5.19.2014

Jim bought a smaller table saw that he can use on site in these beginning building stages.  This can be left outside and covered, which he wouldn't want to do with the good tools.  So we picked that up from Sears after church on Saturday.  He got it all put together this morning and it should work out well.

Then he got busy getting the back of the truck ready to be on the road.  He's been using it to work out of so nothing was tied down and things had to be moved out temporarily.  Then it was off to be inspected.

Yay!!  It passed!  It's all official now to be on the road.  Whew...If things were normal, Jim could fix it if they found something wrong, but there's certainly nowhere to work and no tools available right now.  So all that work that he did last year on the truck paid off - those were the main safety things they inspected for. 

 

Jim's thinking of possibly building a small, temporary shed just to shelter some tools, parts and pieces during this interim time.  Right now, tools like the compactor have to sit outside.  So while we are waiting on our permit, he's thinking about possibly coming up with a quick design and working on that.

 

He found a place that's flat and tucked out of the way that should be a good spot.  Of course, there was a tree that had fallen in that area, so he got the chain saw out and got that chopped up and moved out of the way, as well as doing some chipping of some other leftover tree parts in that area.

 

Then he even had some time to do a little more work on driveway grading. 

 

 

 

 

 

5.16.2014

Well...today was a little discouraging.  We finally got up the nerve and called the Building Department about our permit.  The guy hasn't even looked at the plans!  He said he's got a couple houses and a couple garages before ours.  So who knows how long it will be.  Poor Jim...he's chomping at the bit to get started and we are just afraid to pull the trigger on ordering too many supplies until we get the permit.

But he brushed himself off and went out to get his mind off things.  First stop was the license bureau to get plates for the box truck.  In New York, you buy plates for two years instead of one like we are used to in Ohio, but the per year cost was actually quite a bit cheaper than Ohio for a commercial vehicle, which was a nice surprise.  Of course, the next step is to get it inspected.  You can't just take it to any inspection station - you have to find one that can actually pull the truck inside.  It's some sort of state requirement.  So most of the little places around aren't equipped to do that.  But he got a recommendation and found a place outside Corinth that can do it.  So that's a good first step to getting it ready to be on the road again.

Jim's knee continues to feel great, for which we are so thankful.  Of course, he uses it like crazy at the land climbing in and out of the machines, lifting rocks...I'm sure his doctor wouldn't be thrilled.  But he takes it slow and careful and hasn't had any pain from any of those activities.  Tonight, we actually went for our longest walk yet since his surgery - and in the rain no less.  There is a really nice track behind the elementary school right up the street that the high school teams use.  So we just walked up there and walked around the track in the rain.  It was nice to get back to doing that - I have missed that time.  I know once we get busy building there will be no time for it, so I'll enjoy it when we can do it.

5.15.2014

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5.8.2014 - Submitted plans!

This was a red-letter day - Jim took the carriage house plans to the Building Department and applied for a permit.  There are some issues that we are really nervous about - a bit unorthodox building plan and materials, their requirement for stamped plans.  So it was good to at least get this process started so we can deal with it one way or the other.

However, it turned out to be slightly anti-climatic...the building inspector has out of the office until probably Monday.  So now we wait.

Jim continues to do what he can - the site is in great shape and there is nothing more he can do to the foundation site until we get the permit, can order materials and can start.  So he's still busy doing some grading on the driveway areas, did some cleaning up and chipping of tree remnants - everything is looking really good.

He also went to the barn yesterday and found his little case of electrical tools that he had been searching for.  How he found it in the stacks of our tools and storage that is the barn is beyond me, but it was good to see him walk in the apartment last night carrying that little bag.

There have been a few weirdness issues too...three suppliers that Jim has been working with and developed good relationships with have left their job.  First was the well guy - after the well was put in last year and Jim went to contact him with some pump questions, he found out that the guy had left the company - and it was a family-owned business!  Then, the insulated concrete form person from Vermont that had been so helpful to Jim, even met him here in town, left the company.  Then today, we found out that our windows are in (yay!).  Jim had made it part of the deal with the windows guy at Lowe's that he would keep the windows at the store until we needed them.  So Jim went in to talk to him and...he had left the company!  He eventually talked to someone who said they would store them there but it took some doing at first.  Jim said he's trying really hard not to take it personally!

5.7.2014

Jim has the driveway going back to the carriage house looking fabulous.  He's got the side all graded and the grade of the driveway is sloped the way he wants.

After lunch today, we laid out the footprint of the building again - this time a bit more permanently.  Jim rotated it so that the front faces due south the way he wanted and the driveway will feed into the garage spaces better too.



Jim using the paint marker

It's hard to see the yellow paint lines in this picture, but they're there and the building looks really huge at this point!  Since we will be using insulated concrete forms for the foundation, that product makes for a thicker wall than normal so the inside dimensions will be a little smaller than these lines showing the outside dimensions.  But it's still huge!



5.5.2014

Today was fun - a real beginning visual of how things will eventually look.  Jim had done a lot of work on grading the driveway back to the carriage house and continuing to grade surrounding areas.  For example, look at how flat the area to the left on this picture below - that's where the barn may eventually go but for the near future we will use as a materials holding site.  He's got it in in good shape now.

After lunch, we started laying out the dimensions of the carriage house to see how everything would fit into the space.  The first step was Jim marking the back line.

Then we continued measuring and marking...you can see the paint lines of the outside dimensions - it looks huge!  We also have to account for footer room and drain tiles on the outside plus plenty of working room.  There's only one little section in a back corner that Jim will have to crumb a little - otherwise, everything looks great.

Jim wants the carriage house to face due south so he will probably rotate the footprint about 10 degrees to make that happen.  But it's going to look great tucked in this spot!

 

I got to use the new compactor for awhile too - very fun.  Jim just wants the soil compacted and in good shape.  Once we get gravel on top, we'll probably compact it again.

5.2.2014

The last couple days have been on/off rainy so Jim has spent some time working on schoolwork and plans but still manages to go to the land daily.  We are so fortunate because even after a rain, with the sandy soil the water really drains through. 

Today Jim spent over 2 hours with the insurance agent working on construction insurance.  It's a complicated task - Jim had to take all the plans in and they had to go over everything.  It all gets put into the agent's computer program in order to really cover what we are doing with the structure.  That will eventually roll over to house insurance too.  These are the tasks that take up a lot of time that you don't think about but are certainly important.

Meanwhile, he has been working on getting the driveway to the carriage house in better shape.  It had a little hump in it that Jim needed to get out.  He's even gotten his new dozer blade working and put into use with that task!  Unfortunately, there are so many big rocks that make grading difficult.  The rocks are so big that he has to use the machines to get them out and then it leaves a crater in its wake.  But as you can see, things are looking really good.

Jim really has the carriage house foundation all set - we just need to do some final, permanent laying out of the footprint and fitting it into the space.  It really looks incredible - and when you are standing inside the space and looking up - the trees just seem even more enormous.  What a gorgeous sky too!