Raising the walls

Saturday was a very satisfying day. Zack came and helped us build the remaining wall panel.

Then we started hoisting and bracing the wall sections.

Once they're all in place, we laid the double top plates in place, overlapping, to join the walls together. That was a lesson:

I considered a single-plate design, since I didn't need to transmit roof load laterally: all of my rafters lined up directly over studs. But the double plates were nice because they're the standard technique, so we could use pre-cut 92 5/8" boards for all the studs. And they made securing the walls into a rigid structure mercifully easy.

On Sunday, we put OSB sheathing up on the two long walls, to give the structure greater rigidity. We left diagonal braces on the end walls, because that sheathing was going to interact with the gable sheathing higher up.

Then we installed some 14-foot vertical braces and positioned the ridge beam. Here is a fun little time-lapse showing Eliot and I placing the braces, with help from our neighbors Russ and Daryl, unseen behind the sheathing.

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It is DONE!

The final inspection was today. This guy is Levi, the county inspector, and as you can see, we passed! He only had two questions for me. One was about the energy efficiency credits and the blower door test, for which I had the compensating paperwork for the low-flow faucets already prepared. The second was asking for a smoke detector outside the bedroom; I pointed up and he saw that we already had one tucked into the alcove. And that was that! I got up at 5am to be certain I'd be here before the inspector, and I was ... by about five hours. In that time, I took another truckload of tool buckets down to the storage container, then picked up all the floor protection in the great room and vacuumed and mopped. It's glowing! Then I went back down to the storage container to get a hammer so I could glue in 32 wood plugs to cover the screws for the french doors. I fought with installing the screens, but the frames are too big! The manufacturer said "yeah we don't even make th...

Appliances and mirrors

In pursuit of being ready for final, I came up and installed the fridge and dishwasher with Jeff. We hung mirrors in the bathrooms.

Fit and finish stuff

Jeff and I worked on repairing the drywall gap in the stairwell and tricky bits of wood trim in that space; sorry, no photos. Christina practiced cabinet knob installation and did some more work adjusting the cabinet doors and drawers. Jeff and Jon got half of the stairwell closet space drywalled. I didn't realize it was a fire code requirement; I had been planning to leave it open to make utility repairs easier. But it's got to be done, and now the difficult parts are.

Howell Cabin

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