10.31.2015

Nothing too scary around here today, unless you count Jim working up crazy high on the rafters again!

By the time I got to the site, Jim had the other dormer rafter plus two valley rafters built.  He didn't want to build any more valley rafters until he was sure about the fit.

So the first thing we did was put up the last dormer rafter...

 All of the rafters on the back of the house are now up!

Before we could start working in the front, we had to tear down the scaffolding...

...and rebuild it in the front.

Putting up the first valley rafter - it was a perfect fit!

Fastening down the second rafter...

Now that Jim knew the template was good, he built another rafter and we put it up into place.

Then built one more!

This was another really long rafter so it took some maneuvering to get it around all the steel in place now but we got it up and fastened down.

Jim already had the small rafter made for the other side, so now that the scaffolding is on the front side he installed that rafter too.  Putting it into place...

...and getting it fastened down.  Becoming very tight working quarters!

Then he made the other small rafter for the other side...finally, one that I can carry myself!

Then he got that installed...

Wow!  That's a lot of steel!  We have all the rafters up except one on this main part.  We still have to work on the front dormer, but so far between the auto bay roof and this roof, Jim has put up over 75 rafters!

 

We finally got Jim's driver back from being repaired today in the mail - we are glad about that.  The other one is working fine now but at least there's a spare in case it starts acting up again.

High 49/Low 36
 

 

 

10.30.2015

After spending a little time this morning on the phone talking to another supplier about giving us a roofing material quote, Jim headed out to the site.

The first thing he worked on was marking the driveway.  After he did some grading work this week to get the water to run off a little more into the grassy area, he ordered a truckload of gravel to be delivered today.  We know we'll be up and down the driveway much more this winter so we need to have it in good shape.  This blue line just marks the center of the driveway to help the driver.

Jim moved quite a bit of dirt doing the grading - so this pile will eventually find its way on top of the septic system to get it under cover before winter.

The truck came with almost 24 tons of crusher run - it has a mixture of big and small gravel to help compact better. 

After the truck pulled out, Jim smoothed it out a little with the Bobcat.

Although it's just the first gravel, it really makes it look like a driveway now!

Jim spent the rest of the morning making rafters - he got 4 more made! 

The first one we put up was the dormer rafter that mates with the big support rafter.

Then we put up the track that makes the big support beam into a box rafter - this one was a little tricky to get in place at the bottom because of having to cut the track to put the rafter in.  But we got it and Jim put a few screws to hold it in place.

Next was another dormer rafter...

Jim brings up the next dormer rafter...

...and gets it fastened in place.

Then it was back to another track piece - these are really long pieces since they go on the main rafters and are flexible so they are a little more difficult to handle and get up into place.

Fastening the two rafters together...

While the scaffolding on this side of the building, Jim decided to spend time and do all of the screws on both of the box rafters.  His wrists were definitely feeling it when he was done - these have to be fastened every foot both top and bottom in addition to all the normal fastening.

In order to move the scaffolding over to the other side of the building, Jim had to redo the ridge beam bracing.  He put a brace going from the shoring post to the valley rafter first.

 

Then took down the original bracing and used a piece of it to add to his new bracing on the other side.

Now we were able to move the scaffolding.  Before we did the track rafter, Jim finished up the rest of the screws fastening the dormer and main rafter at the top.

Then we put the track rafter up and Jim fastened it down and then did all the screws up and down the box rafter.

End of the day shot...

 

Another day of good progress on the rafters, plus we were able to get stone on the driveway.  In addition, Jim finally was able to secure help to move the pool table slate out of the storage unit this weekend.  It's too heavy for me to help him so we really needed another guy.  Hopefully, it will all work out and we'll be officially closed out of the two storage units!

 

High 49/Low 25

 

10.29.2015

It rained all last night and into the early morning.  It was fairly warm when I woke up (around 50 degrees) and the fog was really dense.

When Jim got to the land, Lake Angel was definitely in full force.  In fact, 5-gallon buckets that we had sitting outside for our scrap metal had over 4" in them!  Jim spent time getting the pump working and squeeging out the bottom floor.

Once he got that done, he took the truck and made a trip to go pick up his steel order.

After he got back and got the steel all unloaded, it started raining again.  Groan.  Thankfully, it didn't last too long and soon he was back to work making rafters (trying to ignore all the drips from up above).

Making more clip angles...

...and attaching them to the front deck.

Although the rain stopped, we had some really gusty winds all afternoon.  It made it feel much colder than it really was.  Plus putting up giant rafters in gusty winds isn't a great combination!

But we got another main rafter up and in place...

Then we got the next one put up - that's the last of the main rafters!  Jim is very happy that this big open space is now full of  steel!

Unfortunately, like we had to do on the other side, we had to move the bracing for the ridge beam in order to get the next rafter up.

Next we put up another dormer rafter...

 

And then one more!

This next rafter is very similar to the ones we put up between the main rafters and the start of the dormer rafters.  This is basically a main rafter that will go from the ridge beam to the bottom of the wall.  Structurally, this will help counterbalance all the forces from the valley rafters that we will be putting up soon.  This rafter will eventually be covered by the wall in between the bedroom and the living room.

In order to make it fit, Jim had to make a little notch in the bottom track to allow the rafter to sit.

Bending down the track...

The rafter is in place...Jim made a longer clip angle that is secured to the truss below. This rafter is fastened to the clip angle and the stud to make everything very strong to be able to carry the forces.

Attaching the rafter at the top.

The next dormer rafter will be connected to the top of this rafter.  Jim has to make that one, so we'll work on that tomorrow.

Had to use a little artificial light on my camera because the sun was setting quickly, but you can really see the shape of the shed dormer from this angle.

The front looks amazing too!

 

On kind of a funny note, we've been trying to get in touch with the Hitachi service center where we sent Jim's driver to be repaired again.  He's really trying to limp along with his other one that is acting up too.  I talked to someone yesterday and they were supposed to call back - they didn't.  I called again this morning and talked to a guy who had to investigate and call me back - he just said that it was being shipped out today.  But the original person I talked to yesterday called Jim back today and gave him the true story - apparently it was shipped out a few days ago...but they sent it to their own address, not ours!  So it came back and they had to figure that out and reship it.  Hopefully it will come soon!

 

High 56/Low 41