You probably remember that Hubby’s birthday was Saturday, March 31. Did you leave him a birthday comment?
You probably don’t remember that he was gone for nearly a week with his birthday right smack in the middle of that week.
That’s ok. You don’t remember because I didn’t tell you.
Now that he’s back, he has seen his surprise and I can tell you more about the ups and downs. Here’s what is up: new shelves. They’re also down: suspended from the beams and floor joists under our house.
The girls and I did the entire project from start to finish. We may not have cracked a math text, but our kids learned a lot about building in the past week!
- We planned the structure and supports.
- We consulted my uncle to make sure the plan was solid and get advice on maximizing strength while minimizing expense and weight.
- We calculated the best lengths of lumber for our project to produce the smallest amount of waste.
- We shopped for materials.
- We discovered that you can slide 14′ pieces of lumber in the back door of a 15 passenger van all the way up under the front seats and still close the doors.
- We measured, and revised the plan to meet unexpected irregularities.
- We marked, measured, and cut the lumber using Uncle Dave’s super spiffy, very heavy Miter Saw.
- We drilled, leveled, hammered in stubborn cross-supports, drilled some more, and worked as a team to square up a slightly out-of-square structure.
- We cleaned and categorized all the misc. stuff that lives under our house, sorted fasteners, and made the loaded shelves look a lot better than the pile of junk on the ground had looked.
We had a great time working to surprise my husband and even the littlest ones were able to serve their daddy in this project. There were chubby little hands passing me screws and holding boards in place, picking up tools and scraps, running the drill batteries to and from the charger, passing out popsicles and ice water.
The bigger ones did all this and more, rotating between house duty and amateur carpentry. I felt like the foreman of a construction crew!
You don’t get the full effect without seeing a “before” photo but you’re out of luck. If those pics exist, we’ll burn them and deny it.
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Do you subcontract? I ahve a two car garage that needs some serious attention!
Good job girls!
love,
Dad/Grandpa C
I am so highly impressed! You go, girls!
I am so impressed!! I’ll take that kind of surprise anyday
WOW! He must have loved that! And what great hands-on-learning for you all! My dd’s birthday is also on the 31st. What a great day to be born!
You never cease to amaze me. I don’t tackle anything major any more.
What lessons you taught your children. It looks like they all deserve an “A”.
Is that under your house?? Is that what the underside of your house looks like? Do you have a basement? Is your house on “stilts”? I have never seen a house like that.
I live in the northeast, and we have hefty basements (that flood frequently, now).
I am interested in your way of life out there.
Excellent job, ladies, nice and neat! Superb!
Sunny,
Basements are very rare here.
Pier and beam construction is very common. We built our house on 5 heavy wooden beams which rest across the tops of 15 concrete pillars, called pilons.
They’re not usually set so high off the ground but we are on the side of a hill. The back of our house is about 1 foot off the ground, while the front of our deck is more like 12 or 15 feet up.
Yes, it was exciting before we put the rail on the deck.
Our back door still has a 7 foot drop – no stairs yet. We’re doing things bit by bit.
Wow. That is really awesome. I mean for reals!
I can only watch in amazement at the talents of both you and your family.
A proud achievement for all of you – Congratulations.
A wonderful birthday present for your husband too.
I am SO impressed! Wow!
(And I bet your Hubby was happy to come home to you and his birthday surprise!)