This weekend was a bust in terms of the house raising because of our inability to get supplies on time. We couldn't get the straw until Saturday because the truck driver had other obligations during the week. And the wood that we ordered right after the earthquake JUST came on Saturday, too, and it was wet. Like, cut a piece and sap pours out of it wet. So we postponed the wall-raising until THIS coming Saturday, which also means we have to miss a couple of days of my Father-in-law's visit AND the concert he's playing on Saturday night :( Who needs a social life?
The good news is that Nick and I have become expert carpenters. That's a total lie. We're mediocre carpenters who took a day to figure out how in the world to build a frame for recycled windows. We have three frames down, now, and ... 5 to go. Plus four or five door frames :-/ I am not enjoying this building stuff, although I will certainly be proud when it's done. All of this came with its usual set of Chile setbacks: blown fuses, poorly cut wood (the 2x4s were 2.1x4.3), crummy supplies. In the meantime, the farm truck blew out three tires, so we had to take it in to get a new set-- that took another whole day of our time. What I wouldn't give for something to go smoothly........
So we go back tomorrow to finish the carpentry stuff, then the guys come on Saturday to do the walls. Lots of pictures to come! I am extremely interested to see how this straw-bale building goes. As much as I read about it being a legitimate building technique, I still can't quite wrap my mind around it. We are looking into it for our own house, although having a builder do it to expedite things, but it just seems so... weird! We shall see.
1 comment:
At least the wood was bigger than it was supposed to be, rather than smaller!
I'd really like to have a straw-bale home someday, too. There is a museum here that is partially straw-bale, and I love how it looks.
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