We Built Our Dream Home In The Woods

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AND FINALLY, THE ROOF BEAMS

We didn't have to resort to special lifting devices again until we were ready to build our new home's roof (which?like its foundation?rests on six "spoke" beams). Here, for the first time, we used a block and tackle.

Our "B & T" setup offered a number of advantages?for this application?over a cable and winch. First, it could be operated from the ground (no need to stand atop a ladder, as with the come along). Second, the block and tackle allowed us to work faster. And third, the amount of "lift" provided by a B & T is limited only by the amount of rope available. (Our winches could lift an object a distance of 12 feet . . . and no more.)

Of course, the block and tackle won't automatically hold its load . . . you have to tie the rope if you want to stop halfway through a hoist. Also, the great quantity of loose rope that lies near one's feet during the operation of a block and tackle does create a definite hazard.

Nonetheless, the B & T worked well for our purposes, because Ardis was able to raise each beam to the elevated floor of our partially completed house in one continuous motion?quite easily, too—simply by pulling a rope at ground level, while I grabbed the rafters as they came up and stacked them. (Once, our neighbors came by just as Ardis was hoisting the last of the 4" X 12" X 24' roof beams up to me, and their mouths dropped open in utter astonishment!)

We then lifted the big rafters into final position in much the same manner that we had lifted the spoke beams earlier, except that this time we used two makeshift scaffolds: one (with a block and tackle) at the center of the house . . . and a shorter frame (sporting a cable and winch) that we could move from corner to corner.

HOME SWEET HEXAGONAL HOME

Of course, I haven't told you how we built our carport . . . installed our three wood-burning stoves . . . set up our Mansfield Traveler 910 toilet that uses less than a quart of water per flush . . . or carried out any of the 9,999 other chores that went into the creation of our "dream house".

I do hope I've proven, however, that it's not really all that herculean a task to build a home in the woods . . . even a fairly fancy (if I do say so) six?sided one! All it takes?as I've said before?is desire, fortitude, and imagination. (And a $40 swimming pool!)

What It cost

We originally budgeted $12,000 for our house . . . which was the amount of cash we thought we could raise by the summer of 1972 (our target date for construction). This money was to have come (and did come) from three sources: [1] A pair of savings accounts?begun in 1968?into which we were putting every dollar we didn't absolutely have to spend. [2] A lumpsum refund (paid to me when I left my city job in 1971) of all contributions I'd made to a retirement plan since 1967. [3] The equity we'd accumulated in the city house we had bought in 1967.

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