Framing!

It’s starting to look less like a building site, and more like a building! We now officially have our first room! :)

Ultimately this will be the “clean room” adjoining the garage, where I can set up a computer, sink, table, couch, coffee machine, etc. away from the dust and grime of the garage / workshop, but in the shorter term I can see one of the boys (or perhaps their parents) claiming this as a bedroom when we move in and begin building the house proper :)

But that’s not what I’ve been doing today…

I’ve been looking forward to this part of the build for a while now. Framing involves a few things I really enjoy - working with timber & power tools, my new friend the nail gun (seriously, how did builders get by before these were invented!?) and the results are immediately satisfying.

Damn, I love being out of the ground!!

SketchUp is an absolute boon here too. I spent half an hour sketching up a wire frame on paper from my model, worked up the cut list and had the generator off within an hour of starting it.

There’s only one thing better than the sound of the generator being turned off, and that’s the psshht of a bottle being opened at the end of the day ;)

Anyway, within a few hours I had all four frame sections assembled and erected. There’s still a little fettling to do to get everything perfectly plumb and bolted down, but thanks to the SketchUp model I was able to tear through the job with zero mistakes. Must be a record for me :) It’s especially gratifying when putting a frame up and the top plate matches the height of its neighbour perfectly :)