Beginning the gable ends

It has been a busy few weeks of work on the house.  As the weather gets colder, we are doubling down to try and get the concrete/stone work done before it gets too cold to do it.  We also crossed another milestone - we have water at the job site!  The water line finally got put in and the septic is due to be installed sometime in the next couple of weeks.  It is wonderful to not have to haul water anymore!

The first running water at the house site!

We started moving forms up for the last full lift on the 14th.  As the work gets taller, everything takes longer.  We are tremendously grateful for the loaned scaffolding that is enabling us to do this work at all.  There's no way we'd get it done with ladders!

Setting up the last lift!

With the forms set, we started pouring on the north wall on the 16th.  This was particularly exciting because this lift finished the north wall!  We set bolts in the wet concrete to hold the sill plate and screed the concrete as level as we could.  It felt amazing to actually have a wall completely done!

 

Forms up for the last lift

 

We spent Thanksgiving weekend continuing the work.  We finished the lift on Friday and set the forms for the first lift on the East gable end.  With completion of the South wall, we have 2 walls completely done!

The north wall revealed!

Working on the first lift on the east gable

On Saturday and with the help of my brother and his daughter, we managed to finish the first gable lift.  This introduced some new challenges.  The rocks on the edges are cut to match the roof slope and we have to continue setting bolts for the sill plate along the angle edge.  Our solution was to set the first layer of sill plate with the bolts already installed in smaller sections.  The second layer will be continuous to tie it all together.  At this point, the working platform is a solid 12 feet in the air and every bucket of cement has to get pulled up on the end of a length of ratchet strap, emptied and then tossed back down.  We are like a little hive of ants running around moving materials up to the wall and then cycling them back down again!

Moving materials up the scaffolding

Sill plates on the gable end

Sunday was mostly a day to rest due to rain, although we did start setting the forms for the second gable lift (of 3).  One more pair of forms to set in the morning and then we'll spend the rest of the day laying stones.  With a little luck and a lot of work, we'll get that lift done and be on track to finish the East wall on Tuesday before the weather turns on us.


Keep your fingers crossed that we get 3 or 4 more days of decent weather yet this year to finish the stones so that we can keep going.