10.16.2018 - First roof sheathing on barn

Wow - what a day.  It started out in late last night when a powerful wind kicked up - Jim said it sounded like a freight train through the trees.  Then the power went off about midnight.  Jim didn't get much sleep because he was worried about no heat or water.  I woke up about 3:30 and realized we didn't have power and had a hard time going back to sleep.

Once we got up, you just carry on.  Good thing we still have that outdoor bathroom - ha!  Plus, the carriage house really retained its heat and was only down to about 66 degrees when we woke up - not much colder than Jim has it set for overnight.

However, once the power came back on about 9:00 the fun really started.  All of a sudden, all of the smoke detectors went off - screeching that there was a fire and to evacuate.  With all that crazy noise, we desperately searched the building to see if anything was wrong.  We finally detected a burning scent upstairs near the master bedroom.  Jim even brought in the ladder and went up in the attic - all the while the detectors are still blaring.  Jim finally discovered that the main detector in the hallway was the problem - apparently when the power came on there was a voltage spike and it fried the detector.  You can see the soot around the edges and it smelled terribly.  I later called First Alert and they are already sending a replacement out.  It took awhile to recover from all that - took our ears awhile too! 

We had some positive steps in some of the project management issues Jim has been dealing with.  Finally, the Bobcat dealer in Iowa has agreed to send Jim a new cable to replace the damaged one.  The part is over $160 so that's great.  Jim was going to rebuild it himself but that's one less thing he will have to do now.  He also got our siding order all set with the roofing company and that's in progress now.

Since he already had the ladder inside, Jim decided to do a little work in the attic on the bathroom vent work.  This required a lot of trips up and down to figure out the best way to run the pipe.  Plus, because it has to go up through our access door and make a quick left turn, he has to use smaller pieces. 

A different view...  He probably still has 4 hours of work on this job but at least he's got a design started.

 


After lunch, it was time to work outside to get ready for sheathing the roof of the pole barn.  That involved trying to set up scaffolding along the back side...however, check out the slope of the hill behind the barn!  This was not going to be easy.  Jim's trying to dig out a flat space...

Regular blocks weren't going to be high enough so Jim brought over a concrete block...

 But Jim got it worked out and we set up 3 sections along the back.

Next it was building up and putting planks and platforms up.

Jim built up another section in the front...

He made some brackets to use to attach the spars coming down the side walls to the deck...

Then he made some brackets to attach to the rafters and hold the sheathing in the proper place at the bottom.

Brackets in place...

I marked the nail spots on the first 3 pieces of sheathing and then we loaded them onto the forks of the Bobcat.

Next, Jim lifted them up to the top of the scaffolding in front...

He got up on the scaffolding and dragged the pieces onto the deck...

The brackets worked great to hold the sheathing in place...

Putting some nails along the edge to fasten it...

Once that piece was in place, he moved the brackets over and brought over the next piece.

 This is a sad picture...the poor gray 4Runner has been outside untended long enough that tree sprouts are growing out of it!  We'll have to make a decision before too, too long on a winter vehicle.  We always say just one more year for the gray car, so hopefully that will hold out!  However, it needs a lot of work so we'll see.

High 52/Low 40