We had another load of wood delivered today; a few more studs for the interior walls and then the I-joists and beams for the upstairs.




One of the beams was a 40 ft versalam that the boom truck operator set down pretty close to where it's supposed to go.  Spooky to watch the guy move it over the top of the house!  Tomorrow it will have to be finessed into place!

The big girls came in for a visit today!  They must have seen the ramp to the front door and figured it was just another chicken coop!  The little girls don't venture far from their home yet, and still have not been invited to join the big girls.

All the exterior walls are up and sheeted!  We started the interior wall layout!

Neighbor Eddie mowed the hayfields this week.  He'll be back to rake it then bale it.  He keeps half the bales.  This year that sounds like a good deal to us since we're feeling a little behind on our chores!

Lots of excitement here!  Got 1/3 of the longest wall raised on Friday with the rest ready to go, but decided to wait til Monday, in case it got windy. It's framed and sheeted.

I had to run off some of those free range cows!

 I finally got my gopher today!  I've caught a couple of the varmints, but they both bit me in the lip so I let go!  Today I nailed one!!  Mom saw me with it so she traded me for a treat.  Something about getting worms if I eat it.

Also today, we raised the rest of the east wall using wall jacks.

Dad and Mike jacked up the wall, Mom hopped around nervously.

Got the den wall framed and raised and the front wall is ready for sheeting tomorrow!

Got stairs to the basement!  The Man Cave has an entrance!  Today we started laying out the walls!

One of my favorite places for a rest is on a pile of dirty laundry!  Mom and Dad are making some stinky piles lately!  I love it!

Mike cut the floor sheeting, Dad put glue on the all the floor joists, and Mom nailed them down!

Almost finished!  They need to build the basement wall for the stairway.

Looks like somebody better start mowing or haying this tall grass!  It scratches my belly!

Steel posts are leveled, all bolts are tightened, and the versa-lam beams are leveled to within 1/32 of an inch!!  Dad and Carpenter Mike are on the same page with the leveling and squaring thing.

We got a couple rows of plywood glued and nailed in this afternoon!

It's been a busy week!  The Versa Lam floor beams were installed on the steel posts, leveled, plumbed and secured.  We had help from Dad's Wheeling college buddies; Tom from Maui and John from Seattle!

Tom placed and nailed all the floor joist brackets!

John and Dad placed and nailed the BCI joists!

Mom kept food on the table; I tried to stay out of trouble.  The garage stem wall was poured too!  The week was chilly with rain showers.

One more bay of joists to go then we'll be able to put plywood on, tar paper the top, and live in the basement West Virginia style!!