10.3.2014

Today started out quite happy - first thing this morning, I followed Jim to the place that does inspections to have them look at the 4Runner since we missed them yesterday.  We anticipated that we would have to leave the car there, but we were able to get right in.  This guy was the same fellow who inspected the box truck for us without issue so we had our fingers crossed.  He didn't even put the car up on the lift!  So it passed with flying colors!  Or at least good enough to get our safety inspection sticker.  Jim knows that there are issues with the car - but since he doesn't have any place to work on it, it would either be pay someone to fix it or let it sit, neither of which were good options.  So this inspection bought us another year - we really just need this car to get through this winter.  Since I had my car there, we got it inspected too since it was due this month too.  Whew!

I went back to the land at lunchtime - after we ate, we filled up our now-legal 4Runner with the extra foam and some wood scraps and headed to the recycling center.  I'm still amazed that we built that big building and this is basically all the scrap we had!  Jim is the master at reusing and saving everything possible.

This was our first experience at the dump - it's really just a few minutes away which is quite handy.  We were able to just weigh the truck before we dumped it and again afterwards.  But we also found out that they recycle all plastics, metals, glass, etc., for free so we will definitely be using them again.

As we were getting home from the dump, our neighbors stopped by for a visit.  While it was nice to see them, it's difficult to take time away from working to socialize at this point.  We showed them around and then got back to work.

Jim started grading today - we have had the giant piles of dirt from when we dug the foundation, so now it's about time to start filling up the holes.  It's a lot of work making good enough soil to be able to be used for filling in right around the foundation.  He has to scoop it up, back drag it, and of course get out all the big rocks.

This picture shows the big piles a little better - we now have a nicely-graded path in between!

Of course, the project management work continues on...Jim ordered another load of gravel this morning and it came early this afternoon.  That's good - we'll be using lots of it!

In order to fill in the area in front of the garage door, Jim has to first bring up the good dirt from the pile, build up the grade going to the garage door, and then as he gets close enough, fills the area right next to the foundation with gravel.   The gravel allows any water to go into the footer drains so there can't be any dirt in that area. 

Once that was done, he started moving around the side.  It's slow going on this side because there is a ditch close to the house that needs filled in and a big hill on the left hand side, so Jim has to be very careful.  We put more dimple board up and Jim repeated the process. 

Once he got enough gravel built up, it was time to finish the footer drains on this side.  Here he's making our first downspout!

 

Then connecting the rest of the footer drain.

And doing more grading and gravel work!

While Jim was working on all of that, I spent the afternoon working on getting all the cement off the steel pieces that Jim used for shoring.

I also organized all of our leftover metal to take to the recycling center.  Again, with all the rebar and steel we used, this is all the leftovers we had!

 

Jim wanted to cut a little grass at the end of the day, but the battery on the lawn mower was dead.  So that will be something else on the to do list.

 

After we got home and cleaned up, Jim spent some time talking to me about all the steel issues.  I know there's been some issues with the order that he's been dealing with - as I was going to bed last night, he still had 3 more drawings to complete to send to the guy this morning.  As a recap, the first floor is going to be a raised concrete floor - no support beams underneath.  Jim's original design called for pieces of steel that spanned the entire length of the deck.  However, the truck that would be needed to bring those really long pieces wouldn't be able to get up our driveway.  Jim would be responsible for finding a way to get them off the truck.  So he changed the design to accommodate shorter pieces.  Then his design called for pins to be welded in place through the steel decking and into the flange of the I-beams in order to bond everything together in the concrete.  However, that requires a special gun that welds the pins.  At first the steel guy said that he could get someone to come and do that - then that changed and he couldn't.  Jim tried finding a place to rent the gun and no place rented them.  So the plans had to change again.  Now they are going to weld the pins to the I-beams before they deliver them.  However, that changes the design of the steel decking.  Jim talked to the guy today and he told Jim that the place they get the decking from said that they couldn't deliver the order until mid-November at the earliest!  Which of course won't work, so the plans changed again.  Now we are going to use bigger steel decking that they have on site at the steelyard - so we should now be able to have everything delivered next Friday.  However, in order to make that decking work, Jim has to change the plans yet again this weekend.  Plus these changes lead to other issues - he has to get different shoring underneath when the concrete is poured, so that will be a job for another day tracking down that equipment.

 

This is where I can't imagine all the pressures Jim is dealing with at any given moment.  He handles it all well and pretty much rolls with it, but there is so much on his shoulders at the moment.  Just dealing with these steel issues, for example, is a full-time design management job.  Let alone the fact that he has to go out and actually work at the site 10-12 hours a day.