10.16.2017

Jim worked in the morning on some insulation projects...he went back up into the attic and worked over the top of the living room walls, putting insulation from above in certain areas. 

 

Then he spent time in the laundry room.  Now that the vent ductwork is done, Jim was able to finish up the fiberglass insulation behind the wall.

 

 

Then he got the rigid foam board all in place...

 

 

 

He even got the fiberglass on top but we were going to wait on a photo until he did some taping...then we got too busy.  So stay tuned tomorrow!

 

His next project was filling in the cuts in the concrete with a new polyurethane adhesive designed for this purpose.  It expands as it dries so Jim had to keep an eye on it and scrape it down at various times.   

 

It looks like it will work really well...the paint will go on smoother and there will be less debris falling in those cuts. 

 

Jim did another section later on in the day...

 

 

Using a putty knife to scrape it flat...  He scraped it once more at the end of the day and was pleased with the way it looked. 

 

I got the knee braces primed when I first got to the property - at the end of the day, I flipped them over and did the other side. 

 

The afternoon was devoted to outside work again, even though there was a 20 degree difference in temperatures from yesterday!  This was the way it looked when we started - this picture shows the additional work Jim did after I left yesterday. 

 

Jim did a little trimming of the driveway edges just to keep things in place...

It's a little hard to tell from pictures, but the new driveway is looking really good.  Jim already has a nice grade to it.

He brought back the piles of dirt that he made last night.  Doing some hand shoveling to keep just dirt up against the wall.

Grading the dirt out...

 

At this point, Jim put his lumberjack hat on.  We really want just pine trees right around the carriage house - for aesthetics but also so we don't have to worry about these trees ever falling against the house.  We already have two trees in the woods on the side of the carriage house that have tops that are dead - we wish we would have removed them before we started. 

This is a before picture looking out of the apartment window.  This tree kind of takes center stage.

First, Jim cleared dirt away from the trunk.

He then positioned the Bobcat bucket up against the tree - just in the event that the tree didn't fall correctly, the Bobcat would prevent it from doing damage to the house.

Making the cuts...

Timber!

It fell exactly as Jim planned - not even a stray branch was close to the house.

Jim used the bucket on the Bobcat to push the tree up closer to the driveway...

Then he brought up the 4Runner and tied his tow rope to the tree and started dragging it up...

On it's way up the hill, out of the way, until we have time to get it cut up.

Then Jim started loosening up the stump and roots...

The stump is out....

Jim continued digging up the area where the tree was, making a hole big enough to bury the stump.

Pushing the stump into the hole...

Then burying it...

Doing some grading over the area...

The after picture...

I thought that was the end of the day's big events.  It was getting close to 5:30 so I packed up and headed home.  Jim was going to clean up and put the vehicles away.  Plus, we are under a freeze warning tonight, so he had to bring the power sprayer into the carriage house just in case.

However, Jim decided that since he had all his equipment ready, he would cut down one more tree.  So in this repeated picture, you can see the two trees at the right side of the frame.  He cut down the one on the left after I left!  He was able to cut it down, move the tree up to the top of the hill, and dig out the stump before he came home!  Pictures to come!

 

 

High 52/Low 26 - freeze warning out for tonight!