Framing

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!

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

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

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

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

Hi everyone!  Happy Friday!

Do you remember back when we built this railing for Momplex Unit B?

We absolutely LOVE how it turned out.  And we love that not only does it protect the stair opening, but it's so substantial, it's almost like a long console table that you can lean on.

So when it came time for me to design a railing for Momplex Unit B, I wanted to keep the same substantialness, but add a modern twist to match the rest of Mompl

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

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

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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Yeah, we really need to build some stairs, don't we?

Every time I've ever tackled stairs in the past, it's been quite a bit of figuring.  

Well, go figure (pun not intended), someone comes up with a stair building app.  I've lost my purpose in life.  

Just fill in the blanks, like how tall the overall rise is, what your tread thickness is, how deep your treads will be ..

And out comes your stringer pa

Have you ever wondered how overhangs on roofs are done? It turns out they are much easier to do than one might think.

Planned OutageBefore we get to this post, there will be a planned site outage tonight at 10PM CST, lasting approximately 1 hour.  During this time, the site will not be available due to scheduled maintenance.  If you are in the middle of a project, please print out or make sure you can access the plan through a cached version (search for the plan with Google and select "cached version") prior to the planned downtime.Wall Framing!We are finally building walls! Framing is

Now that the walls are all up in the Momplex, we can work on putting the upstairs floor (and downstairs ceiling!) in. I've had my doubts about how this whole thing is going to work out ... since back when we put the anchor bolts in the walls. Just to refresh ... We cut out a pattern to use to cut pieces of the foam blocks out.  We don't want any foam to be between the floor and the walls - a concrete to wood joint will have the least wiggle room.Then we made a bunch of these up - the

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.

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