© 2010 Borealis Fermentery

 

9/9/2009 TIME TO REFLECT AND RUN THIS BALL INTO THE ENDZONE!

 

Yeah!  Now just a few more minor things to do and this place will be finished.  Sorry I havn’t been real good about keeping this site up.  Jen and I are both learning how to be normal people again.  CRAZY ASS ADVENTURE...  A little behind schedule, but... whatever.  I would suggest whittling a strawbale timberframe home in northern Minnesota to anyone- and I bet Jen would too!  I can’t speak for Jen, but this has definitely been the hardest thing I’ve ever done.   There have been so many layers of insanity to this project.  Emotional, physical, mental, blah blah blah.  It was hard.  But now there’s a really interesting thing going on right now.... I’m starting to feel this weird feeling lately... I feel like... Laid back and... Happy... again for the first time in several years?.  Yeah, for sure I’m biased, but this place is flat out the coolest F***ing place I’ve ever seen in my life save for some whacked out castles in Europe.  No more freezing, staying awake at night listening to storms ravage outside, thinking of how the hell to make certain things work.  I don’t mean to sound too pretentious, but if you’ve never built a house before from scratch, you just have no idea of what the hell you go through... especially as newlyweds.  I can say one thing thome days we look around now, and just start dancing for no reason.  We did it.

 

The last I typed I think that I was concerned about the left foot.  Well, it turns out that the Two Harbors emergency drastically misdiagnosed the damage my left foot took after that fall.  A few months into this Spring, I went to a specialist in Duluth and yes, they missed two torn ligaments that hold your arches up on the left foot.  I should have had surgery, but ended up getting my feet molded for orthotic inserts as a last resort.  The doc said I would never run again, but I am happy to say that they worked so well, I am almost pain free now and recently bought some new running shoes.  USE CLIMBING GEAR WHEN ON A ROOF.  I am lucky that I am not drinking from a straw.  BUT... Everything is good, and I lucked out.

 

Jen continues to work at EMR as a consultant through the building.  She kicks complete ass and actually loves her job despite the crammed summer schedule that consultants deal with.  This has allowed me to build past the time where I thought I would be getting paid again.  This thing is definitely harder than any job I’ve ever had though.  I make way more for us as a contractor than I could ever make as an Engineer.  We have both worked ourselves in ways we never dreamed of and I can’t wait to start crunching numbers to get things off of the ground now.  Kind of time to start shifting gears and moving forward with the initial dream.  Onward ho.

 

A shout out to Dave Falls, renown bassist for carp, vanilla thunder, and zod.  We have visitors now, but not the kind that still come and go, “Dude, I’m here to work, so we can go fishing next time I come.”  Yep, Dave was the sole individual who came to help work on the place this summer.  He demanded that he help and help he did.  Dave helped get the remainder of the high-up work done.  We did soffets for five days, and then he rumbled, terminator style, out of the driveway on his motorcycle.  Having extensive knowledge from working at a mill, Dave gets the top helper of the entire project award for busting it out on the saw while I screwed stuff in up high.  Ghotied and metal concert shirted, he worked efficiently as hell, and only sawed one sawhorse in half the whole time he was here.  It was great to see him and feel that ESP-like connection of mindwave intensity flowing yet again.  Dave Falls and me is geniouses, and he helped more better than anything did here.  God bless Dave Falls, and God bless the United States of America.  Tee shirts available next month on this very site.

 

Aside from that, we cleared an acre for a garden, which has been a blast.  It’s cool to get compound Thiemann one step closer to self sustainablility.  We also have a civil war muzzle loader now.  As well, we have a field for horseshoes and the four story beer tower...  but that my friends, is the next chapter....

 

K&J September 2009

 

12/2/2008 HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

The exterior of the building is completely done, aside from some soffet work up under the eaves.  Gas lines and propane tank have been installed with a rental trencher, which I would suggest for anyone to rent at any time, because they are killer.  I wanted for us to be able to use a gas stove, and they don’t count wood as a second fuel for us to be eligible for dual fuel, and really inexpensive electric floor heat and hot water.  Also brought in phone line and wireless Internet  It’s very cozy and comfortable here now.  Final landscaping and planting, garden, etc., will be done in the Spring.

 

Unfortunately, November saw its share of injury and pain from this geniuses end.  Aside from gashing myself while cutting chizedar shizake shizingles, I was working on the upper wall portion of the building the day before Thanksgiving when I went off of the backside of the roof.  With the house facing nearly due South, the frost that occurs on the metal roof this time of year thaws and dries on the south side of the roof.  That morning, I had noticed that there was about three safe feet to walk on on the top of the North ridge of the roof and made a mental note of it.  I was in the last 10-15 minutes of outdoor season work literally, when I dropped my tape measure.  That’s all it took for me to take my mind off of the frost, and as I reached in back of me to grab it, I started sliding down the roof backwards in kneeling guitar solo stance.  Luckily, I reversed as I went off of the roof and landed perfectly on my feet, trying to take the fall with first feet, then knees, hips, etc.- finishing with a shoulder roll.  I had thought that I pulled it off and actually started to walk away from the fall when I felt my left foot crunch under my weight.  Luckily, I had everything X-rayed and there were no breaks.  My feet are really, really, bruised and sore now though, and I’m unable to walk without crutches.  All of the tendons and cartilage are all wacky inside of my feet.  Black and bluey.  I think I’ll be back up soon though.  This is actually the first time that I’ve not felt guilty that I was not working on the house.  R&R well needed.

 

SO....  It’s been a long haul to this point.  Some people have been asking if we learned anything from all this.  Hmmm.  I can only speak from my end.  One thing is that it has taken much longer than I thought.  This is not surprising really- but you still have to set a realistic schedule.  Mortgage companies estimate between 2 to 5 years for owner built, conventional homes.  Most importantly, I would say to never go into a construction project without a very solid partner or spouse if you’re planning on keeping your relationship together.  Jen deserves a peach pie once I get that stove in- she is the bomb.  We have been on a Coleman stove for a year and a half and have woken up many nights with frozen solid Nalgenes next to us- this gets old.  I guess that I also really learned the importance of looking and working on one part of the project at a time and focusing on just what I was doing that day, not getting pissed about freezing and being behind schedule.  Take rest days and mini vacations to improve efficiency (thanks Europe)!  Also, I’ve learned how to sequence work, making the most out of your time.  Doing things twice, or having to redo areas because of backtracking has become my biggest pet peave.  Luckily there hasn’t been much of that (This is where I would actually say the Engineering training paid off the most).  Strawbale is TONS of work.  The end product is killer, but it’s about ten times harder than normal stick-built house projects.  Combine that with a timberframe, and you’ve got a huge project in front of you.  Strawbale is not for everyone.  You can really screw it up- let’s hope the bases are covered.  I will always try to talk people out of strawbale in the future if not for any other reason than the insane amount of work involved.  

 

Lastly, the really hard part has been infrastructure design on this thing.  It has always been my plan to have hardly any infrastructure going through any of the straw walls in case that something went wrong (reason for the kneewalls, tracklighting).   The South side is all conventional SIP panels- and the whole wall took 9 days to complete!  I wanted it to be so that the straw could be taken off of the frame and replaced by SIPS if anything ever went wrong.  As well, you have this timber frame that you really don’t want to go through with water and electrical.  Where do you hide all of that without making holes in your posts and beams?  Quite a big puzzle.  Hire only those who want the challenge, have a positive attitude, and are fired up to keep an open mind and learn something new.  Hire only those who deserve it- don’t support Jerks.  It’s not worth listening to whining contractors who bring the ball to the ten, and then kick the metaphorical field goal instead of punching it into the end zone because they are overbooked, and have some other conventional job to get to that’s way easier.  When you build, it’s a macho guy world, and everyone knows everything.  Take tips from those who know, but don’t listen to everyone.  This is where we owe our electrician, Fred, huge kudos.  So far, everything is working great though- heating, water, frame, septic, bales, lights....

 

I realistically think that I can sew this thing up by Spring.  Then we’ll start thinking about the business end of things.  It’s been about 1.5 years so far.  Longer than I thought, but once again worth the wait.  This winter finds kneewalls,  electric, kitchen, upstairs bath, upstairs wooden floors and trim being put in.  Keep on trudging.  I’m going to soak up some of this veggy lifestyle though and try not to feel guilty about it.  When I get done with this thing, I’m patenting mac and cheese Vicodin pills.

 

I know we didn’t get around to the giant party yet, but it is still our goal to have a monster bash this Spring/Summer for everyone who helped make this thing come to life.  We are very indebted to everyone for believing that we could do it.  That’s the last thing I would say is very important- if you know you can do something- do it. I’ve found through building this thing that it’s so much easier for people (engineers especially) to focus on the negatives that can happen, the downfalls, etc.  Our society and TV Is plagued by instances and shows that stress (enter ominous, tense music) someone in tears getting kicked off the show, not making the cut, etc.  You get the feeling that some people actually get off on watching others fail.  This project has made me realize more than ever what complete bullshit that is.  Regarding anything past constructive criticism coming from some folks, you have to tune it out and try not to take it personally like I have been prone to do.  It’s a journey I guess, not a personal war.  I’m still trying to capitalize on that aspect of this thing.  Ugh, sorry about the soapbox.  Once again, those that were behind us through this, we are deeply indebted, and we’re going to have a super party when all is said and done.

 

Have a great holiday season and make some elderly person smile!

K&J

 

10/10/2008

 

The leaves are changing again, and I will soon have spent a little over 5% of my life building this thing.  It’s becoming well worth it now though.  All of the nay-sayers are now bringing their friends by to see the place, so I guess that’s a good thing.  It’s cool to say that there is very little thinking now left to do.  My favorite thing is sitting inside a warm house looking out the window at the aspens changing typing this- I guess that the warm house part is my favorite.  It’s going to be a much warmer winter this year.  What a massive task this has been, but again, well worth it.  Jen was saying that she believes we’ve been traumatized by this experience.  Hmmm... Maybe.  I still have this weird feeling when I look all around me at all the work that I don’t exactly remember the guy who built this thing.  It’s definitely an expedition into some different places in your head, that’s for sure.  I think it’s safe to say we should be completed by Spring.

 

So- do we still like strawbale?  I would say that now that all of the work and engineering is done with that this place is unreal.  At the onset you look at this list you have and feel like there’s no way that it’s going to work (you don’t tell people this).  And now I can say honestly that most everything is working- and not just working, working amazingly.  The strawbale is far exceeding any expectations that I had about energy efficiency.  Combined with the passive solar, the floor heating has barely been on, and we’ve already had a few nights below 0F. Two thumbs way up for passive solar- it’s working so well, and the angle of the sun is heating this place perfectly- cool in the Summer and now nice and warm as the sun gets lower in the sky.  The combination of the wooden beams and the stucco is very warming to look at.  Floor heating unit will be more than enough to take on this place- I was wondering about that.  The thing’s so small, but it’s going to be just fine.  I’m super happy and very proud.  Would I do this again?  Heh heh.

 

So- what’s been going on since the Spring?  Mostly stucco, stucco, and more stucco.  Like somewhere in the neighborhood of 25,000 lbs. of it spread evenly over the perimeter of this place inside and out by the time all is said and done.  We hired Tim Callaway of Spooner WI to take on the task of helping finish off brown and final coats over the scratch that I put on- and the guy is a machine.  I liked Tim because he’s done this for 25 years and doesn’t use any fancy machines or guns- he does it by hand using hawk, trowel, and Pall Malls.  Every bit of the stucco on this beast will be hauled up by 5 gallon bucket.  I wanted to make sure I did the scratch in order to get it pushed in past the mesh and adhering to the straw.  And now we’re almost done with the second coat on all exterior walls (we decided to stucco the South wall too)- It’s looking like the final coat containing water repellent and color will be on this place by the end of October- probably a sage green.  It’s amazing to see Tim taking my wavy gravy scratch coat and making it look like a professional building- a really good eye.  It’s still wavy, but is looking really killer.  We can’t wait to see what the final and third coat looks like (the latest pics are of the second, or brown coat).  One of the most amazing things about the straw and stucco is how QUIET this place has become.  You can’t hear traffic, friends in the driveway honking,  nothing.  I was sitting inside during a storm last week looking out at trees whipping around and there was barely any sound.  The place is getting really tight- I did just work out the air exchanger layout this week, as we’ll need that to bring in fresh air and keep the humidity down.  I also did some stone work around the doors.  I think we’ll put some light fresco painting for the trim on the stucco up high like many of the buildings we saw in Switzerland.  One thing is for sure- I have become a huge endorser of stucco- and now understand why so many of the old buildings in Europe still had stucco on them.  This junk is for real, and is for a really, really long time.  Yay stucco.  The remainder of the interior stucco will be done indoors.  We’re just getting a few more things sewn up on the exterior getting ready for winter- a much, much, warmer winter this year.

 

So I’m much more happy this year with the place we’re at.  The hard part is over.  Now to chill out and start to enjoy this thing.  My brain still has a hard time realizing that there is not much left to freak out about.  Well, I guess that’s the wrong term to use, cuz everyone knows I don’t freak out about stuff.  Happy Fall Y’all.  Next time we speak we’ll have a STOVE and will put away the Coleman burner- I don’t think we’ll miss that much.  I’m gonna make cookies!  Looking to have a big Fall barbecue for all the helpers.  More on that soon.

 

8/25/2008

 

Wow, we have been busy with everything from guests, to weddings in Colorado (Contracts Nick and Mandy Lauer!).  Ann Arbor UofM days, and Houghton Finnfest crowd  back to back weekend reunions (total of about sixty guests camping and rampaging in late July).  Visits from Matt Sayles of FBG fame and fortune,  Visits to the Porcupine Mountain Music Festival in the U.P.  Aerostitch very boring tourbike rally with Jen’s parents and friends visiting, and now my family coming on Labor Day.  We haven't had a weekend to ourselves in like five weeks.  Time to take a big breath and ease into Fall!  It’s been great to see everyone though, and the place is definitely a house now.

 

It’s not as interesting as last year because there’s not as much visually happening and going up in front of our eyes.  Lots is going on with the inside though.  The exterior has a scratch coat that I’ve put on, but we’re taking bids for a professional to do the final coats so this place looks like a “real house”.  With the cement stucco, wherever I stop and leave a dry edge, there’s a visual seam.  With pro’s doing it, this can hopefully be minimized.  I think I have the hang of the inside stucco, but the artistic part takes some time and lots of patience for sure.

 

Overall, the house is performing VERY well with respect to being cool in the Summer time.  It is completely enclosed on the outside and we’re working hard on the inside.  The interior walls are looking great with the deep window wells.  Above all, we are not afraid of rain and snow now- and for sure Winter will be much warmer for us!

 

I’m holding up much better these days.  Stucco really builds the back muscles up.  Now to figure out how to do the upstairs on the inside (the outside scratch coat was done by hoisting single buckets at a time up to the scaffold).  It’s really fun now to see the final product of different things that get done now.  The light is definitely at the end of the tunnel.

 

As always, new pics and updates on the time lapse movies.  We’re going to have a big Fall bash for everyone that has helped out so far.  This should be fun.  More info on that one.

 

Thanks for everyone who came out this summer- you’re always welcome here now that we have an official guest room almost completed.  Final electricity and finish on the KITCHEN soon to come.  Maybe we can officially hook up an OVEN (have been with grill or coleman camp stove from the beginning now.  Can’t wait to bake stuff again!

 

I can’t figure out how to get the guestbook working- I’ll have to work on that.

 

Will try to be more diligent with updates from now on.  Cheers!

 

6/18/2008

 

I know it’s June, but for us, this is Spring.  Taking a deep breath.  Breath Ken, we’re not going to die or freeze any more.  Go get a fishing license Ken, go for a run, you’re out of the woods- the hard part is over.  I have faced building through a Minnesota winter- and it’s every bit as interesting as the Laura Ingalls Wilder books made it out to be- and more.  Giving the site a little facelift.  Trying some new things.  We’ll see if we can get something working here.

 

Winter was very long and cold- there were about three of them this Winter.  You know when you’re putting beer in a refrigerator to keep it from freezing that it’s cold in your house.  I keep telling people that I don’t really remember the guy who was out there in the cold building this place this past Winter.  The crazy, bleary-eyed frozen Ken is going away, and it’s good to see him go.  He was like dealing with Jack Nicholson from The Shining at various times.  It’s a really different game now that the weather is cooperating- out there in a T-shirt cranking away again.  I believe the hard half is over.  Super thankful for being out of the cold rain and snow.

 

Soooo…. it was very good to finally get moved in and get some heat in February.  Spring hit very wet with two 60-70 mph storms.  We did not, thankfully, see any flooding like in other parts of the country though. Now we’re in here, and the place is performing very well.  The straw is doing its job- Warm when its cold out, and cool when its hot out- this is very noticeable.  We are still living with straw walls on the inside- kind of neat.  

 

A little behind schedule, yes, but what can you say?  I would say she should be finished sometime in the Fall- or at least down to trim, etc.   When I look at where we were at 1 year ago, it blows me away.  I was trying to figure out how to make the beams sitting in our driveway into a house.  Now I’m trying to figure out how to hook up the second floor toilet.  This is a good thing.

Now there’s just tons of stucco and drywall to be done.  This is what we’re up against if you plan to help out this year…. and now you can stay IN the place, and borrow some canoes…whatever.  You can visit now and NOT help out- and I might even jump in a canoe with you!

There’s new pics, movies, etc. on the site.  Have fun, and once again thanks to all of those folks who helped in any way with this monumental process, we are very grateful.  The amount of volunteer hours and accomplishment of the last year is staggering when I think about it.  Thanks for hanging with us on this thing.

 

4/4/2008 Whew! Made It. That winter kinda stunk.

 

Sorry for no updates.  There’s really not that much to see.  Mostly interior things and interior prep for finishing work.  I’ll update this soon.  Been working hard.  Took a cheapie spring vacation to visit some friends in Northern California (yes those plants are not on our property).  Thanks to Sayles and Jeff and Becky Titulaer for their amazing hospitality and car loan.  Jen and I visited the coast and some wineries in Sonoma and Russian river valleys.  We even went to a strawbale winery called the Ridge winery.

 

I’ll update the site soon with new pics and such.  We’re just getting back into the swing of SPRING!  Finally.  This past winter was a little hectic with squatting in a motel, being COLD, and finally getting into our place a few weeks back.  Our downstairs bath is almost complete and its killer to have a shower, toilet, and sink!  Getting ready for a season of crazy stuccoing and finishing work.  May 1st will mark one year into construction.  I can’t believe what we did really.  Crazy stuff.

 

Everything is working really well.  Heat system doesn’t even need to kick on with the south facing windows during the day.  Viva passive solar.  PEX tubing for in-floor heat and water is KILLER.  Don’t even consider rigid these days unless specific use is needed.  PEX flex tubing for distribution and in-floor is easy and solid as heck.

More pics, updates and such coming soon, promise.

 

Once again, we have to say thanks to all the folks that have helped out in so many ways.  Also with the past winter.  It was very trying from many different angles.  The hard part is over now.  Now for a new season of finishing this beast off.  No more freezing, wheezing, being dirty, cold, and staring at your spouse with hungry sallow eyes as she turns into a hallucinated vision of a turkey drumstick like in the cartoons.  Thanks folks, when all is said and done, we’re throwing a huge party for everyone.

 

1/23/2008 Strawbaling Done!  Cold, Cold, Cold.  Heat now hooked up- still can’t move in.

 

It is official, I looked at the map and the smallest number on the map is hovering above the crook of Lake Superior.  Very Cold as of late (-20F).  This is brutal to work in.  Hooked up the hydronic tubes last week and they got the place up to 58F before the cold snap.  It takes a bit to thaw those 40cyds thawed.  If you’re into heating (Ron and Chad) check out the geeky geekass mcgeekerton section.

 

Well, straw baling is OVER, BUT... Now I’ve traded breathing in strawdust for spun glassfiber.  We have half of our roof insulated and I came home cursing and hacking last night from insulation- this should be a relatively short-lived phase- but I have a suspicion that building induced tuberculosis won’t be.  I’ve also been doing internal framing of walls- our goal is to get the living half isolated thermally from the other half (three heating tubes in floor vs. two on the other side).  Our Three week house sitting gig is up and it’s back to the dingy motel.  Right now all we want is to sleep in a bed that hasn’t had anyone else have sex in it.

 

Soooo, almost there.  Today my stress management coach and wife has told me to take the day off (last night I threatened to chop her with an axe).  So I am listening to Ozric Tentacles and updating this thing.  We’re still cold and tired, but the place is looking sweet, and all we have to do is frame a bit and get some insulation in the ceiling, then we will dance.  Aside from -20F, the hard part is over- this thing is going to happen.

 

12/9/2007 Strawbaling Almost Done- COLD!

 

Welcome back.  As you can see, we didn’t exactly make it into the place by November.  I didn’t think we could get as lucky as the last two winters with another mild winter.  It is cold cold and we’re almost done enclosing this thing.  Just a little bit more.  We have the boiler and in-floor tubes ready to go once we’re inside, and then we CRANK that thing!

 

Strawbaling is lots of work and majorly dusty.  I’m glad they didn’t make a strawbaling book featuring our project.  There would be many pics I’m sure of me blowing my nose cussing.  Once it’s in the walls, it should be sweet, but stacking it and all the dust is for the birds.  I have been wheezing for a month now hitting Jen’s old inhalers of albuterol and having coughing fits in the middle of the night.  I’ll be glad to get it all enclosed with stucco.

 

On a better strawbale note, it looks really beautiful from the inside with the deep window bucks.  It got too cold to stucco (needs to be above -4C, 24.8F), so only the first floor is done to keep the snow out. The rest will be stitched and ready to stucco when temp permits.  It’s really dry, so we’re not overly worried about snow blowing against the upper bales.  The south side is made of all conventional panels.

 

We finally wimped- I’m sore, and busted up. We just moved into a motel room and paid through January.  It finally got too cold for us in the little barn, which has served us well for 8 months.  Waking up with your house below zero only goes so far for troop morale.  All of our liquid food froze, and the fires would only keep it up to around 60 with that old 1932 leaky stove blazing red.  So we wimped out.  The motel is a dive, but only temporary.  And the owner said he got roughed up by the cops in the early 70’s when he was in a rock band- which sounds like he may be one of the good ones.

 

10/8/2007 - Building up- roof scheduled for next week

 

The last few weeks have been rainy, rainy.  The drought finally broke and we’re getting more rain than ever- last night part of our driveway was underwater!  The timber framing is now done and we’ve got a really cool looking structure.  Very Salem witch trial- just in time for Halloween.  It’s good to have the hardest, slowest, (not to mention highest and sketchiest) part of the project behind us.  Now to get the roof on.  A crew is scheduled for this week to start helping with the roof.  This should take about 5 days (I’m not used to whole chunks of the project taking 5 days).  Straw is being delivered as soon as there is a roof and then a gentleman from Winnipeg is coming in to help me crank out the West, East, and North walls.  Just working against the winter now.  Once the roof is on, it should be much dryer with no rain days.

 

Very lucky with my knee that it was not damaged more falling out of the loft.  It’s been one month and I can walk on it without pain but there is still fluid.

 

Our hero Chal Dundee returns third week in October following a three week sabbatical to help with the framing.  Chal is not pictured in the peleton of racers during the recent in-line marathon, but did study some of the firm muscle structure of the female racers.

 

9/13/2007 SHE’S 80% UP!

 

Geesh, this place is bigger than it looked on 11x17 paper last winter.  There’s no real updates other than a few pics in the pics section.  I also fell from 6 feet Thursday evening after the first day of raising from our loft and woke up in mid air soon to be followed by my knee breaking the entire fall- a minor tibular plateau fracture- close one dumb Ken.  Racked it good.  Thanks to everyone who helped out with the Amish-style raising!  No Crane!  Huge.  The last few bents will go up this weekend.  No injuries aside from my sleep falling out of the loft.  Huge cheers to the raising crew Ashok, Keith, Anita, Scott, Tracy, Chad, Aaron, Preston, Chris, Paul, Jodie, Chal, Jen, Jerome, Jeremy, Dawn, Dale, and someone I probably forgot.  Way to go folks!

 

Wow, It’s Fall!  Now to get the roof on and get the bale walls up and this thing enclosed.  Snow in the forcast today!  A straw baler from Winnipeg is coming down once the roof is on to crank out the bale walls with me.  Chal is saving the day and has been in a tent on-site going on one month.  Great to have him.

 

8/27/2006 PREPARING FOR RESCHEDULED RAISING SEPTEMBER 6,7,8,9

 

I have now officially lost 16 pounds on this project and am almost down to high school weight.  Great diet this thing.  Head down, get behind the mule and PLOW.

 

We have rescheduled the raising and postponed for one week.  Brought in the big guns in the form of Chal Dundee and Sven Gonstead from Big Bay, MI (See new pics and cool people page plus new joinery section.  This will allow us to do much of the bracing that would have been overhead work at 22 feet on the ground.  Saving time and labor ahead of time.  We are now raising one week later starting Thursday September 6 through Sunday September 9.  Weekday raising will start at 5:30 and go until dark- all day Saturday and Sunday.  Let me know if you are interested.  Thanks for your patience.

 

These lifts are definately engineered efforts, because everything has to go in order so the joinery links correctly.  Bring your Amish attitude.  I need to have absolute commitment penciled in ahead of time for all of this. Please contact me at 218-343-2190 to let me know when you will be available.  The more days you can put in, the better as you won’t have to get re-trained in on the process.  This is the most dangerous section of this project.  Steel toes if you have them and a readiness to listen to one person.  I need strong people (6-8) for the pad and runners on the perimeter during lifts.  We already have 3 people full time for all days, and I’m working on a scheduling basis filling in the other days if you would like to help.

 

Well it’s come time to get this thing up into the air.  98% of the joinery has been cut and the next two weeks will be spent putting it together on the pad with bracing.  We have officially made the decision to attempt the raising old school style without a crane.  What does this mean?  It means we’ll once again need some volunteers.  I should say at this point that we can’t thank people enough for pitching in up to this point.  It’s been fun and saved us time and money.

 

The schedule for raising (if myself and the two hired hands I’ve got can get all of the bents assembled in the next two weeks) will be as follows:  Wed, Thurs, Fri August 29,30,31 we will work during the day with a skeleton crew to ready for the lifts, with the actual lifts planned for the evenings.  These lifts are definately engineered efforts, because everything has to go in order so the joinery links correctly.  The lifting portion of the evenings will go from 5:30-9pm- Saturday and Sunday we’ll work all day lifting when necessary. Bring your Amish attitude.  I need to have absolute commitment penciled in ahead of time for all of this. Please contact me at 218-343-2190 to let me know when you will be available.  The more days you can put in, the better as you won’t have to get re-trained in on the process.  This is the most dangerous section of this project.  Steel toes if you have them and a readiness to listen to one person.  I need strong people (6-8) for the pad and runners on the perimeter during lifts.  We already have 3 people full time for all days, and I’m working on a scheduling basis filling in the other days if you would like to help.

 

This is in my oppinion going to be the coolest part of the building process.  To see how it were done when nails were scarce.  No nails are being used.  In between lifts, we will be pegging and installing cross bracing between bents with vertical and horizontal knee bracing as well.  It’s a really cool opportunity if you’re interested in this type of building. The braces and timbers are really starting to look beautiful in place and they’re super strong.  It’s going to be a great time.

 

We’re going to try and get this thing up by hand.  Ashok came by for a few days and worked out a method wherein we think we can do this without a crane.  It deals with putting up certain bents in pieces instead of raising the whole bent at once.  We’re tentatively planning on doing this the 29th of August (Wednesday) through the 2nd of September (Sunday).  If you are interested in helping, raising will take place during the evenings 6-8 on the weekdays -29,30,31 of August around 6-9pm.  We’re doing this because many local folks may have to work.  Then we’ll be raising during the days on the 1,2 of September.  If you are interested in helping, I’m going to have to get names and times that people will be there ahead of time to confirm a commitment.  The more days you can put in, the less people we have to brief over each day on the process.  It’s going to be quite sketchy and dangerous at times and we’ll need strength on the pad and runners outside the pad.  I have to get 6 strong people for the evening shifts, and during the days on Saturday and Sunday.  Now I have to get busting to put the pieces that were joined together.  Call me at 218.343.2190 to pencil this in if you want to pitch in during the raising- it’s going to be a really cool experience.

 

7/30/2007

 

Rain!  Wow.  Why have there been no updates?  Because we've been working in the 95 degree Minnesota drought with a brief break for Hiawathafest this last weekend.  Rain days are the admin days, and it hasn't rained much in the last few weeks.  Now to catch up.  We're now officially done with most of the beam joinery and are toting them up onto the slab.  Summer half way over- yikes!  Not too far behind where I thought we would be.  We've now taken the frame from drawings, to joinery done on paper, to actually putting this things together- and it fits!  Definition of bummer:  a 22 ft. beam completely bombed from some dry rot near the top.  Getting ready to get the floodlight out and start the 12 hour days working into the evening.  Thanks to those who have come out and helped.  Crunch time has officially started…. We're looking at getting this thing up soon with roof and framing next month.  Any willing hands are well received at this point.  Thanks to those who have already visited and helped out this summer.  See the new "Cool People" section.

 

6/11/2007

 

Wow, lots of work just got done.  Foundation is done and ready to be poured, hopefully before this weekend as Grandma’s Marathon is on Saturday.  We’re having a celebration campout Friday evening on the progress to this point.  Ahead of schedule, under budget, yet solid.  We really can’t say how happy we are with the way things are going up until now.  The slab has been a really big concern getting the right design to build timbers and bale upon.  Thanks to all who helped out with double checking and reiteration of all of this!

 

Back, body, mind- all getting stronger- getting back to the person I remember being.  It’s about time- desk life hurt me more than I would like to admit.  Let me say the cold “solar” showers in the morning are great for sore muscles:).  What a great experience.  Yoga, yoga, yoga with some tylenol thrown in for good measure.  Getting used to living off of a well.  Very relaxing in the evenings watching the progress.  Winter just around the corner.

 

The time where we’ll need some help is drawing near with the raising and balework just around the corner.  Probably July and August are good options if anyone is planning to visit.  Hope to see you out here!  Camping and lean amenities on site- we’ll make sure you’re fed and watered.

 

6/1/2007

 

Timber joinery has been put on hold briefly make way for the foundation.  Things are happening faster than anticipated.  A good time to visit would be the raising which will take place sometime end of June early July now.  This should be a cool experience and we'll definitely need a lot of hands to get the bents up- or rent a crane for the day.  We’d like to try to do it with just friends though. Slab work is hard and tedious. Not very forgiving.  The pour will probably happen next week.  Forms are up and the plumbing is being stubbed out now.  Looking Forward to getting a good foundation under the place.

 

5/15/2007

 

Delivery of the timbers went quite well- only one mashed finger so far.  75% of them on-site.  Much Thanks to Aaron, Preston, Chris, and Jason for helping out with those things.  Howard, Jen and myself also planted over 100 spruce, red pine, white pine, and silver maple this past weekend.  Now to get busy notching, notching, notching.  Foundation to be poured in the next couple of weeks.  The leaves and plants are out and it’s getting beautiful out here.  Have been living on site for two weeks now.  See photos for virtual tour of premises.

 

It’s great to be out in the barn now that it’s finished.  It’s nice being outside all day long.  Lots of birds out all day with different songs.  I’m back into looking things up in the Birds of North America book like I did when I was little.  Dark and quiet at night with oil lamps and the woodstove going.  Lots of stars.  I need a mutt to keep me company while carving joinery and think I’ll hit the animal shelter soon to look things over.  We could use a good barn cat mouser too. Actually some goats and chickens aren’t far off.  We could use some eggs and goat cheese, and goats are stalwart companions as well.  Cooold showers every morning.  The sun shower is our temporary shower stall until I can get the 50 gal. food drum shower hooked up.  Man did we luck out with the flowing well.  Water is cold and sweet- a little soft.  Losing weight and getting stronger.  I look forward to getting up again for the first time in a long while.  

 

Knife River has a good vibe to it, but I’m bummed that once again I didn’t get out for the steelhead run.  Guys were really catching em down the street the last couple of weeks.  Coho, King, and Cam Loops salmon are also caught spring and fall.  I’ll get out soon.  My dad left me some killer fly fishing gear.  That guy knew what he was doing in the river.  He would have been in paradise here.

 

4/20/2007

 

Timber delivery officially planned for Saturday April 28th.  The weather has been beautiful and spring is definately here.  Camping area and firepit have been made.  Contact me at 218.343.2290 if you’re interested in coming out for this.  Or you can leave an email at kthiemann8@yahoo.com.  We’ll have a bonfire this night with vittles and music to celebrate.  It’s time to break in the portobox!

 

4/17/2007

 

After large amounts of toil, it looks like the 750ml bottle will now be passed as a growler in Minnesota.  In order to run this place like a winery and do the Belgian style ales correctly, we had to have this happen.  Now we can bottle condition and not have to worry.  And I can have samples of the mead and ales and it will look a little nicer too.  What an experience working with all of the parties involved.  Last week at the Senate hearing in the capitol in St. Paul was great- what a beautiful building.  Just when I thought the system was stacked against me.  One step closer to classier drinking in the states!

 

4/1/2007

 

Now the hard part starts.  White pine timbers have been ordered from a local mill on the scale of about 5500 board ft.  It starts to get a little more scary when the ordering of materials starts to take place.  Final touches on the barn will be done this next week with the finishing up on the paneling taking place, and the installation of a workbench- look for more pics in the picture section. This month is basically planning and waiting for the weather to dry up, thaw, etc.  Beginning of April is move in time, with no connected water, and an extension cord worth of electricity.  Let me hear you all say “chamber pot!” The floor has been insulated and the walls and ceiling can be insulated quickly now if we don’t have a place to move into come fall. Foundation should be poured by the end of May, early June.  During the next two months, we hope to have the majority of the beams numbered and notched out so the bents can be brought together to get us a frame to put up on the foundation.  This will allow for strawbale delivery by hopefully end of June- we’ll see.  As long as you help out, you can laugh as much as you like at our whacked out timeframe.  I am officially unemployed and working full time on the project.

 

1/22/07

 

Happy New Year!  Already we’re pleased with what we’ve been able to accomplish this year due to the mild winter. We’re farther ahead than I thought we would be. There’s now a well, electricity, and the barn is almost finished.  We installed the woodstove in the barn so when the timber is ordered, we’ll have a heated place to work the joinery - check out the new pics.  So much still ahead, but we’re proud of our shack.  We’ll move into the back portion of the 12x20 place in the Spring, and use the front for tool storage and a woodworking area to notch the beams.

 

12/17/06

 

Well, we have had a few big fires to try and burn that brush pile and it’s pretty tenacious.  Got done this weekend with framing in the shop barn where we’ll live while building the main project next summer.  Thanks to Jerome, Dan, Anita, and Aaron who shall now be referred to as “Mo”.  Our pal Brad gave us a woodstove for Christmas to use in there.  Already getting to know some folks up here and they’re really helping us out.  Check the pics out on the picture section.

 

11/16/06

 

Trying to get this website up to keep people in the loop and to act as a working log of things.  So far I have bought a Stihl and leveled some serious land with it- and as a surprise to others, still have all of my digits- yahoo.  Culvert, entrance, and driveway are in.  Huge burnpile waiting to get lit up.  I hopefully will get some great pictures of that.  Lot’s of planning with the drawings and such.