sunrise on jobsite

logs for posts and girders

Betty is working on peeling the 2nd set of logs - the posts and girders. These are much bigger than the rafters, but there aren't as many and most of them peel easily, because it's early summer and the sap has been flowing all spring (however, a couple of them were a lot of work to peel!). Also, since it's now July, we have to water them frequently so they won't dry out before we get a chance to peel them.

quad-lock

Usually, the forms for a foundation wall are made using wooden forms, but we used quad-lock ICFs (insulated concrete forms). They're made of styrofoam and look a lot like Legos. Whereas wooden forms are removed (and reused) after the cement wall is poured and hardens, the quad-lock forms stay in place and serve as insulation (unlike most homes, our crawl space is insulated).

Dale and Les are shown here making sure that the top of the forms are level.