Porch, and the beauty of cedar

Cedar went in for the porch decking. We decided to use 2 inch thick boards for extra sturdiness. It's a LOVELY shade of purple! The sun will bleach it grey if we don't coat it with poly, so we will probably do that soon. We treated the rest of the floor joists of the porch with poly, and will do the same for the rest of the floor joists that we can get to.

 

 Here's a view from up in the loft out of our windows. I like that I can see Blueberry Row from my bed... I'd like to keep an eye on those nibbly deers!

 

 One of the rafters up there is really cool; it still has bark and lichen on it:

 

 This is the view down the ladder:

 

 Here is Luca fetching screws for Greg, as he installs the porch decking:

 

Light Clay Straw

Here are the steps for our process:

 1. Screw plywood pieces into the studs, one on the interior and one on the exterior, to create a hollow box.
 2. Throw a couple handfuls of straw onto a tarp. Use a bucket to scoop on the clay slip (which is clay soaked overnight in water).
3. Mix with a pitchfork, or with your hands, until each wisp of straw is wet. There should be very few clumps of clay, but no dry hunks of straw.
4. Use your hands and then a small length of 2'x4' to pack the wet straw into the forms. Don't pack it so tightly that you push the form away from the walls.
5. Wait only a few minutes, and then remove the forms so the straw can dry. Amazingly, the straw will stay in place all on its own! (If you packed it tight enough...)
6. Repeat with forms higher up, and keep on packing.
7. An alternate way is to build a form on the ground of a custom size for each section, pack it, and then remove the form to place the straw brick between the studs by hand in one piece.
8. After it's dry (a few hours to a few days, depending on the weather) cover exterior and interior with plaster or with siding.

 Mixing on the ground:



 The forms in place:

Windows! Electric! Clay Straw!

Since one of my biggest pet peeves are windows that you have to be a champion weight lifter to open or close (and god forbid you ever paint them, then you will NEVER OPEN THEM AGAIN!!!), my windows simply swing open like a door, and are held shut with a metal hook and eye. I plan on having screen material to roll down and fasten in place to keep out bugs in the summer, and I plan on putting (temporary) vertical bars over the window to keep my toddler from falling out. Looks like we will have as many as four outlets inside, including one in the loft. There will also be a switch in the loft for the overhead light, so we can turn it on and off without getting out of bed. I didn't realize how cheap it was to put multiple outlets in! It costs about a dollar each.

Metal up, light clay straw started!

 Things are progressing faster now that we are working 2-3 days per week. I put the rest of the loft floorboards down... unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention while I was doing it! The nails totally missed the joist and are sticking out the other side.

 

 Decided to throw in another window up here:

 

 We started filling the walls with clay and straw!! I'm a little nervous about this part.... there is a lot of wall to fill, and it's a little cold to be elbow deep in cold, wet clay every day. I'm going to try using kitchen gloves to stay dry...

 

Now that the roof is on... we don't have to haul stuff to and from the shed or from my parent's house!!

 

Lofty Rafters

Greg put the loft up so he could stand on it while putting up the roof rafters. I have to take a video so you can see how he gets those big rafter beams up there all by himself! We couldn't help much today. We are recovering from a yucky stomach virus. But we're hoping to do 2-3 work days per week from now on, since we were on such a long hiatus for the month of November. Greg is done with his other project for a little while, so he will have more time to help, too! This photo is looking from the south side, through what will be the door into a future addition:

 

 The loft, with the front door below it:

 

 View from the south side again:

 

 Those diagonal braces will not be plastered over, to give it a more rustic look:

 

 Greg in the loft... as you can see, we won't be able to stand in it!

 

 Greg "toenailing" the rafters in place: