Build Days 9 through 11

I've fallen behind posting mostly because more progress on the house means less energy to write here, but on the bright side that does mean the house is moving along. As of the last update, the south wall was done, the north 2/3 done, and the rake walls not even started. On Thursday and Friday, we finished the north wall, framed and raised the east and west rake walls, and added in the header hangers to all the window/door openings, since they finally arrived. Sadly, I don't have any clear pictures from those two days, but I do have some great pictures from Saturday!

Starting in the southeast corner, we put up the first piece of exterior sheathing.

The first two pieces went pretty slowly, but around lunch time, help started arriving, and progress took off.

Bottom row of sheathing is almost finished!

Here's where the booth dining/desk area will go in the completed house. As it became enclosed, even just by that first layer, it suddenly felt more like a livable, usable space.

Had to get a picture of the car caravan from all our helpers on Saturday. Thanks everyone who came out to assist!

Here's the overall shot at the end of Saturday, which is the state the house is still in (Sunday was a much needed day off). The first row of sheathing is completed, and the second is started. The second row is not full height on the South wall, and a partial third row is only needed on the north wall and the first few feet of the rake walls.

It's supposed to rain more or less all week, and the next several weekends have various plans, so I'm not sure when the next build day will be, other than a quick trip over to try and protect things from the rain with tarps. Still, stay tuned...the exterior of the house has to be finished before the first snowfall, so we'll find the time one way or another to work on it.

Last note, for anyone wondering: the sheathing that went up is called Homasote, a board made of recycled paper fiber. It actually was in very wide use prior to the introduction of cheaper OSB about 50 years ago. Currently, it's still more expensive than OSB, but it has several distinct advantages. Homasote is made from 98% post-consumer recycled material (OSB can't claim anywhere near that percentage), mixed with only a bit of wax and a tiny bit of copper pesticide. It contains no urea or phenol formaldehyde binder, nor any of the possibly worse alternative glues like MDI or PVA. Homasote also seems to have higher shear strength and other durability characteristics than OSB or even some plywood. Last, unlike a wide range of the low emitting, safer, and/or greener materials out there, Homasote is actually widely and easily available at a local big box store.