Hog House 101.....Building Ed Earl and Luanne's Abode......

God blessed us with the most gorgeous weather this past weekend.  Sunshine and temps in the high 60's low 70's.....just glorious!  It felt soo good to be outside, working next to my man!

We got the fence all done on Saturday, so Sunday was devoted to building a house for Ed Earl and Lu Lu....

We had to buy four 2x4's and 4 sheets of OSB, then we went "shoppin" in our used wood pile in the hay barn.......

After findin' what we needed in our pile, we loaded it all up in the truck and headed to the home site......

First we laid out the foundation in a rough square.  The 6x6's are from the old hunk of rust barn that we tore down a couple years ago.  The 2x8's are leftovers from building the rafters in my horse/goat barn.....

After screwing the base together, we put the panels on.  We each got on one side, and with some big ole steeples, secured that sucker to the 6x6 posts at the bottom.....

Where we joined the two panels together, we made sure to secure them both with one steeple......

Then we baling wired both panels together, all the way up.  We made sure to have the wire ends INSIDE so that when we put the tarp roof on, the wire won't poke holes in the tarp......

Since this is for pigs, we didn't want just a tarp down at the bottom, and I also wanted to stiffen it up.  We decided to put OSB board on the bottom of the panels.  We could have used treated plywood, but cost was a factor.  I held a 2x4 on the inside while The Man screwed the OSB to the 2x4 from the outside.  Then I went around and broke the screws off so as not to leave anything for the pigs to get snagged on, or for wasps to build nests on.  Then The Man screwed a 1x6 to the 2x4 with the panel in between, making a sandwich.  This will prevent the OSB from popping away from the screw heads......

We did the same thing at the bottom.....

Here it is so far.........

Then we put the back on, screwing it to the bottom board.........

Then The Man cut off the excess..........circular saw you say?  My baby don't need no stinkin' circular saw.  That's what chainsaws are for!  Everything we had to cut for this building we used the chainsaw, that's just the way we roll............

Then we put these boards in, on the top, in the middle, and one that would go between the top and bottom sheet of OSB...... 

Then we held the next sheet of OSB up there, I went inside with a pencil and marked the arch..........and The Man got out his precision cutting utensil and made the cut......

Then we screwed it up..........

And here ya go!

By this time, it was pretty stiff, but I decided since we had OSB leftover we should put some up in the front, to further stiffen it.....

And now it's ready for paint.........

So I got to work!  This is the kind of painting I don't mind, no worry about making a mess!  I painted with a brush, then The Man went behind me with the roller.

Ain't it purty?

At this point, we went in for a quick bite and when we came back out, we put a second coat on, then put the tarp roof on it.  We bought a contractor grade 8x10' tarp in brown.....

And stretched it over........using a staple gun to secure it down.....

Then we took furring strips and screwed them on, putting a screw through the furring strip and into each of the metal grommets.......this will help make the tarp more secure and it looks nice too!

It has the approval of the dogs..........

I filled it up with dry, waste hay from Champ and the goats, and here it is, all done and ready for occupation!   

Please tune in tomorrow for the continuation of Pig Week here at Goodwife Farm........you'll get to see if Ed Earl and Luanne approve of their new home and land.......

God Bless................