If you ever find yourself deconstructing and then reconstructing a home, I want to let you know that you really start to feel like you’re getting somewhere when you finally raise the roof.
Once again, I found myself to not be very strong, so I was not terribly helpful in this endeavor. I helped moved the trusses whilst they were on the ground, but holding them up in the air is a completely different task. Fortunately, we had the braun of brother Tony and the Landlord to help get us through.
Mainly though, it was awfully easy to get in the way. The upstairs isn’t terribly large, so with three men maneuvering large triangular objects, I just tried to stay out of the way and keep any visitors out of the way as well (as it was a little bit of a dangerous day to visit). My only other task was to pull nails downstairs in some leftover wood that I hadn’t gotten too and some little teeny nails that were still hiding in the ceiling. But not much of that was accomplished.
The one thing that changed immediately was the perspective, visually speaking. The upstairs became smaller and smaller, the more we demolished it. When it was down to no walls, it looked tiny. It was hard to believe a bathroom had ever fit up there. When the studs went up for the walls, it started to grow again, but when the sheathing was put into place the claustrophobia was quite obvious. With the trusses up, it once again grew in size.
Tyler says this is because when you don’t have a roof and the sky and incredibly large trees are your only visual comparison, the tiny size of walls against the size of the atmosphere makes any home look small. But now that we have an actual comparison (the real roof), the perspective is put more into focus (and reality).
It was AMAZING. Both Tyler and the Landlord just climbed around through the trusses like it was nothing. The nailer was used frequently and there was quite of bit of pounding going on.
After they made it through all the trusses the house really started to shape up.
The side view is even more impressive. All of a sudden the depth from the giant basement hole made the house look like a castle.
And then, without much warning (and without many pictures because I was in Sioux Falls celebrating my grandmother’s 85th birthday), this happened overnight:
All of a sudden there were sofets (and several incredibly scary incidents on a ladder on scaffolding on the roof holding boards) and putting other various construction implements into place.
And now, we are, once again, safe from the elements. It really feels like we are building a home now. Though really, let’s be honest here, Tyler is building us a home. And I don’t think there will ever be a way for me to adequately show my gratitude for this incredible gift and journey. Our very own home.
In Sound Health 