I should note that although this is building day 26, I have not yet put 26 days of work into the house. The building days that fall on a week day I usually work from 5:30 PM until 9:00 PM (I’d work later but I think the neighbors kids are probably sleeping), and on the weekend days I generally work from 10:00 AM until 7:00 PM.
I’m trying to get more time to work on the house, and I think after I get the roof on it and it’s enclosed I will be able to leave my tools out ready for use. I usually spend half an hour unpacking and setting up and the same tearing down at the end of the day. It’s a bit of a pain but I don’t want to find them under a foot of snow when I get there after leaving them out. The wind and snow swirl through the building and leave large drifts at times. I’m excited about the time change that will give me an extra hour of sunlight. When you are building outside with a 500 watt light, sunlight is like gold. The sun goes down and the wind comes up, an extra hour will make a huge difference.
Today I started the Cockshutt 40 and used the snow blower to cut a path around the house. Snow has been gathering around the south side of the house and it’s made using a ladder extra hard, actually it’s made walking hard as well; it’s getting to be two feet high. The snow blower worked well but it needs some adjustments so that it cuts closer to the ground. I think I need to lengthen the upper linkage of the three point hitch to tilt the top away from the tractor, I’ll save that for another day.
I also put another overhang piece on the east wall. Tomorrow I will fasten the last five feet of overhang and it will be done. I’ll be very happy when I can do some work that doesn’t involve walking in the trusses. I’ve lost my nerve for crawling around up there, it’s starting to get scary again. Maybe it’s just not as enjoyable because the wind-chill is -35 today, and so windy at the top. Well one more day of work and I think the roof will be ready for sheathing.
The plan for tomorrow it to finish the overhang, put the fascia on the south wall, and hook up the overhead hoist to raise sheets of plywood to the roof. If I get all that done I’ll either put another row of OSB on the south wall or I’ll put some hurricane anchors on the trusses. I’ll probably leave the OSB for a time when the sun is up, the anchors can be installed in the dark.