Friday, April 5, 2019

Week 2 of the Barndominium Build!

Board after board, hour after hour, day after day we continue to build. After each wall goes up we take a break and admire our work, imagining what it will look like when all the work is done and we are just relaxing in our new home. If we don’t do that it just becomes too overwhelming, you have to keep your eye on the prize and carry on.

This week was all about tall walls. We were pretty nervous about them. Short walls are one thing, we can lift them up ourselves and control them from falling over. But tall walls are a whole other story. Our first tall wall we were going to put up was the kitchen/dining room wall. 18’ wide x 16’ tall. It took a lot longer to build than anticipated as it has two windows and a sliding glass French door.
It took us most of the day to build and we were just getting ready to put it up when we realized that due to the configuration of the surrounding landscape we would not have room to maneuver the skidsteer  around to put the opposite wall up if we put this wall up first.

So we used the skidsteer to move that wall out of the way and started on the opposite wall. Since this wall was 25’ wide and 16’ tall we split it up into two sections. The first section included the a window over the stairs and the front door. After building it we took a break for lunch, set up a couple of cameras and videoed our first tall wall raising! How did it go? Well, you will have to watch the video below to find out. Don't worry, we sped up the action 6x so it is not as long as it actually took.
Our confidence high we started on the other section of the 25' wall and got it done just before quitting time. We would have to wait to raise it until the next day. But.....while we were building it I looked off down the valley and saw three mule deer watching us curiously from about 100 yards away. These were the first mule deer we have seen since being back and wondered if they were Barb's friends from last year..... maybe...… So she went and got some corn and shook the scoop and they came a runn'in! 
From that point on they hung around the rest of that day and everyday since. They just sit up on the hill and watch the strange humans play with wood.

Not to be left out, the whitetails visited us on frosty morning before we started working. 
We have not seen the turkeys on our property yet, they may have gotten the word that archery season opens this weekend. 

The next day we got the other section of the living room wall up......
Then we turned around and put up the kitchen/dining room wall we had set aside the day before.
We finished out the rest of the week building the garage walls. 

Here is where we are after two weeks. The yellow lines are week ones progress, green this week. After getting the opposite garage wall up I expect visible progress to slow down next week as it will include more tedious tasks like sheeting, top plates and prepping for the loft floor system. 

I
n our off time Barb has been scouring the internet for a used Lance camper for our next Alaska trip. She is looking for an 11 ½ foot model somewhere in the 2004-2012 range so if you know anyone out there who has one they want to sell let us know! One thing we forgot to do this week was take our day off and have fun, we will have to make sure to do that next week! 

35 comments:

  1. You two are just so amazing. John and I were saying we've never met another couple that takes on the projects you two do. The video was outstanding. I found myself cringing and cheering. Barb really tackled that monster. You are really making progress. Great job! Thanks for adding the video!

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    1. I found ourselves cringing as well. Barb was almost in tears but once we got through that wall the other ones seemed like a breeze!

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    2. Barb looked so calm in the video. I picked that up right away. I couldn't believe she was so professional. She was a great actor:)

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    3. just wondering where abouts in sd are you building we too are looking at building a shop with lving quarters.

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  2. We absolutely love this. What a great video! You two certainly do make a great team...there is no doubt about that. 😊

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    1. Thanks! We have found a "happy place" where we are able to get through stressful situations. Lets just hope those are few and far between!

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  3. Wow!! You two are moving along nicely. I remember during our build wondering about how it all would look like. I even signed our names and date inside a few walls, who knows if someone will ever see it.

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    1. We have not put our names anywhere yet. Come to think of it we should put our blot website so 50 years from now they can look at it and see how it was built.

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  4. I am impressed with what you guys are getting done. Just saying because I don't impress easily.

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  5. AWesome progress. Amazing how much the two of you can do on your own. Glad your "tame" deer came back.

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  6. Great work so far and more to come I'm sure. Video is a great idea really enjoyed watching that. Here's hoping there are no big gusts of wind until the top plate and sheeting are done! Play safe.

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    1. We had tacked up the upper sheeting on the tall walls. Lost one sheet last night during a brief wind storm. Got it replaced already but that was a pain!

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  7. You guys are true pioneers! Sure hope to see the finished product in person one day.
    Safe building!

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  8. At the rate you guys are going you will have it all done by the time I come through that way from out west back to Wisconsin in September. There won't be anything for me to help you with. 😎 it is looking great so far. Take care and be careful, Rick

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    1. Oh, believe us, there will be plenty for you to do! If not, we can just chill, relax and get out to see some sights. When you know about when you might be through this way let us know!

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    2. Will do Thanks I will keep in touch 🙂
      Don't work to hard!

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  9. You are amazing. Do you really think that we will still be able to access our blogs in 50 years? I keep hoping that I will in 20 - 25 years when I will likely be housebound and want to read about all of our adventures.

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    1. Good point, who knows what the internet will be like in 50 years! We have started saving our posts as pdf's and putting them on a storage device so we can pass them on to the grandchildren on one memory stick.

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  10. Great progress!! You'll be amazed at how quickly you can move forward once those tedious things are accomplished.
    The deer may eventually be a problem if you plant any gardens, flowers, or shrubs. They tend to enjoy those things more than we think. However seeing them around is always a marvel!!

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    1. I don't see a garden in our future, our neighbors have a 6' fence around theirs and it does not stop the deer!

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  11. I have not been able to post my comment on any blogger website.
    So hopefully this one will be published after researching on line what could be my issue.
    Anyhow, we are really very impressed with your progress and how you are tackling this immense job no matter what the weather is. Hats off to Barb, I dont think I can be a good carpenter partner.
    I think another severe weather is over South Dakota, I hope you guys are prepared.

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    1. It cam through so whatever you are doing is working! Barb is amazing, I could not ask for a better building partner.....

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  12. You guys do make an amazing team. I hope you are surviving this storm OK.

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  13. Wow, nice work with the skid steer. You could never have managed it without that. I sure hope Barb is wearing safety shoes when you are maneuvering those walls!
    Good to hear you missed the worst of the latest spring storm.
    Stay safe!

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    1. Good call on the safety shoes but no she is not. We have one more to put up and then we are done with the tall walls!

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  14. Wow! Amazing of how you are both doing!

    ~Nancy

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    1. Thanks, we are amazing ourselves some days! Other days we just look at the boards and don't have a clue what to do with them.

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