Count Your Blessings

Sometimes small things can be significant and so it has seemed this week. The timber for the roof framing has finally all made it to the site. About time too you may be thinking and I wouldn't disagree. It has taken three weeks and a small comedy of errors, with someone else's timber being given to us by mistake and having to be taken back.  I was hoping to see some of it cut this week but that didn't happen and instead we made a start on the sub-flooring for the top floor and this weekend I added a few bits and pieces to the main floor level, now that there is a bit of cover over it.

I also got agreement for a target date of May 15 for the completion of the work to 'Lock Up'. 'Lock Up' is what I have contracted for with the current Contractor and essentially means the outside of the building is finished complete with roof, windows, doors, decks, exterior finishing and including sewer, electricity and water connection but less any ground work such as extending the driveway to the house and garage.  Internally, it includes stairs and sub-flooring but little else.  As an incentive, I have offered the prospect of more work if the deadline is met.

The first load of roofing timbers arrives from the mill - Monday.

This is what they looked like unloaded.

Load number two on Tuesday.

Loads three and four - Wednesday and Thursday. The really large and heavy timbers are directly in front of the garage doors and sadly the photograph doesn't do them justice. I'll try to take some more shots of them next week so you can have a better feel for their size and weight. I am sure the largest is well over a metric tonne. They were put on the trailer with the use of a mechanical lifter and the only way we could get them off was to put short round rollers under them and roll one end of them off the trailer and then drive the trailer away.

On Thursday the top floor was also prepared for the sub-flooring (stacked) by removing most of the temporary OSP sheeting that was put in place for building the gable and dormers.

By sundown on Friday (actually mid afternoon when the workers went home for the weekend - I stayed until last light tidying up and preparing for the weekend's work) the sub-flooring for the master bedroom and on-suite bathroom was in place. The OSP boards in the foreground and on the right of the picture over the entrance will not be replaced with sub-flooring. In these areas the finished flooring of fir tongue and groove will be placed directly on to the beams and will be visible from below. There is no requirement for sound proofing insulation over the entrance and across the landing and therefore it will be a feature to see the fir boards from below. In all other areas a sound proofing layer will be placed between the main floor and the top floor. This is to ensure that the heavy snoring (or other noises) of visitors in the bedrooms doesn't interrupt my enjoyment of Mozart, Verdi and others on the ground floor. 

With reasonable cover for the main floor in place, over the weekend I put up some stud walling.  Here a cupboard/closet at the entrance for hats, coats, boots etc that will also serve to shape the entrance and protect the main floor space from the elements when the front door is open. The far end of this closet (where the snow shovel is) will also serve as a conduit space for services (water, electricity and sewer) for the south side of the top floor.

On this side of the stairwell I have put a full height stud wall. I am developing plans for this space and am considering a utility room and storage area. On the entrance side I am minded to keep the stud wall at half height to afford a view into the main living area on entering the cabin. There is room there for a bench or table and chairs.

The two stud walls seen from the study and ...

... the entrance, seen from the main living area. I won't put any of the doors or walls on the stud walling until after the roof is on and the wiring and plumbing have been inspected. There is nothing to stop me, however, from making the doors and paneling in readiness for putting them in.

Finally, I decided that, as the sub-flooring is in place and affords better protection for the main floor, I should sheet the window spaces with plastic to give it even more protection but, still allow in the light. I am sure that I will not regret the small expense of doing this.

As I was coming close to finishing building the stud walling the cordless screwdriver I was using slipped and the screw bit screwed itself into the index finger of my left hand. I was wearing fingerless gloves at the time and my fingers were frozen. I looked down and could see the damage but there was no blood and I felt no pain, so I carried on.  About a minute later and with little warning the blood suddenly gushed out and the pain arrived with a great fanfare, so I took myself off to the car where I keep the first aid kit for just such occasions (a toilet roll and some duct tape) and applying as much pressure as I could, I managed to stem the flow of the red stuff if not the throbbing. I finished the job just before the bandaging burst and had to be replaced.

That done, I got on with covering the windows. I was walking over to get some baton wood from the cast offs wood pile and was just thinking how icy it was and that this was just the sort of conditions that warrant me putting on my mini crampons when suddenly, I went arse over tit and landed on my coccyx. Unfortunately, my butt wasn't frozen and the pain was immediate and excruciating. It was so intense that I couldn't move at first and lay on the ice for a full minute writhing in agony and thinking that I had seriously hurt myself and with no-one else within several miles it crossed my mind that I might be in a spot of trouble. I then reminded myself that if I had really done myself serious injury, worthy of such concern, then I probably wouldn't be in such pain and I probably wouldn't be able to feel or move my legs. So telling myself that the ones making the most noise are probably the least injured and with a final flourish of uncharacteristic colourful language, I slowly turned myself over, raised myself onto all fours and gradually stood up and proceeded to walk it off.

After a few minutes I was back up the ladder hammering nails in as if there was no tomorrow when, I felt the ladder start to go. I froze and the ladder stopped, so I gingerly climbed down and tried to hammer the ladder into the ice to give it a better grip and in doing so smashed one of the plastic feet. F??? it I thought, and with that I red carded myself on grounds of lack of concentration, which might end in further injury, and retired for an early bath and a spot of blog writing.

As I lay in the bath, trying not to sit on my coccyx, soaking up the heat from the water, I reflected that it hadn't been a bad week.  The roof timbers were finally on site, we had made a good start on the sub-flooring of the top floor, I had managed to put up some good stud walls and put up some window covers and that really I should count my blessings. It could have been a lot worse.