Act Two
Every Homesteader Needs a Home
Scene One: Standing in front of unfinished homestead
Narrator:
The size of the job was extraordinary, and one could argue that I was a little over optimistic about the progress that could be made on the house before the close of the semester. I would rather say that I simply under estimated the amount of time my internship took. Once daylight savings time rolled around, and we didn't start getting home until after dark, I wasn't sure if we'd ever get the house to shed water. But now I'm jumping ahead of myself. First, let me start at the beginning.
“Fade out Voice....and Cue the organist”
**Flashback**
Scene Two: Standing among swaying birches on a hot summer day
Biblical Voice over: In the beginning, ... there were trees.
Narrator:
It only took emmy and I two days with a Husqvarna, an ax and a push mower to clear the house lot. Things were looking good right from the beginning. Within the first week we had both lots (house and greenhouse) cleared and ready for the bulldozer. By the second week we were already working on the solar alignment (16 degrees SW, or “true south”) and digging posts.
We designed the “house to allow ample sunshine on the south side, with as few doors and windows as possible on the north” (Ewing p.95). The north wall is relatively short (only 12'), has absolutely no windows and is snuggled up against the tree line for protection. The south side is shaded by a 5 foot overhang to limit the amount of direct sunlight in the summer, while still capture as much as possible during the winter months when the sun is low on the horizon (Ewing p.97). To catch as much solar gain as possible the 20'x18' surface is covered with nearly three quarters double paned, insulated glass.
A slow start and the brutally hot summer days made the floor of the house take a lot longer than I had anticipated. It wasn't until the beginning of July that a permit was issued, which set the schedule back nearly 3 weeks. But with the help of a couple friends and a movable canopy tent we were able to get the floor finished and the walls started before the intense heat let up.
The posts we planted were 12 pressure treated 6x6's. We used an old clockwise post hole digger and dropped them in about four feet deep after adding some Quickcrete to the water that trickled into the bottom of each hole. We set the four corner posts first and squared them diagonally before putting in the middle ones and leveling them all with a transit and a chainsaw.
The lumber came the Tuesday after the 4th of July, well, most of it. Parent Lumber, a local company, seemed to be sold out of much of their stock of rough cut lumber. We ended up with rough 16 ' 2x6's for the joists (we spaced them 12” vs. 16” on center to compensate) , rough 8' 2x6's for walls and planed 20' 2x10's for the rafters. As supplies varied, so did the house plans but in the end, all seems to have worked out for the better.
At this time (almost a month after starting) we called in the reinforcements.
Scene Three: Standing in the middle of a somber battlefield
Voice Over: A Tale More Torrid than Mike
Mulligan and his Steam Shovel
(Revisited)
Narrator:
The Bulldozer came on a Friday afternoon. We rented a Caterpillar D3G for $275. Kind of expensive but, for what we were trying to do within the time frame, it was a life saver. We had it for the weekend but were limited to 8 hours by a little timer on the dash. As big as the thing was that timer made it feel like one of those coin operated merry-go-rounds out front of K-Mart. Still, my dad played for nearly 4 hours that Friday night and was able to do most of the road up to the house lot. With another four hours on Saturday emmy and I were able to clear the lot for the greenhouse and back-drag everything until (moderately) smooth.
I had a lot of time to think while I was back-dragging around and around. Through the rumble and clatter of the diesel-powered bull atop which I perched I was able to watch this beast tear trees, stumps and roots ... well, limb from limb. There were blood red roots stretched across the entire “field” (if you can even call it that anymore). It reminded me of a Civil War battlefield from the movie Glory. At this Point I wondered to myself: who named this Caterpillar Hexxux? Hexxux, the evil diesel-powered demon in Fern Gully, represents human “progress” by leveling forests for parking lots. In a retrospective confession, I guess it was me. I try not to be a radical, anti-human environmentalist. But, I was the kid who used to cry when my dad cut down a tree.
I had a lot of time to think when all I could hear was the rumbling of tanks and all I could see was the scrambling of children in a desert village. I justified it to myself then, in two ways (while now, I try not to let past decisions/action clog up my present). First, I convinced myself of the good; the life and the growth that that little one acre sacrifice will produce. Second, I used to love Tonka Trucks. This, for me, was a second childhood.
Scene Four: Standing behind construction tape, helmet in hand.
Narrator:
By mid July we had the downstairs walls up and plated, but progress was soon bogged down. The biggest reason was the beginning of my internship. Though, in the beginning it looked as if they weren't going to need me, I ended up getting a call from Doug who, after our last chat, had turned up shorthanded because one of his migrant workers took off unexpectedly. The upside to the whole predicament was that I got thrown right in with the Mexican migrant workers rather than working with the high school pickers. Meaning: I was able to see everything that needed to be done each day, picking this and that for the stands and starting out new fields, while the others simply did the busy work in the strawberry fields. The downside was, I ended up working full time meaning a whole lot less time (and energy) left for working on the house at the end of the day.
Another reason for the slowdown was a combination of *ZakkFest* (set up and tear down) and emmy's parents coming to stay for a few weeks. It wasn't until mid August that we managed (with the help of emmy's parents) to finish the roof and the siding on the north wall. Unfortunately, by this time, the house was a month behind schedule and we were just entering into the busiest time for working at Chipman Farms. This work carried right on through October.
Although things were slower than I had expected, I am happy with the progress we have made. The downstairs is all sided and all the windows and doors except one (barring technical difficulties) are in place. The only regret I seem to harbor is that the siding upstairs has yet to be finished. Luckily, typar keeps the rain out just the same.
In the end the only noticeable difference from the house as it stands and from the diagrams in the initial proposal for my independent study, is that the height of the front wall was raised 2' in order to maximize upstairs headroom. Instead of having a height of 16' on the front wall, we now have 18'. This was also done to increase the pitch of the roof, as to help during winters of heavy snowfall. And, the “open floor plan will allow solar radiation greater access to the deep recesses of [our] house” (Ewing p. 96).
**Dim House
Lights**
Scene Five: Standing in front of unfinished homestead
Narrator:
Yes, the house still isn't finished, but except for a day's worth of siding left to do, the progress is about where I had hoped it to be. There is still a lot we can do over the course of this winter. Some of the remaining tasks are running the electrical, as well as building cabinets, closets, stairs and railings.
We decided, right from the start, to leave the insulation and heating problems until next summer. For insulation we have looked into alternatives to classic fiberglass but have yet to find one that is functionable as well as affordable. To solve the heating issue we have been doing some research on natural gas Monitor heaters. As opposed to the obvious wood stove, a monitor heater won me over for a number of reasons (at least as a solo heat source).
There is an inherent danger with having a wood stove in a wooden house without a proper hearth. In order to maintain safety we would have to build at least a brick hearth on a wooden floor. These structural problems mixed with the fact that we have no real wall space to provide the common 3 feet clearance around the stove have practically made the decision for me. My personal comfort came into play when remembering how hard it is to start a fire on cold winter mornings or when you come home late and the fire burned out. Plus, just because you live in the woods doesn't mean it's not all pine. How does it go? “Trees, trees everywhere but not a stick for the stove?”
The Monitor heaters require almost no space except for their actual size, and can vent directly to the outside without a chimney. The ability to set a thermostat to keep a constant temp seems a lot more carefree and efficient than having to start cold, burning until overheating, and having to open a window thus wasting all the headway made... it seems like a vicious cycle, one I'd like to avoid for now.
**Dim
House Lights**
End of Act II