We have a structure, people!
Who cares if we really can’t live in it? It’s building, the first of several.
Trail blazing through raw land is harder than I expected it to be. Of course, it doesn’t help that we work full-time jobs and then work all weekend, just to go back to our careers so our bodies can rest. This is especially difficult when you do it in consecutive weeks.
Jer and I headed up to the property to finish the first row of poles for solar panels which we got done before a big rain storm. Our second goal was to build a shed on the cement pad Jer had poured the week before. The shed came in a pre-cut kit, promising to have every board and item label. No surprise, it didn’t. We laid all the parts and pieces in piles, measured, and marked them before we began.
The rain came down in torents the night before. Even my idea of putting our tent shade over the pad, in a lowered position, didn’t keep it dry. The puddles also revealed all our low spots. Oh well, it would be dry inside soon enough. We hadn’t expected construction to go so slow but we had added time by making double rafters so it could hold more snow weight. We worked from 9am to 6:30pm with no more than a couple five-minute breaks. Jer drove in hundreds of screws and hammered in thousands of nails while I held studs, walls or whatever he felt would be most helpful. We finished that day with two walls up and the frame for the third on the ground.
Sunday is usually a shorter day since Jer has a class he leads in the evening. We were up and going by 8am. One o’clock came and went, our usually clean up time. Two o’clock came and went, our time to leave. I thought we can push another hour. The problem was the entire package was made of chip board. One board was almost ruined from the rain the night before. We needed to get it up and tar papered before we left.
The sun came out, we got hotter and hotter. We argued (a little) over hanging the doors. The directions were lacking and I was like, “Just put a screw in.” Jer is a bit of a perfectionist when building but I don’t mind… most of the time. Needless to say, we didn’t leave until after 5:30pm. Jer couldn’t make class. We were exhausted but satisfied with our progress.
Our first building!
Comments