The surveyor came out about a week ago and marked the corners of the house, so then we were able to see EXACTLY where the house would lay. This past weekend, Ken and I spent about 10 hours working at the lot. It rained pretty much the entire time, but I am hesitant to complain about a little rain when I know what the summer will feel like!
We spent our time laying out the rest of the corners of the house. This involved driving stakes into the ground around those "official" corners, then marking the location of the future walls using the plans. On Sunday, we determined the elevations and laid it out with that bright yellow string.
An example of one of those corners mapped out by the surveyor, surrounded by 3 stakes we put in
Ken taught me how to use a Skilsaw. Don't let this smile fool you- I was very nervous! We cut these 2x4's into stakes.
Check out the video:
I got to be pretty comfortable with the saw by the end of the day- look at all my cuts!
Poor Ken had to beat these stakes into the ground all day, because I was no help in this area. Looks like he has it under control, right? :)
Holding the stakes steady, while channeling John Lennon with my safety glasses
I attempted to beat some stakes into the ground...they didn't make it too far
I just like this picture of Ken working, so that is my reason for including it
We relied pretty heavily on the plans at this stage for exact measurements
Next, Ken took out this survey tool so we could map out precise elevations of the different areas of the house. He was very particular about laying everything out perfectly, which I reckon is a good thing :)
This is the string used to indicate the various elevations in the house. That brass looking thing is called a Plumb-bob and is used to test accuracy while laying out the yellow string. If the string is out of place by even 1/2", it could throw everything off.
Here is the Plumb-bob in action. Turns out we were pretty close on our eye-balling. It definitely became easier after a few tries
Remember all those stakes we drove into the ground? Here they are in action. The nails hold the string in place. Notice the two nails: my first attempt was not close enough (by Ken's standards), so the 2nd nail was added in order to shift the line a bit. The string has to be pulled extremely tight- there can be no slack.
I'm on one end of the line, Ken is on the other tying it up. After it is nailed on his end, it needs to be pulled super tight and nailed off on my end, too.
This is what the lot looked like after we completed our marking for the day: strings went every which way. It reminded me of Chinese jump rope. Remember that?
I honestly never thought I would ever start one of these things (for many reasons...one being time). Ironically enough, I decided to create a blog during what will be one of the busiest times for me. Between working a full-time job, hitting the gym, and the usual day-to-day stuff, I will somehow squeeze in updating this blog (not to mention working on the house when Ken needs my help!). We will be doing most of the work ourselves in order to cut costs, and I'm excited since I've never done anything like this! (Ask me how I feel about working on it come July).
This blog was created to track the progress of the house construction; a nice little place where I will post photos and updates on where we are in the building process. I figured this would be more effective than constantly emailing friends/family or bombarding the masses on Facebook.
A little over two weeks ago, we went to the lot to do some clean-up before the bull-dozing people came and leveled the dirt. The weather couldn't have been any more perfect for weed-pulling... it was about 62 and sunny. We saw two snakes on the property! (Hope they move out before we move in...)
This is what the lot looked like before any work was done
We tossed aside any large rocks, weeds, or branches we found in the dirt
The more weeds pulled, the less likely they end up in the slab of the house
As you can see, I took my job very seriously
The following Saturday, somebody came out with machinery and flattened it all out. I was out of town so I missed it, but here is a photo Ken took afterwards:
