Shiloh

I took the last week off from work in order to begin stacking logs now that the foundation is complete. We had a telescoping forklift delivered on Friday morning (Feb. the 5th) and finished up preparations Friday and Saturday morning. The foundation contractor finished up final soil preparation Saturday morning and then away we went!

I climbed on the forklift Saturday afternoon around 2:00 pm and began moving the first log into place:

Driving a forklift is an interesting experience to say the least. While the controls are not overly complicated it is a decidedly big beast.  Not only do you have to watch the four sides of the lift, there is the ability to have the lift out 35 feet in the air – either to the front or up in the air.  Minor issues like the power line that is 20 feet overhead have to be taken into consideration. However, the four-wheel turning ability allows you to get in and out of unbelievably tight spots.

We began with what are called the sill logs. These are the four logs that are supported by the foundation. They are tied into the foundation with rebar and are the largest logs in the house except the ridge pole and cap logs. The following picture shows our very first log in place:

It typically takes the most time to put these logs in place. In our case it wasn’t until Monday afternoon that we got the first log in place.  It actually only took a day of work as we couldn’t stack any logs Saturday until the afternoon so the concrete can cure and no work was done on Sunday. By the end of the day on Wednesday we finished all four sill logs. Here are the sill logs and the happy crew:

Once this was done the pace picked up as we learned more about the process. By Sunday afternoon we had three complete courses stacked:

We use some pretty hardcore tools in the building process. Here is my dad working with the Milwaukee Hole Hawg:

And my favorite, the Bosch demolition hammer. We use it to drive the rebar into the logs. It weights about 35 pounds and is essentially a mini-jackhammer. It was bad enough on the first three levels. It’s going to be lots of fun on the 20th course:

Even though it is both heavy and unwieldy it sure beats putting tin the rebar with a sledgehammer!

The rain and mud has continued to plague us. We lost about a day and a half of work due to rain.

Using the forklift only exacerbates the problem. We are going to need some serious landscape work when we get done!

By the time we got the last full day of work (Saturday) we were able to stack four logs – a full course. I am hoping we can improve to be able to to stack 1.5 – 2 courses of logs in a full day of work. Time will tell. Just not having all this rain would be a great help!

In total I had 10 days off from work. While I wanted to get more done, considering the circumstances it went as well as we could expect. I really appreciate all the help we have been getting from our family and friends.  While it would be possible to do this alone (as I know others have), working with others makes it so much more easy and enjoyable. It’s hard enough as it is, I can’t imagine doing it without help.

A special thanks to my brother-in-law Ian who took most of the pictures on this post!

There is nothing more important than your foundation. The right foundation makes building the house much easier. Our contractor did an excellent job and my next post will talk about how we set the first log on the foundation. In measuring to put the log in place it turns out that our rebar was placed in the same location on each pier block within 1/8th of an inch over a stretch of five pier blocks (one wall) and 32 feet. What a great job!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the 26th and 27th our foundation contractor began by setting up batter boards and put up line to mark off the foundation area. A bobcat was used to dig the holes for the form.

The forms we built were then placed and leveled

Here is what it looked like after:

The building inspector stopped by and inspected the forms on Friday, the 29th. We passed inspection with flying colors!!

Friday the 29th it began raining in the afternoon and rained all night. My contractor wasn’t concerned about it, but it turned the work area into a mud wrestling area.

Last Saturday the concrete was poured. The biggest issue was the 5″ deep ruts the concrete trucks left in the driveway:

Last Tuesday they removed the forms with the Bobcat and a lot of grunt work and “rubbed” the sides of the pier blocks to smooth them out.

Finally, today they finished up by leveling the dirt and tamping it flat.