We dug a ditch to direct the water away from the road/yard.
The gravel from the digging we placed under our house so between the big rocks and towards the middle foundation. The gravel was placed there to make the ground higher and make it slope away from the house so that all the water from the rain and melting snow do not go under the house. We needed more gravel than from the ditch so we dug that from the edge of the forest. Also we placed stones in cement on top of the foundation rocks to make them all the same hight and even.
Then we began the carpentry work. We got our nine beams that were cut square by the mobile saw mill in the winter.
These floor beams were joined with a halving joints that were made with a motor saw, axe and chisel.
At each of these joints there is a mortice and tennon joint which is the junction between the wall posts and the floor beams. This also fixes the beams together.
The beams are placed on birch bark to stop the moisture from traveling from the stone to the beam. The surface of the beam was burned with a blow torch to dry the wood to paint it with wood tar. The tar works against insects who don't like the tar (nor the charring).
The 4x2inch mortise joint was made by hand drilling eight one inch holes to make the chiseling easier.
Each beam is bolted onto the rock at the point of the mortise joint. This stops any possible movement of the house.
The whole family chiseling (in a local news paper article).
"Itse rakentaen kodilla on sielu - by building yourself your house has a soul"
