A start on the frame

As you know, the first load of our frame arrived from Gerald Fowler (Timber Frame Solutions in Thorndike ME) on Friday last week. Gerald has been great throughout this process - taking panicked phone calls, answering hundreds of silly (and not so silly) questions, and generally making it possible for us to get anywhere with our house. He has guided us through every part of the process - faxing us diagrams to give to the foundation guy, talking to the foundation guy, advising us on windows, tools, materials, electrical plans, etc. Pretty much for every single thing that we've bought, built, rented, or thought about for our house, Gerald's given us input.

Anyway, the frame, the panels (which serve double duty as the walls and insulation), the sheathing (tongue in groove pine), decking for the 2nd floor, and the sill plates have all been provided by Gerald. The frame (and everything else) is measured and cut precisely for our needs so all we have to do is put it together. (Ha!)

This week Erick has stayed home from work to begin putting the frame together. He's had some help, and in two days Erick, Wayne, and Garret have put on the sill plates, built the south, east, west, and one of our two north walls, and assembled all the gable ends. The next step in the frame is done using the crane again: everything gets lifted off the ground and secured in place.

So here is a picture of the four walls laying across our slab:

Another shot of the walls:

Erick and Wayne standing by the gable ends:

Another shot of the gable ends, and a closer look at the walls (8' north wall is on the top-left):