Quick side note - the reason I arrive between 10 & 11am most days is so that I can get the kids up and going, get lunch packed, wash dishes, put laundry in the wash, get supper started and try to tidy up a little around here. Being gone most of the day means I gotta cram all those at-home things in a couple of hours in the morning. Just before I leave the house, I call Jay to see if he needs me to pick up anything from the local hardware store or bring anything from home. So far, it is a good system!
When I got there, Jay and Mr.B were attaching the dimpled waterproofing membrane to the outside of the house. The membrane reaches from the footings up the wall 6'7" and is attached with special screws. Its purpose is to keep the water off the foundation walls. The most interesting aspect of the membrane is not its dimpled face but it's smell. Yes, I said smell. You would think that because it is a type of plastic that it would smell like plastic. Nope. It smells like fabric softener or like clean laundry. It was the most wonderful smell to come from a roll of black plastic!
After that was attached, the day got really boring. We cleaned up. How fun. Jay and Mr.B removed all the wood bracing on the windows and on the walls. They removed all the 2x4s that had been attached to the footings to hold the wall in position. Then we removed all the nails and screws from all the wood and stacked it all neatly so it is ready for its next job. Some of these same pieces of wood will be used 3, 4 or even 5 times during this project. We cleaned up all the little and not-so-little pieces of Styrofoam that had been cut from the blocks during install. We removed all the large pieces of cardboard that created our dry pathways on the rainy days. In general, we cleaned up the whole site so it looks neat and tidy. I mentioned to Jay that though we were annoyed at not having more to do on the house itself, this was probably a gift to work at a bit of an easier pace. We are both go-getters when it comes to projects and will work ourselves ragged. Sometimes we need to be told to rest. Today was a bit of a rest day though being in the hot sun still makes you tired. Hopefully tomorrow we can do more on the house itself but that is all dependant on whether or not our supplies arrive. We shall see.
The kids were amazing helpers! They pulled nails, carried tools, loaded up Styrofoam in the cart and carted it away, and continued to ask what they could do to help. Jay mentioned to me the other day that God must really be working in the kids hearts because their attitudes at the site are amazing. Really unbelievable. Oh sure, they hurt each other (usually not on purpose) and get mad at each other but when you think of the hours and hours they spend together on a site where there are few toys and no house to go into, they are doing amazingly well. Cheerful and helpful and really bonding as siblings and rarely do you hear them complain that we are going to the country yet again. I am so thankful that the Lord is working in their hearts. Maybe He is giving them a vision for this house, too. I have heard many comments from them as they are working about how beautiful the house will be or how amazed they are that this house is theirs or what they want their room to look like or who could come over for a sleepover. I am so thankful for our children! When they were not helping, the boys were busy digging a hole in one of the large hills of dirt. They will be sad to know that hill will be gone by this time next week.
Finally, a very observant friend of ours questioned whether or not we put J-bolts into the curing concrete walls before the cement hardened. J-bolts are bolts that get sunk partway into the concrete wall and are used to attach the 2x8 green treated wood plate to the top of the cement walls. The floor joists then sit on the wood plate and your sub floor sits on the joists. Make sense? There are 2 options to attach the top plate to the wall - one is to insert J-bolts into the wet cement and the other is to drill holes into the cured concrete and tap in concrete bolts. With some careful measuring, the J-bolts Mr.W inserted will not interfere with the floor joists themselves. So, yes, the J-bolts were inserted yesterday! It is the 2x8 top plate that we are waiting for. If it is on the site tomorrow, we will attach it. The floor joists are already on site but the crane we are using to help lift the steel beam and the joists into position is only coming on Tuesday so we are doing fine time wise. I just prefer to work on the house rather than clean up! But, if you know me, that is always the way it has been! :)
Now if you will excuse me, I am going to crawl into bed to watch a movie with Jay. Any bets on how long it will be before he is asleep? :)
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