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Showing posts with label pallet siding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pallet siding. Show all posts

Our Spot On The Farm Is Ready!

Our cozy nook is ready- now if only we were too!


This past week and weekend, we have worked steadily on the pallets and we also cleaned out our spot on the farm. Dan was true to his word and worked on pallets every day last week-- that weather permitted-- and that was about two. Regardless, we are making headway. Mario, who I am beginning to think exceeds the term, "Wealth of Knowledge", has given us yet another gem of advice. 


Apparently, he worked in the pallet business for a time too! Could we have a more perfect neighbor for our project?! I doubt it. He explained some of the details to Dan about how pallets are put together, the types of nails, and so on. He then provided Dan with a much more effective crowbar and also gave us the name of a place that actually takes apart the pallets and gives away the wood. WHAT.


The catch here is that many people enjoy this free wood- especially when used for heat. We've made a few passes so far, but each time they were cleaned out. Hopefully as the weather continues to warm, we will have better luck. We still have access to the fully assembled free pallets, so either way, we will make it happen. 

Smudge fire to keep May flies away.

Cleaning out the spot on the farm was quite refreshing and fun. It was a beautiful breezy day, and the smell of sweet grass filled the air. We worked cheerfully as we grunted and heaved and hauled large dead tree trunks and broken cinder blocks from the space. Just the day before, Michael, one of the owners of the farm, had pulled the old trailer out of the space. Now that this was out of the way, we could do the fine tune clean up. 


 

We envision a cool outdoor patio.
"Envision" is the key- haha.





Once we had cleaned up the majority of debris, we assessed the ground. It was a bit sloped and uneven in several places. It needed to be leveled out and I quietly groaned at what that meant in terms of two people doing this by hand. That thought was interrupted, however, as I heard a tractor engine come rumbling up the knoll. Michael came through and in about 10 minutes time we had a nice even piece of land! Woohoo!


Some of these logs were huge! Luckily Michael had a
chainsaw on hand too!
Just spending that one day out there filled us with a heightened level of appreciation for the farm, how beautiful it is, and how lucky we are that we get to stay there for a time. 

We ordered our solar power system yesterday, too. It kind of hurt a little- $6200- after getting used to no credit card payments. But, looking at the bigger picture, this gives us mobility, independence, and brings us one step closer to a more sustainable lifestyle. With very few other bills to cover at this point, we will pay that off at a much faster rate. 


Hooray for tractors! -Check the goat on the wall in the back...

The spot's open, the solar power system is purchased and on it's way, now it's up to us to get that siding on in the next few weeks!! Thanks to the rain we've had, the ground is still pretty soft. We probably won't be able to move The Pod until it's closer to June. I guess that's a good thing since we need the time!



All clean!

What A Hump Day! (That's a good thing.)


Our version of a romantic date. :) 
We hope all you people that are moms and people that have moms (that covers everybody, right?) had a nice weekend! 


The work continues. Dan has been steadily collecting and dismantling more pallets. We have had a few runs of luck at the pallet place that takes them apart, but we are finding the wood is better quality from the ones we take apart. 
On Saturday, we were told it was going to rain- so rather than sit home twiddling thumbs, we decided we would do something we don't do all that much lately- go on a date! Naturally as we got ready to go the weather cleared up and became beautiful- but it didn't take much to convince each other to keep to the date. ;) Since it was so nice out, we improvised. Our romantic date consisted of take out in the back of the pickup, parked in the back mall lot. The lot is abutted by large chunks of granite and trees, so it is kind of nice back there. We enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine, then headed in to watch our movie. 

Of course, as soon as the movie was done the sun went away and the weather predictions started looking more accurate. We resolved to work anyway. After returning home and changing clothes, we jumped in. I started the disorienting job of organizing the wood pieces...somehow. Dan continued ripping things apart.





I finally decided on sorting out all of the wood, loosely, by width and thicknesses. We finished up just before the rains started. On Mother's Day, we put together a little pen for Wendy outside. Once we move to the farm, we plan to make a secure area for her outside. We figured it would be better to adjust her slowly, so we've started putting her outside while we are home for a few hours at a time. I don't think she's a big fan of it right now, but TOUGH! We aren't about to have her stay inside with her own personal fan blowing all day- not with solar power! 
Sorted....sort of..

Just yesterday, Dan started ripping all the pieces of wood down to a 3 inch width. The pallet pieces came in all different widths, but the vast majority were around 3 inches or could be cut to this. It definitely feels good to start seeing a stack of uniform pieces. Next up after ripping: filling in all the nail holes with putty, then planing the boards so they have a smooth face. 

It is certainly a lot of work, but it's free and it's recycled. Two factors that make it very much worth the effort!
Yesterday also held other exciting things! A lady from a prominent television network wanted to interview us via phone on Tuesday. She liked us so much that she wanted to do a Skype interview and consider us for a possible show!! Needless to say, it was exhilarating just talking with her! This might not turn out to be anything, but just sharing our story with someone and receiving such a positive response felt great. She really liked us! We will hear more next week on what her team thinks!





Bun-bunnnns!!!


PALLETS: More Of The Same

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we've been radio silent.

Over the past two weekends, we've done just what I've been talking about for, what? -The last FIVE POSTS. So I will spare you the redundant details and keep it short and sweet. 



Sooooo much of this....blaahh
Plenty of saw dust!
We spent a couple weeks just ripping apart pallets. Once we had all that wood stacked up, we spent another week simply de-nailing, chopping and squaring ends and ripping down to a consistent width. This past week (well partial week, I was in Colorado for work) we spent time planing all of those boards. Hundreds of them...and we don't even know how much this batch of wood will cover!

One story/lesson I will share really quick: The planer we have was purchased in late June 2013 to begin prepping the barn boards for the ceiling and other pieces. We planed A LOT of very wide, very long, VERY hard pieces of old wood. I remember the lovely surge of wonder and joy as each old rough gray plank passed through and emerged a flawless, gorgeous, bright wood surface. Those memories had faded a bit by the time we pulled the planer out last week. We started planing the boards and it went fine for the bulk of them on the first day, but then with more consistency, the boards came out with certain areas scuffed. We thought maybe the knots or grain of the wood had something to do with this. We would run them through again. I'd also been away from the planer too long to remember how damn loud it was and how long each board took. 
We filled two large jars with all nails we pulled.
-Well mostly Dan. :P

After the fourth board in a row came screaming out the other side with scuffs, I signaled Dan to cut the power. "When was the last time the blade was changed?" I asked. Dan's blank stare gave the answer. Despite his aversion to taking a break from the work (we've had so many interruptions lately- graduations, going away parties, travel, weddings, RAIN...), we headed to the box store to buy new blades. Upon returning and insisting we consult the manual for blade changing tips, I learned we could have simply rotated the blades we already had. Oh well! Now we have our back ups.

Dan's irritation for the time spent acquiring and changing the blades melted away instantly as the first marble smooth boards effortlessly, and quickly I might add, zipped through the planer. There were no harrowing protests from the machine either. Suddenly planing boards became a pleasant and rewarding experience again. I began to see the positives once more and reveled at the 20 plus species of wood we had. I am a tree lover/nerd through and through so maybe it's just me, but I am fascinated by the sheer variety in color and pattern of different woods. People use some preeeeetty nice wood to make pallets. Better for us! We finished the remaining boards and retouched a few others in about 50% of the time it took for the first batch.

  I guess the lesson here is: Do things right! Don't hold off on replacing tool parts because you think you will save a little money and eek out one more use. We would have wasted so much time and effort (not to mention wood that wasn't even smooth) if we had tried to keep milking those blades.




The first peek and how our siding will look!!



Next up, we have to notch the boards to create a ship-lap style. It was a long road to this decision, as it is important to install siding that effectively sheds water and doesn't let it build up or get between the siding and the house. We did a small test run with the table saw, but we called it a day after that. Dan's Dad has a blade that will get the job done with more accuracy and a cleaner finish- not to mention significantly less time. We got the tool from him last night, and hopefully the weather will allow us to get cracking on those boards before the weekend.
Look at all the variety! And this purple and green wood!!







Oh, and our solar power system arrived by freight truck while I was away. MAN, THOSE PANELS ARE HUGE. We have been a little frustrated with how long the pallets are taking, so I have avoided the solar power system on purpose. We need to build a rack for the panels to be mounted on. Hopefully this weekend we will get some boards up on the damn walls! I think once we see just a few boards in place, we will get the gusto to power through. THEN we will deal with the racking. 
Sawdust for the composting toilet! Waste not, want not!


Ship lap style pallet siding. 

AT LONG LAST! Visual Progress!

This guy has put in SO many hours!
AND he's getting reeaally good at shiplapping.
WE HAVE SIDING UP!!

This weekend, we finally had enough wood prepped to start slapping it on the walls. First, we had to finish putting up the trim around the perimeter. We headed to the store and grabbed the wood we needed. 

Dan and I kept a steady rhythm, he measured and chopped while I painted. As one set was finished drying, we would nail it up.  We opted to have the base trim be quite thick. That way as it terminates at the wheel well, it is the perfect level for the siding to go right across the top. We really like the way it looks. Clean and simple. 

Seeing that first line of boards go up- neatly and easily no less - was nothing short of magical. It's been a long several weeks doing the same labor intensive chores and seeing no visual reward. It might has well have been lightning that delivered the new batch of zeal, we both felt charged with energy and the determination to keep going. 


We worked steadily, he ripping more and more boards to be ship lapped, me chopping and nailing up rows. We had no regard for time, and as I slowly gained on Dan's ship lapping and ran out of boards, we decided to call it.  We both stood back and admired the progress so far. We absolutely LOVE the look of this recycled pallet siding. From far away it has that interesting diverse look- kind of like a huge cutting board as my dad would put it- and up close it is full of texture and character. So- all that long tedious hard work? WORTH IT.
"What time is it?" Dan asked. "I don't know, five thirty?" I was quite wrong. It was seven! We had worked a solid 8 hour day! We felt like we really gained some ground Saturday, all the more rewarding after all this rain! Unfortunately I pushed too much, and didn't listen to my body as I worked away. My ankle/foot is on the fritz again! As a result, I wasn't able to put in as much effort today....but hey! It's my birthday! I'm good for working at all! ;) 






We estimate that we have enough wood "prepped" to finish the front wall. We may start a side wall if we have more ready. Given how much time this has taken, we are considering corrugated steel for the back wall. HA! Hey, we have to try to keep to the timeline-- which we haven't been great at lately. 




Siding is underway! The solar power system components are in! We will be ready to move soon!


















Weekend Update: Missed It By That Much

The first wall is almost done!

Earlier this week, I took a look at the forecast and noticed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were shaping up nice. So, in my zeal to complete even this one wall, I took a vacation day Friday. We worked steadily through Friday, which turned out to be the PERFECT conditions. Slightly overcast, mid 60s, active breeze, gorgeous. We both worked comfortably in jeans that day....such was not the case Saturday. On Friday we put in a solid day, and stopped only as we approached the end of our "wall-ready" wood supply. We thought we had enough for the front, and we weren't off by much! A just under 2 foot strip across the top is all that remains. The going was slow too. We had a lot of funky cuts and objects to work around. 
We decided to extend the wire for the outside lamp.
We used outdoor wire caps. Now the light will be in the top
left corner versus right where the door opens, head level- effectively sucking the entire
cloud of bugs that have accumulated right on in to the house with you!
We stopped using the light it was so bad! Happy for the change!

Saturday we jumped back to. We didn't have wood to work with, so the choice was made. Dan had grabbed some pallets earlier in the week, so we had material to work with. He ripped apart and de-nailed while I ripped all the boards down to a consistent width. Then we worked together-through the hottest part of the day-planing every last one. 

We landed ourselves another batch of stunning eclectic wood. One particular piece is QUITE yellow. I thought for a moment it must be painted, but we planed it and out came a more vibrant yellow! The shavings stood in stark contrast to the rest of the pile. 

I stepped out to grab groceries and cook us some lunch, while Dan stayed on and ship lapped the boards. His Dad got him the proper blade as an early birthday gift! Now he doesn't have to do it the long way with the regular blade! He was able to finish all the wood by the time lunch was served! Much faster!

It was mid afternoon when we finished with the wood we had on hand. We ate our lunch and decided that was enough for one day. We had a birthday party to head to soon enough. So we cleaned up the yard and cleaned up ourselves, sauntered over, and had a great evening with family!









EOD Friday...WICKED.
Saturday: Hot out! More wood processing..
On Sunday we each had events to attend. Dan- a paintball outing because the gift certificate expired THAT day. Me, the bridal shower of a dear friend. It was quite lovely too! Very tasteful decor, super cute displays, and nice food choices- gluten free too! :D 

By the time we both got home, neither of us had any juice left, so the front of the house remains bald just on top. The good news is we have plenty to finish that now, and it shouldn't take more than 40 minutes. 



Also this past week I ordered the exterior stain and it just came in today! Quick! I did some research and chose AFM's Safecoat product. Here's a link to one of the articles I found helpful for explaining eco-friendly alternatives. 
" American Formulating and Manufacturing (AFM) makes Safecoat paints, stains, cleaning products, and sealers without toxic chemicals. AFM products are pristine enough even for the chemically sensitive. They contain no formaldehyde, fungicide, or mildewcide, and meet strict VOC emissions standards."

We went with maple, it has warm golden tones to it. I think it will make a lot of different pieces really pop! Oh- and Mario stopped by with another gem- which I wish I had gotten just that morning. He explained that we should apply a coat of the stain and seal the wood before going in with the putty. As you putty, inevitably some remains outside the hole, this can soak into the pores, and when stained, will not hold the stain, so you will have those little light splotches everywhere you dragged a putty knife. I got about a third of the way up our wall before receiving this tip. We plan to do a decent sanding job which should take care of most of that. 

The more we think about it, the more likely we are to move the house before all the siding is up. It's going to take a while. Ha. Next up, after this first wall most likely, is building the solar panel racking. We want that in place and ready to rock when we move. Sure we could go a day or two without power, but why when it's perfectly doable?

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