Entryway

Bob and Jim framed up the entryway today!   Have a look-see:

We know that it goes against conventional wisdom to do anything but a great, big, open floorplan in a log home.  Buuuut....    winters are cold in the North Country, and it will cut down on the cold air flowing into our living room if we have an anteroom into which we first enter the home -- an airlock of sorts.  A foyer.  Or, if you prefer, a foyaaay.   Plus, I believe in actually entering a house through its front door, and a family needs a space to hang coats, stash shoes, etc.  And I do NOT want that space to be in my living room. 



So, when you come over to visit ---  you are coming over to visit, aren't you? --  you'll have a nice bench to sit on and remove your boots, a hook for your coat, and a nice warm living room that hasn't been cooled down by naughty children who don't shut doors and who were raised in a barn for gosh sakes?!!   *ahem*  Sorry about that. 

Floorboards a-waitin'

We are done creating floorboards for the second floor!   (Which will also be the ceiling of the first floor)

(from below)

And by "we," as always, I mean "Bob."  And my FIL Jim, of course.

Bob and Jim are done milling, cutting, and planing for now, and have stacked the boards on their sides upstairs.  The next step is to stain the bottom side (which will be visible from below as the ceiling) and then we will have a... wait for it.....  FLOOR.   Bearing in mind, of course, that I announced that a floor upstairs was imminent 15 months ago.  You may have already deemed me untrustworthy in matters of timelines and progress forecasting.   It's a fair cop.  All I can say is, stay tuned.

In other cool house news, when I took my leisurely perusal of the men working hard on Friday afternoon, I discovered them on bended knee....

...marking the location of the door frame between the entryway/front hall/mud room/etc and the living room.  Part of the beauty of designing and building your own home is that you get to decide where every little thing goes.  Part of the pain of designing and building your own home is that you have to decide where every little thing goes.  Like exactly where the door will go in the space available in the not-yet-existant wall. 

And another random picture:

Look at how tall those boards are that are leaning against the chimney!   No particular reason for noting them.  Just thought they were cool. 

Boards, again.

Bob's tutorial on prepping one's own floor boards:

Just because a board is milled straight, doesn't mean it dries straight.  When you encounter a board with a wavy edge, you need to give it a straight cut. 

1. Snap a blue chalk line along one edge. 

2.  Using a circular saw, cut along chalk line.

3.  Run board through table saw.

 4.  Now, plane the board smooth.

Voila!  5 years later, you have enough floor boards for your new log house! 

Hairy logs

Well, they MUST have been hairy, since The Husband had to shave them. 

Har-dee-har-har!   Just kidding.  The Husband had to shave the uneven areas of the joists on the second floor, as he is prepping for the laying of the floor.  He planed some of the logs where they join with other logs to make them flush.  (He actually said he was "planing the log joinery," but I had to ask for a paraphrase.)

Yes, you heard right:  The Husband said he was prepping for laying the floor upstairs.  Hallelujah!  Amen.

It was a beautiful day in the North Country today and we spent the whole afternoon up at The Lake.  Hubs' birthday lunch....  woodstove warmth...   cooking down pumpkins with my MIL...   and communing with my log house.   Ahhhhhh. 

And naps.  Definitely a good use of a Sunday afternoon.