then put in windows and siding

then you wrap it in plastic

Anymore, a house is not just bricks and mortar. You wrap it up in plastic.

then, you top it with a roof

You hope the roof is on before the rain comes.

then, the second story goes up

These are not just sheets of plywood. These are highly engineered weight-bearing panels with an insulation rating of 30.

then, the walls go up

After the Sabbath, come Monday, the walls go up. Some assembly required.

next, the first floor

Say good-bye to the cellar as the floor covers it. Notice the large opening in the cellar wall? The non-electric house will use that to bring sunlight in, down through a huge window well--common practice I'm told. Even church services are held in such basements. While the house is going up, though, we'll use a Japanese electric generator for power. It's lunch time, and the carpenters drop their tool belts.

cellar comes first

First, you make the cellar. And, if it's a clear day, hang out the wash.

to build a house

Days two and three you grade the plot of ground and dig a hole...and hope you don't kick up dust on the wash line.

neighbor breaks ground

Today, President's Day, my neighbor broke ground for a new house.

building in winter

Monterey, even in the middle of winter, has two buildings under construction. That will bring the total from about 50 to 52. One is across Spring Road from the "natural produce" stand (see the sign). It is at the northwest tip of the village, right before the "goat path." The other, a house, is at the southeast edge of town on Stumptown Road. If you are tired of staring at your screen, don't rush here for a job. Both sites are strictly union--Amish union, that is.

then siding and windows

This is finger-numbing nail pounding in 38-degree weather, bright sunshine or not.

then come(s) rafters

frame goes up

(reverse order) First the concrete floor sets. Then much of the frame is assembled horizontally. Forget those movie pictures of 40 Amishmen straining to lift the side of a barn. Here in modern Monterey we just let the crane do that. It starts to look like a building finally.

timber framing

Aaron is putting up a timber frame shed beside his shop. I'm guessing that, apart from the hot air balloons that occasionally drift over the village, this crane is the highest anything ever got in Monterey.

cat wheels of Monterey

At dawn it may look as innocent as a vegetarian behemoth waking up, but this cat eats gas, spews fumes, and pushes dirt that took millennia for nature to create. These are not local wheels, but a neighbor hired them yesterday to start construction.

stimulus at work

Right here in little Monterey we see some economic stimulus at work. Down comes this lathe and plaster house of (let me guess) 1890. Behind it a new structure is up already. I'm calling this Amish urban planning.

construction

More than corn and hay is sprouting up from the fields around Monterey. A new spurt of building is going on. Go through the village square and a mile east on East Eby you'll see this chicken house.

I'm assuming that's what it is. The kind for fertilized eggs for vaccine production.