Dave and Tiffany, after their move to the Portland, Oregon area, have recently purchased 20 acres on which to build a home and begin a new adventure. See what they are doing.
Well they started with this road....and added a gate.
This is how the road looked before they started work.
Then the road builder started putting things together.
And here is the completed road.
Well, David wants a shop. Here is the site as he found it and as it is evolving.
October 16, 2004
We visited and had a tour of the property. It was fun and we tromped over much of it.
Here is a view from the front of the future house. Tiffany, David and Gloria inspect the septic tank installation near the shop site. A more overall view of the property from up the hill gives a better perspective.
Dave is inspecting one of the property corners that we located. Deep Creek crosses their property. We waded it to see where it went. It's very pretty, but in places overgrown.
You can sure do more with a tractor! Wait, Dave wants to drive, too!
Think we can get power in here? Yup! (3/19/2005)
On April 27th, they broke ground and on May 2nd the footing forms are built and ready for inspection. Then the foundation is poured.
The rebar is installed and the slab is poured
Then the walls rise in June.
The joists and second floor are put on.
And the Stairs are constructed.
Gloria and I came for a visit in early August to help. I found a great place for breakfast the first morning.
The second floor is in and two of the sidewalls are enclosed. The remaining sidewalls must be left open for now as the second floor must be tied into the first floor at a later date.
On Friday night we all slept under the stars. It was a gorgeous evening, but the dew soaked the sleeping bags by morning. We let them dry in the sun as Dave cooked breakfast for us.
Gloria and Tiffany traced gusset shapes onto sheets of plywood and I helped by cutting some of the lumber to size and assisting David in cutting gussets. We cut 270 lumber pieces and 420 gussets for the roof trusses.
Dave built a jig for the trusses on the barn and then used 400 - 500 nails on just one side. What a job!!!
On August 27th they had their friends over for an old fashion barn raising. Look at the results!!! Aren't friends wonderful.
I spent September 9 through 11 with them. We pretty much got rained out on Saturday, but are working on the roof (We wished we had one). Tiffany was wielding the nail gun shoring up trusses and Dave getting ready for the sheeting. We did frame another interior wall downstairs with rain dripping through the upper flooring on us.
They had a party at the property for Dave's birthday (9/11). Dave and Joby show off their kids.
Well, Dave had a new challenge. A job with a company building log homes meant he had less time to work on the barn. Also it got dark earlier. In spite of that he and Tiffany have been working on the next phase, the dormers. It looks more like a barn all the time!
Thanksgiving 2005. Tiffany's parents Dwight and Callae have moved back to Portland and hosted the clan for the holiday. It included a tour of the barn and property in the pouring rain. David's grandmother, Amy, got a special tour from David. Dwight says his Get-r-done Construction Company is ready to go.
December 2005. The roof is finally covered. And are those windows I see in the dormers? :-)
With the extra heavy rain at the end of the year, Dave and Tiffany are working on getting the hatches battened down. This lower end and the full other end are enclosed and plastic covering the roof until conditions allow it to be completed. This is how it looks as it enters the New Year 2006. They've come a long way!
At the end of January they've enclosed both ends and built the deck.
They've completed the siding and Dave is working on the doors.
Yup, there they are, and interior walls, too. It's now fully enclosed.
Dave's been putting the metal roof on which has been pretty slow since he has to go to work, too. They had plumbing installed so that was done in a day and a half. Pretty exciting.
The end of September 2006 and the barn has a roof and really is RED! The wiring is in progress, too.
The end of November, 2006, they are "powered up". That means they have passed their electrical inspection and the power is on to the barn. They have also now passed their framing/structural inspection. Next is insulation and drywall. Below, it's cold and sunny and the other picture shows gutters installed.
Well, Dave was working in Virginia for several weeks in February, 2007, so is now back hard at work. He just started dry-walling.
Things changed a lot in March, Dave got much of the drywall up.
Now there is paint on the walls, and a toilet!
On August 10th, 2007 the barn was finally ready for final inspection for occupancy. It was easily approved!!!
On the afternoon of August 10th, Dave and Tiffany moved in
They're in!
It's now just finish work and finding homes for their belongings...and just in time as 3 days later, their daughter Ruth was born. (Check out her page on this site)