boys: Bob and Wally.

No one around here knows what timberframing is

2008-04-07T09:13:00.001-05:00

"oh a log house? nice!!!"

- response from anyone unlucky enough to hear me rant about it. From now on, no explaining...anyone asks just what it is i'm trying to do its:

The Trestle Table Lives!!!!

2008-03-21T18:37:00.006-05:00

Work, flu, being out of town, etc, etc....has halted work on the trestle table. Everything is back to as normal as possible and I'm getting close to finishing this project. Sanding and staining are complete. Just need a few coats of poly on it...and it'll be about whipped. The Mrs. hasnt seen it since some finishing details were added, sanding, and staining. So, preview pics for now until this bad boy is done.

Tractors and Wheels.

2008-03-13T08:47:00.006-05:00

I've been getting some heat on my choice of rides lately...first up, Tractor:

I bought a tractor..never thought i'd see the day i'd do that. I wont have it for awhile, so my brother, an HS Art teacher (his site), came up with a work that shows me working the land on the new rig. I'd say this is one of his finer works.
I'd say its accurate. Bob doing what he does best - being a 'squatweiller', and Wally being a royal a-hole...oh man, tornado too!! Judging from the stickered stack of timbers, I'm almost done.

You just got passed by a wagon:

I was attempting to describe our ride to friend not long ago, who pretty much determined that the subie was weak-sauce. 0-60 in 5.7.....pssh...please.

Thanks Boys....

2008-02-12T18:56:00.000-06:00

Much to our surprise, the dogs have been saving their allowance and bought us two very bad-ass tools. And jaysus did they get a deal. wow!
For any TimberFramers who might visit this site, I'll tell you this...watch Toolbarn.com. The prices are fantastic to start with, but one day out of the blue there were HUGE rebates on these tools. I suspect it was a year end thing..i dont know.

All thats left of the boys' savings:

Makita 16" Circular Saw and Chain Mortiser:

Timber SawHorse Trestles

2008-01-22T18:35:00.000-06:00

Leah and I attended a course in Grand Marais, MN at the North House Folk School building timber sawhorse trestles. Sure, I was gonna build sawhorses out of plywood and 2x lumber for working the timbers....but what fun would that be?

Lake Superior as seen from up the Gunflint Trail:

A gal's best friend - 16" Circular Saw:

We made 4 of these guys, here are the boys after they fit them together at home:

Shiver Me Timbers

2008-01-18T09:13:00.000-06:00

To my surprise, our timber order is well under way. I am extremely pleased with what i see so far. Here is the pile - these are some posts and rafters, shot in 5 degree temps in the presence of a flock of wild turkey:

Upcoming Stuff....

2008-01-15T08:29:00.000-06:00

Heading off to Grand Marais on Wednesday. On the way up we are going to go see the progress of our timbers. Then off to Grand Marais to build some 6x6 Trestle Saw Horses - mainly to get Leah familiar with the hand/power tools - she'll have a solid couple months this summer to cut the frame - she could end up doing most of it.....

Trestle table is coming along...breadboard ends are done...need some decent hardwood dowels to continue.

More pics of the various stuff in the next couple weeks....

Looking forward to whale watching in Mankato on the way up north...always cool to see those majestic creatures in the midwest Geo-thermic riviera: http://city-mankato.us/
87 degrees in Mankato today...while the highs this weekend will be single digits to low teens everywhere else around here.

Trestle Table

2007-12-26T22:06:00.000-06:00

My first furniture project is a dining room trestle table (35"x62") which was given as an xmas present to Leah. It will be a great addition to the timberframe. It was built under the supervision of my Dad in his most excellent shop (I'll post more of that in the future..its a disaster right now). Its been alot of fun to build, especially working close with Dad to learn accuracy, tolerances, and when to wing it. Not quite done yet. Need to finish the breadboard ends on the table, route some edges, sanding, and finishing...so more of that in the near future...pics for now....

Culverts in SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!!!

2007-12-21T18:12:00.000-06:00

ah the culvert from space....

I'm building in SE South Dakota. Close enough to a city that i do have bureaucracy to deal with. This was the first. According to the county, i had to had a member of the local 'board' approve putting in a culvert and/or driveway. 3 fellas on the board..i called them all..none had a clue what i was talking about. So, i just decided to go ahead and forgo the proper signatures and procedure. I had a couple experienced contractors telling me thats the way to go....and another telling me i was a fool for doing this. So, in a last ditch....Leah had the day off, and she drove out to one of the board members farms and he instantly knew the drill and signed the appropriate form. Seems these guys dont like messing around on the phone. So, we got the form all filled out and are all 'legal'....in turn, no one at the county wants the form or knows what to do with it. But, I filed it and scanned it as a PDF to my node...so if anyone comes asking...I'm covered.

I specifically didnt want to deal with just insane covenants dictating roof pitch, colors, roofing material, etc, etc...i do have a few stipulations on my land: 'high quality' building materials, no manufactured housing, and a couple other things. The local planning/zoning office so far have been extremely easy to work with. They do want the frame stamped by an engineer, which i had done. In order to build i have to turn in some elevations, engineer stamp, and perc test and septic design (which i had done previous to closing on the land). All that stuff is on hand and ready to submit in April. More on the local government as it unfolds...

In the meantime...back on topic...you can see the tips of my culvert on either side of entrance to the lot:

the Boys

2007-12-06T22:28:00.000-06:00

I cant forget the boys:

Bob and Wally

Oct 2007: Frame Design, Engineer Stamp, Electric, Shelterbelt....

2007-12-06T22:01:00.000-06:00

Design on the TimberFrame is done. I cant believe how long this took. Loads and Loads of revisions. I figured I'd whip thru mine in two weeks. No, 100's hours is about right.

I got down to the wire on this...since i had to have my timber order in by Nov 1. Got it done, and submitted to Engineer - in which i only had to change the size of one timber. Here's to no revisions...

Electricity is in....I think. I never finalized anything or paid...but its there.

Shelterbelt is also on order. I'll end up with ~400 trees. Starting with just a little over half that for now....Goes in late April or Early May.

Timber Order submitted. Timbers ready in April or May.....and thats when we get our asses handed to us for the next: insert time frame here.

July/August 2007: Driveway and Water in

2007-12-06T21:51:00.000-06:00

driveway in:

Rural water put in. I would've waited to do this, but there was some talk that no new rural water customers would be let on the system next summer....so i took the gamble and got on...so, field spigot for now. Ignore Bob.

April 2007: Bought Land

2007-12-06T21:42:00.000-06:00

5 acres of.....well....dirt.

corner to corner:

Sept 2006 - Timberframing at North House Folk School

2007-12-06T15:57:00.000-06:00

We never intended on building a log place on the prairie. After nearly packing up and moving to Duluth MN, we ended up staying put. So, both my wife, Leah, and I agreed that log buildings look goofy on the plains. Hewn, chink structures look ok in this setting...but i dont like that look. My vision of a Scandinavian Scribe log structure is one nestled in the woods in which the very trees its made of were fell. I dunno...maybe its just me..or a pet peeve. But we decided against log at that point. I had secretly never fallen out of love with the first timberframe i saw, and decided to revisit that idea. Which, I packed my shit (tools and Chris), we drove 9 hours all night long, arriving just in time in the morning to start Timberframing at North House Folk School. Another Northern MN gem....Timberframing right on the shores of Lake Superior in a cool, little town.

Chris and his big stick:

Gang Cutting Rafters:

View from shop:

Raising:

Feb 2005 Winter: Log Trusses

2007-12-06T15:34:00.000-06:00

Returned to Great Lakes Log Building for finishing up the trusses on the student built cabin. Chris and I came equiped with sleeping bags we have had since we were kids...the packaging had kids with deep hypothermia indoors sitting next to a fire i'm sure. Needless to say, we froze our asses off for 3 nights....temps were for sure -15 if not colder. Everything in our fridge froze. It was an experience though....

cabin:

Lake Superior:

It all started in July 2004.....

2007-12-06T12:41:00.000-06:00

Years ago, I went with my dad to deliver some furniture he'd built. We walked into this house, and I was blown away. Massive timbers everywhere - never seen anything like it. So enter present day, I researched prices on Timberframe homes and was instantly turned off..big time. I also looked at log homes - sticker shock here too, but after loads of research discovered that to be a very attractive building method and affordable for the owner builder. I grabbed up my chainsaw..and oh yeah my brother in law, Chris, and headed North to Great Lakes School of Log Building.
We had a blast on the 10 day course. Ron the owner/instructor is the stuff that legends are made out of. The location is amazing - N. MN forest, wildlife, peace and quiet, its got it all. The skills learned here will greatly enhance what i bring to the pile of timbers that await.

Chris says: "its big, its heavy, its log"

The Guilty:
Chris, me, JD, Ron and Teddy.