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This morning, the team completed roof truss preparations.   We completed the double top plating, which is putting another 2×4 (interior) or 2×6 (exterior) on the top of each wall to interlock all the partitions. Here’s a picture of Joe installing the last piece!

We then installed Smart Brackets on the North and South walls.   It’s a system that allows you to hang scaffolding from the roof, allowing better access and visibility when securing the roof trusses.  To install the Bracket in front of the porch, we built a temporary box that basically extended the wall to align it to rest of the wall.

Once that was in place, we assembled the Smart Bracket.

The team was ready to start on the trusses a little ahead of schedule.   We were able to take a late morning break while we waited for the lift and the lift operator.   Since it was close to lunch, we decided to take lunch a little early before we got started.   As usual, we were spoiled by a local church who sponsored our delicious lunch :-).

When we got back, we were all ready to start raising trusses.   Bob had done a truss pre-job brief during our break, so we all knew our assignments.   Joe was a “tail” nailer that aligned and secured the south end truss into position.   I was on the ground support team, helping where needed.

Here’s a picture summary of the first truss install.

To make things a bit more challenging, it was REALLY windy today.   We are guessing that the wind gusts must have been at least 20 mph.   As you can see in the picture, there was a lot of pre-work done on the truss while it’s on the ground.   But … it make for quite a nice sail! ;-).  

The team installed about half of the trusses today, and we will finish up tomorrow morning.   We are blessed to work with an amazing team!

Happy Labor Day everyone!   We certainly had fun ‘laboring’ today …. I hear our pay will be doubled on a holiday 😉

We had someone take pictures of the team standing up the first wall (from last week).   I thought the progression of the pictures was fun, so I thought you’d enjoy them.

Many hands really does make light work!    Well … not so light … but amazing we can get that done as a team!

OK – now let me catch you up on the weekend.    It rained almost all day Saturday, which was actually a good thing.  We got to sleep in, run some errands, went to a local church service and visited a new restaurant for dinner.   We knew we were running a bit behind on the build schedule last week, so we volunteered to help on Sunday.   Six of us showed up on Sunday, and got right to work.    Bob really wanted to get those last two exterior walls done.  

Bob, Joe and I worked on building one wall, while the rest of the team worked on the other wall.  We had to install the studs, create the window frame with King/Jack studs, a header, and some cripples (….cool, I’m finally figuring out some of the lingo! …) 

It was my first time using a nail gun!   It’s a crazy powerful tool … but fun once you get the hang of it :-).

Once the wall was assembled, we had to square the wall.   Geometry comes in handy … you can make sure it’s square by making the diagonal measurement the same from both corners.   After it’s done, it’s time to stand it up.

….. but, don’t forget to get the tub inside before we get that last wall up!

Once they are in position, the walls need to be squared and leveled.

After a full day on Sunday, we had the last two exterior walls  up!  

Now, let me catch you up on today, Labor Day.  Joe and I worked with Roger to assemble the porch beams.   We built special end pieces on the ends of the walls adjoining the porch.  The ends were three studs wide, and had a pocket for the porch beam. 

I got to install the longest screw’s I’ve ever seen.  These were to tie in the three 2×4’s together at the top of the beam.   Joe and Roger did the heavy work to get those beams installed and leveled.

Gary, one of the Sullivan Habitat Board of Directors, often uses his tractor to help with some of the heavy tasks.   I got talking to him about how complicated all of those levers are, and how hard it must be to drive that huge tractor.   He comes over to me today, and tells me to drive it … and he would not take no for an answer!   So, here I am driving a tractor.   It was sooooo much fun!

While we were working on the porch beams, the rest of the crew were installing the interior walls that we had built last week.   This is the day where the house really starts to feel like it’s coming together.

By the end of the day, we had all of the interior walls set and the porch beams set.   We started to double plate all of the walls.  Our goal is to start lifting the roof trusses tomorrow.

The future homeowner, Tammy, was able to join us at the build site today.  What a great day it was for her … to see all the walls being assembled.   She’s the one in the window in this team picture.   

After a productive day today, the entire team was invited to a local ministers home for a Labor Day barbecue.    Yeah …. this is what Labor Day is all about!

It was a brisk 55 degrees this morning, going up into the low 70’s this afternoon.   What a great weather day for working outside!   As usual, we had a local pastor join us for our morning devotional.   ‘Bob the Builder’ then provided the team with tasks for everyone on the team, along with some safety tips to be aware of.

Our task was to finish building the front exterior wall.   We had the components set up already, so we needed to align everything and and start nailing.

After nailing, we had to ‘square the wall’ by measuring diagonals, and making sure they were equal.   The sledge hammer works great for squaring up the sides!

Once the wall is square, we can attach OSB sheets on the top part of the wall.   This step is much easier to do when the wall is on the ground.

After the wall was completed, it was time to get the entire team ‘on deck’ to stand up the exterior walls.   It took a coordinated effort to move the huge walls into position.

Once that wall was secured, the team moved to the side wall.

Before we closed in the house any further, we needed to stage the assembled interior walls on the deck.    The walls were loaded and transported from the campground pavilion, where they were built.

Again, it was ‘all hands on deck’ to move those walls from the trailer onto the foundation.  By the end of the day, we had four of the exterior walls stood up, and the interior walls ready to go.   We have just two more exterior walls to assemble on Monday.

The team celebrated after dinner by gathering around a campfire at the campground pavilion.  What an amazing, productive and rewarding first week!  

The view from our ‘dining room’ window is a beautiful oak tree surrounded by nice grass, with a huge corn field in the background.   It’s an especially beautiful view in the morning, when we can catch the sunrise as we’re having our breakfast.  

We headed over to the home site for morning devotionals from a local church.   As always, it’s a wonderful way to start the day!  

The sub-team that worked on the foundation yesterday made great progress.  They were able to ‘complete the box’, which means that they were able to finish the sub-flooring and all the foundational components.   It actually looks like a great dance floor 😉  

Our sub-team had one more interior wall to finish back at the church pavilion.   After that was completed, we had to load the trailer for transport back to the home site.

When we had finished that task, we all headed back to the home site and jumped into helping to create the exterior walls.   ‘Bob the Builder’ provided each couple with a binder with all of the drawings for the house, which included detailed drawings for each wall.   The first step in building the wall is to mark where each of the wall components are located.

We then determine which sub-components are needed, and get to work building them (e.g. headers for windows or T’s for intersecting walls).  

We were able to get one of the exterior walls ready for nailing.    The rest of the team got an additional two walls done, so we should be able to see some walls being put up tomorrow :-).

We stopped at 3PM today, so the team could get ready to attend a dinner hosted by the local Ambucs.     According to the Ambucs website, their mission statement is: 

• Inspiring people to conquer challenges related to mobility and independence, through a nationwide network of volunteer chapters, working in partnership with physical, occupational and speech therapists; by providing Amtryke adaptive trykes, scholarships for therapists and many forms of community service.  

It’s definitely a ‘good ‘ol boys group’ that do amazing things for their local community, like building ramps for wheelchairs, and providing trikes to disabled children    The Sullivan chapter treats our Habitat team to an amazing grilled dinner every year.   We enjoyed amazing pork chops, baked potatoes, homemade baked beans, salad and dessert.    This organization is a great example of what America is all about!

Another amazing day here in Sullivan, IL!    We are blessed to have the opportunity to work with such hard-working, generous people.

Today’s weather was amazing with a high in the mid-70’s and a nice breeze.    It was a good thing, since we had a ton of walls to do!

As usual, we started our day at the house site, and a local pastor lead us in a prayer.   The team then joined hands and with our hands out, we say “Habitat is not a handout, but a hand up (as we raise our joined hands up in the air)”.    It is a joyful way to start the day!

The part of the team that stayed back at the worksite yesterday did an amazing job.  They finished all of the floor joists, and put on the first sheet of OSB.

Our interior wall team got back to work at the pavilion at  the campground.   After doing a couple of walls, we got into a groove.   We came to understand the wood configurations referred to on the blueprints, including:  “King”, “Jack”, “Cripple”, “T’s”, “L’s, “King studs”, and how to measure out studs and headers.  

We typically stop work by 3PM, but today the interior wall team worked until 5PM.  We got all but one wall completed!  You can see some of the walls in the background.

As we were building the walls, Linda had to stop and show us something amazing …

God is definitely watching over us :-).

After a rain delay that stopped work yesterday afternoon, the team was ready to make up some time today.    The habitat team did a great job in preparing and leveling the site before we arrived, so while there was a little mud at the worksite, it was not a major issue.  

We started the day finishing up the mud sills, which took less than an hour.  

After we finished that task, Bob the Builder split us up into two teams.   One team would stay at the site and finish up the foundation ‘box’.    The other team would go back to the pavilion at Faith Lutheran church to pre-build the interior walls.    Joe and I joined the wall assembly team, since we had not done this yet on any of our previous builds.   We were given a book with detailed plans for each of the walls.   After some instructions, we started right in.   Here’s a picture of Joe and Bill’s first wall build.

Ramona and I were working on wall components, in different configurations.   Fun stuff!

We have the opportunity to work with so many great people who have been building with habitat for years.   It is truly amazing to see people in their 70’s and 80’s building houses.   They are certainly great role models!

We’re ready for another great day of wall building tomorrow 🙂

We were excited for our first day on the build.   It’s always interesting to get going on a new morning routine and be ready to go by 7:40AM.   The one good thing for us is that Sullivan is on Central time. so it’s actually 8:40AM Florida time.   Even so, we do look half asleep in the photo :-).

The first task of the day was to assemble a covered tent, so we’d have a place to take a break in the shade.    The forecast was for HOT with afternoon thunderstorms, so having a shady spot for a cool drink was really needed.

So, you might be wondering – what is a mud sill?   In a nutshell, it’s where the framing meets the foundation.  It’s the wood component that attaches to the concrete foundation.   Yeah, it’s pretty important to get this step right.

Bob ‘the builder’, the nickname we give to the overall lead for the build, gave us a refresher education on mudsill construction.   From the foundation, we placed an aluminum barrier that is positioned 1/2 inch over the edge (as a termite barrier because they can’t crawl past it), a layer of insulating foam, and then a 2×10 board.   We then bolted the boards to tie down rods that stick up from the foundation.

While two teams were installing mudsills, there was another team in the ‘pit’, installing the main floor joist support beam.

It was really hot this morning!   I think I drank at least 5 bottles of water, and some Gatorade.   The temperature was in the mid-80’s, but the heat index was in the upper 90’s.  With no shade in site, we needed to continually remind each other to stay hydrated.

At around 11:45, we departed for a local church for another amazing lunch.   They served ‘make your own’ Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches, with a crazy number of side salads.  Of course, then came the overflowing table of desserts :-).   While we were enjoying lunch (and the refreshing air conditioning!), we started to hear rumbles of thunder.  By the time we got back to the job site, the lightning and thunder continued, so we had to pack it up early for today.   

We did get a lot done this morning, so I’m sure we can make up for the lost time tomorrow.    Yeah … I think we’re both going to sleep well tonight!!