Building The Exterior Walls and a New Toy For Lisa

11-19-17

It's time to get serious.  We need to build the exterior walls for our 18x56 building.

Each morning we have to take all of the tools out of the trailer and open up all of the wrapped wood:

After we measure and cut the 2x4's we lay them out for a 10 foot wall section:

Mike adding a jack stud for a window:

We had a lot of measuring today for the walls.  There are four windows and a door on the front of the building.

Each afternoon is a big clean up round.  All tools have to be put back into the trailer, all lumber has to be wrapped and we clean the ground where we worked.

Mike using the blower to clean all the dirt and saw dust off:

Everything wrapped up:

Mike using a clamp to secure the top plate to the top of the wall.  We bought #1 lumber but it is still bowed and some of it very bad:

Nailing the top plate:

Mike measuring to cut the holes in the wood for the slab anchors to go through:

Making sure all of the base plates fit over the anchors.  Now we can build those walls:

Only one more section for the front of the building.

From the inside:

Looking at the front:

Ooh today I got a new toy.  We knew that boondocking here would present some adjustments for us.  One of them is laundry.  Our friend's told us we could go to their house and do any laundry that we needed to do which was very nice of them.  But Mike and I like to stay on site as much as possible while we build so we came up with a solution so we could do laundry and not leave.  I found a portable washer that can be hooked up to a hose.


How cute:

First load of laundry being done in the small trailer.  We connected it to the well hose and used a bucket for the draining.  This will do for today:

Since this was a few months ago I can tell you that my little Magic Chef washer is awesome.  It does a great job, is easy to use, and has a 10 minute cycle which larger machines lack.  I hate that the big machines in houses take no less than 30-40 minutes for a load of laundry.  Sometimes you have gentle clothes or just a few items that don't need to be in for that long.  Anyway here is the link for my washer.  I paid $218.00 for mine but they have gone up in price.  Portable Washer







Nailing in a top plate on the back side:

Finished for the day and all cleaned up:

Mike cutting down more 2x4's:

Moving right along:

Working on the header for a future door:

A little assistance for some bowed boards:

Nailing them together:

The back wall is up.  Now to tie in the corner wall:

Almost finished with the side wall:

Yay...we are almost finished with 3 walls.  We need to keep the one end open to be able to work on the trusses.

Time for a little break.

Taking a walk thought the woods on the property.  One big tree down:

Mike being a ham.  King of the woods, lol.

That took us one week to do.  Next up the septic and siding.

Moving Day on the Property the Lumber Delivery and Wall Building

Going back to 11-16-17

We have been in Florida for one month.  Since we only booked a month long stay at the campground it's time to move over to the property.  Some things will be harder for us but just being able to wake up and work will be nice.  No more driving back and forth. 

Once at the property we park in our regular spot on the driveway then we start moving things around to make the building easier. 

First the solar panels get moved:

Then the rack:

Mike checking our work:

Now for the trailers.  The big one in place for our tools:

Moving the small trailer which has most of our yard equipment:

Trailers set up:  

Then we will move the van over behind the slab.



The lumber is here to start the framing...and our work is about to begin:

Ugh...all the straps broke when the driver dropped the lumber.  We need to re stack it all and keep it covered:

11-17

A new day...time to start building some exterior walls.  First we have to move all of the lumber onto the slab.  Then we can start building.


Mike drilling holes in the sill plate to go over the slab anchor bolts:

Once we measured and cut the 2x4's we lay them out so we can nail them together:

First wall up and anchored to the slab.  The second section is complete with window framed out.  Mike uses a 2x4 to brace the 10 foot sections to the slab:

We couldn't wait to see what a wall would like like so we nailed a piece of siding on.  We are like two kids just wanted to see something of a finished product.  Sadly we have to keep going with the walls first, lol.

For the remainder of the day we made sure we got everything set up.  Since we don't have electric on the property we need to let the solar panels charge the batteries for the coach so he has TV at night.  We will need to use the generator for all the electric for building.

The next day we start back on the walls.  We have almost 200 2x4's and all of them need to be measured and cut down.  We will do one 10 foot wall at a time.

Laying out the wood to nail and getting ready to stand a wall:

Mike putting in the top plate which is a 2x4 long board that overlaps where the walls come together:

Foam tape is rolled out underneath the pressure treated base plate:

Working on a window wall.  They always take the longest:

Mike nailing in the headers:

Our last wall for the day:

Since we are boondocking here we have to spend more time on our daily "living" which takes away from our work.  We are also taking things slower this time around.



Our goal is to be covered in and under roof in one month.


Next up...more exterior walls.

Getting the Metal and Prepping & Pouring the Slab

11-13-17

It's going to be a busy and productive couple of days.  

First thing this morning we get the metal delivery for the slab:

Then the pest men show up to spray the slab before the concrete gets poured.  This is to protect the building from Florida pests and termites:

And:

They really doused it on so the pad should be well protected.

Meanwhile Mike and I did some yard clean up....something we will be doing on and off for a very long time:

Pulling out a tump with the tractor.  Love that tractor, lol:

 The concrete crew shows up to put down the plastic and the metal and at the same time our trusses show up.

A little early but better than late:

The concrete company starts out by laying plastic over the entire slab:

Then they add the metal grid to beef up the concrete:

And:

They are done for the day and ready to pour tomorrow:

11-14-17

The first concrete truck is here and one of the crew is working on the footers:

Spreading it out:

One truck is empty:

Time to level off that section until the next truck arrives:

Second truck in and poured.  Time to use the float and spread it out:

Mike putting in the anchor bolts to secure the frame to the concrete:

Using the trowel machine to finish and smooth:

Almost done:

We now have a slab.  Tomorrow they will come back to cut the expansion lines....then it;s time for Mike and I to get to work on building:

Next up....getting trailers moved closer to the slab and getting lumber to begin the building.