15 Days and Counting

Lord willing, 15 days from now will find me doing some cold weather camping next to a freshly delivered load of timber beams and dimensional lumber.  The long range forecast appears to be calling for highs in the mid to upper 40's with lows in the low to mid 20's.  As long as we can keep the precipitation under control (read: not pouring rain) I have every intention of ringing in the 2017 by building the subfloor on the first phase of our off grid cabin.

It's ironic that having a definite date now seems to make it harder, rather than easier, to wait.  15 days is nothing when compared to the year and a half since we bought the land.  It's even less when compared to the years I've dreamed about it.  But now with us this close time threatens to grind to a complete and utter standstill.

It's been nearly a year since we dug the footers with the rented Bobcat.  It's been 2 months since we poured the cement.  We've spent the last 5 weeks or so clearing timber and burning out stumps.  Now those 2 weeks that stand between me and the next phase seem to be an eternity.  I now focus my intellectual energy on slowing down mentally to anticipate issues I may face.  The cement piers will need to be shimmed in order to provide a level surface for the beams.  Some blocks may require a little chisel work to remove excess cement that hardened over the tops.  That cement will need to be removed to allow for a flat surface on which the beams will ride.  I suspect that a professional would not have these problems...but my lack of professional status has been widely and exhaustively documented.  Were I to do it over again I probably would have spent the extra money to have sonotubes.  I balked at the cost on phase 1 but may find that the extra time required to get all the posts level is not worth the $100 I saved.  We shall see.

This one thing I know.  I will have a level subfloor in place and be ready to start framing walls in January, 2017.  I have every intention of being done with that by Monday, January 2nd before sunset.  I don't really plan to get into the walls until March or April but having the floor in (and covered with tarps to prevent water damage) feels like a huge milestone.  It will mean pulling up to our future homestead and seeing a house taking shape.