4.30.2015

As they say, the devil is in the details!  And there are a lot of details that go into getting the deck ready for concrete.

Jim has the inside of the carriage house kind of set up like a workshop now which certainly makes it easier for him to work.  He creatively used the scaffolding platforms as a worktable for the saw.  He had some issues with the saw and had to spend some time this morning working on it.

It's been all about end caps for the last day and a half.  We started on some of these last fall but now it's time to get them all done - there are over 200 in all that need to be cut, placed, and welded.

Doing some end cap welding...

Jim is going to run electric wires through some of these areas, so he has to have those end caps with a hole in them so that he can run conduit through.  That will allow him to get electricity to various places in the space without having exposed wires.  Here he's marking the areas where the conduit will go.

Moving the welder over so he can do welding on this row.  This picture almost makes everything look like it is on ground level - really, he's standing in the bucket of the Bobcat 10 feet in the air!

More welding...

This section is all welded into place.  He still has to grind and paint the welds.

High 64/Low 41

 

4.28.2015

The day started out much better - after working last night and this morning, Jim found an alternate source for the scaffolding.  This place has everything he needs and can ship it out right away - it's coming from Houston but we should hopefully have it next week.  Whew...crisis averted!

The weather was really nice today so the concrete pour that Jim wanted to watch went on as scheduled.  Unfortunately, they started early so by the time the guy called Jim and he got everything put away at the land, the concrete was already in place.  But Jim got to watch them finish it.  He was impressed and said the guy appears to be meticulous in his work.  So that's all good news too.

Jim was back working on deck parts again.  He welded some steel clip angles onto the piece he made yesterday - these will be used later to attach the stringers for the staircase.

Time to take off the rest of the temporary decking pieces over the stairwell.

These are heavy-gauge steel and weigh a lot to be yanking them off and moving them to the side - all ten feet up in the air!

Jim has to stand on the walls to get these last pieces out.

Last piece off...

Again, pretty much working over empty space, he had to try and punch holes in this heavy steel up in the air. 

The piece he made fits perfectly underneath the decking so everything will be very strong and secure.

Then Jim measured the space and went down and cut the pour stop to be attached to the beam.  He had to then grind off the welds that remained after he took the temporary deck pieces off so that the pour stop would sit nice and level on the beam.

Putting the pour stop into place...

...and running the string again to make sure all is lined up correctly.

More grinding on the areas where he will be putting the new welds.

Time to transport the welder - this time Jim had to drive the Bobcat around the back of the structure so that he could reach the area where he needs to weld.

Jim climbs around like he's on the ground - walks on the walls, stands on the Bobcat to get the welder all set up.

Welding time!

Pour stop all in place!

 

At the end of the day, we went back over to the building site to see the finished concrete.  The homeowner was there sealing the concrete.  It looked really good - completely flat and finished nicely.

 

High 60/Low 40



4.27.2015

Today was the day that Jim was supposed to go and watch the potential concrete contractor pour a slab for a new home nearby; however, the guy called and said that since there was a chance for showers, he was postponing it until tomorrow.

Jim has been working on a steel order - he needs more steel for the staircase.  He asked for quotes from two different places - the steelyard nearby and the place in Albany.  It turned out that Albany was much cheaper on the angle steel and the place close by was cheaper on the channel steel.  The Albany steelyard said that they would deliver to us for only $12!  That's crazy - it would cost more than that for Jim to drive the truck to the close steelyard. 

The guy had told him that they would bring a pickup-type truck to deliver the steel.  So when the guy called Jim and said that he was at the street and wondering if he could bring his truck up the driveway, Jim said sure.  But look what pulled in!  The guy had to turn around up on top of the hill.  So it's really crazy that they brought this truck up from Albany for $12.  There were a couple of other orders on the truck but Jim said it didn't look like much.

 

We did get some not so great news - Jim has been working with a guy on an order for the rest of the scaffolding that he needs to do the shoring inside for when the concrete is poured on the deck.  The guy was supposed to call him Friday and didn't.  Jim called him at lunch today and the guy said they wouldn't have the scaffolding until the middle of May!  That's not going to work.  So Jim is going to have to do some investigating this evening.

Meanwhile, work must go on.  Jim got the curb support pieces all done on the pour stops he put up yesterday on the beam.

He does a lot of custom support on the corners since they see so much stress.

Then he started contemplating the next steps - figuring out the stairwell opening and how to do the pour stops around that area.  First thing that had to be done was to grind off the welds he had used to attach the deck pieces to the beam.

 

It took quite a bit of grinding and prying to break the bond - which is good news for all the pieces that don't have to be moved!

 

Jim welded the lip that will go under the deck to the edge angle - this took some figuring out how to make all this work!

High 56/Low 44

 

4.26.2015

Now that we have the truck back to the carriage house, that allows us to move on to welding and deck work. 

Jim has the pour stops done and stabilized on the front and back of the building - today we worked on the pour stop that goes over the beam.  To make things more fun, because of the buttress wall there is partial cement and part beam on this section - both requiring different methods.

Jim punched holes where he needs to weld the pour stop to the beam.

Putting the pieces up on top...

Then we needed to use the new 220 cable that Jim made - so he's unrolling it and taking it the shortest path to the carriage house deck.

Grinding the areas where he's going to weld...

Getting the first piece in the right spot...

As always, to make sure things are straight, Jim runs a string down the length of this area.

To fasten to the areas where there is concrete underneath, Jim uses his hammer drill to drill a hole in the concrete, and then uses a tap con anchor to hold it in place.

Getting the welder into the Bobcat...

...and up into place.

The new electric cable made things so much better - no generator and Jim had consistent power without things tripping.

Welding onto the beam...

Look at those pretty welds!

Welding the other side...

Once both ends were done plus the 10' length on one side, there was a smaller piece left in the middle to do.  So it was back to punching more holes and starting the process again.

Getting this ready for the last welds.

Jim decided to make some little couplers on the joints just to make sure things were extra strong.  So he tack welded them into place.

 

The finished view from inside the auto bay...looks great! 

 

This is the last remaining snow on the property...the forecast for the week looks like we'll get into the low 60s a few days so it will probably disappear quickly.

 

 

High 54/Low 36 - overcast