Not many things are as satisfying as driving in the key pegs of the central skeleton of your new house.  What a great day!

Thanks to our new worker, Steph, who not only managed a full day's work but also shot many great still shots and three videos of the day!

Timber! 2

Timber! 1

Today, all of the timbers arrived from the shop at Macdonald Lawrence and were craned into place.  They had been all pre-cut and fitted in the shop so the assembly worked well and the trickiest bits were probably lifting it over the house.  (That's easy for me to say as I wasn't on the end of a ladder 30' in the air!)

Help Arrives

Our niece Stephanie has arrived from Vernon for the month of July to lend a hand and was put to work on her very first day bolting the 4" x 4"s on the piers and shoveling and leveling concrete in the bases.

Rafter Tails & Blocking

This past week has seen the installation of the fir rafter tails along the front and back of the shop-garage which has really helped o define the shape.  The close-up shot shows the mock-up of the pine tongue & groove soffit material and the "bug screen" strip that allows the required ventilation above the blocks of wood between rafters.

The concrete pier posts have also been stripped and are now ready for some masonary build-up below ground level in preparation for the rock work which will be applied to the sides.

Behind the Scenes II

The house is surrounded with a veranda that is supported by 8 concrete piers.  Eventually the piers will have rock attached.  Above the concrete, each pier will have 4 fir 4" x 4"'s which had to be bandsawn and drilled to prepare them for attaching to the metal pieces which were cast into the concrete.  On the top end of each 4" x 4" notches were cut which will eventually seat 6" x 10" beams that will also be bolted in place .

The Clear Story on our Celestory

Part of the workshop design includes a 7' wide 16' long celestory or light well which will allow both natural light from all sides and ventilation.  The celestory was framed this past week and the first two roof rafters have been placed which show the curve the roof will eventually have.

Behind the Scenes I

It was very exciting to visit the yard at MacDonald Lawrence today.  They are the timber framing company who are doing the large timber joinery for the interior support wood in the house.  Carpenters Olaf and Andrew were busy hand planing a huge scarf joint and routing the housings which will locate the floor joists.  everywhere we looked there were piles of wood with "Trickett-Russell" painted on the tarps!

End Walls Framed and Sheathed

Another couple of busy and hot days on site and now the end walls under the trusses are framed and sheathed.  Before heading off on another project for a couple of weeks, Daryl, Dean, Corey and Dave will be forming up and pouring concrete in the 8 pier footings that will eventually support the veranda roof around the house.

All Trussed Up (tell me you didn't see that one coming)

In a single day, yesterday,  the roof trusses for the shop-garage all arrived and Daryl and crew stood them up.  The large rectangle missing over the workshop will have higher walls framed on filled with windows to provide lots of natural light.  the absence of any tails on the rafters is because we will be adding bandsawn fir tails to the trusses then tongue & groove pine above those for an exposed rafter look to the soffit.