Day 5, August 9th - More Top Plates

Preparations have been underway to get the house ready for next weekend, where we'll have our first group build. The wattling will begin, but before we can start that undertaking, we had to get the top plates done. Last week we did four, but there are 17 to do in all. (Not counting the one above the door.) The lower plates were finished first and attached with temporary pegs we'll be able to pull out when it is time to wattle. Then the top plates were done, taking an axe to the flats until they would lay flush against the lower plates. It was a tedious process at times but with a little perseverance we got the task accomplished.

A more enjoyable job we got to do was work with draw knives to scrape the bark off the poplar wall plates, as the mortality rate of the wood is increased with the bark removed. The aesthetics also improve!

A few of the main posts also needed new holes auguring in (thanks to a height blunder you can read about in an earlier post) No easy feat when the posts are already in the ground!