Router Router Router....

In the never ending journey of productivity and creativity Kevin and the house are well entrenched in the building process…..

Early last morning before going to help a friend drywall and mud his garage ceiling, Kevin was out in the carport busy routing siding boards. He is using a raised door panel blade. 

The first round of boards is ready to be placed, and then the house wrap will go on.  The final siding layer has already been milled and awaiting the routing process.

As is our belief in re-purposing, the boards came from pine logs left to us by Ray Pounds Tree Service, a local company.

~Cheryl

Subterranean Homestead

Years ago I dreamed of the lush green subterranean sanctuaries I’d read about in George Sand’s Emmanuel Swedenborg influenced novels. 

Today, my own fantasy of secret grottos is emerging from Kevin’s brickwork. I can just feel a fairy tale coming on.

Curvy in nature like a steam through the woods, the grotto walls descend and rise in a flow as graceful as rolling hills.  Morning’s first breath of fresh air comes to mind.  And here I am thinking ivy and maybe a faint waterfall feature…all hidden away from the mighty southern summer sun.

 Here Kevin is filling cinderblocks with concrete and setting the pillar foundations that will support the deck coming off the kitchen and living room above.

Each pillar base consists of 3 threaded 3/3 to 5/8 anchor studs with nuts.  The nuts are the leveling agents.

The pillars are specially selected logs; however trees as they grow towards the may bend and sway and not be completely straight.

Using a template matching the pattern of the 3 anchor studs Kevin will drill holes into the bottom of the each log.  From there he will set each one using the leveling nuts to align each log vertically.   

In tune with the waves of brickwork the log columns are 7 to 8 inches diameter and range from 32 inches to 6 feet in length.

Next the headers that go between the pillars are repurposed from an old house torn down just round the corner.  He will notch the top of each pillar at the appropriate height.  The 12-inch floor/deck joists will sit atop the headers and cantilever out between 1 to 2 feet.

~Cheryl

Framing Package Countdown Commences

Using logs from local fall off our Count Down begins.

Framing package $3000.00

Boards cut to date:  $138.00

It has always been our dream to design and build our own home.

With the foundation poured and cinder blocks laid to form the back 2 walls, the framing package has taken us on a different journey.

We’d had trees milled into boards in the past. Now we have the capacity to do it ourselves.

Our ‘Green’ mill.

The chunk of wood on the mill is called a cant.  The boards are cut from this.

Also note the red and gray swing set frame behind the mill covered with a tarp that keeps freshly cut lumber weather safe until it is transported to the drying stacks.

Kevin is currently enhancing the mill to accommodate cutting board lengths up to 20 feet.

~ Cheryl
Kevin is also going to make some modifications such as a power travel and power up and down, pushing that thing all is quite the chore...

~Kevin