Hi all! We are rebranding!  Ok, not really, but funny story… 

Some of you may not know that Karianne posts these newsletters and pictures onto a blog. We had the domain ‘Bannerbuilt” but then out of the blue a couple companies started asking to buy it. We really liked that domain, and didn’t think they’d give us more than a couple hundred dollars. After continued requests, Karianne finally asked a company how much it was worth to them. The number they came back with was $5,000!

So a year? ago, we sold the domain and now have https://raisingbanners.com/ as our domain. A really good time to rename the newsletter would have been 2 newsletters ago, but since we aren’t a professional organization, here we are. Going forward we are now “Raising Banners” 🙂

As far as updates… I haven’t done any physical labor and have no pictures to show. However, we are in the middle of all out planning. Karianne has been working kitchen cabinets, windows, and flooring. I’ve been working on footers, ICF Blocks, Steel beams and rebar, roofing trusses, and the main wood package. But, we did have something exciting happen on Friday.  We purchased our ICF blocks!. This is really happening! And it’s coming so quickly. Hopefully we will break ground this weekend. We want to get our footers in the first week of February, and then the following week stack the first round of ICF blocks and get the first pour done.

Which brings me to why I am writing this email.  I wanted to throw out to you all to see if anyone would like to be onsite for any of the ICF process. A “free education class” on our project if you will. I am not offering because we need help (if you come it would be entirely up to you if you actually helped with the physical labor part, definitely welcome to but not required). ICF blocks are a DIY product, but there is enough I am not confident in that I have decided to hire the Utah ICF consultant to come be onsite and help me stack the blocks (at least for the first pour).  There will be 3-4 days of the process, the highlights to me are 

1. Day 1. Laying out the first layer and glueing it down, setting up and doing the “T” connections and laying out the ICF braces.
2. Day 2 could be a lot of window and door bracing and creating the rebar headings over the openings, which includes the installation of the “bucks” for the openings
3. Day 3 (repeat of day two)
4. Day 4, the pour day. Would also be an informative day. (one of the reasons I’ve decided to hire the guy is for this day. The first pour will be a 14′ pour which is a bit higher than typical. I don’t want to mess that one up. I need all 14′ to do the stem walls underground and the whole first wall up to the 2nd floor floor structure. I need to install the 2nd floor structure before continuing the blocks for the second story).

So, if you are interested in learning ICF blocks this is a great opportunity. I am not making it convenient though. I’ll be skipping work and will most likely have day 1 on a Monday and will keep going until we are done. We are happy to offer room and board to anyone who wants to come, we only ask that you do not bring any children that do not have a separate, wholly dedicated adult to them. (Teenagers that want to help…. we can approve on a case by case basis  )

You could come Sunday night, and leave Monday night after day 1 and only skip one day of work, or leave early a.m. one day and head back the same night. Or come the whole week. Anything you want to see we are game.

Long shot, clearly, but let us know if you are interested!

Here we go!!