We knew that this was our last good day to work for a couple days - the temperature is supposed to bottom out starting tonight. So after church, we headed back up to the property.
It was pretty hazardous trying to walk around on the icy snow so Jim used the Bobcat to scoop up some sand from our piles and then shoveled it around where we do the most of our walking.
Getting to work, Jim took off all the temporary planking from the stairwell opening.
Then the steel stud that Jim had put up to attach the decking to needed to come down.
Jim was happy with the epoxied rods - they were extremely hard. It was good that we gave them longer to make sure the epoxy had time to harden with the cold temperatures. So time for the first piece of treated wood with the sill gasket to go on.
Next side...
Jim put concrete anchors to hold the wood in place.
Then the white wood goes on top - the white isolates the treated lumber from the steel. The chemicals in the treated lumber corrode steel - which is why Jim uses stainless steel rods.
All the wood is in place for the sill!
It was my job to put the washers and nuts on each of the anchor rods to hold everything in place.
Jim used stainless steel nails to fasten the two pieces of wood together.
Now that the sill is basically done, time to get the opening ready for its more permanent temporary covering. First Jim fastened a piece of wood to the top of the sill that he will use to attach the planks.
Unfortunately, once we started putting the planks in place, we didn't have enough to completely cover the opening. So Jim had to take apart his planking bridge between the two scaffolding towers. He'll have to rebuild that later but we needed to get the opening covered.
Laying out the planks...
Then he fastened the edges down to the wood strip he installed earlier. I kind of like the rustic wood floor look!
Two pieces of plywood on top tied all the pieces together so that this becomes a usable surface to set scaffolding on later. Jim let me screw the plywood down - I'm usually better at unscrewing than putting the screws in, but since this was into wood it wasn't too bad!
Jim used the grinder to cut off all of the anchor rods at the top of the bolt.
Tarping the opening to keep snow from falling below!
Our next task of the day was to work on scaffolding which required working in the back of the building. You can see from this picture that as the snow fell off the roof, it built up a hill next to the house and then everything drops off. It's almost impossible to walk in this area because of the icy conditions - you'll end up 10' down the embankment!
Fixing this required the Bobcat but that was a scary prospect in itself. The Bobcat could easily slide on this slippery slope. Jim took his time and carefully got the surface more even.
Shoveling ice and snow off the platforms...
Still shoveling - just higher in the air now!
Jim had to dismantle the planking bridge between the scaffolding tower on the roof and this tower - not so easy with the snow.
We finally got the tower dismantled - not an easy job. Just trying to walk back here is treacherous - so walking with scaffolding parts and pieces became a real adventure!
Jim had to shovel to get down to the ground so that he could set up the tower underneath the windows that we want to put in eventually.
Jim is on an artic dig trying to find the blocks that the tower stood on - they're buried under all that ice!
We finally got the base assembled and leveled so it's time to build up.
It got too dark to take a picture, but we got the tower built up enough to reach the shop window so that was the goal for the day!
After dark, Jim drove the 4Runner up to the top of the hill where the excavator is parked. He wanted to see if he could jump it and let it run a bit before the bitter cold temperatures come. But the battery was too dead to revive.
Another successful day working in the cold and snow!
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| High 36 (wind chill 26)/Low 12 |
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