DIY Home Additions - Part 2

I've been a horrible blogger - every time I thought about providing an update on the "Forever Home" I became lazy because nobody wants to read a blog post with crappy pictures.

We have been working but this cold, ice, rain, snow, more cold, a bit of warmth has really messed us up. The "Forever Home" is on a hill, there fore all building materials need to be lugged up the hill. No easy feat when the hill is now ice covered in snow. It was more like a death trap. Each day we went to work it consisted of the first 2 hours of just prep work. Shovel the ice out the work area and then go lug the materials in place. By the time this was done we needed a break.

The good thing to all of the above is that we are still on schedule for the most part. I believe Branko would wish we were further along but we have no control over the weather conditions so we have to work with what we are getting. (on a side note, Branko worked for 2 days without me in the -20's - I was a wuss and could not bare it)

So lets get to business - the second part to the DIY Home additions. (You can read about the Part 1 here)

The walls and roof:

Step 1: Make sure you measure and are sure where you want those windows!! Branko ordered all of the material as the walls/roof were being built with 2x6's. He measured the length of one section of the wall and built it on the floor in position so it could be lifted into place. This step is fairly easy. Build your wall, nail it together, lift in place, and secure it.

Step 2: Because this is a peaked roof installing the rafters were also an easy task. I carried all of the 2x6's into the work area and while I did that, Branko cut them into the proper length and prepared the top plate on top of the beam where the rafters would be secured. Branko used a high ladder in the middle to reach the top beam and I used a small ladder at the end. Once he was on the ladder I passed the 2x6 to him and would climb the ladder and secure the 2x6 so it wouldn't fall to the ground. It took us 45 min to install 18 rafters.

Step 3: Plywood the walls! Again we worked in a great team effort. I lugged all of the plywood over to our work area and while I did that Branko would mount them on the wall and nail them down. Normally just putting the plywood on the wall would be a 2 person job same as the carrying the plywood. But because there is only 2 of us we had to work a little harder to speed up the process.

AND

Step 4: Plywood the roof. OK, I failed here and Branko pretty much did this entire job himself. I did bring most of the plywood over to the work area but on the last day the wind was just brutal and I gave up. You are probably wondering "How did he lift 50 lb awkward shaped plywood pieces on the roof himself" Well, he's smart(or crazy). He simply nailed down stoppers at the end of the roof line, carried the plywood in place and lunged it on the roof. It couldn't slide down because of the stoppers. Then he used a ladder to get up on the roof and nail them down. Once one piece of plywood was up he would add more stoppers so he could walk safely and nail each plywood piece down.

There you have it! DIY Home Additions Part 2!! I hope this helps push you to complete any large projects you have in place, always remember that if you put your mind to it you can get it done!




On a side note....you might be wondering (or maybe not) about a good old fashion year in review post or some new years resolutions. To be honest, I believe we already have so much pressure on us I don't want to set resolutions as well so here is a list of things that keep my mind spinning in circles:

build a home

sell a home

build a garage

go on vacation

be more healthy 

lose weight 

have kids

be less negative 

worry less

worry less about driving in bad weather

design a home

visit friends more

visit family more

You get the idea. No resolutions for this kid. 

Hope everybody had a great Christmas & New Years!!! Looking forward to 2014 and everything it throws at me.