Building a Baby Safe Bedroom

The house design that we created called for wooden beams and flooring on the second level of our new construction.  We chose Cryptomeria Japonica as our timber source.  Luckily the Azorean people began planting the trees on our land over 50 years ago and we inherited a nice grove of beautiful trees when we purchased the land.   We were able to mill it ourselves using a Logosol guide system combined with a large chainsaw.

We decided on 10cm X 20cm Beams that would span the 5 meter distance of our bedroom. Fixed perpendicular to the beams we decided to use 3.5cm-thick boards. Since we did not have the wood prepared when the concrete work was done last year, we left 3 openings in the wall for the 5-meter beams to pass through and then insert into mirrored openings in the opposite wall.

Prior to inserting the beams, we painted the portions of wood that would be imbedded in the concrete with a tar paint to prevent wood rot.  See below.

After placing the beams, Magnus contacted a friend to help prepare the floor boards by cutting them to length, and incorporating a ‘Tongue and Groove’ system to fit them together.  This involved transporting the lumber across the island and back to the woodshop of Beru.

After transporting the floorboards back to our side of the island, Odin put them to good use as a play area, prior to their installation 2.5 meters above the bathroom floor!

The remaining gaps in the wall were sealed with concrete on both inside and out, securing the beams from future movement.

Next, we installed the floor boards carefully fitting the tongues into grooves and screwing them to the beams.

Magnus and Beru celebrated the completion of a wood flooring project and made way for the boss to inspect their craftsmanship.

Odin likes it!

Road Building

The CAT machine must first place a six meter long tube into the creek before constructing the road over and across the small body of water. The tube is about 70 centimeters diameter. It requires two men on the ground to guide the tube into the correct position, while the machine does the actual lifting and placement.

After crossing the creek and clearing-cutting trees ahead of the CAT, we begin carving out the mountainside, layering stones, clay, and gravel that comes out of the land. We were fortunate that we did not have to purchase any materials, other than the tube.

We cut the remaining eucalyptus trees, all but one, with the help of the CAT. It sounds simpler than it is. First we must get cable lines high up in the tree in order to get the best leverage while using the CAT to guide/pull the trees in the direction we want to trees to fall. Sometimes it means someone has to go up in the tree to make sure the cables are not twisted.

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With six eucalyptus now cut, there remains two, "Grand-Daddy" and "the leaner". Grand-daddy is 140 cm wide in diameter, that is a little less than Konswan is tall. It's branches sweep over the roof, allowing dead branches to fall and, at times, break tiles. Just a week ago, we had to replace two tiles. Magnus stretches out his arms to show the tree's girth.

Below he trims off the rest of Grand-daddy's stump after felling it. Magnus uses a 75 cm blade, but has to move around the trunk to do the required cutting. We do not have a blade long enough to span the 140 cm.

This is the house and surrounds after 7 eucalypti are cut. One remains, the leaner, above and to the left of the house. You can see that we have tied it off, in case of a hard blowing wind. The workers are now on their vacations and we will not see them for another 30 days. So in the meanwhile, we will de-limb the trees, pile up the "carcasses", and pray that we do not not get hurricane force winds.

The land has been remodeled on such a huge scale now, as you can see looking at the before picture featured below. If prayers can move mountains, they have done so in the form of a CAT machine helping us to have a safer surrounds to our little home. Now we can sleep better at night, unburdened by the worry of tree limbs landing on our roof.

For those interested in more detailed photos of the process, go to our detailed photo page.

Bookshelf Made from Cryptomeria in our Backyard

Using our new toy to create lumber from all the trees we have felled in the last few years.

We bought a portable sawmill from the Swedish Logosol Company.

Using a chainsaw to power it, Magnus is able to create boards of all sizes in our own backyard.

After making the lumber, the fun of carpentry begins.

Using a portable generator and a handheld grinder, Magnus lets the inspiration flow and plays in the swirling patterns inside the wood.

Tree Adventures of the Past Three Years

We learned quickly which species of trees were prone to blowing over. The Acacia trees are subject to root rot and fall without warning. Not good for the chicken coop.

We had cut all but 2 small Acacias, when they blew over onto another larger Cryptomeria and Eucalyptus, causing a domino effect. Not good for the garden.

With strong winds fore casted, we decided to cut down a heavily leaning Eucalyptus behind our house. The steel cable we used to control the falling direction snapped and 5 tons of wood came crashing down on our bathroom slab. Not good for the bathroom.

Realizing we did not have the experience or tools to cut trees safely, we hired two men to help. Somehow in the translations, (one spoke German and Portuguese, the second German and a little English, and we spoke English and a little Portuguese) the idea to keep the trees out of the garden got mixed up and two Eucalyptus were dropped on top of our cold frames and garden.

So now, we have bought the equipment we need to do the job ourselves. We are reading books and articles to learn proper techniques, and have been practicing on trees away from our house. Hopefully this next year will be without disaster.