Busy Weekend

It was a very productive weekend for both us and the builders. The house is fully covered in Tyvek and all the windows are in. The siding has been stained and will start to go up next week. Meanwhile, we finally managed to complete the two glass block windows and even had time to put three glass block windows in next to the door. The glass blocks seemed like a great idea on paper, but in real life it is a messy, fairly difficult endeavor. Now that we have done it and made almost every mistake possible along the way,  I could throw up 50 of them in no time. I have a feeling that the rest of the DIY projects are going to go the same way. Just when we figure out the easiest way to do things the job will be over. Which will work out well in a few years (months perhaps) when we have to redo our less than perfect first attempt. The next mission is building the frame for the bathtub. We should have that done in a little under a decade.

Foiled By Rain

We arrived at the house early this morning to start our DIY project. First we wrapped the framing in water proof material and I got to use an electric staple gun. Good fun when I was in control, but watching my wife hand it to me with her finger on the trigger was a bit unnerving. No puncture wounds resulted and I can safely say we have achieved a new level of trust in our relationship. Next up was the angle grinder. I had to cut the the horizontal supports for the blocks with the angle grinder. My wife's father was reluctant to even send this tool to me because he feared for my fingers. However, I skirted certain injury once again and completed the job. A word of warning to other amateurs out there: don't touch the metal after you cut it with the grinder. Despite my background in science, which included such novel concepts as friction and conduction, I felt the need to grab the metal rod just after I cut it. A slight burn later and we moved on to the mortar.

8 blocks into the job and the skies opened up. We hastily erected a makeshift tent and called it a day. The forecast is not looking good for tomorrow so it will be Thursday before we can complete the glass blocks. 

A Lot of Progress

The framing is nearly complete and it is actually starting to look like a house. It is really exciting to see it start to take shape after months of planning. The roofing guys were here today and finished about half of the roof so that should be completely done this week. Windows will go in once the plywood bracing is finished and then we will have a water tight structure. Tomorrow we start our next DIY project. We will be installing glass blocks in the bathroom wall. We have all the materials we need, just none of the experience. It seems like a simple matter of mixing, spreading, and stacking so I am feeling cautiously optimistic. We will see how it goes tomorrow.

Circus Tents

The framing has started and the floor beams and a few sections of the wall are now in place. Work will continue for the next few days and by next week the frame will be done. While the framing was going on, we attempted the much simpler, but no less important job of preparing storage for the materials that will start arriving soon. Normally, you would just rent a pre-fab storage unit and be done. However, we opted for a more creative (cheap) option. We bought a large red tent on auction and some blue plastic sheets to wall it in.  All should be fine unless the typhoon season arrives early this year.  And we have the added benefit of being able to rent it to the local carnies on Sundays to earn a bit of extra cash. 

Lumber Has Arrived

The first shipment of lumber arrived today and the rest will be here tomorrow. The framing will start from tomorrow afternoon so we will finally get an idea of how our house will look. I am looking forward to getting my hands dirty, but it will still be a few weeks before I really have a chance to mess things up. In the meantime I can sit back and watch the pros in action before the reality of what we are attempting arrives with a vengeance. 

Scaffolding Erected

Without notice the scaffolding for our house has been erected. As we are managing the build, it is a testament to our organizational skills that things progress without us lifting a finger. Or we are woefully unaware of what is going on. The former is much more flattering but the latter is much more likely. At any rate, everything is in place for the framing to start on the 16th.

Most houses in the States are framed with 2X4's or 2X6's, which do not require scaffolding from the start. In Japan, it is common to build a house with large, pre-cut beams of wood. This requires the scaffolding to be erected before the framing can start since the walls are not lifted after completion. The beams are lifted into place once the vertical supports are installed. We will not be involved in this process (much to the delight of the carpenters), but I will be on site periodically to get in the way. 

On an unrelated note, our dog (pictured below) is spending the night with an award-winning Border Collie (in agility). If all goes well, we will have an apartment full of puppies in two months. Just to add a little more stress to the mix.

A Brief Delay

Now that the foundation is finished we can move on to framing. However, the framing has been pushed back until around the 14th of July. We had originally planned to use some local carpenters for the framing of the house, but they were unavailable so we lined up carpenters from a nearby town. Due to another project being delayed, the local carpenters are now available for our house but not for another week or so. It is worth the wait though since the local carpenters have more experience building in this area and they are cheaper. 

We have used this downtime to make final decisions on the roof color, the interior flooring, doors, and interior wall designs.  I have had to leave most of the decisions to my wife, since I have absolutely no interior design skills. She will be leaving most of the hands on work to me, even though I have absolutely no carpentry skills. There may be a slight flaw in this arrangement.