28 June 2012 - The Erection of the First Bent-frame

Michael Crone sitting on the impressive beams.  It's a beautiful winter's day here, huge excitement with friends dropping in to see the goings-on.   Glenda arrived to try to give helpful instructions to Sharp Chisels - but he was having none of it ! 

Michael on the stairs, with most of the team on the platform, the sparkling southern ocean is the backdrop for this operation.  John Sanderson-Smith arrived with a gift of a sunflower, to keep the sun shining for us all while the roof's off.....

OK - here begins the carrying of the spruce beams, Yo ! these guys are baaie sterk - not a whinge, not a whimper - 

- and I couldn't resist giving my helping hand (Glenda Christie, who took this pic, asked if I really took any weight, and I told her Yes, I really did!).... "mind the Milkwood tree"......

and believe it or not, it went in through the kitchen window 

The guys rigged up an impressive home-made block & tackle...

...and before you could say "Bob's your Uncle", there was the first beautiful Bent-frame in position.  Wow, the end of such an exciting and powerful day - Thank you team !

Boomslang

An environmental welcome

I have no idea who came across this little beauty but I'm sure grown men screamed like girls and ran for cover.
Lets see what wednesday has to offer.

Lifting the Roof Off...

Helen, I hope you don't mind, I couldn't resist!

Tuesday morning

                                                               

Mike, Tauriq, Eric and Seve in the back row;  Keith Gordon & "Our Keith" Coleman in

 fore ground

                                                

Beams being unloaded in front of Orca House and roof tiles are being stripped.
                                                                                                
                                                                             

Mountains to Ocean

Tuesday morning, calm before the chaos

 

"Bontperd" and Keith Gordon arrive at Orca House

Monday morning, Bontperd and Keith Gordon

"Bontperd" gets loaded up for the journey

Keith arrived in good time bright and early on a chilly Monday morning at our yard in Grabouw.
All hands were at work to load the pre-cut timbers for the trip up to Plett, an estimated 10 hour drive for the 8 tonnes to get there

"Bontperd" off to Plett

The truck left a bit later than planned, there was protest action on the N2 at Bot River so Keith decided to wait and let it subside.

Home James...

Back in the OJW yard at 12:30pm

Four tired and happy to be home workers.
I'm sure they all missed their wives and girlfriends and were looking forward to some home comforts.
Thanks Mike, Tauriq, Wayne and Seve, job well done. 
I hope you all had some good rest because it all starts again on Monday.

The 8 tonne truck gets loaded and the team will set off for Plett to begin the second phase to Orca House's new look.

Stripping out.

Mike looking pleased with himself after the first two weeks of initial site work

Internal walls and cladding have been removed and stored away.
Next phase will be stripping the clay tiled roof and removing all existing trusses and roof timbers.  There after the long awaited central post and beam frame will be erected.  This is where it starts to change shape and become unique.

Simple 1st floor views

South elevation, beach side

Photo's from first floor towards the south and north elevations.  Holes dug out and ready for concrete.

North elevation, kitchen side

Mike in the hole

Mike digging out a 1m x 1m x 1m hole for the concrete base / pad stone.








 Still digging, hole number two.

Stack o' sarking boards

Simon "Sharp Chisels", Eric, Even and Reuben gather around a stack of sarking boards, some with a coat of  french chalk wood wash and some ready to be painted.

Base plates

MDF mock up base plates

16mm m/s hot dip galvanised base plates

The central post and beam frame will sit on these steel base plates giving the illusion that the whole structure floats off the ground.
The idea of this is to reduce any dampness penetrating into the end grain of the timber posts.

There are 8 in total each weighing approximately 16kgs.

Example of how the posts will sit on the base plates

They will be bolted to the pad stones and the timber will in turn be bolted to the base plates

Work Begins !

Wayne and Seve               

 
 John Sanderson-Smith - who'll be a regular follower of the happenings at Orca
 Showing the lovely peaceful surroundings of all the mayhem 
 Aha ! Who's chopping down the chimney ?




Well, I have to admit that the technicality of posting stuff onto this blog is challenging to say the least. And yet I feel I have to persevere, as who else will record the goings-on at Orca House?

The first week's work is well underway, the sky is blue and clear, the morning air is freezing.  Mike and the team are getting to know their way around Plett, where to buy what etc etc.

It was a great pity that the enthusiam was dampened somewhat by a burglary on the very first night of their arrival - and it's true that Milkwood Glen is under seige from what seems to be a scourge of skollies.  However, Toriq has assured us that by the end of the build, those skollies won't even think of coming anywhere near Milkwood Glen - his appetite for catching thieves has been well and truly whetted, and I can detect a twinkle in his eye at the very thought of getting his own back on them.

So, the early morning bird-song has not yet been obliterated by the happy sound of the jack-hammers. Time for tea and a rusk - to get over the stress of trying to put little captions under the photos, and now I've lost Wayne and Seve's pic !

Along the shore

Dear Nicky and Helen,


Well, the van has left with the first team to begin the ground work on your house. 


We are all excited and I am looking forward to their updates as the work is undertaken and progress is made.
I hope the blog has been enjoyable and informative so far and that your large global family is feeling like they are part of the journey.
Simon and Keith will be on their way next week with the 7 tonne truck loaded with posts and beams and all the other timber that will make up the frames giving Orca House her new look.

Zoe

Site crew on the way

OJW site crew on their way

Mike, Tauriq, Wayne and Seve setting off for the road trip to Plett, eta late afternoon.
All in good time to get settled in for a 7.30am start at Orca House.

The metamorphosis is about to begin...

Jigsaw puzzle

All joints have been pre fitted and numbered in the workshop, enabling us to piece together the matching tenons and mortises.

Stacked and ready for shipment

• Principal rafters on the LHS notched out and ready to receive perlins.
• On top of the rafters are the arches of the underside of the tie beam.
• Under these to the RHS are the tie beams which are numbered and ready to go.

Girts and knee braces

 One of the central posts with girts and knee braces fitted

# 4 bent frame

The 'final' number 4 bent frame.

In the back ground is the whole project stacked and ready for shipment with one coat of wood wash applied to the timber.

Frame

An almost complete frame laid out in the workshop

 All the frames have been fitted in the workshop, numbered and then taken apart prior to shipment.

Knee brace being fitted to a post and girt

Oak pegs

19mm hand turned oak pegs

These oak pegs are for driving through the mortise and tenon joints