The trusses are on!

Today, MD, HD, and I raised the trusses for the roof. DH helped after he got off of work. It was definitely an entertaining experience. (This post will be picture intensive. You've been warned.)

 The first truss being attached to the lift.

 There it goes! Up into the air.

 Being lowered into place.

 First truss set and tacked into place. If you look to the far right above the ladder, you can see where we braced it by nailing it to a board that was attached to the garage.

 Several of the trusses up.

 A pic of hubby's Dad up in the trusses attaching crossbeams.

 Setting the last truss on!

 Hubby and his Dad up in the trusses attaching some bracing boards.

All done! It looks like a house now! Because of rain, we'll be taking a few days off. Next step after is to add the plywood sheating to both the roof and the walls.

Walls, walls, and more walls.

Today, MD and I finalized the rest of the walls going up. Then we put the header plate on the tops of all the walls. In doing that, I got to help set up scaffolding. Let me just say this, take the wheels off before you attempt to put scaffolding together. It's much easier that wall. Tomorrow, assuming the weather cooperates, we'll be putting the trusses on the house!

 My Dad (MD) standing on the scaffolding nailing the header plate into place.

See! All the walls are up now! 

We have walls

Well, some anyway. Today has been the biggest one day change so far in the construction process. There were PLENTY of huge one day changes in the demolition process, but very few so far in the construction process.

The first wall section up.

Today we framed in and raised about 3/4 of the exterior walls. We decided to go with 2x6 for the exterior walls, so these were heavy wall sections. (The walls are 2x6 24in on center). You can also see our large window openings too. We've decided to go with 3x5' egress windows for all the windows, save the one over the kitchen sink. (It's not framed in yet). So, these are nicely sized windows.

 One whole exterior wall is up!

See! Lots of exterior walls are up. Tomorrow, we'll finish raising them.

Tomorrow, I'll be helping MD finish up framing the exterior walls and raising them. Then we'll be doing a bunch of stuff with levelling, making plumb, adding blocks to headers, etc. Then Friday is when we're (hopefully) going to be raising the trusses!

Floor joists

Today DH and MD got the floor joists done for everywhere except where the stairwell to the basement is. They even got some of the plywood subflooring down! (I know these posts are sparse in words, but really, the pictures tell the story.)

 Getting the first few joists upright and nailed into place!

 Different view of getting the first few joists nailed into place.

 They are almost all in at this point. That's DH standing in the crawlspace and MD standing on a ladder on the far side of the basement wall. Those boards were HEAVY!

 Starting to work on the subfloor! They are being glued AND nailed down.

See. Got that nailer going!

The center beam is in!

Today was a long day. DH cut the additions floor joists to size. Then DH, MD, MM, and I all worked to create and place the main center beam. That thing was HUGE! It's comprised of three side-by-side 2x2x18 plants of Yellow Pine. I thought we were going to drop it on ourselves several times. Luckily, we didn't. Tomorrow, we'll finish anchoring the beam in and install the floor joists. Who knows, if we do this fast enough, we might even be able to get the plywood down onto the floor joists! Here's hoping!

 My Dad putting on the sill and the sill seal. (Try saying 'sill seal' five times fast.)

 The floor joists! They aren't installed just yet, but they are in place to be attached to the center beam.

 Little Man rocking his ear protection.

The center beam going in. In order: My Mom, Hubby, My Dad, Me

We've got wood!

Today was our first shipment of wood! It's just enough to do the floor deck and build the main frame for the walls. More wood will be delivered soon. The trusses are supposed to be delivered in 2 weeks, so we've got a LOT of work to do between now and then.