There were literally thousands of timbers and planks to deal with: joists, sills, posts, studs, rafters, braces, headers, jambs, all heavy and needing to be sawn and set in place quickly so that sheathing, siding, sub-flooring, flooring, decking and trim could go down.
On day one I learned about positioning the “crown up” for horizontal pieces and the practice of sighting along an edge became instilled. Time would reveal over a period of a few years just how much some timbers would move once they began to dry.
The next choice was to work around knots so that they would not fall in joint areas or right at the end of boards.
One thing I wasn’t aware of was powder post beetles.
Not long after we moved into the house we heard mysterious chewing noises and began to notice powder on the floor in places, invariably under timbers that had sections of bark along waney edges where the beetles lay their eggs. This problem lasted a couple of years until the moisture content in the green wood dropped. We were lucky in that their destructive action was limited and that there were no successive generations. Today I make sure to remove any strips of bark from green timber.
The season progressed:
My brother-in-law Paul Vanas spent his week of summer vacation building a door to the basement and setting up my first table saw.
The closing in process reminded me that fall would soon be ushering in cold winds, the windows,
woodstove, and insulation products would keep us warm, the electric wires provide us light, the copper pipes bring us water: a wonderful shelter was being created.
Dave and I had embarked on an ambitious plan, just two guys starting the construction of a house in May and being done by the first of October so that Courtney and I could move in. It was a great summer. We got her done.
Hi, uh, it’s pronounced like Voit, right? Perhaps Dutch like the writer A. E. Van Vogt? This is Wendy Ahrensdorf Powers’ husband. I apprenticed with a Dutch shipwright, Teo De Voss. Interesting mind set. He would tell me he didn’t care how long I took, just so it was perfect.
Thirty years later I was working on a private 737 when I heard a loud crack and pain shot from my neck to my pinky. I didn’t know it then, but it was the end of my career as an object maker. I met Wendy right about then and she convinced me that extreme pain just was not normal. I went back to school for a year of CAD training. Now I push electrons around in space. It’s what happens when you use body paste as tools. The equipment wears out. Honestly, I love it. I have a Linked In page for business and the face book page above for shameless self promotion. Drop by. Wendy helped with the logo and took the End of the Road picture at the end of our street. The view is most of the way across Half Moon Bay.
Very nice house,
Tom
I like Teo’s attitude. Wendy has posted some of your work on FB: it is excellent.
Hey Tico!
You just left a big enough gap before that instalment. I was just beginning to wonder if there was going to be more, or wether the house would be left, hanging. Great post, makes me really envious. We are planning to demolish a flat-roofed garage my father built about 40 years ago, and which now leaks like a sieve. I thought we’d be just about done by now, as I’m looking forward to being able to choose to work indoors in the coldest weather (not a fraction as bad as N America, granted!) At the moment we have reached the dizzy heights of asking for permission to build it from the local planning authority. Right now I’m hoping Winter 2014/15 will be a tad more comfortable.
Keep on blogging!
Richard
PS we’ll be over The Pond next month but planning Brooklyn, Boston and Cape Cod this time.