Fayston, VT - From the Ground Up

  Today was more about patchwork. The side of the house that you see needed some love, and it got just that.

  The gables are patched. The rafters are up. It's time for plywood. And there it is! The front roof is all set. The back roof is next.

We've got some patchwork to do before we get the plywood to the roof. There are some bits missing on the gable end walls, and the knee wall needs some love. That's much better. Now we're ready!

  We put the rafters up today! Both the front and back roof are ready for plywood.

  What a beaut! Nick did an awesome job on the knee wall. We also set up some staging so that we can start putting the roof together. I'm starting to think I should have saved the "Stairway to Heaven" title for this...

  Gable #2! Next steps are patching up the gable end walls and building the knee wall.

  We're back, and we're up! Gable #1 is standing. Gable #2, here we come!

 We're back. Gable end walls are going up soon. We spent some time tidying up today. Not many things feel quite as good as a clean workspace.

  We're back. Our first wall on the second floor is looking good and is almost ready to go up. This hole is for our staircase. Watch your step. And it's up! Nice job on the stairs, Joey! With our back wall up, we can start with the gable end walls tomorrow.

  We're back. We got a little rain last night. These Advantech floors are good for 60 days exposed to the elements, so we're alright. We got some more strapping up for when the ceiling goes on. This is the view from the side door. From the front door. The rest of our materials made it up to the second floor. We start the walls tomorrow!

  We're back. We tightened up the outside of the walls on the first floor. Nick and Joey did some more interior framing, too.

  We're back. Nick is in town! Nick is the newest edition to the Fayston crew, and he put up these walls. Day 18's pictures are missing, we we are lumping them in here. The photographer was taking a nap, apparently. Joey and Nick framed some interior walls on the first floor. With the I-joists up, we were able to lay down the plywood for the second floor. Some more of the interior on the first floor. Some lumber made its way up to the second floor. Next up: walls.

  We're back. We've got staging poking out the sides of the walls. We're moving up. I-joists went on today. It's starting to looking like a first floor in here! One more time: Thank you, Keith!

  We're back. Two down (or should I say up?), two to go. Wow! That was fast! Keith, you're awesome. And very clean. Our view from the front yard!

  We're back. It's time to put up these walls! Plywood goes down, then bucks around the windows. The white sticky sheet here keeps the air and water out of the cracks. The black tape keeps the air and water out of the cracks between sheets of plywood. The grey sheet of foam insulates. Tyvek (also referred to as Typar) keeps air and moisture off the foam. Strapping serves as nailers for our siding. Now that the walls are built, we lift. Those posts are 20ft tall and have a cable that runs from a lever, up to the top, and back down again to a hook that is screwed to the wall. Each crank of the lever lifts the wall just a little bit more. Viola! And there they are -- Our first two walls!

  We're back. Nate and Kevin did an awesome job with the retaining wall and the electrical conduit. They finished laying the conduit out to the service at the street, and the trench is all filled! The concrete flattop triangles (back at it with the technical terms) were buried out in front of and to the side the house as well. Those will be used to foot the posts for the front and side decks. This is Keith. Keith is a beast; an absolute mammoth of a man, and a master framer to boot. It was a pleasure to have him with us, and I'll show you why. Keith built two walls in one day. I spent some time admiring his trailer. Organized, clean, and stocked. Two thumbs up. If I had three thumbs, it would be three thumbs up. These are the two walls that he put together. He builds them on the ground and stands them up when they are done. We also spent some time filling in gaps with spray foam. This house is all about energy efficiency, so we need to seal up every crack we find.