A family affair: building a house as a family is a great adventure!

One of the reasons I have not written a post is that SO MUCH is going on!

My dear friend Tania (hello, Tangles) keeps reminding me to update this blog, so here goes! (I think Tania should have her own blog – something about the new property, perhaps?!)

All of our house posts are up! This is a very exciting feat and has made the house feel more like a house! I’ve mentioned before that the posts (125×125) are solid celery top pine and reach over 10ft from the ground! They are all level and bolted in. It’s almost weird to think that that part of the build is done!

Another exciting development is that we have internal wall frames being raised now as well! We have the ‘west wing’ wall frames up, and each time we walk into our bedroom or office we kind of giggle! There’s the makings of a hallway there! I’m thinking feature walls, texture, colour, windows (straw bale homes usually have a “truth window” and I have not yet decided where ours will go…). This would have to be the most exciting stage so far!

Yet more business at the house site is the raising of the ring beam. For me, this has been a daunting task: getting a 10m beam up to a height of 10 feet! That was the first time I wished the ceilings were shorter (there, it’s on the record!)! Monte is a genius. He is also a very strong genius. He has made a tripod which is used to raise these hefty beams onto the posts. It’s a bit of a balancing act, and the heights really scare me sometimes, but his invention has worked wonders and half the house is now surrounded by the ring beam. It’s worth mentioning that we were relieved (yet, not surprised) that the internal frames and the ring beams met at a level height! Thanks Ady, for helping MG shift the beams into position today – my arms are bruised from their weight! I can’t wait to raise more beams soon!

The next big development at the house is ordering the trusses. We will be having a trussed roof, and I can’t wait until those trusses are in position! Then we can organise the roof. Once the roof is up we can start baling, and that is the most exciting part of all! Unfortunately our baling time will coincide with the beginning of winter: rain, frost and cold temperatures are bound to hold us up at times, but having a roof will mean we can still get some work done.

There are too many exclamation marks in this post! I am so excited! I love going up to the house site; I can feel my home there. I am planning things and it is great: what an adventure we are having!