Framing

It is going so fast! And I have no idea how it got so big. Hmmmm...

General timeline of this past week-

Monday: block retaining wall, block on north wall, posts up

Tuesday: interior walls, begin loft floor, cedar tree post

Wednesday: loft floor

Thursday: 1st ridgebeam and rafters

Friday: 2nd ridgebeam and rafters

Framing should be done sometime next week, then as long as our electrical work and inspection go as planned, we could be straw baling next weekend!

If you would like to come help with baling and/or plastering (mudding might be a better word for it) send me an email to anhobbs1278@yahoo.com.

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Concrete Slab

Although concrete has a high embodied energy ( http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embodied_energy ) and we considered a few other options, but obviously, we decided to use it, anyway.

One option would have been to use a concrete mixture with a high percentage of fly ash, which is a waste product of burning coal. It would be nice to recycle this waste rather than add to landfills and produce new material, BUT it is toxic. Fly ash contains mercury, lead, and arsenic. If it would be covered with flooring, that would be one thing, but we are going to stain the concrete and this will be our floor where our little bare feet will walk. We had to take that into consideration.

Another option we considered was an earthen floor in the big living room/kitchen area- which is not a dirt floor. Everyone seems to think that. :) It is created from a clay/sand mixture over a gravel base. It is then sealed with linseed oil and has a smooth finish with beautiful earth color- imagine a pottery floor. This was my ideal, but we had to go with the simplicity of one process instead if two (since footers would have to be concrete) just a little less money and a quicker process- concrete slab.

Concrete also served a few different purposes for us- foundation, floor and thermal mass for passive solar purposes (it absorbs the sun's warmth on winder days with the sun shining, and hold it for the cold nights.)

This consession, as well as others, for the sake of time, work and money are making me feel guilty, but I am already looking forward to the differences for our future house (this is the barn, remember.) The barn needs to be quicker and cheaper for us to have something to live in, then we can really take our time on the house.

It was really interesting to watch the process from start to finish and the kids were fascinated! Overall, I'm happy to be moving forward and now we have a floor!

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What the kids have been doing...

Practicing photography, gathering eggs, exploring the creek with friends, making pottery with clay from the land, lounging in the shade on hot days, building skills, digging, trying to get catapulted, watching how concrete gets made, getting squirted by cement truck hoses, making thier marks.

Again, sorry about the sideways pics.

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Preparing to Pour the Slab

We had lots of things happening around here!

My dad is a retired electrician so he is helping us to do our wiring. We laid the conduit, or pipe that the wiring goes through, that goes under the slab. It was very cool to work with my dad and hear stories of his working days.

David worked on our plumbing that needed to go under the slab also. We designed the floorplan so that the kitchen and bath, the areas where water needs to run, share an interior wall. This way we can run water lines through it, and don't have to run much in the bale walls. This also limits the material and labor since we aren't running water lines all over the house. In fact, all off our water lines except for the washing machine stay in that wall. They come into that wall from the cistern 15 ft outside that wall, and drain out of that wall to a greywater surge tank 15 ft outside that wall.

Fred, David's son, and James, David's nephew, lined the entire inside of the forms and footers with insulation panels. Since our slab will be acting as thermal mass, absorbing the heat of the sun during sunny winter days and also from our wood heat, then releasing it when thr temps drop at night, insulation helps it not to lose that heat to the surrounding ground. In the summer, it will help keep the cool in also.

They also dug deeper sections in the gravel base of the slab in the areas where heavy things will be, like our stone and loadbearing walls, cedar post, and wood stove. Then they covered it all with a plastic vapor barrier, and set sheets of wire reinforcement and rebar.

Daddy and our friend Ben worked at digging the footer for a retaining wall... through solid rock. It made my muscles hurt to watch them, and reminded me of the episode of Little House on the Prairie where Pa finds work with a friend pounding holes in rocks for dynamite. Seen that one? One holding a stake and the other swinging a big sledge hammer to pound it in. Yikes!

David and the boys also dug holes for the posts for the shed on the east side of the barn. The posts are standing and waiting for their concrete bases. The west side posts will sit on the retaining wall whose footer will also be poured with the slab.

So that was all done by Tuesday, and we've been waiting for concrete ever since. After delays by the crew and by the cement company and by some rain, it is now Friday and I'm glancing at the driveway every few minutes because the crew should be here at 2pm and it is 1:58.

2:15- They are here!

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Teeker

So, we are sitting in our outdoor kitchen visting with a friend when we see this (first picture) under out cook table. A baby chick? None of our hens have been sitting on a nest. They all sleep in their henhouse. Could a fertilized egg have hatched all by itself in the heat, hidden in the woods?

No, it is a wild turkey! I thought a turkey chick should be bigger than this, but we googled pics and that's our baby!

The turkeys on our land keep thier distance from us so we are still puzzled about how it wandered all the way to us, but here it is. I tried to leave it near where the turkeys roost, hoping a mother would take it in, but after waiting and waiting for them to go into the area where they normally roost and it was getting dark, we figured they must have another roosting place also and we took the baby home. It could not have made it alone through the night.

I think she has accepted me as her mother- she follows me when I walk away and comes running when I scratch in the dirt. Last night, we had no way to keep her at the 95 degrees necessary, so she slept with me :) Today we will have a warm light and little home set up for her with a cage over our raised garden box. I am also trying to find her another turkey chick friend- if you know anyone who raises them, please let me know. We have heard that it is very difficult to keep a wild turkey chick alive, but this one seems to be doing very well. She is eating, drinking, pooping and all things I would imagine a turkey chick should- scratching, pecking bugs and even chasing RJ's toes!

Because of the surrounding circumstances, she (or he) will not be Thankgiving dinner and they live for 10-15 years, so if she makes it through the next few days, we have a new pet!

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Furnishings or How We Are Keeping Things Cheap

The last few weeks, we have been gathering materials and furnishings for the barn. Craigslist, the ReStore and clearance sections of local stores have been our friends lately. We left all of our appliances as a condition of sale with our house.

9'9" countertop with stainless sink, faucet and 2 extra counter pieces (CL) 60
Propane stove/oven (CL) 150
One piece tub/shower enclosure with hardware (CL) 125
Washer and Dryer (bought used from family) 150
Kitchen lower cabinets, cherry (RS) 355

Refrigerator (Lowes) -one of the very few furnishings we bought new- we figured that we would still have this when we build our house with solar power so we need a super-energy efficient fridge (I'm not positive that this one will even cut it, but we'll try.) I chose this one from www.toptenusa.org, then asked Lowes to order it. They were giving 15% off energy efficient appliances, and I got another 10% off with a coupon. So instead of 750, I paid about 560

Our water heater is coming from our propane company who is giving a rebate (with a contract, of course, but that is fine.) Along with a TN Propane Organization rebate, we are getting a $1450 heater for 450

After spending hours in the ReStore trying to mix and match windows together to create what we needed for our South passive solar wall, Daddy found EXACTLY what we needed on clearance at J&M Building Supply, locally owned by a family in our tiny town- and the clearance prices were lower than ReStore prices amazingly, and these were brand new, and matched. Also bedroom windows + special order window for our shower 760

Daddy wins the award for *Best Find*
He went to a neighbor's yard sale. They had just bought the house and are gutting it. He offered to haul off the stuff they were throwing out, and they gave him a gorgeous 6'x3' kitchen island with heavy drawers (seriously very nice cabinetry and matches our countertops), bathroom vanity and just about all the light fixtures we will need for the interior of the barn for..... drumroll please... 100

Total so far : $2710

I'm still watching craigslist for 2-15 light exterior doors, 1- 9 light exterior door, 2 sets of french doors, 3 more windows, and 3 ceiling fans. Let me know if you see some laying on the side of the road (or on clearance somewhere, or a yard sale... You know what I mean.)

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