This is a bummer...

 We've been shoveling a place so we can get out of our 'studio' apartment, every time it snows.

 And apparently....

 all of this snow was too heavy for our patio.

 The other day I was sitting at the table, on my computer, and I heard the oddest noise....

 Twas the patio, cracking in half.

 Dave said, "well you like the Tuscan look, you got it."

 

I said, "Bummer"

Cindy

Working on framing....still

We've been working on the house on days that it isn't freezing upstairs, which isn't much!  But Dave did get all of the supports (collar ties?)finished as you can see in this pic.

 And yesterday he asked me to help.  First I handed stuff up to him from the main level, so he could store it in the attic rafters for now.  Stuff like nice wood and extra siding and such.  So in a few years when I'm wondering, "now what did we do with that extra siding?"  tell me, it's in the attic!

 He also got this walkway thingy done.  See that thick wood bolted down to the rafters.  It's to walk on when the attic is finished and full of insulation.  He had me walking across this stuff yesterday to help him with another project.  I stayed on the wide OSB boards!  I was afraid to walk on that skinny wood with nothing but open rafters below me!  Can you see the bolts with washers screwed into the ends of the wood.

 There was about a dozen or so of them that needed done. 

 I did them! 

 He walks around up there like he's walking on the ground.  Not me.

Here's a good picture of the attic above the kitchen area.  This will just be used for storage, but if someone ever wanted to build a bunch of bedrooms upstairs they could sure do it!  You can also see where he got the support finished on the right side, to match the left side.

 Here is an example of what I was doing.  See how the framing is pulling apart?  Below pics.  There are only a couple of nails holding these pieces together.

 So my job is to put bolts with washers on each piece that is pulling away from each other, so they will snug up against each other and be stronger.  We need strong framing with the wind we get up here and we need good support with all of the heavy snow we got this year.

We have also been checking into getting a pole barn built.  We need a place to store a tractor, a lawn mower, beekeeping equipment, and an extra vehicle.  We do have a two car garage, but it's full of all of the aforementioned, plus a truck. 

Cindy

It's a long drop...

See this beam...

The other day when I went upstairs, to the attic, to see what Dave was working on....this is what I saw.  He is walking on this beam

 to get to these pieces of OSB that he laid out for a platform...

 to climb up this ladder....

 to put these boards across the top of the attic/ceiling, which are for support...

 which a framer friend of ours said should have been done when the house was built.

 He uses the green tall ladder on the right to hold up the boards, while he screws them into the frame.  I wish I had not gone upstairs to see what he was up to.  It's a long drop.  I worry.

 

He then moves the pieces of osb to walk on, to get to his next destination.

 While I'm showing you things that should have been done....
 (As close as I can get, because I am not walking that plank!)  See those supports (pieces of wood slanting to the left attached to a beam that goes across the top of the attic ceiling)

 See them in this picture below?  No?  That's because there aren't any.  No supports....at all...on that side of the attic, above my kitchen.

 

 Did I mention it's a long drop?

Oh, and did you notice he is wearing, coat, hat, boots, gloves?  It's very cold in this part of the house.

Cindy

Porches

 Well 2013 is coming to an end...and when I look where we were last year at this time, I can't believe how far we've come.  We were living in the basement, and it wasn't even finished yet!   Our main goal this past year was to finish the porches...and they are almost finished. We were concerned because the temporary porches were falling apart.And they hold up one end of the house!

 Look how much better the porch looks with railings.  We weren't planning on putting rails here, but they just added so much to the look of the porch

:

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 Cindy

Porch update

Well we did not finish the porches before the snow started flying.  It is snowing outside right now.  

 

 

But we are SO THANKFUL that we got the porches secured, and almost done, before the tornado came through!  We seriously doubt these porches would have held up during the storm.  The winds were around 84 mph in our area. We did finish the painting on all three porches since the last time I posted.  And Dave got the ceiling up on the balcony.

 You can see here the bottom porch still needs a ceiling...

 We started on the railing but had to get more, and a couple of parts had to be ordered.  Each spindle has to be cut down on the top and bottom.  It seems that everything we do, has to have an extra step or two involved to finish the project. 

 I LOVE the way the railing looks.

I like it so much, that we've decided to add it on all of the porches.  The bigger front porch will only have it on the front ends, and in the center there will be steps. 

 

We did do a "walk-through" in the house the other day, to try and decide what to do next.  I think, after the Holidays, we are going to start on the breezeway.  It's such a small room, we are hoping to put plastic up and warm it up with a little propane heater.  It is VERY cold in the rest of the house.  I am also thankful for insulation and a warm room to live in!

I'm getting excited to start on the upstairs!!!

Cindy