10-31-04  After 2 weeks of building the rafters, I got John and Chuck from work to stop by and help lift them into place.  That first rafter I built was none too good, but after tearing it apart and rebuilding, I figured the system out.  Then all in one day, we got them lifted into the air and mated to the posts.  That's the last of the big timber days.  The next big day will be the roof or windows, I guess.

10-17-04  The second floor is done.  Nice tight fit, will need some sanding before staining, but this is going to be a good solid floor.

10-11-04  My Sister Cindy and her family were over for Columbus day weekend.  With their help, and a pulley system designed by my Dad, we were able to lift and place the H beams into place.  That was a good day.  The house goes from a flat surface, to rising into the sky, all in a few hours.  This feels like home already.

10-10-04  It took a long time to build that first floor.  Somewhere along the way, there was a miscommunication that led to us getting the standard tongue and groove flooring, rather than the 2x6 and cut-down boards I needed for the radiant heating setup.  This lead us to cut off the tongue on every other 2x6 tongue and grove, and cut strips out of the sheathing for the cut-down boards.  Slowed us down a bit, but the end results were quite satisfactory.  Now we start the posts for the first/second floor setup.

9-29-04  Our little project got hit by the tail end of Hurricane Jeanne.  The house survived, but pushing rain off of tarps is not a lot of fun, although I did manage to soak my wife - she bent down to the cellar window to ask me something, just as I raised the center of the tarp near her ... sploosh!  She didn't come back to help out.  My van fell through the driveway, as a sinkhole opened up under my driver side tire.  Had to be towed out of the hole.  Took all the small rocks that we pulled out of the yard after the backfill job, and filled the hole back up.  Seems to be holding.

9-26-04  The sill is done, and all 26 beams are built.  By the end of the day, we had only had 6 of the 13 first floor beams placed on the sill.  It took another day of heavy lifting, and adjustments before we got them all set.

9-24-04  Worked on the sill.  Pressure treated lumber is heavy stuff!  I don't recommend working with 16' lengths of this stuff 6' off the ground (as the front of my house is.  We spent lots of time putting it in place, marking where the bolts will go through, taking it off to drill, and putting it down again.  After dry fitting all the boards, we got to remove them again, so that we could put the sill insulation down.  There was one trick for the bolts that wasn't in the "book".  Some of the bolts were not plumb, and would have given us an issue if we tried to place the boards over them as they were.  Instead, I took a small square, and 3 nuts, put the nuts on the bolt, and straitened it with a hammer until square.  That kept the bolt groves from getting dented, and gave us one less problem to deal with.

9-23-04  The cellar floor was poured today.  It bubbled and squeaked as it dried.  Later the guys came back and hand finished it to a nice flat surface.  The start of the cottage is coming along quite nicely.

9-22-04 Boomer delivered the first load of wood - I can't believe how much it takes to build even a small house!  Boomer was great, he swung those bundles this way and that, placing them down right where I wanted them.  Now it begins.  AAARRRGGG!  Why is it that the first boards needed are on the bottom of the bundles?  This turns out to be a reoccurring theme throughout the following building process.

9-21-04  Frye's Landscaping were here again.  There was a bit of difficulty with the town water company, they didn't seem to know what side of the street the main was on.  We came out lucky - it was only a few feet out from our side, so the traffic didn't need to be diverted, and we didn't need a Police detail.  Mike from Frye's drilled a hole in my new foundation for the water pipe, and the water department spiked into the main for my new house.  After all was done, the road was patched, the yard was put back, and Frye's was done until Spring, when I have my driveway torn up and the sewer line and gas line installed.  I was working on the bulkhead while this was going on.  Had some trouble getting a good fit, but in the end, I think it will hold ok.  Built my first stairs ever, too.  (They stink - I think I'm going to have to pull them out and try again).

9-19-04  The excavators had done a great job flattening the gravel sub floor, so of course I had to dig it up to put in the plumbing tanks, and toilet flange.  My neighbor, Henry, is the local plumber.  He set the tank up, and directed the backfilling operation.  We put down the insulation that he recommended to go under the radiant heating tubes (some real space age stuff, like what they would put on a Lunar Lander).  Over that went the steel mesh that keeps the cement floor from cracking, and gives us a place to zip tie down the tubing.  We worked into the late evening, at some point, all of both our families had stopped by and looked on, or zipped a few feat of tubing down.

9-16-04  As told, the excavators were back the next day.  The worked on the drainage, which is going to drain into a large drywell where my current structure stands.  Then they backfilled around the house and started putting down the gravel substrate for the basement floor.

9-15-04  Found out that the excavation company was to come back and put the drainage down.  That left me a day to put up the insulation needed around the walls before they wanted to backfill.  It was a long day, but my new foundation is now pink (a color that one of my neighbors likes - she comments on it every time she walks by).  When I got to the last wall, another neighbor dropped by and suggested using a circular saw to cut the sheets of insulation around the windows - this is something to take note of.  It leaves behind lots of little pebbles of stuff to blow in the wind, but it cuts much cleaner than the "ginsu" knife the hardware store recommended.

9-11-04  Spent the weekend damproofing the outside walls.  The instructions on the bucket called for brushes, so the whole family pitched in and painted it on.  Smelly sticky stuff.  After working with it for a half hour or so, I went in tried to wash my hands - this stuff just doesn't come off!  I quickly went back out and got the family to change into their oldest / worst clothes for the remainder of the job.  The next morning, David and I put on the second coat.  As the sun dried the tar, it left behind all kinds of bubbles.  Using the brushes on them for the second coat made them pop like rice krispies. 

9-7-04    Unbelievable!  The forms come off the very next day.  I have a Cellar for the first time in my life!  Now my work begins.  There were hundreds of small steel tabs that spaced the walls of the form for the cement that needed to be removed.  A good swing with a hammer took care of those.  Months later, I was looking at a new construction site (professional 3k sq foot house), and noticed that they had patched over every one of the marks left behind from the tabs.  Sure hope my lack of doing this step doesn't get me into trouble at some later date.

9-6-04   The forms went up, and the cement went down.  The only new issue that we came across was that the precast bulkhead could not be delivered between the old house and the new, so the forms had to be adjusted and reset to hand build us a bulkhead.  Rob was accommodating, and after a small amount of negotiations, he was back at what turned out to be a fair amount of work to get this changed.  Thanks Rob.  I'm a little concerned about the height of the new foundation.  Not that Precision forms did anything wrong, but that it looks SO TALL.  I'm going to be higher than most of the houses near me.  Of course, that means a better view for me :)

9-5-04    Precision forms stopped by and dropped off the forms.  Not the paper ones, but the 8' tall metal framework that will box in my cellar walls.

9-4-04    Took a trip with my oldest son to Brian's garage-in-progress.  Thanks Brian!  I got a good look at the project I was to start on, what it took and how some of the parts went together under the finish trim.  Don't know about that roof though...  Can't say I like the idea of walking around up there.  Well, one issue at a time, I guess.  If you ever get a chance to look around the area where FirstDay is located, I suggest you do.  It's beautiful country, with a small down center (and a very good Thai restaurant), lots of woods, river, and mountain views, and of course, FirstDay cottages!

9-3-04    Rob Doucette from Precision forms showed up early in the morning with a crew.  Cement trucks followed, and the forms were poured.

9-2-04    The foundation workers showed up today and placed the footings' forms.  They'll be back tomorrow.

8-27-04    Excavation Day 2 - The digging is done for now.  I sure didn't realize just how much dirt had to be moved.  There is a pile facing the lake that blocks the view to the lake.  All along the fence line, there is another pile.  The only existing yard I'm left with is in front of the silt fence.  Frye's excavation did a wonderful job - my sidewalk is still there, and they didn't disturb the existing house at all.  Thanks Mike!

8-26-04    Excavation starts.  By the end of the day, all the stumps were gone, and a large pile of dirt has been built up around where the foundation is to go.

8-25-04    Last day with the existing yard.  This is a mixed feeling - I spent the last six years getting this yard to grow, and I'm sad to see it dug up.  On the other hand, I really need a new house.  One last look...

8-21-04    Started digging for the Silt fence - After getting permission from the conservation committee and a visit from the wetlands management professional, we were able to start the process.  3 trips back and forth to the local farm for hay bales and silt fence stakes gave us the raw materials.  We got half done when a thunderstorm (or boomer, as they are called in RI), broke overhead.  The next morning, after chasing after a section of dock that floated away on the suddenly deeper lake, we got back to work.

We started talking with FirstDay in November of 2003.  After working with them and visiting the Elliot's house, we started working with our local town offices.  It's now August, and we're ready to break ground.  I'm told this isn't unusual.  We did all this within a year, which is better than some of my friends have done.