Framing

Our decking project is still on hold ... and it's still a weather thingy. But its not rain this time. It's just too dang hot to be working in the direct sun on a deck! So we took shelter inside the super inslulated Momplex, where the basement keeps everything nice and cool, and started on our first interior woodworking project! While we totally agree with you that the very first room we'll be tackling is a bathroom (thank goodness the Momplex is about a mile from our home so not havin

It has been torture waiting for plywood day! We put the upstairs floor joists up, and I thought the very next day I'd be getting a sun tan on a roof top deck. Not so much the case ... we built stairs, backfilled, insulated ... just to name a few projects that had to get done as I tried not to glance up at those open floor joists ... and finally it's plywood day. (I'll be blogging about all the other projects we've been up to as well in the next coming bit). Hooray for plywood day!

I have to say, we are so glad we built the Momplex with ICFs. It's very comforting to know that we could put the doors in and insulate the upstairs ceiling and be able to turn heat on.  Not to mention the walls are 2 to 3 times more insulated than most stick frame walls.

But as happy as we are with our decision to use ARXX blocks for the exterior of the Momplex, I do miss stick framing.  I do miss building with wood.

So this project, framing these little roofs abo

In between working on the dollhouse, changing lots of diapers, and burning dinner ... we've been up to something else.

Momplex Unit A.  Man do things ever slow down when you have a baby in the house, don't they?  

We finished up Momplex Unit B and got Grandma who likes to sew moved in last winter.  

Unit B has a garage almost twice the size of Unit A, and there's storage under the landing (Unit A has the utility room in the garage and a pressure tank under

Coulda shoulda woulda.  I only think it's fair to share with you our mistakes - and not just our successes - as we build the Momplex.  We are, after all, not perfect ... not even professionals.  We are just people, with a dream and a determination to take on the ulitmate of DIY projects.  And of course, along the way, we will have coulda shoulda woulda moments.  Remember when we put the foam up to cover the concrete to allow the concrete to cure?  If we had to do it

This set of stringers is going to get put in a skirt and heels - er, risers and treads today.

But before we start putting our Sunday's best on these stairs, let's take a second to remember where these stair boards have been.

We originally spent $400 on 2x12 boards,

Yep, at one point, they were new, not gray and old looking at all.

Until we poured concrete in them.  That's where the gray staining comes from.

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Except for a very brief stint on the scaffolding system, we've been working in a giant hole in the ground all summer. This giant hole in the ground to be exact.Depressing, I know.Especially since outside that hole, it looks like this. Well, it looks like this in the summer anyway.So you can imagine how antsy I've been to get out of that giant hole in the ground and start working upstairs in the Momplex.  I've waited all summer for this stage of the building process.  Hooray, to

Do you remember last year when we poured the slab for the Momplex, that we used up the extra concrete to fill up these sonotubes?  (UPDATE: Thanks to all of you, I now know those are not spelled saunatubes!  hehe!)

Well, today, they are going to become more than just an obstacle to avoid in front of the Momplex.

Those posts are the foundations for the little roofs!

And today we are going anchor beams into those concrete fil

We are getting to the good part. With snow threatening to stick, and noticeably less light each day, winter is fast approaching up at the Momplex. We have been blessed with a beautiful fall (THANK YOU for your thoughts and prayers for good weather!), and are still optimistic about getting a roof on the Momplex and being able to work inside over the winter. I am so desperate to work inside the Momplex because these are the projects that I love. I already have the kitchen cabinets made i

After getting our two weeks notice in the form of a white slip of snow on Donnelly Dome, we decided to take some extra steps in preparation for a very unwanted visitor who will be staying a long time. Think of him like bad in-laws from the movies ... you know you have to get along, but you really don't want to (not you Mom-who-likes-to-sew). Yep, Mr. Jack Frost is on his way.  And he's packed and prepared to stay until April or May.

Inside the Momplex, it's pretty exciting.  The walls are finished and painted (thanks to you!) and we just can't wait to start finishing rooms out.  We'll definitely be taking your advice and focus on a bathroom first.

But before we get to any of that, we decided to tackle the decks first.  The big reason for this is with the walls completely finished out, moving things from unit to unit has become quite a task, involving going down stairs, out the garage, in the other ga

We should have plugged the lights in and just kept on working. We really should have.

So what walls did we end up choosing? Was it Walls #1, the oversided legos that you fill with concrete?Or was it Walls #2, stick framing the old fashioned wayOr did we go with Walls #3, the pricer SIPS that go up in no time at all?Well, I'm going to tell you.  In this post.  I promise.Our New General ContractorBut I want to share with you something else first.  You need to meet the REAL business mind behind the Momplex, the General Contractor will all the smarts.This is the Mom

Today is a great day for DIY. Today, we can proudly say, yes, a family can - and have - poured a concrete house. We are not contractors. We are not professionals. We are merely a family, just like your family, with this great dream we call the Momplex.It is this great dream, this vision of my mother cooking Thanksgiving dinner in her very own home, of my mother-in-law finally having the perfect sewing room so she can be even more amazing with her quilts, that puts me in work overalls and

What about windows and doors?Early DayWe had to call it a day the other day after getting just the first two rows of ARXX blocks up.  As eager as we all were to see more rows go up, up here on this windy hill, none of us wanted to see the blocks flying through the air, probably landing in our yard a mile away.Pattern SetGetting the first two rows up is actually a major accomplishment because you create the pattern for the entire home.  You want the seams all staggered in the same spots

I thought we were moving along on DIYing the most massive of projects - the Momplex, a duplex for our to very deserving mothers - just fine last week when we built the window bucks Followed by the door bucksAnd then we did the same . . . times 10  . . . for the garage doors.The garage doors are supported in the centers, in preparation for the concrete pour,  You'll see the same get done for windows and doors before the mud arrives.We thought we were moving right along.But then this