Can You Dig It?

This week-end was chore weekend. Ed spent much of Sunday picking up the job site. Just like housework, its not flashy or particularly rewarding, but once in a while, it's got to be done. The debris pile is getting bigger and bigger. Anyone remember Pa Kettle? Well, we gotta take that stuff to the dump someday. He also moved a stack of 2x6s up and inside the new second story, which by the way,(cue in Paul Simon's "One Man's Ceiling is Another Mans Floor") I never know whether to call that the roof or the floor. But up they went anyway. He used the forklift to hike them up most of the way, then dragged them up the rest. The huge pile of lumber that was delivered at the beginning of this project is slowly dwindling away. Then he got the plans and the spray paint and figured out where the posts will need to go front and back and marked them.

Monday was Errand Day. Errand Day is always kind of an event, because it takes such a chunk of time. Get up (0700), have breakfast and walk the dog (0830), mail comes at 0900. The drive to Longview takes an hour, so we got there about 1015 with the road construction delay. Lumber yard, Home Depot, Dr's office, lunch, fuel (ouch), start back at 1315. Another appointment at 1500, and finally home by 1600. So THEN Ed can start back to work. Oy!

Out came the tractor, and he started digging. At our last house, an old Victorian, Ed jacked up the house and re-trenched for new footings and foundation by hand. This is much easier. You know how you have that sticker on your side mirror on the car that says "Caution, objects are closer than they appear"? When you're hunched down ready to take the photo, that bucket looks like something out of a bad 1950s monster movie. But man, can it chew holes in the ground in record time! Concrete? No problem. Tree roots, easy. Sure beats doing it by hand! By the end of Monday Ed had the four footings in the back all dug out.

Tuesday morning he was back at it. He moved the rest of the 2x12s up to the second floor, then dug the front four footings, fine tuned them all by hand. He cut and bent the rebar to fit. Then we zip-tied them together. Ed then installed the rebar with the adobe blocks. Next week? Cement!

Back in the Saddle Again

After a wonderful week of good friends, good food, and good times, it was time to get back to building. Sunday after church, it was hot hot hot. Did I mention that it rains here all the time? I lied. Ed spent the afternoon loading 16 sheets of plywood up onto the second floor.

You can't really see it but Ed has on a long sleeved t-shirt. That's because it's hotter than Hades here (Just how hot is it in Hades and who has the thermometer?).. I think it hit 98 today, which feels way hotter when you're working like a donkey. Anyway, to avoid chemo or possible death later, he's pretty careful about sun exposure. After that, he moved 27 sheets of cedar soffit, about the same size as the plywood. Isn't it weird how the first sheet weighs about..I dunno.. 20 lbs? But by the time you move the 33rd sheet, it weighs about 168 lbs?

It'll be my job to stain the soffit sheets. (I'm Helping!!) We're going to use Sherwin Williams Semi-Transparent stain/Cedar Bark SW3511. I'll be picking up a test gallon this week, and get a price on the 5 gal buckets and 50 gal drums. Yeah, we'll use it. The whole house and garage will be shingles.

On Monday, we both were up top installing plywood on the two support walls. Up the ladder, down the ladder. Up the ladder, down the ladder.

Mittens, the union steward, showed up and harped about the lack of hard hats and safety harnesses. " You can't be up here without the proper shoes. Where's your hard hat?" , she says.

So we bought her off with a little perk, and she went away happy. Her mouth was so full, she couldn't voice any other complaints.

Ed is very consistent about checking his measurements and calculations during the process, and because of the eyebrow dormer and the way the trusses will go, he has been extra careful. So he measures again. Oops! It's off by 1/4 of an inch, so he gets out the come-along and hooks it up and slowly, very slowly tightens the wall up to it's proper position.

By the end of Monday, Ed had the plywood on the walls to the height of 8'. Note how high the windows are in the front, 4 1/2 feet. Also note the contented union inspector taking in the view. That girl loves to climb a ladder.

Tuesday Ed was back at work on putting the plywood on the eyebrown dormer. First of all the the curve has to be perfect. Second of all, it's really really way up high, and it's on the outside of the building. So I decided to go down to the vegetable garden, because I couldn't bear to watch. "Just scream loudly when you fall, so I can run up and find you", I said. "Where's that danged union steward when I need her", I muttered under my breath. So there are no pictures of Ed precariously balanced on I-won't- even-tell-you. He measured and precut the front one, then put the back one up as sheets and then cut off the excess with the saws-all. Much easier, which of course is a relative term.

All the plywood along the dormer curve had to be notched to match the notches in the header, to receive the trusses. Finally by the end of Tuesday, the front and back plywood is on.

You can see here how high the windows will be in the front as compared to the back. The french doors to the balcony and the longer back windows will prevent the apartment from being too claustrophobic.

By the time Tuesday night came around we were both ready for a shady chair and an adult beverage. Mittens just had another mouse.

Let Freedom Ring

It's Independence Day week-end and we take this celebration seriously. You have to concentrate to have this much fun. Which means.....not much building going on. Ed went down to the building department to see what it would take to get approval to create a french door opening onto a balcony off the back of the garage studio, since the windows were so high. "No problem," they said, "just structure it like the one on the house." Hallelujah! What a wonderful place! We didn't have to bribe anybody, shoot anybody, or break any laws. We don't have to redo the architectural drawing, or have the structural engineering redone. Needless to say, we were thrilled. Ed came home and framed in the windows and the back balcony door, and finished shaping up the eyebrow dormer headers. He also notched the header to accept the ceiling joists, which is the next major step. That was pretty much it for this week. There was a party to prepare for!

We had family and friends up for the holiday. We played, took walks, ate, laughed..all the things we're usually too busy to really enjoy as they should be enjoyed. It was wonderful. OK , ok, so since I'm a foodie.. breakfast was scrambled eggs, fresh squeezed from my chickens, toast, chicken and apple sausages (not from my chickens), and hash browns. Needless to say we skipped lunch (well.. there was some snacking) then dinner was smoked baby back ribs with Aunt Joyce's SECRET bbq sauce (don't ask, I'm not giving up the recipe), corn on the cob, baked beans, salad, then after dinner was the bonfire and roasted marshmallows. When it finally got dark about 10:00 pm, we had a terrific fireworks show...yeah, we went for the big-boy fireworks. We all went to bed exhausted, but man, was it fun.

Work Like An Egyptian

Remember all those neighbors we were going to recruit to help us lift the first wall with the really heavy header for the 16' radius eyebrow dormer? Well nobody was going to be home Sunday, sooo..Ed started thinking about plan B. Finally he says to me on the phone,"If the Egyptians could build the pyramids, I should be able to think of a way to raise this thing up by myself."

So Sunday morning, he got up and finished building the wall. I could see him up there just staring at the darned thing, and I don't dare make a sound because I don't want to break his concentration. He's seeing the whole thing play out in his brain first. Finally he gets a steel cable and starts hooking it around the top of the header. Then he took a ..oh I dunno.. 2x10"? board, held it up vertically, and took the cable over the center to hold the cable up higher than the forklift prong on the tractor, and tied off the cable to the forklift prong. Ok now here's the cool part. He comes down the ladder and says. "I'm pretty sure this will work." He gets up on the tractor and starts ever so slowly backing up.

Now go way back... the movie 2001 Space Odyssey..at the very beginning when the pre-human manages to make a tool, and the monolith comes rising out of the ground. The drums are pounding,, DUM DUM, DUM DUM, DUM DUM, DUM DUM,,, I can hear that music in the background as Ed is inching the tractor backwards...

The tractor is inching further, the drums are getting louder DUM DUM, DUM DUM, DUM DUM , DUM DUM , the orchestra comes in .. Dee Dee Dee.....DEE DEE.. the center board comes to the upright.. Ed keeps moving every so slowly..

The brace board fell over just like it was supposed to. Now I can't decide whether to close my eyes and wait for the crash, or to keep taking photos. Just like a witness to any crisis, I stand staring with my mouth open. Not that I doubted for a minute, of course! More drums... DUM DUM, DUM DUM, DUM DUM, DUM DUM,,,the orchestra reaches a crescendo.. well.. you all saw the movie.. you know how it goes..

Then we got up on the roof..er..floor.. and inched it over to the edge and nailed it down. It really felt like a milestone.

The following day Ed started on the front wall. We also snapped out the interior walls, and came to a suprising realization. The windows front and back will be 4' off the floor, making any kind of view minimal, if not impossible. Since we'll be living in the apartment for 2 years while the house is under construction, this could be a bit claustrophobic. We may have to revise the plans a bit to include a balcony off the back like we will have on the house. Fortunately, the building department here isn't difficult to work with, and we don't expect a problem with the revision.

Ed finished framing the front and back walls, and since they were much lighter than the back wall, we were able to just lift them into place. It felt really good to be able to see such tangible evidence of all of Ed's hard work.

Here's a little known fact.. if you're 15' up in the air, and the wind is blowing like crazy across everyone else's pastures... all the pollen goes right in your face. Go figure. But the sunshine felt wonderful all three days, there was no rain, nobody fell off the roof, and Ed built the pyramids, so who can complain?

Good Day Sunshine

At last...no rain to speak of for three days! Mist doesn't count. Sunday Ed started by taking off the old plywood he temped up for protection from the wet. He spent the rest of the day putting the new plywood subflooring down. Now, kids, don't try this at home, because you could actually decapitate yourself, but he triangled the plywood on the forklift bars of the tractor and lifted them to the roof, being very careful not to tip the pile toward himself. If it slid off...well let's just say that the backhoe would be digging a trench somewhere down by the pasture for the funeral. I maintain a calm and serene facade while watching him do this stuff, screaming on the inside. Ed is very careful and is very good about moving stuff with the tractor but it's still scary to watch. Once the plywood was lifted more or less parallel to the subfloor, he went on top and pulled it to the building, glued and nailed it in place. Oh yeah, it's tongue in groove too, so he would get it set more or less in place and then do the Plywood Shuffle which consists of jumping on it with both feet while pushing forward with your feet to shove it together. For a guy that doesn't dance he did an amazing job! By the end of Sunday he had about half of the floor down.

Monday morning gave us another good weather day, so bright and early, Ed was back at it. He finished laying the subflooring and nailed it off. Yea! It felt like a milestone, mostly because he had been thwarted by the weather for weeks. **Note to self: When it's really windy and the compressor hose gets wrapped around the ladder...it can fall right over. Then you're stuck on the roof until a neighbor drives by, which out here can be a while!** In any event, Ed put up the last rim joist and began laying out the double curves for the eyebrow dormer. Who knew all that math we had to choke down in high school would finally come in handy? Good thing Ed remembers it all, because I would be lost! It was nice though to stand up there and look around. The view that we will have from the garage studio and the balcony on the house is going to be spectacular. In the summer all the trees and the pasture are green and lush. In the winter when the trees are bare, we will have a clear view of both pastures and the creek. We may thin some of the trees in the forefront to give a more clear view of the pastures. This is the southwest view. Out the north windows is a row of sugar maples that are stunning in the fall.

Tuesday morning was drippy and drizzily...not really rain, just enough to make us nervous. Ed and I went through the bundles of lumber still sitting in the driveway, and sorted them out. The pre-primed pieces and the cedar went in the garage, and we put the 2x4s and 2x6s in separate piles. After that, Ed started laying out the framing and working on the header for the eyebrow dormer. Now what shows here is one layer of the header. He made two more sets the same and puts them all together. You'd think by this time I'd be used to seeing Really Heavy Things, but I'm not. Next weekend he'll build the first wall, attach it to the header. Then after bribing as many male neighbors as possible, they'll lift it up and get the first vertical wall in place!

Catch-and-Release Construction

Another weekend fighting the weather. The weather guy (whom I have learned not to trust) said this is the coldest spring in 60 years. Not to be daunted, we forge on.

Sunday afternoon we started lifting the floor joists up. Remember the rim joists? The grunting..the groaning..the occational profanity? Apparently that was just the warmup. Ed leaned a ladder against the front of the garage, shouldered up one end of the floor joist, and with me ineffectually pushing from the far end, he hauled each one up to the rim of the garage, then pushed it toward the inside until resembled a teeter-totter. You remember teeter-totters.. how if you played on one with your older brother he always thought it was funny to jump off and let you slam down to the ground? Yeah, well..that was what we tried to avoid. Ed would push it forward until it balanced on the rim of the garage, hand it off to me to balance while he ran inside the garage, set up the rolling staging just under it and would yell, "Let it go..I'll catch it." So I let go and prayed there was no subsequent screaming. Then I would run inside the garage, climb up another ladder and help balance the floor joist while Ed muscled it up the opposite side and nailed it off. Amazingly there were no traumatic injuries. And that's a good thing because it's really a long way to the hospital. We did that twenty times in the next two days.

Ed then put the rim joist on the front of the garage. That was pretty much a repeat of last weekend. Since Tuesday was scheduled for rain, he covered the floor joists with some old plywood as temporary protection and we called it a weekend. This next weekend is supposed to actually look like June, and we expect to get the plywood subflooring down.

All Jacked Up

Not much to show for this week. Ed worked half of Sunday and all of Monday on the building, but much of what he did was "invisible".

Sunday he nailed off the front sheering, and God forbid anyone ever try to take that plywood off because there are a hundred gazillion nails in it now. Then he put in sheetrock ledgers on the headers. That became vital for Monday when we put up the rim joists.

Now I didn't know what a rim joist was. At breakfast he says "I'll need your help to lift the rim joists up today." Always willing to help, I just smiled and said "OK" . "They only go up on three sides", he says. I'm thinking, "No problem.. I can do three boards. How hard can that be?"

Let me begin by saying that these things are like gluelams. They're plywood glued together to 1 1/4"x16"x17' .. yes, 17 F E E T . The glue they make them with, apparently made out of lead because they weigh a ton. Did I mention we needed to put them 10' in the air on the rim of the garage, hence the name rim joists? Grunting (Ed) and groaning (me) we managed to hoist those things up, then eeever so gently tilted them on edge, and Ed nailed them in. Actually once we figured out how to do it, except for more grunting and groaning, it went pretty smoothly.

Several of the existing walls had low spots so Ed decided to jack up the wall and level it out. I'd seen him jack up a whole house before so I had an idea how he was going to do this, but it always amazes me that a little tiny jack can be such a powerhouse. He jacked up the top plates and put in extra studs. The rim joists were nailed off and secure. At 5:30 it started to rain in earnest and Ed had to quit for the day.

Monday night into Tuesday we got 1/2" of rain and it didn't let up all day Tuesday. Bummer. The long range forecast is calling for decent weather next weekend. The plan is to get the floor joists up and plywood down across the floor. Of course that forecast is subject to change at a moment's notice.