I thought I’d give you all an update about how the building we’ve been building is coming along. We are almost done with the framing process, and that is sad because framing is my favorite part of building.

Framing is one of the fastest parts of any building job, yet it has the biggest impact. A job goes from just a hole in the ground and a plan on paper, to the finished dimensions of the rooms. You get a sense of what you will end up with, and what was once just a drawing on a piece of paper is now something real and tangible.

The framing really puts things into perspective for people as well. How much space each room will have, how much furniture you’ll need to fill the space, etc. This building will be almost totally open, just a couple of public restrooms on one end and an open kitchen on the other end.

The last couple of days we spent prepping to put up the roof rafters. We had to put filler pieces in the I-joists where they sit on the walls on either end, as well as fillers every 2 feet on the 2 that sit on either end wall. Those filler pieces had to be cut, and there were 380 of them to add. That was my job on Monday. Tuesday we started getting those nailed in place and got about 2/3 done before we had to be done for the day and head to town for blocking materials.

This morning we finished the remaining 1/3 of the fillers while a friend we hired for the day cut blocking to go in between the rafters so they don’t roll.

Actually putting up the rafters required 4 people, 2 people to haul, and 2 people to install. I was on the haul end with an additional friend that came this afternoon. My husband and the first friend were the installers.

I wasn’t sure how long this would take, but it went pretty quickly. We started after lunch and were finished with the rafters in about 2 hours. From there we finished up the siding up around the rafters on the edge and started on the blocking that will hold the fascia boards on the side.

Tomorrow we will be finishing up the fascia’s and then we will move on to sheeting the roof. Even without the sheeting, adding the roof rafters finishes off the shape of the building. It’s been a good productive day today.

I do have to say, I am super grateful for the sunshine the last 2 weeks. I grew up in Southern Utah and usually freeze, even in the summer up here, and I have been loving the heat. My husband (and probably almost every other Alaskan) is dying, but I’ll take it for as long as I can get it!

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