12.31.2016

The only church  services tonight were at 4:00, so that means a very short day.  I had to go into Staples to pick up fire school work as well as do some errands, and Jim headed out to the property.

He got lots of detail work done...like all these corner strapping pieces.  This strapping needs to be fastened every 8" or so and the corner application makes it tough to get screws in.

More corner strapping...

Then Jim worked on putting more receptacles in the living room...

As well as the door frame pieces in the living room!

 

Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's Eve!

 

High 30/Low 27

 

12.30.2016

A couple pretty after the snowstorm pictures...this is the road in front of the property...

And the carriage house...notice how the snow stayed on the roof side with the snow guards.

Because of all that pretty snow, Jim had to spend a little time with the Bobcat clearing the driveway.

Then he was still able to do a little work in the apartment before coming home for lunch.  He put a piece of angle on the corner wall of the bathroom - he'll use this for attaching drywall.  By using angle, he doesn't have to have anything encroach in the area where insulation will go.  He also got a couple of blocking pieces made.

After lunch, we spent some time talking about the layout for the second bedroom.  The main things to figure out now were the closet area because it will be right when you walk in the room.  Once we were happy with the design, it was time to put the lower wall board down.

Putting it in place...

Making a small wall next to the closet door...

And the same on the other side...

Cutting the track...

Punching the holes...  Then I was apparently too busy putting the fasteners in to take a final picture of the track!  We couldn't put any studs up - those are on the steel order Jim just placed.

So then we turned our attention to the ceiling joists in the second bedroom.  First Jim marked the area for the remaining track piece to be attached to the wall.

After it was cut, Jim got it up into place and fastened down.

We had one really long piece of steel for the ceiling joists - it was so long that Jim cut it in the downstairs shop.

Putting the joist up into place...

Getting it fastened down...

Then he used the rest of that piece of steel to cut one more joist - this is the outside wall joist.

 

Lots of good accomplishments again on a blustery day!

 

High 32/Low 15 - wind chills in the teens!

 

12.29.2016

Of course the snowstorm predicted would come true today since we had to take truck delivery of Jim's new band saw today!  We probably got about 7" of new snow today and there may be a little more on the way later this evening.

Jim called this morning and found out that the delivery would be this afternoon.  Then when he was home for lunch, the driver called at said he would be at the property about 1:45.  Of course, it ended up being a little bit later than that because of the weather.  The guy called and said traffic was going about 20 mph!

But Jim was all prepared.  He took the Bobcat down to the end of the driveway.

That is one big machine!  Jim scooting the Bobcat up to get the forks in the pallet...

And getting it off the truck...

Jim took the trip up the steep driveway very slowly with the machine on the front.  Thankfully, the Bobcat had no problem going through the snow uphill carrying over 500 pounds!  Jim wanted to take it to the woodworking shop since that's where it will reside; however, with the weather and no one to help, he brought it into the downstairs shop. 

He was able to set it down and later still get the Bobcat inside the shop too.  Jim measured and he will have to uncrate the band saw - it's too big to fit in the doors of the shop the way it is!  But it's safe for now and we'll deal with it all later.

Jim installed the first receptacle box in the apartment this morning!

Once we were back working, we started on the laundry room/kitchen wall.  Down goes the glue...

Then the lower wall plate...

After the board was fastened to the floor, Jim cut the track and then punched the holes.

Attaching the track to the plate.

Once Jim gets the crucial screws in place, I usually get to take over and put the rest in.

This morning, Jim had also put up a mounting block and cut the top wall track.  In order to make sure the top track is in the right place, he temporarily puts a stud in place and then uses the level to make sure the wall is plumb.

Once it's all good, he finishes fastening the top track to the mounting block.

Putting up the corner stud...

And the last stud in this section.  Now that we have a lot of the walls up and he knows what he needs, Jim will place a steel order tomorrow so that we can fill in the rest of the studs.

We started one more little wall section - the front wall of the laundry room.  The plan is to put a barn door here.

Bottom pieces all done!

 

A very successful day - the band saw delivery would be stressful on a good day, let alone in the middle of a snowstorm!  We're grateful all went well!

 

High 32/Low 28 - about 7" of snow

 

12.28.2016

I started the day early with a trip to Sam's Club in Albany to get my tires rotated.  Ended up being kind of a long wait but it was good to get that job checked off the list.

Meanwhile, Jim headed out to the property.  He had to do some Bobcat work - we are supposed to take delivery of Jim's new band saw tomorrow by truck.  Jim needed to plow the upper driveway so that he can bring the tool into the shop doors.  We hope to be able to just get it inside the shop doors - it will definitely be a two-man job to get it further.  We are under a winter weather advisory tomorrow with forecast ranges from 2-8" of snow - which will make the delivery tough.  Jim also put some sand down on the really slippery parts of the driveway where we park and walk to make things safer.

Working in the apartment, he got the end of the hallway wall finished and then started laying out appliances in the kitchen - so exciting to start picturing how things are going to look!

Jim made more blocking and fastened it to the joists to be able to fasten the top track of the end wall as well as the side wall.

All in place...

The next wall to be built is the side kitchen wall.  So first the glue and then the lower wall plate was set in place and fastened to the floor.

Jim cut some track to size...

Then the lower track is attached...

The next mounting plate is attached to the end of this side wall...

Now Jim can attach the upper track of this side wall to both mounting plates.

These are the last 2 studs of this size that we have - so one went on each end of this wall.

Fastening the corner together...

Then we started working on the layout of the laundry room.

We left our other tube of glue at home so we couldn't glue the lower wall plate down, but Jim got everything measured and cut.

This is a crummy picture, but it was pitch dark when I left and I love seeing lights in the building now - looks more and more like home!

 

High 34/Low 21