My new life as a "builder"

Herself and I had discussed ever since the sale of III the possibility of building an addition to Grampsies little cabin. After much discussion, some heated, we decided to go ahead. The first step was to find someone to build or at least be in charge of building it. We both agreed to contact our old neighbor at III, Tim Medford, to see if he would be intrested in the task. He built churches for 20 some years and had built his own home by us when we were neighbors. He agreed to build us a cabin, and had many ideas of his own as to how it should be done. Althought some of the his ideas were not what "herself" desired, we finally came to agreement as to what would be done.

So the first task was the builder would draw up a list of materials we would need to get started. That done, we met at Menards in Clive on a Monday to pick up the materials. It took Tim and I a good three hours to pick out all the lumber, doors, windows, etc. We loaded it all piece by piece onto the trailer, and headed out.

He would take the materials to the cabin, and we would start the building process the following Tuesday. Here is the "cabin" backing into our driveway.

So after rounding up some food and clothes, I headed down Monday afternoon to the cabin so I would be there for work on Tuesday.

Tim arrived about 8:30 Tues morning with "Devon" an Amish person. After being introduced, I asked "Devon" if it would be all right to take his picture. "No" we do not pose for pictures. So I asked if he didn't know I was taking his picture, would it be all right. No answer. So I did get a picture or two with the Amish, but they didn't know it.

The Amish are great workers. No matter how hard they are working, they often would break out in to "song", religious songs of course, and they couldn't carry a tune, but it was fun listening to them.

Tues: we got the frame built and the floor joists installed, and the sheathing for the floor.

then went to work on the walls. I learned what "jack" studs, "king" studs, and "cripple" studs were. I had heard of them but now I was actually helping to install them for the windows and doors.

Wed: finished the walls

 and prepped for the roof trusses. 13 of them weighing in at 4200 lbs. The truck that delivered them could only get part way up the drive, so we had to carry them one by one to the north end of the cabin and lift each one at a time up and over the wall and slide it down to the south end of the cabin. Then using a 16 ft 2X4, push it up into place while the Amish workers secured them into place.

Thurs: installed roof sheathing and wall sheathing

Fri: finished sheathing, Tim made up order for the metal roofing and siding which would be installed the following week. I was not part of any of the metal work. Here, we are unloading the "brake", borrowed from Dana, our son-in-law. It is used to bend and form the metal trim. Thanx, Dana.

This has been a very interesting project, from discussions, planning, purchasing, building, everything. I have never worked so hard in my life during the building, but it was very rewarding. Although I was tired and sore at the end of each day, I can proudly say I kept up with the younger lads, and a couple of times, they had to rest when I kept going.

One funny thing was "blister" kept showing up. He was nicknamed this because, as Tim said, he just keeps coming back. An old gent who rides around the lake on his mower would show up several times each day, to point out errors(in his opinion), offer all kinds of free advice as to the way he would have done things, and generally try to talk to everyone when we really didn't have the time to just talk.

One day he showed up bringing several packages of hamburger, buns, catsup, mustard and wanted me to grill burgers for everyone. So, at lunchtime, I cooked 6 burgers, one for each of the 3 workers and myself, with 2 extras, as thats all I had room for on the grill. I figured while we were eating the first serving of burgers, the others could be cooking. So, I took the first 6 in, called the guys in to eat, went out to put the next 3 on the grill, then went in to get one of the previously cooked burgers to eat. BUT, when I went in, each of the guys had taken 2 burgers each, walked out to eat them, leaving me with NOTHING. I was shocked, but nothing I could do, so I had to wait another 15 minutes for mine to finish cooking. Anyway, we all got to eat good that day, as usually we only had a lunchmeat sandwich at noon.
This is a picture of a couple of the Amish "helpers" caught in unaware action.

Ok, Thurs. Oct 27, 2010, I headed for Mo for what i'm hoping will be the last trip to work on the new cabin. We have to install the "Nova" brick on the front of the cabin. The builder said after the "start" row, that it would go fast. Hah!!  Every 4th row we had to drill holes in the brick and screw them in to help secure and tie it all in. While it maybe easier that real brick and mortar, I don't think it was any faster. We finally finished the brick late Friday afternoon.(PIC) We were both beat and glad it was over with. Then came an hour of figuring the final bill for his labor. That out of the way, it was time to say "good-bye". Tim went on his way, and I cleaned up from all the concrete dust and dirt and awaited the arrival of "herself" and hopefully her approval of the final finishing touch. Now we will start thinking about finishing the interior, which will be a slow process, as we have to do the wiring, plumbing, insulation, interior walls and doors, drywall, and on and on and on. It will be a challange and it will be fun, and will also mean some new tools for me.

(Himself) or the BOI