7.5.2017

Jim continues to do some plumbing work in the morning.  He's still not happy with the shower valve so he took the whole thing apart today.  He's going to leave everything set up before doing any testing.

 

 

He routed out the bottoms of the corner molding to fit over the ledger board and got that area primed.  At the end of the day, he painted the gray so that he can work on putting them together in the morning.

 

 

 We had discovered that we had a bulge in the plywood sheathing at the back corner.  Before we put siding on it, Jim wanted to get it flat.

So he made a cut through the plywood...

Then drilled holes...

...and fastened it together with screws.  You can see how flat it is now.

Then a little repair work on the house wrap and it's all fixed!

Jim spent more time on scaffolding today - he put up another section on the farthest tower.  We also went up to our stash and got another plank for him to use.

Then it was back to siding...

You can see that the siding is done now underneath the window and Jim is measuring for flashing.



 Cutting the shingle to go around the window...

Flashing is done and installed and starting to put up shingles...

Making good progress so time to rearrange some platforms...

End-of-the-day picture...almost to the living room window! 

 

Jim switched gears at the end of the day and did some car work - he got the power steering pump out of the 4Runner so good progress there too.

High 80/Low 58

7.4.2017

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!  It was another beautiful day here in upstate New York - we celebrated by working and enjoying our property!

As usual, Jim did prep work in the morning.  He moved the side scaffolding over so that he could reach the left side of the trim board.

He also brought down the extension ladder from upstairs and had to dig out an area and make a base for the ladder to sit so that it would be stable.

 

He was then able to get measurements for the corner trim pieces and got those cut.

 

 

 

After lunch, it was back to siding...

 



Lots of great progress pictures...

With progress comes moving scaffolding...

Then Jim has to offload all of his tools and shingles so that he can move his work platforms also.

Continuing on...

End-of-the-day picture - we are under the window now!  It's nice to see so much gray in the back.

 

Jim spent some time at the end of the day doing some trimming - lawn work never stops!



High 76/Low 52 - beautiful!

7.3.2017

Jim spent hours this morning doing prep work for siding in the back - namely, taking down the siding that has been in front of the stairwell and moving it around back.  Bonus - look how wonderful it looks with no scaffolding in front of the window!

 

He had to do quite a bit of site prep in the back to be able to get a good base for building another tower and to make sure everything lined up.  But now, he'll be able to reach the area underneath and to the left of the window.

So then it was back to siding!

Working in the middle of lots of scaffolding...

Marking the studs...

End-of-the-day picture - lots of great progress!  This back side is really looking great!

We have some tiny baby birds underneath our overhang.

 

Jim had to knock off a tad early at the end of the day so that he could keep up with lawn mowing.

 

High 78/Low 54

 

7.2.2017

Sundays go quickly, but Jim still manages to get lots accomplished!  He started today off by getting things ready for siding - he got the rest of the flashing done on the right side of the trim board and then made and installed the flashing for the left.



 

Making good progress on installing siding....

Continuing to work his way across...

Progress means time to move scaffolding!  Takes a bit of time now - Jim has to continue to move the bottom plank over so that he has something to stand on, while he moves the platforms.  Then he has to move his work platforms.

Back at work...

We're up high enough now that instead of handing shingles out to Jim through the window in the wood shop, I can now hand them out the apartment window!  Of course, all the shingles are staged in the metal shop, so I get some exercise carrying shingles up.

 

The last half hour of the day, Jim put his mechanic hat on.  He checked the oil in my car and then started investigating a bit more on the 4Runner work he has to do.

 

High 80/Low 60

 

7.1.2017

Wow - how did it get to be July already?  Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful long holiday weekend!

It was on/off rainy day so we planned to just work inside today.  Jim started out in the wood shop - he spliced into the line for the toilet in the bathroom...

And then he ran the line up onto the ceiling and down the wall for the urinal.  He got it all fastened except that he needs to get more wood to make blocking.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on insulation.  Jim worked on the two remaining windows in both bedrooms...

Once those were done (yay!), he started working on the sides of the entry door.  As opposed to the windows where for the most part everything is covered, you can see the loose insulation here as he pushes it down.

I got the rest of the package of loose insulation all combed and put in bags.  We'll use it in the wood shop when we start working there. 

Meanwhile, Jim switched to fiberglass and worked on finishing up around the window.

Looks amazing!  So many walls look totally done now - it's very exciting!

Jim got fiberglass batting in the first valley rafters - these are in the closet of the second bedroom.

Jim continues his testing of the Pex system - he's doing 70 psi now which is what the inspector requires.  So far everything is great - he's putting green stickers on the ones he tests.  Just a few more to go.

 

 

High 77/Low 63 - rainy