Category Archives: Home Building

Year 6, Day 115. “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 8/23/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 21. Before any work was actually done. We ensured the ridge put up on Friday was plum and solid. Then the worksite was cleaned up. It was a real safety hazard walking around pieces of lumber just thrown all over theContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 115 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing Day 21, Ridge, Rafters, Cleaning & Winching”

Year 6, Day 114. “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 8/22/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Off day or as close to an off day as we get. Headed to Lumber King to exchange some wood. Then relaxed on the deck sharing my drink with the bees. Todays videos: Off day no videos!! Daily Reflection: Here’s a link toContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 114 – Clifty Hill 3 – Off Day exchanging lumber”

Year 6, Day 113. “Living the Dream”. Friday, 8/21/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 20. Boxing in the front porch took a lot of time. Then most of the front post ceiling joists were screwed in. Late afternoon, around 4pm the roof ridge was started. But it was so hot and sunny that work cameContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 113 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing Day 20, Front Porch framing”

Year 6, Day 112. “Living the Dream”. Thursday, 8/20/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 19. Ceiling joists are in and front porch posts are up. The structure is really starting to take shape now. Todays videos: Daily Reflection: Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: https://amzn.to/4gfKUT5 YETI Rambler 20 oz Stainless Steel Vacuum Insulated TumblerContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 112 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing Day 19, Floor Joists and porch posts”

Year 6, Day 111. “Living the Dream”. Wednesday, 8/19/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 18. First thing the walls were verified they were plum. Then lots of wall braces were added before the ceiling joists were added. About Two-thirds of the house has ceiling joists at the end of the day. The ceiling joists areContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 111 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing Day 18, 2/3rds ceiling joist up”

Year 6, Day 110. “Living the Dream”. Tuesday, 8/18/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 17. First thing this morning we got our covid vaccines. They are the 2025 ones and not the new 2026 that are being released soon. We will be on a cruise ship for a long time. Hopefully the vaccine will keepContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 110 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing Day 17, Headers complete, Covid vaccines”

Year 6, Day 109. “Living the Dream”. Monday, 8/17/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 16. Roofing material arrived today. Trying to get this house weather tight. Need to protect the lumber. Walls are now all framed. Garage walls will be framed after we get the main house closed in. Working on headers. Today I climbedContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 109 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing Day 16, Roofing Material arrives, Easy ladder into home installed, More headers installed”

Year 6, Day 108. “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 8/16/2026, Clifty Hill 3. First I need to say Happy Belated 23rd Birthday to Marley Ranck the football. With all that is going on I forgot to include her in Friday’s post. Friday was her actual birthday. I am not that bad we did call and singContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 108 – Clifty Hill 3 – Off Day, Belated Happy Birthday Marley, ordered roofing materials”

Year 6, Day 107. “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 8/15/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 15. The morning started out cool and foggy. Steve worked on headers until the sun just got way to hot to work anymore. Quitting time was 1pm. Three windows and a door now have headers. Work does continue even when weContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 107 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 15, Headers and picked up front door”

Year 6, Day 106. “Living the Dream”. Friday, 8/14/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 14. All the main walls are up. There are some smaller walls that still need to go up. Tomorrow work will be putting up window and door headers. The day was super hot and we knocked off at 1pm. Way tooContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 106 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 14, Main walls are up”

Year 6, Day 105. “Living the Dream”. Thursday, 8/13/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 13. Woke up early this morning and on the job at 6:30am. Even I am working today. Lol. We want to get all the walls standing by tomorrow night. The first task was to remove all the nails that had theContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 105 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 13, Standing Walls day 1 of 2”

Year 6, Day 104. “Living the Dream”. Wednesday, 8/12/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 12. Took Koral to the Somerset Alumni and Aquatic Center morning exercise class. She was mighty impressed with the intensity of the class. She expected it to be much easier considering the ages of the members of the class. She actuallyContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 104 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 12, Wall plates completed, Koral exercise”

Year 6, Day 103. “Living the Dream”. Tuesday, 8/11/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 11. Another sunny horrendously hot day. The interior wall layout and wall plates are started. Rooms sizes and layouts are still being finalized. Have to account for windows and doors. Every detail is important here. Sill around the garage foundation isContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 103 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 11, Interior wall layout and plates started”

Year 6, Day 102. “Living the Dream”. Monday, 8/10/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 10. Another hot sunny day working on the 40×6 front porch. The sill is completed with metal flashing and 2×10 joists with joist hangars on each end are are going up. Need to have the porch deck up in order toContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 102 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 10, Porch deck work”

Year 6, Day 101. “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 8/09/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 9. Pier posts are up for front porch. The front porch is off to a good start. We need the front porch in order to put the roof on the house. Thinking about the roof covering. Todays videos: Daily Reflection: Here’sContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 101 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 9, Porch piers are up, Porch started”

Year 6, Day 100. “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 8/08/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 8. We were at Lowes at 7am picking up 24, 80 pound bags of Quikrete concrete mix. Then Steve dug six pier holes for the front porch. He mixed up one bag of concrete at a time with water to makeContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 100 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 8, 1/2 day work, concrete put in porch pier holes”

Year 6, Day 99. “Living the Dream”. Friday, 8/07/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 7. It is a hot hot day. The walls, doorways and closet walls are all laid out. Bottom wall plates are down. Oh and it is my birthday. Happy Birthday to me! My family certainly knows what I like. Todays videos:Continue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 99 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 7, Walls laid out”

Year 6, Day 98. “Living the Dream”. Thursday, 8/06/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 6. . Lowes delivered an order of plywood, wire, and 2×6’s. All the Advantech was glued and nailed to the floor joists. While the work continued on the house, I spent the day with Reina and Spencer at Hidden River CaveContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 98 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 6, Advantech all attached, Cave visit with Spencer & Reina”

Year 6, Day 97. “Living the Dream”. Wednesday, 8/05/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 5. Finished up the box sill and framed out the bassement stairwell. Big oops, forgot to cut out the stairwell when putting in the joists. Then started gluing and nailing Advantech to the floor joists. View from the crawl space now.Continue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 97 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 5, Gluing and nailing Advantech”

Year 6, Day 96. “Living the Dream”. Tuesday, 8/04/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 4. It is a bright beautiful day. At 8am two truck loads of building material are delivered from Lumber King. Before I get into the building, I want to discuss my daily exercising. Family members have told me I am obsessedContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 96 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 4, Box sill and Advantech, exercise benefits as we age”

Year 6, Day 95. “Living the Dream”. Monday, 8/03/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Framing Day 3. Cooler overcast day with sprinkles of rain on and off. Great day to be working outside. Front of the home was leveled and is ready for a large lumber delivery tomorrow morning. The main girder and floor joists are goingContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 95 – Clifty Hill 3 – Framing day 3, Main girder and joists”

Year 6, Day 94. “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 8/02/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Half day work. Verified foundation is on size and square. It had not been checked since the first block was put down. It was another reason to celebrate with a Diet Coke. The main basement foundation is ready to build on. Main girderContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 94 – Clifty Hill 3 – Main Girder started”

Year 6, Day 93. “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 8/01/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Hello August and of course it rains. Reminds me that it is time for the NJ Fair/Farm and Horse show. Always monsoons a few days during that time. Tried to work and ended up with a day off. I met up with ReinaContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 93 – Clifty Hill 3 – Rain day, lunch with Reina, window sizes”

Year 6, Day 92. “Living the Dream”. Friday, 7/31/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Day 40 Foundation Block Laying and last day of Foundation Block Laying. Up early to get more mortar to finish the block laying. Then onto the Aquatic center where you can tell school is starting soon. The high school marching band has startedContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 92 – Clifty Hill 3 – Day 40 and last day of Foundation Block Laying, Started sills”

Year 6, Day 91. “Living the Dream”. Thursday, 7/30/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Day 39 Foundation Block Laying. One more block laying day after today. Then it is on to framing. We are so getting there. Trying to decide on a front door. The back door will be a larger version of the door in theContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 91 – Clifty Hill 3 – Day 39 Foundation Block Laying, Picking doors”

Year 6, Day 90. “Living the Dream”. Wednesday, 7/29/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Day 38 Foundation Block Laying. Wednesday morning walks with friends is great. Love walking around Somerset. Somerset is a really nice town. It offers a blend of small-town charm with a revitalized downtown featuring arts, local food, and bourbon, alongside a low costContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 90 – Clifty Hill 3 – Day 38 Foundation Block Laying, Tooter Pie”

Year 6, Day 89. “Living the Dream”. Tuesday, 7/28/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Day 37 Foundation Block Laying. Nice breezy day. All eight inch blocks are now completed. Cap blocks and anchor bolts need to be done. Basement floor is ready to be poured. It will probably not be done till the end of September. TheContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 89 – Clifty Hill 3 – Day 37 Foundation Block Laying, All Eight inch block up”

Year 6, Day 88. “Living the Dream”. Monday, 7/27/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Day 36 Foundation Block Laying. First thing this morning we created the next lumber list. Lumber King provided a price. Only one and one half rows of block need to be done in the front wall of the basement. A lot of timeContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 88 – Clifty Hill 3 – Day 36 Foundation Block Laying, Next lumber list created”

Year 6, Day 87. “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 7/26/2026, Clifty Hill 3. Off day for construction. Spent the day looking at products to purchase. We need six porch posts. Todays video: Off Day no videos Daily Reflection: Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: https://amzn.to/4xejvI8 Force Factor NAD+ (NMN or Nicotinamide Riboside Alternative) | withContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 87 – Clifty Hill 3 – Sunday shopping for porch posts”

Year 6, Day 86. “Living the Dream”. Saturday, 7/25/2026, Clifty Hill 3. First thing let’s give a big shout out to this wonderful hardworking couple. Thank you for working on the concrete pour yesterday. The crawl space floor looks fantastic today. Front of the main foundation is plastered below grade. Sitting on the deck inContinue reading “Living the Dream Year 6 Day 86 – Clifty Hill 3 – Last wall below grade plastered”