Siding - Summer 2012

One of the major house projects we had hoped to complete this summer was to have siding installed on the house. Last Fall, David and I completed two rows of the house wrap ourselves which, if you remember from our posts, was more than a challenge for us due to the height. To finish the job, he asked another missionary to help out with the higher rows which required using scaffolding. We worked to cover the house with house wrap before last year's winter weather arrived to help protect the OSB. 

Fast forward to Spring and the above photo proves that we definitely had some strong winds during the winter months.

With the OSB exposed we knew that we needed to get the house wrap on again and do our best to purchase the siding needed to close it all in.

Praise the Lord, just in time, He provided the funds for us to be able to both purchase the siding and pay to have it installed.

As soon as the weather was warm enough to work comfortably, the men whom we hired came out to begin the process. Due to our extreme cold temperatures here in Siberia, siding is installed a bit differently than in the States. As you can see the siding is divided into three sections on each side of the house. These shorter spans help prevent sagging as a result of our drastic temperatures in summer and winter.

This photo below is not the greatest picture but you can see the trim pieces all on along the roof and the drain pipes, even though we have to finish them on the bottom end, are in place. 

I can't tell you what a blessing it is for us to have an all siding intact, closed in, and completed looking house! 

We plan on finishing the foundation walls, where you can see the yellow insulation below the siding, off with artificial rock at a later date but we are excited to have this "siding" chapter closed in our home building process.

Building the Walls (first floor)

One of the much awaited days we were looking forward to was when David could uncover the first floor and have enough days of sunny weather to be able to begin building the walls for the house. Those days finally came and David worked hard to get the two outer side walls built.

Once those two walls were built we were thankful for Volodia, a deacon from Krasnoyarsk Baptist Church who also is a builder, who came with some of his workers to help raise those walls into place.

As you can see from the photo, the water hoses hanging on a small fence in our yard have snow on them so winter was again upon us. We had to work hard to be able to finish the first floor outer walls and close it in before heavy snow and winds came to stay for a while.

So, like it or not, the snow fell, and fell, and fell until the area around the house (praise the Lord already closed in) looked something like this...

Well, actually exactly like this! We were able to complete the four outer walls and the floor of the second level and cover and secure the tarps just in time. So, we were once again waiting for Spring. (hint: in the next post it will already be Spring!)