Peeking above the ground

It's happened.  We've finally got the subfloor on our house!  I am so glad that we won't have to shovel snow out of the basement again.  We couldn't have done it so quickly without the help of family and friends.

Last week, Mr. Pickup and I worked on getting the floor joists in place and cut to length.  Saturday, with the help of Mr. Pickup Sr., my brother-in-law and our good friend down the street, we got the final joists in place and started laying the decking or subfloor.  Getting the spacing right around the stair opening was tricky.

Our kind neighbor let the little ones play at her house while we worked.  When we were done, I brought them back to the house so they could see the floor.  Dolly immediately started dancing around.

Monday, we finished laying all the floor down.  Each board is glued and nailed over the joists.  We had to be sure to mark the location of each joist and have the end of the sheet end up on the middle of the next joist.  The boards are connected long-ways by a tongue and groove system.  To install them, we put a fat bead of construction adhesive on each joist we were covering, and then used a sledge hammer to push the tongue into the groove.

Our older children were a big help.  Big Sis kept the construction adhesive warm and kept the glue gun stocked.  Big Bro was right there nailing corners after Mr. Pickup and I (mostly Mr. Pickup) sledgehammered the boards into place.  We even let Big Sis try nailing a few times.  She loved it.   All that is left is some additional nailing to prevent the floor from squeaking, and cutting some overhanging boards.

We'll now finish the framing what is left to be done in the basement.  It should be a lot easier now that the floor is in place.  Now to focus on finishing up Christmas preparations!