chinking nightmares

We finally began the chinking process, using a mix of lime, water, and morter mix. The result is a consistancy of peanut butter. After several long hard days, I began chinking in my sleep, that is, dreaming I was still chinking. No wonder I woke up so sore!! Chinking is very hard work, at least for a middle aged mommy. The younger help would fill the gap with mortar, then I would come along behind them and smooth it to look, well, as pretty as cement can be.

Everyone got in on the job, with such a big job, and the threat of winter over our heads, anyone who volunteered was quickly put to work. (Thanks a million Matt and Terry!) In the meantime, Brian and I are installing windows, mostly on the days that are too icky to be chinking. The two big windows in front were bought used three years ago, the two big living room windows were given to us. we have another one just like it to put in the kitchen seating area. With the windows and insulation, it is quite cozy inside. We think it is looking like home.

We must say a special thanks to Nanny and Anna who kept the home fires burning and the little ones occupied during the two weeks we really buckled down to get this job done. Our children

John, Rose, and Joe really worked hard. We couldn't do it without them, nor would we want to, you guys are great!

The flooring battle

As summer is ending, and we haven't spent much time working on the lodge, we planned a few weeks "vacation" from the ministry to devote to getting the flooring (and hopefully chinking) done before the rains and winds of fall ruin our lumber.

We bought a pine/spruce 2x6 tongue and groove to do the floors with, largely because the fir we desired was too expensive. So, in the end, we found the soft wood to look fine, but be a bear to install, as it had so many twisted boards per unit, that culling it out to #1s, 2s and 3s, left a bigger 3 pile than the 1s or 2s.

The Ross family, from SPUR HARDWOOD came out and showed us how to install the flooring with the tricks of the trade, then, the Ross's stayed and helped with their "young man" power.(Thanks Steven and Alex!)

We stained the beveled side the same "natural" stain as we used on the outside of the house and the floor joists. We also choose specific boards to go in front of the main door and down the hall. Brian was incredible with the coving around the log collumns, using a coving comb. Stan, aka Grampy, stayed three weeks helping us out all over, mostly chop saw man. Anna, Rose, Joe, Mama and John all got in on the work too, Daddy called us girls "squirel power", Joe- Glue Boy, and Bethany a cross between monster and little llamb, depending on the day. :-)

Floor Joists Going Up

It has been just about a month since we have been able to get out to our property and work on the house. Today we had John and Rose hammering chinking nails, Anna home with the little ones until lunch time, and Brian and Julianne hoisting 4x10 floor joists up to the 2nd floor girders via block and tackle. We got a pretty good system worked out here. The block and tackle hung from a perlin. The rope that wound around the joist and hooked onto the B&T would slide along the beam so we had our son John tack on some 12” boards with a gap just big enough for the rope. Next, Brian pulled and Julianne used a long board to guide the joist into the right place. This long board had a nail tacked in that helped to get the rope off the joist from the floor instead of climbing a ladder each time. Then Brian would use the board to shift the joist down the log girder until it was in the right place. We had one slip off the girder on one side and come crashing down. That was frightful, so were extra careful after that to not let it happen again. We had pretty much used this same system to get the third floor joists up, which had to take place prior to the second floor, of coarse, the only difference was we had to have someone up on the third floor girder to help the joist into place. I am continually amazed at how beefy these joists are. T&G flooring is next, in fact, it is sitting right out the door waiting for us. We have to stain the undersides before installing, and will sand and stain the floors after they are all in. It will be so exciting to be able to walk around all the floors in the house and admire the views, plan the rooms, lay out the windows, and dream of how it will all look when it is DONE, which is: hopefully before Jesus returns, or possibly Christmas.

Gable Ends

Framing in the gable ends on the house, and installing cedar tongue and groove in the soffit took the bulk of the last two weeks. We deliberated on what material to use on the gable ends. The cedar looks so great, we were tempted to use that, but Papa Dave advised we save it for the interior. Log slab seemed like a worthy possibility, but in the end, we thought it would not be similar enough to the real logs to look good, so we went with blued pine 1x12 and 1x10 board and baton style. We are quite pleased with the results. We bought this lumber from a local guy with a mill, the same mill we got the 4x10 floor joists from.
John, who is 15, learned to use the chop saw, table saw, and measure and cut for his dad. They spent hours and hours, rain or shine, finishing this part of the project. The overhang on the roof is so great that even in blowing rain storms, they were not much affected and kept working.
Although we looked at some angled windows at Habitat for Humanity, we opted for the less expensive all around Pella 48x48 lo-e, which we will use on the second floor as well.At this point, we are pretty much done with the exterior with the exception of the chinking, and will move to installing floor joists and flooring next, maybe the porch as well, as that would make bringing materials in and out of the house much easier. But alas, there is Vacation Bible School at the church this week and then a Staff Conference to attend , so I suppose that the next phase will have to wait until July. That will likely be a welcome break for Brian, who has been putting in some really long hours, studying early in the morning, squeezing in visits, counseling, Bible study, meetings, and family around the daylight hours he can work on the house. What a guy!! We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful daddy and husband.