We've Moved to The Farmstead!

Yikes! Do you wonder where we went? We're now at www.olyfarmstead.org where we're living our farming dreams! You can follow our new blog (and still read all these old posts too) at www.olyfarmstead.org/blog We won't be back to TNT Builds so won't you join us over there?

Looking for a contractor?

For those of you who follow us you know that we decided to contract out the installation of our roof tar paper and shingles ... and I feel good about it for all the reasons I have already listed.

We did our homework and got 4 quotes from 4 different roofers (all licensed and bonded) and found what we think was a really great deal using a neat little site called ServiceMagic.com. I had never heard of the site before but after doing some research learned that they are kind of like a "gate keeper" for subcontractors. The companies actually pay a weekly fee for Service Magic to refer to them. However, it's not a good ol' boys club. They check backgrounds, company history, liscense, etc. etc. etc. And from what we can tell they check in constantly with their "Quality Pros" to make sure that the company dynamics haven't changed and they are still the same company they advertised themselves as.

After getting the name from Service Magic we went with Islander Roofing, LLC and couldn't be happier. They were professional, quick and overall really nice to work with. Plus, they were also the cheapest. This was a surprise for us since we figured they would pass on the "Service Magic" fee to us but I guess they went with the mentality of a small profit on lots of jobs. Either way, we will definitely be calling on them to bid on the house.

Raising the beams, higher and higher

This weekend we finished what Mr. Nick started and raised the eight middle beams (yes he's amazing but even he needed a second set of hands to get those big ones up). I think even our poor tractor was happy when it was done being asked to haul those big beams, but let the record show good ol' Kubota made it happen! It was pretty uneventful with only one "Oh S*$!, that beam is falling," but we managed to secure it and no one was hurt (but notice we have on our hard hats!)




There were three sizes of beams:

The smallest went along the two sides, Mr. Nick cut this little shelf out and then bolted them into place (these are the ones he raised by himself on Friday)

The medium ones are the two top ones (the highest). One side was pre-made with the "L" and once the beam was in place Mr. Nick made secured it in with the other two 2" x 6"s. The little 2" x 6" running horizontal is to keep the two beams together (it's over 24' up, they want to naturally splay out a little).

And the biggest are the ones that run as the ceiling of the first floor. They were 19.5" wide! Here's a start of what Mr. Nick did for them to rest on. He used the leftover tops that we chopped off of the beams to make them all the same size (in order to determine where to cut off we measured from our "common point" that we made with the laser level).

Mr. Nick securing the beams in.

Finished product!

Song Credit: Passion Pit, "Little Secrets". If you haven't heard of them, check them out. They're pretty amazing.

Concrete slab in seven hours or less

We poured our concrete slab this weekend and it was a huge success. If you want to watch the video click here.



Here's some key things that we did in order to prep the space for a seamless pour:

On the Tuesday night before the Saturday pour we marked where we wanted the four loads of gravel to go. This was important for us since we both have full time jobs we knew we probably weren't going to be able to leave to be there for the crushed gravel drop-off.

And it worked! Here's the four piles, just like we wanted.

After we installed the concrete forms we reinforced each board with two 3' steel stakes to make sure they didn't "blow out".

We wrapped each post in tar paper to keep the concrete from sticking to the post. If the concrete were to stick to the post, when it settled, it would most likely crack.

We used duplex nails to help with the prying off of our form boards.

We plan for this barn to be a 2 horse barn so we didn't lay concrete in the stall portion (it's really bad for their legs). We used 2" x 6" for these and reinforced with steel stakes again.

We dug out the area along the edge in order to reinforce (less gravel and more concrete equals stronger edge). This was especially important to do on the lips we plan on driving over to get into the barn.

Here's what I carved into the pad. I didn't want to write something like Rachael loves Nick because this house is an investment and should we sell it I highly doubt someone is going to want that on their garage floor. But, I had to personalize it a little. This is a totally side note but when Mr. Nick designed my engagement rink (really designed it, drew it on a piece of paper had a mold cast and everything) he drew an infinity in the side that is filled with purple sapphires. I think it's especially cool because his engineering homework from the Academy has little infinity signs on it ... practice does make perfect!

The other thing we did, which we haven't done before, was pay for help. Mr. Nick put a craigslist add up for a skilled concrete pourer and Joe answered. He was only $200 for the whole day and provided invaluable expertise, not to mention his tools. We did rent the compactor, one come-along (the thing that looks like a rake), and the power trowel, but he provided everything else. It took 26 yards of concrete to fill our 36' x 48' space (minus the two horse stalls). We scheduled the three trucks for 30 minutes apart which provided the perfect amount of overlap (again, had we not had Joe this probably would have been to close together). We started early (first truck arrived at 7:30 but we were there at 6:30) which was also smart since the Pacific Northwest is in a bit of a heat wave right now hitting the upper 90s, reinforcing the adage, concrete waits for no one ... it will dry whether you're ready for it or not.  Thankfully, we were ready!

Song Credit: Discovery "So Insane". We love them. If you want to hear their other song we've done a video to check out our Conduit Loop Line video from laying our power cable.

Towing and hauling on the right side of the law

When building a house, regardless of whether you are doing it yourself or not, chances are you will be involved in hauling materials. We're not even six months in and I've already had two altercations involving improper hauling.

The first time I was leaving the dirt yard and didn't realize they had dumped sand all over my tailgate. The officer (of the law) pulled me over, gave me a hard time, and let me go with a warning, this time, since I didn't know I was in violation. (Side note, that I have already mentioned. The yard has a big sign that says under no condition can you get out of the car, which I took seriously. Now I know that sometime between the yard and the road I need to stop and clean off my tailgate so I don't get in trouble again. I even carry a broom in my truck box so it's simple and easy no matter what). The second time I was hauling the cute adirondak chairs that my mom bought us and we just set them in the back like idiots. Well of course, one flew out and went flying across the road. Thankfully, no one was hurt and I was able to recover it (after a pretty harrowing re-enactment of Frogger). But had we not been so lucky I would have been liable for not securing my load.

So, now that I know better I am taking the time to be informed! Here's the information I was able to gather together pretty easily: 

• Secured load laws in all 50 states
• Towing laws in all 50 states

In addition, here's a great article on "How car towing regulations work".

And finally, when do you need a flag on your load, and how far can it extend? Well this information was actually harder to find but I finally found some answers on the Washington State Patrol website (originally I was looking for answers on the Department of Transportation site). I did a quick cursory look for other states and found that they too house their info on the applicable State Patrol site. For us here in the Evergreen State our vehicle cannot exceed 14 ft in height, 8 ft. 6 in. in width and 40 ft. in length PLUS 3 ft. of front overhang and 4 ft. of rear overhang ... as long as there's a cute little "flag". Happy Hauling my friends!

Plumbing up our poles and learning that sometimes the hug is inferred

What a weekend! Mr. Nick and I worked our little butts off and got all the poles for the barn plumb (straight up and down). Sadly I didn't take any video, which seemed reasonable at the time because it was raining and the work was pretty tedious. However, looking back now I would have loved to re-watch the 2" x 4" cracking on my head, resulting in super hideous crying face. Mr. Nick, who was bear hugging two giant 26' poles at the time, could only respond, "Oh babe, I'm so sorry, I would hug you right now but I can't let these go," to which I replied (making hideous crying face even more contorted) "I know (sniff, sniff), I know."

Of course there wasn't much time for tears as I had to get another 2" x 4" in order to continue trying to jimmy the two giants into place before we could cement them. We got there eventually (one more bonk in the head with the 2"x 4" and a pretty nasty spill when I lost my footing, Mr. Nick still clinging to the poles). Maybe it's better we weren't video taping though as I consider just how dangerous we were being. Of course, my husband, ever the protector told me (while I was bear hugging just one giant pole), "If it falls, get out of the way." To which I asked, "Even if it's going towards the tractor?" and he answered, "Even if it's going towards the tractor." Melt my heart, who said chivalry was dead?

Here's the poles at the end of Day 2, with the braces holding them up.
In order to save money on supplies we re-used, doing half the first day and half the second day.

Each pole was secured on two sides before we could cement them in.

How to save money on your well

Before you can get your building permit you have to have three things. 1) Electricity, 2) Running Water and 3) Septic. We took care of electricity a few weeks ago and the septic system has been designed, happily we celebrated today with water. Yep, that's right ... good, clean, cold water right out of the ground.

We had a professional drill the well as they don't exactly rent out well-drilling rigs to novices. He hit water at 15 feet and dropped the casing down to 90 feet. When you start sucking water out it draws down, but it steadies at a certain level (which for us is at 40 feet) so this set-up will ensure we never are without water.

One of the biggest ways we saved money with our well was to do the trenching and installation of the pump ourselves. For those who don't know, the well head is just a piece of pipe sticking out of the ground. There is water pipe and power running underground from your well head to your control box and then from your control box to your power source. As Mr. Nick is an expert trencher (ref: Conduit Loop Line) this was not a big deal for us.

Here is our well-head. Notice the pitless adaptor at the bottom and the
pipe running to the control box through Mr. Nick's series of trenches.

The other way we saved money is by installing all the components of the well ourselves. You have to have some knowledge of electrical and some knowledge of plumbing to make this happen but for us we were able to make it work.

These components included:

• Pitless Adaptor
• Pipe
• Electrical
• Pressure Tank
• Pump
• Control Box

Here is our control box

Clearing the Barn

Our Blog

I've been saying it since we bought the land last December...we should really chronicle our journey online...So, I finally sat my butt down and am doing it...our unborn children will thank us I'm sure.