DIY Frame House in Latvia: Walls and Rafters Completed

  • Traveled to Latvia in June 2023: During a two-week trip to Latvia, the author continued working on their frame house, completing the installation of walls and rafters.
  • DIY Construction with Cost-Saving Approach: The article details a cost-saving DIY project for building a frame house in Latvia using screw foundation piles. The author ordered timber from PATA Saldus for the walls, roof, and slats, and made the frames and rafters themselves.
  • Collaboration and Progress: The author had the support of neighbors and their assistant, Edgariņš, to lift and install the walls and rafters. The construction process involved careful measurements, including the use of the Pythagoras theorem for accuracy. The frame house, made entirely of wood, progressed swiftly over the 10-day construction period in June 2023.

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At the end of June 2023, we traveled to Latvia for about two weeks, during which I continued work with our frame house and installed both walls and rafters.

In this article, I'm sharing notes and photos from the construction. 

It was a huge surprise when arriving on site I saw a lot of overgrown grass.

Frame house foundation in grass

It was just a few months ago, we come to Latvia to install this foundation on the grounds crews.

The Cost-Saving Way to Build a Frame House in Latvia: Our DIY Project (Screw Foundation Piles)

timber is delivered

Just like in the Spring, I ordered wood from PATA Saldus, here is delivered wood both for walls and roof and also slats

Making frames on the ground

I made the first frames myself, using just a hand saw and a drill. I thought I will be able to lift these walls up alone, but turned out heavier than expected. 

First walls installed

With the help of neighbors (Mamma Santa) - I was able to lift up these walls.

First guest on the construction site

It was Summer Solstice evening and my mom come to visit us from Riga.

Making ladder from wooden planks

Once the walls were finished, it was time to think about how to get a top of the construction and install rafters for the roof

Frame house in Latvia

Installing inner wall

Making rafters for roof

I had to spend a few evenings to make the right measurements, Pythagoras theorem helped a lot. 

My assistant - Edgariņš

With the help of Edgariņš we have already done some work in the past

Frame house been built

6 rows of rafters installed already

Frame house

All the constructions are made out of wood

Edgariņš installing rafters

All the rafters are fixed with metal angles

After installing the last rafter

Quite an amazing work

Frame house built from scratch

Here I started already to install cross wind sheet.

In total it took us about 10 days at the end of June 2023 to build these walls and install rafters. 

Cost so far:

  • Ground Screws: EUR 805
  • Wood beams: EUR 1000
  • Support clamps and angles: EUR 100
  • Tools and other goodies: EUR 150
  • Wood preservative liquid: EUR 12
  • Wood planks and slats: EUR 1,030
  • Metalic clamps and other goodies: EUR 400
  • Cross wind sheet: EUR 80

Total: EUR 3,577

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