From Top To Bottom

Whew!! This house-building thing is hard work! Well, this is particularly fun work, but there is a lot to it! We're going to feel mighty accomplished when we're finished!

So, the next step of the build is the foundation! This is a pretty cool part when all is said and done because it allows for front steps up to the door as well as adding such detail as brick, lattice or a cement look. I like that it gives that "completed" sort of feel to the whole project! But, in terms of process and immediate outcome, it's a smidge boring. But, it's necessary, so, here we go!

The process as a whole was really quite easy. (At first. We'll get to that ...) Well, it was easy for me. Aaron did have to cut one of the pieces to make it fit correctly as it showed up to the house a little too long. But, with just a little problem-solving, he got the angles correct, and together it went!

This is the start of the main base. Thank goodness we have so many of my Dad's handy tools to ensure we're making things square! And, thank goodness I thought to put something on the table so the glue that is sure to leak doesn't adhere the foundation to the table ...

The foundation to the gable is on the plywood with the level on top of it because I get paranoid about things being level. The plastic is now over the main base because the kitty plays with the hanging plastic and just annoys the heck out of me.

After we let that framework sit overnight to dry, we got to work putting the pieces on the house. With a quick-flip onto its back, the house was ready! This is where we discovered a few issues.

First, the in-between support pieces for the main frame were not flush with the sides. How on Earth that happened, we will never know. They were flush on one side but not the other. Meaning, the middle pieces were higher than the sides, so they would be the first to hit house or the table on which it sits rather than the house sitting squarely on top of the four, outer pieces of the frame. So, here comes more sanding down:

Okay. So, that worked out just fine, and we got on with no problem.

Then, remember that piece I noted came "too long" but Aaron cut it and everything fit? Whoops:

This was a lesson in making sure all support pieces of the frame fit inside the outer pieces. A rookie mistake but a fixable one. And, that's all that matters. A little cutty-cutty, re-gluing and taping, and voila!

There it is attached as it should be. Well, I guess it's not as it should be, but it's there, and it looks good, so no one is the wiser. I'll definitely forget!

Hal is all, "What the hell happened to my house? I'm soooo not
paying for a house on its back!

We flipped it back up the next day:

Any gap seen here below the foundation is due to the plywood
not being perfectly level. Some grass will ultimately take care
of the aesthetics here!

So, with the main foundation in place, it was time to start building the porch foundation! Yeahhh!! We moved the house on to a table we know is level, and it was time to get to work! Or, was it ...

That's Aaron, who is becoming One with the Dremel these days, sanding off just enough of the bottom of the house to fit the porch foundation pieces. They are supposed to slide right under and butt up against the house foundation. But, not so much. And, this is one actually wasn't our fault! I blame it on "house settling." We've all been there, right?! Whatever the reason for the non-fit, Aaron made it fit. And, he was all kinds of ready to assemble and glue the porch foundation framing last night, but, after needing to hit 'pause' to wait for the foundation adjustment, I self-reported feeling, "Tired and uninterested in being cooperative," so we tabled the project for the night! That was an excellent call!!

This morning, we did get the porch foundation in place:

This was a tricky one to tape, but we figured it out! And, we discovered another tiny issue in that our foundation pieces don't quite go all the way back to be flush with the back of the house. No matter how many times Aaron read directions or we reconfigured to make sure things were where they belonged, this is the way they fit.

I very quickly decided I'm going to paint a little critter hole there. Perhaps a mouse found its way there. I was oddly excited about this whole mouse-house thing, but it totally works for me.

And, yes, the very bottom of the house looks like, well, I real house (if you're my house) in terms of being a little worn. That's due to the Dremel, but it is covered by the porch flooring. So, that will be nicely finished!

The next step is putting the floor, posts and railings on! They are in the process of being painted, so it's my house this part is up this week!