I was up early as I wanted to post a couple more blog entries while there was less demand for the RV park’s WiFi/Internet connectivity. I also like to have at least some of my morning coffee well in advance of going to the HFH job site.
Linda L and John filling in the west foundation trench.
We arrived a little before the 7 AM start time agreed to yesterday and some team members wondered why we were starting so early? (Our team is very cohesive, but is clearly not of one mind when it comes to start times.) When we were done with circle many team members grabbed shovels and rakes and filled in the trenches around the foundation and smoothed out the soil.
The house wrapped in Tyvek.
All framed up plumb.
The NW corner of the roof is “hip”
I worked with Kent installing trusses for the hip roof at the north (rear) end of house. We got that done just before the lunch break, but it wasn’t easy, and was not something either of us had ever done before. With help from Lynn, we set the main double truss and then installed the two hip trusses that run out through the corners where the side walls meet the back wall. We then installed eight smaller half trusses to compete the roof and ceiling structure.
Bruce nailing hip trusses.
Hurricane clip.
The two Linda’s teamed up to start anchoring all the trusses to the east wall using hurricane clips. This was a difficult job because of the short nails that are used, the awkward angles at which they must be hammered, and the fact that all of the work must be done on ladders. They also built and installed a header for a closet opening which required the use of the circular saw.
An all female crew bending the foundation flashing.
Another all female crew painting the siding panels.
A crew of men was asked to go help Matt retrieve a variety of materials donated by Wells Fargo Bank, take them to the ReStore, and unload them. Some of this material had been moved the other day, but large, heavy items remained. Many of the other women team members finished wrapping the house with Tyvek and then put the first cost of a deep crimson red paint on the loose siding.
After lunch Kent and I worked on truing up the main trusses. We climbed up, in, around, and through a maze of trusses and spacer bars to un-nail, position, and re-nail bracing to hold the truss peaks plumb with uniform spacing. In spite of the pleasant temperature and continued cloudiness, by 2:00 PM everyone was ready to call it a day.
Looking back on the day, a lot was accomplished both on and off site, and a lot of it was done on ladders. I recalled that one of the last safety reminders we got from Steven before he left was that that biggest safety hazard on an HFH build is the use of a ladder. We did not have any accidents or injuries today, so that along made it a good day.
Back at the rig, Linda prepared a pot of her wonderful vegan chili while I made a phone call to the FMCA offices in Cincinnati, Ohio to complete our registration for the GLAMARAMA rally in Goshen, Indiana in September. FMCA was updating their servers last week when I tried to register online, and our transaction did not compete successfully.
We went to the social at 4:30 PM and stayed until 6:00 PM when most of us returned to our rigs to have dinner and settle in for the evening. As usual, we went for an evening stroll around the campground and enjoyed the cloudy, cool, breezy conditions.