On the Board Walk – Seven Little Australians & Counting

Prior to demolishing our old laundry a few weeks ago, PC began laying piers for a new section of verandah. Thus far we’ve laid three sections of our verandah; the end, the front (22m/72ft) and the deck. It was now time to complete the section in front of the ‘old house,’ bringing the total of the front verandah to 40 metres (131ft) in length.

Once the laundry was removed PC could then lay the bearers

and joists.

With the help of visiting friends, the joists were completed in one weekend.

The children were so excited to begin the task of laying the decking boards and

thus began a couple of weekends of selecting timber,

measuring and cutting to size

and spacing and screwing down.

The first weekend the younger boys as well as the two girls stayed on the task for hours,

by the second weekend, it was a Dad and girls team only, (with a little help from Mum)

Six years ago we selectively logged timber from our land, we then milled the timber ourselves (hard, hard work) and sent it to town to be finished. We still have a couple of piles of timber left and a couple of sections of verandah to complete.

We are using Ironbark, a species of hardwood timber which is white ant resistant, a necessity in this area.

Laying the boards is a four step process; spacing, marking holes, drilling, counter sinking and then screwing.

By the end of the weekend the boards were all laid and we were racing to beat the sunset.

Just the way PC wanted to spend Father’s Day, quality time with his girls, working together, creating memories. These girls of ours, 13 and 11, they worked all weekend and didn’t stop until dark

Another section of verandah completed:)

Next task is to replace the old posts (on left) with new posts to bear the weight of the new roof trusses.

Once the trusses are up the roofline will run continuously and externally it will no longer appear as old house, new house but one house.

*Sharing over at the Builder’s Wife

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10 Comments

Mary @ Better Than Eden

September 10, 2015 at 11:50 am Reply

That's looking so great! Love how helpful your girls are. I hope you show a pic of the whole house so we can see it all put together after so much hard work on it!

Erin

September 10, 2015 at 10:50 pm Reply

Mary
Our girls are extremely helpful and confident, that I love. As per your request, have taken and uploaded a photo of the whole house so you can have a better sense of it all.
Mel

September 10, 2015 at 11:12 pm Reply

What a lovely blog post. It must be a wonderful experience for your Little Australians 🙂
- Erin
  
  October 31, 2015 at 8:38 pm Reply
  
  Mel,
  It is, they’re building a wonderful repertoire of skills

Nicole Cox

September 11, 2015 at 3:02 am Reply

How wonderful! I love that your children are so eager to help. What amazing memories you are all creating. Thankyou for linking up with #HIT xx

Erin

October 31, 2015 at 8:40 pm Reply

Nicole
We are blessed they are happy and keen to help. Admittedly some days more than others. Thank you for having me at #HIT