10.31.2024

Hope everyone has a very Happy Halloween and that you got more treats than tricks!  It was a gorgeous day here so I'm sure parents and trick-or-treaters will have a wonderful night.

Jim brought the Bobcat up and moved out the 10 more rafters he cut...

He stacked them in the pavilion and then brought down the last six to be cut...

Then Jim got started on a pre-winter project that he has wanted to do for a while - putting better seals/new sweeps on the bottom of the steel doors.  These doors are wonderful but mating the bottom door sill to the sweeps/seals has been an ongoing issue.  Jim bought some new products to try.  Of course, this job requires taking the doors off.  Since it was a beautiful day, Jim decided to do it.  First, he taped up a tarp on the outside...

Then took off the first door.  That's no easy feat - these doors are incredibly heavy.

This is the new seal he bought - it has stiff brushes at the bottom...

New sweep and seal installed...

The other door has a locking mechanism at the bottom, so Jim had to get a different type of seal...showing us how it works...

Attaching it to the bottom...

Sliding the seal on...

Fastening in place...

Flipping the door over - takes muscles!

All done!

Doors are back in place and seem to seal much better...

Jim had lots of cleanup work to do.  He had wood scraps from cutting all the rafters that he wanted to get down to the trash, so he got all that done.  

Shoveling some gravel around the pavilion to finish off the day...

High 78.3/Low 58.8 - beautiful!

10.30.2024

 Jim worked on cutting the birds mouths on the next set of rafters...

He did 5 at a time for this batch; so he has another 10 done.  Six more to go!

He spent more time talking to his old rep and new rep from the Drywall Center, which is the cold formed steel company.  The order is in, so it just depends on when they get a truck in.  Hopefully not too long of a wait!

Just to see if it would work with the heavier gauge steel studs, Jim tried to cut a piece using the new saw - and it worked well so that will definitely help when we start building.

More pre-winter work - the generator.  Jim bought a battery heater for it that will automatically come on when the temperature falls below 40° to keep the battery healthy and not starting from freezing temperatures.

First, he opened it up and cleaned everything out...

The warming pad fits in the battery compartment...

Jim had to do all the wiring...

Wiring done, battery cells topped off with distilled water, and back in place...

There was a loose screw connection on the case, so Jim brought it in and retapped it, then buttoned everything back up.  He has new valve gaskets on order; when those arrive, he will switch those out, and do an oil change.

It was a gorgeous day, so Jim brought over some gravel and started grading around the pavilion...

High 70.9/Low 49.5 - Indian Summer?

10.29.2024

Jim and I voted for the first time in New York today!  In Ohio, they typically picked people for jury duty from registered voters, and when we were in the middle of heavy building, we didn't want to risk it.  But then Jim was picked for jury duty anyway this past year, so we went ahead and registered.  We had registered to vote online, so apparently the first time you vote, they have to approve your signature in person.  So we had to use an alternate ballot and fill out more paperwork.  But the lady that helped us was wonderful and we got there just in time before it got pretty crowded.  

Jim also had a lot of computer work to do this morning.  His previous cold formed steel rep, Mike, finally connected with him and Mike reached out to his replacement to make sure that Jim got the same discounts and service as before.  So Jim finished up his quote request and got it sent off.

After lunch, Jim got busy in the shop cutting rafters.  He had cut them to size and cut the tails yesterday; today, he marked and started cutting the birds mouth cuts.  His saw wasn't deep enough, so he tried using his Japanese saw...

Cuts all made on 10 rafters!

So he loaded those 10 on the Bobcat forks and took them up to the pavilion...

Then he brought 10 more pieces down...

Cutting them to size...

Tails cut and marking birds mouth cuts.  He decided to do 5 at a time for this batch.

High 52.2/Low 30.7

10.28.2024

Jim had lots of computer work to do this morning, in addition to trying to get his steel order placed.

This afternoon, he brought in wood from underneath the pavilion that will be used for the roof rafters of the shed... 

Getting everything set up...

This is much easier to do this inside, especially with the cooler temps lately.  End cut - birdsmouth cuts are next...

High 48.3/Low 35.5

10.27.2024

 Jim continued his pre-winter prep today - winding up the hose reel near the house so nothing freezes...

He did some grading on the driveway after the concrete truck had been there...

He started bringing up dirt around the shed foundation...

Starting on the other side as well.  We need to plant the firs we pulled out so that Jim has better access to the other side...

As he was coming around the back, he encountered another stump, so he pulled it out with the excavator.  Then he pulled out more of the striped maples which kind of grow like weeds...

He was able to push this striped maple over...

You can see that they don't have a big root structure...

There were a couple of these striped maples growing in the rock wall that he was able to push over as well.

High 51.4/Low 30.8 - windy

10.26.2024

Today's always a short day because of church, but still lots accomplished.  Jim went out right after lunch to get all the diesel and gas cans filled up.  

It's supposed to get below freezing tonight so Jim wanted to cover the concrete.  We didn't have one tarp big enough to cover the slab, so we used quite a few.  It was very windy out today so that was an added challenge!

Jim did a final grass cutting of the year around the house, plus did some trimming around the generator.  He has to do some pre-winter maintenance on that soon.

High 58.6/Low 47.5 - windy!

10.25.2024

We went out and looked at the concrete this morning - still looks beautiful!   

Jim took off the front plate - this is for the garage door access.    He designed it so that water won't be able to get underneath the garage door.  He'll put the plate back on the sides later.

He showed me how the top of the gray expansion foam he put on the back side of this board will peel off.  He'll fill the crack with self-leveling caulk to seal it so that water can't get in between...

Measuring for placement of the cuts in the concrete to prevent cracking...

First line marked...

Making the vertical cut...

It makes so much dust that Jim has to use the leaf blower so that he can see to do the final cut...

Then making the horizontal cut...

The cuts look perfect!

I brought Mom out so that she could admire the concrete work!

Jim started taking the forms of the pad - the vibrating worked and the concrete looks great!

Forms all off!

Jim got all his tools and equipment put away and then wanted to check the septic system filter after it was clogged a couple weeks ago...

Whew - it was all good although Jim gave it a good cleaning.  We'll probably check it once more before winter settles in.

Putting the concrete cap back kon...

High 58.7/Low 32.1