Non Electric Homestead McMinn County (Athens: flooring, store, safe)

[Pam& Bill]

Forest Breath,
Love the update and it is so exciting. I am sorry about Jimmy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he gets to see the plaque on a finished house.
Pam

[rlrm777]

We are very tired but still plan to work every spare minute we have on this house. They found more areas of cancer on Jimmy's bones and lungs and we just need to get this house livable by June....without taking any shortcuts that will cause major problems later. It is very difficult to deal with the news that the only father figure in your life is dying, his dream is the same as mine....getting this house done....and you have to balance your priorities and just hope for the best, a little rest and some peace of mind in hoping you are doing what is right.

Thanks for the well wishes and the advice everyone. Honestly....getting the advice and opinions in this thread has really helped us. Hopefully we will have many years of happiness in the home when it is complete. I ordered a plaque yesterday to go on the house in honor of Jimmy. He is a Freemason, 32nd degree actually. The plaque says "Jimmy's Lodge, Built By Jimmy M**** and 3 Hired Hands, 2008". I can't wait until he sees it by the door!





Sounds like time for a group hug!

[California Girl2]

Forest Breath where are you? How is all going?

[Forest Breath]

Well everyone has been waiting on an update and I am finally able to give one. I took last week off work so we could get as many things done as possible. The week was so hectic and just non stop working that I can barely remember everything that was done. I will try to get some pics up as soon as possible. I do not have a computer at home anymore and the electric is getting cut off at the old place this morning. It may be just a bit before I can get pictures up.

For “details” this is what we have managed to get done. We got all of the walls put up meaning the plywood on the outer walls) including the upper four feet where we raised the front of the house 4 feet. We were so stuck on starting the roof we spent 20 minutes wondering how you start a roof. Remember, Jimmy was in the hospital and at this point was out of it and transferred to Knoxville so we had no guidance other than an email from someone that helped TREMENDOUSLY! So we printed out some pics from a forwarded website and began the task.

We got the two cedar poles put in the house. They are 9 feet from the north and south walls and about 14 feet from the west/east walls. They are beautiful in the house. We then ran a crossbeam north and south across the cedar poles and have foundation pillars directly under the poles. We jacked the floor up and added the foundation pillars for extra support. The crossbeam is side by side 2x6’s. We then built support beams with 2x4’s on top of the center beam. We places these support studs every two feet to match the west/east wall studs. We topped that with 2 2x4’s on top of each other and then ran the rafters on top of every stud, every 2 feet, from front to back. We overlapped them at the center beam at least a foot and put plenty of big nails in them where they overlapped. We have a foot overhang in the front and about 9 inches in the back. We then put five trusses up from the front to the back. We finished the plywood on the top walls. We them put plywood down on the rafters (cutting them so they are straight up and down on the end, I don’t know the correct term for this LOL). We also “bird toothed” or mouthed or something (lol) the rafters to the top plate on both ends before nailing it. We got the fireboxes up and then nailed the plywood to the top of the rafters. At this point let me say…OMG….when something should be straight…make sure it is straight…meaning that first piece. If not…you have a nightmare on your hands. We got all that done and then the felt put on top. Again I would like to add, putting felt on a roof at 90 degrees is HOT…more hot than you could imagine. BUT….we got it done in a few hours. We got the fascia boards put on and the tin arrived. We do not have the tin on yet as it has rained almost every day this week.

We spent the night Tuesday this past week and slept on the floor with the grandkids (Perrin and Lakota). It was nice and we had a great time. We slept on the floor two more night and finally started moving furniture over. We have the kitchen table and 4 chairs place right between the cedar poles in the center of the home. We moved the couch and chair, bed, dresser, buffet, antique cabinet, a bookcase and the entertainment center (which I will be using to put my dishes on). We got clothes moved and such as well. We still have a lot more to move. As for any accidents, so far we have had nails stuck into hands a total of 5 times, hammers hitting fingers 3 times with only pain and once with actual blood, an extension ladder falling on top of someone causing a nasty 10 inch bruise to an arm and 8 inch bruise on a shoulder with lots of pain, 5 fire ant bites, a wee bit of sunburn and lots of sore muscles.

We got more of the hardwood flooring that I bought and still have at least one more load to get. I started putting some of it down and have about a 4 foot section down in the livingroom area and it is beautiful. I cannot wait to get it all put down. We got a kitchen sink when we were getting more of the floor. It is one of the old fashioned white heavy enamel sinks with the counters on the sides.

We still have a lot things to move over and I just dread the thought of packing up more things. We hope to have everything moved from the trailer by Friday. Chris is building a chicken coop today so we can put the chickens in it while we tear down our current coop and get it moved over. We still have to move the kids fort over and also take down the 10’x18’ storage building and move it. So we have a lot to do still.

Last night we were so exhausted. We moved the freezer to Jimmy’s workshop and I forgot that we put that thing in the small bedroom and THEN put it together, after taking the door and frame off. So we had to empty it and take it apart and the door and frame off so we could get it moved and put back together and the 250 pounds of meat back in it. We moved all that furniture and I grabbed a load of clothes I had washed, took a shower and we headed home. We strung up a clothesline from one side of the house to the other and I hung out clothes at almost 11pm. We realized we had missed several meals so Chris made peanut butter sandwiches while I hung out clothes and put away clean dry clothes. It was dark and we had the little lantern lit. We sat on the couch and ate supper as Cletus laid in his favorite chair and slept. I cannot being to describe with words how nice it was. We cuddled and talked, made out nightly trip to the outhouse and then got in bed. We both slept so well.

Vickey, Chris’ mom was so very helpful this past week. She got Perrin at different times, which made it so much easier to get work done. Not having a 3 year old at your feet beneath a 20’ ladder was a blessing. She brings ice and drinks and food just when we need it. She even dried some clothes for me yesterday when it POURED rain all day and things were crazy. On top of that….she called just as I was about ready to have a mental collapse and said she had hot pork chops, rice and green bean casserole ready if we wanted to eat. Considering that we have been living on sandwiches and fast food for a month, that hot home cooked meal meant more to me than anything! So I appreciated all the work she has done for us through this.

Now a Jimmy update. He has lung cancer and it is not good at all. It is stage 4 and has spread to his bones in several areas. They wanted him to do 10 chemo and radiation treatments, He did one and they sent him home on Wednesday. He was not able to make it back to Knoxville Thursday or Friday for his treatments and as far as I know he has no intentions of going today. He slept a lot but has been coherent. When he got home I got him out of the car and to the porch. He sat there and held my hand for about 10 minutes and we talked. I told him to get some rest and when he felt like it in a few days I would take him to see the house. He said he was going to see it “now” and would not take no for an answer, so I loaded him in the car and we drove up to the house. He got out with Hazel and we helped him up the steps and inside. He sat down and had the biggest smile on his face. He did not have to say a word, because his face said it all. We took him home and got him in bed after a few minutes. He has Hazel being him up on Saturday and he visited for awhile. It was nice. The Doc says with treatments he may have 9 months, without maybe 3. We will just make the best of it and celebrate the good days while we work out way through the bad ones.

So that is about it I guess. We are tired, but appreciative. We are so very happy and we made it through a pretty severe wind storm, several severe thunderstorms and even hail this past week. The house remained stable, sturdy and strong. When inside we could not even tell how bad the wind was blowing. The breeze blows in the windows from the west almost all day and it is so cool at night with the windows open. It is just perfect and I will continue to update as I can. Thanks everyone for all the well wishes, emails, support and kind words (especially Harry Chickpea….I honestly could not have done this without your guidance).

[Pam& Bill]

Forest Breath,
I need a nap just reading what you guys have accomplished. I think it is so great that you got to sleep there and it does seem like you both will make your deadline of the end of June having the house ready.
Thank you so much for giving an update, I have been wondering what you were up to. I'm glad Jimmy got to visit your house.
So how will you be online?Will you still be able to update us from time to time?
Pam

[Forest Breath]

I will be able to update and post a few pics from my computer at work.

We were really hoping to be out of our old place by Friday the 6th, so we will not have to pay another month's rent. I am letting the old landlord keep my deposit since I am not giving a notice there. So we really HAVE to have everything, chickens and all, out in 4 more days! I am fretting a bit and stressed a LOT but I think we can do it.

It is so nice though, knowing when I go home from work today....it wil be to MY home...not quite finished yet...but mine and livable and just beautiful!

[Pam& Bill]

Forest Breath,
That's right, you go girl.
Pam

[vacation bound]

Well Forestbreath- Congrats on getting the house to the liveable stage- You guys have worked so hard and although you still have alot to do, I'm sure you are feeling great.
I'm so glad that Jimmy made it to see the house, but am sorry to hear about him being so sick. If I were him I would forget about getting the cancer treatment and just try to enjoy with lack of a better word the time he has left. All the treatments will do is make him feel sicker.
Please keep us updated every so often. I feel like I am reading a book and I don't want it to end.

[Forest Breath]

Started the tin yesterday. I have a few words of advice in case anyone else out there decides to do something as crazy as we have with no experience.

1) NEVER....that would be NEVER....trust someone elses measurements without double checking them yourself

2) Patience is something that must be obtained immediately with the ability to NOT kill the mis-measuring individual

3) You never have enough drinks for everyone, no matter how much you get, when it gets to be 90 degrees on black felt.....there is not enough to drink

So we got the 20' pieces up and started on the 10' pieces and guess what? Yeah you guessed correctly....They were 4 inches too short. That would be....to SHORT as in there was a HUGE mistake.

So I went to the old place and finished up all the laundry, packed up dishes and books and boxed up a LOT of items to give to my daughters. I took care of the chickens, gathered eggs and showered. I got back to the house at 130am and was just exhausted. I hung up a load of clothes to dry, cleaned up a few things and was in bed about 3am. Now I have been up since 6am and well, I think I am tired. LOL

However...the mistake will end up being OK. I called my building supply company and he has 24' pieces he can cut in half and it will be 360 bucks, I can get it delivered today. We will get that up and he said he could credit me for the 10 pieces that are 10 feet long and I remembered we have the front porch that will have a roof and I need 10' pieces for that so I decided to keep them. Now I have the tin for my porch and I can get that done in a few weeks.

So today finds me and Amanda at work. Chris and Cody are working on the chicken coop and moving book cases and such. Cody leaves for Florida in the morning and it will be back to the three of us finishing up on things. The big challenge now wil be getting everything moved from the old place by Friday night. I am beginning to develop a slight fear that it is impossible. Time will tell I suppose. Hopefully the tin will be delivered today and we can finish that this evening.

Oh and Jimmy's brother brought me a four burner propane stove on a stand and a 15 gallon food grade container full of well water. Today he is bringing over a 50 gallon food grade barrel of water as well. Both sit on their sides with a spicket so I can access the water easily for dishes, drinking and "w" baths until we get the gutter up and our 500 gallon water container and pump.

As for the house itself....I have NO complaints at all and absolutely LOVE it.

[Forest Breath]

Someone gave me this stove. It has four burners and works well. Is it safe to use inside the house? I plan to keep it disconnected from the propane and store the tank outside of the house when no in use, so my grandchildren will not turn the knobs on the stove and kill us all. The guy said he used it for years inside and would like for me to have it.

Does anyone know if it is really safe to use it inside?