Christmas Yurt

Well, the holidays are upon us once again, and we couldn't be happier to celebrate them in our cozy yurt.  We took the opportunity of having lots of crowded little trees on our property, to cut one to adorn our home in a Christmas fashion.  As we were getting started with our Christmasing, Tanner's folks came for a visit, assisting in the festivities.

Tanner, Bob, the pups and I, hiking home with our Tree...

Entering the yurt...

Denise and Bob, looking rather comfortable with our yurt life

Tanner, helping to decorate the tree....

Oh Christmas Tree!!

Thank you Pinterest for some great decorating ideas.  Tanner and I are loving our starry night lights in our 'bedroom' of the one-room yurt!

Even my wine is getting festive...

Bob helping to get our firewood cut

Splitting and stacking

With Bob's help, we have a healthy looking wood pile for our winter in the yurt.  Our Jotul stove is working nicely, but we really need to keep it running all of the time to keep it comfortable in the yurt.  Thankfully, we have had reasonable temperatures, and our wood is lasting longer than we thought-such blessings!!

Snow arrives, followed by a blue bird day.

With winter in full-swing, we are figuring out what maintenance we'll need to keep up on with snow removal, fires built, etc.  When we were shopping for yurts and discussing experiences with people more knowledgable, most people said that once you built a fire inside, the snow slid off the roof of the yurt; in which case you'd only need to worry about keeping snow away from the sides.  In our case, we insulated the b'jesus out of the roof of our yurt, with two layers of mylar bubble wrap insulation with wool in-between, double bubble wrap for the walls, and 2 inch thick rigid foam insulation below the floor of the main yurt.  Our final product leaves a very warm living space, but the snow isn't sliding off the roof!  Problem solved: roof rake purchased and we'll get a great arm workout keeping it clear of heavy snow loads!!

With this out the front door, who would complain?!

some major icicles around the stove-pipe

yurt glacier!

Santa brought me a heater!  This should help keep the yurt from getting in the 40's at night.

I had hoped to be a burly Montana woman who could deal with whatever elements this yurt living could throw at me, but apparently, my shivers and cursing in the morning as I was getting ready for work, was too much for my loving husband to take!  He loves me enough to make sure the yurt will have some base heat, and I am not complaining!!  The heater will hold the yurt at a base heat of 55 degrees, which will also keep us from worrying about pipes freezing when we are gone for extended periods.

First Cross Country Ski of the season!

So glad to be skiing!!

Winter is here, and I don't know Anyone who is more excited than our three fluffy mutts!

We have So Much to be thankful for this holiday season.  We are so pleased with the progress of all of our efforts, and look forward to hunkering down for a snowy winter.  We hope that all of our friends, family, and blog readers have a lovely holiday!!
Cheers!
Stephanie and Tanner

Dormers and Decking, and Ceiling, Oh My!

Our next step in getting a roof on our home consisted of framing dormers in the loft of the house.  As this was being accomplished, the ceiling decking was being set in the main section of the house.  These changes made a significant change in the overall appearance and have caused major excitement and motivation for the next steps in house planning. 

Winter arrived in full force during this process, and thankfully, with the finesse of our carpenters,  there was little to no delay in progress.

Dormers being built under the giant tarp, due to unpredictable weather

South view of the house and east dormer

View through the roof from the loft; Charlie adding ceiling decking

Once the ceiling decking was in place and the dormers finished, the guys started on framing in the east facing deck.  While this step doesn't seem necessary at this stage in the building, we need to have it set in order to complete the roof in one step.

Building east deck

Contending with snow, building east deck

East deck with roof

It's looking cozy

The ceiling decking for the house turned out beautifully.  My brother Nathan and his business partner Caleb, sanded and stained them for us, since we had our hands plenty full with all of the rest of the wood that is the bones of our home.  They will be proud owners of Kaleidoscope Painting as of the first of the year 2013!

The ceiling of our great room

Looking into the loft; you can see the dormers framed in at each side

We sure like it!

We are approaching our building goals for year-end quickly.  When I think of all that has happened this summer and autumn, and all of the immense work and effort that has been made to get us this far, I am simply baffled.  Tomorrow, insulation will be placed upon the ceiling decking, and then we will have a sealed tar paper to cover it for the winter.  We had hoped that we could get the metal roof in place for the winter, but the schedule, (and snow load) proved too swift for that goal to remain reasonable.  Regardless, we will be able to have it closed in and safe from the elements until spring!
Cheers!

BEAMS!

Well, somehow an entire month has escaped me between posts.  This is truly evidence of tremendous success in our house plans and how they have transpired.  

A lot of time was spent sanding and staining beams.  Many hours and hands went into the preparation.  Kyle was back to help with a large portion of the work, his lovely bride Kim came to help on her day off, I put in hours here and there as I could, and Tanner topped of the rest.  While it wasn't as messy as working in the trenches of the foundation, the dust proved to be all-encompassing... the boys looked like father Christmas when they were done for the day!

Tanner, staining ridge beams until after dark

Stephanie, bundled and staining in the COLD!

Kyle, Sanding

Jerry and Charlie, precision cutting

Kyle and Buddy, enjoying some sunshine

Ridge beams with support plates

 On the morning of the cranes arrival, we had clear skies, and our last opportunity to stand in our house with no roof above us.  While I enjoyed the vantage point from the loft, Tanner, Jerry, and Charlie worked diligently in preparation for a smooth day of setting beams.

Sweet view from my loft

                                            

Jerry and Charlie, prepping the house

Beams ready to be set via Crane

Our contractors made the chore of setting the beams for the house look easy.  All of the beams were cut so nicely, the fit right as they were planned, with only two minor adjustments.  

Charlie Scott

Jerry Croskrey

 Not only were J & C willing to dangle from the rafters, they did a great job.  The beams and rafters are beautiful.  The crane did great work, and again I am baffled at all they can do with a small remote control to operate such large machinery.

House Update

The weeks have flown by at lightning speed, and when I stop and let myself take the time to think about it, I am ecstatic at all that has been accomplished.  Every day that I come home from work, or running errands in town, I'm blown away by the addition of a wall (or walls) and beams that show the character of our home coming to life.  Tanner has designed our home, and it will be a beauty.

Our rain came, as promised, and once I was successful on a quest to find the worlds largest tarp to cover the house, we were in business to continue framing in the house between rain showers.

As always, Chilko and Moose find a cozy spot to lay, right where you're sure to be coming and going. 

 

Jerry and Charlie, with front 2nd floor wall, built and ready to raise.  Cooper, napping in the middle of all the action.

Jacks ready to lift the wall of our house

Jacks in action, wall rising!!

One up, three to go!

Buddy, keeping watch on Tanner down below

Jerry and Charlie, building the second, north facing wall.

Meanwhile, Tanner prepped beams in the first floor

Our house!  Yurt in the background!

Jerry's bobcat carried beams to the second floor via the Subaru's driveway=north side of the house

Lookin' sharp

Getting started with beams indoors, safe from rain under said giant tarp.

Center beams-so pretty!

As our home becomes so clearly visible as it takes shape off of the pages of Tanner's design plans, we are so excited to live out our lives here.  The sun sets in the evening, earlier and earlier in November, and as much as we enjoy it now, we look forward to many others from the freshly-cut windows in our home.