7.24.2015

Jim was once again back on blocking duty.  I was busy with fire school work all morning so by the time I got out at lunch, he had made great progress on the back wall.

There were a couple pop up showers in the afternoon but Jim is on his last blocking on this wall - then he said he just has to do some tweaking and this job will be done.  I know he'll be glad about that!

Later in the afternoon, we turned our attention to the ground floor again.  Jim decided after seeing how everything went together that he wanted to compact the ground underneath the foam.  So we pulled it all up, he compacted, and then he started putting it back into place.  He's much happier with it now so this should be the final placement!

Compacting another section...

Meanwhile, I was on bubble duty - cutting off all the Nudura foam that we put down when we were attaching the Nudura to the footers.

You can see we rearranged things a little bit when we put the foam back down - looks really good.  We put a sheet of plywood back on to hold some supplies.

Working on the next section...

 

 

We were talking at the end of the day and decided that we'll probably do some housecleaning tomorrow - rearranging things once again to clear out the ground floor.  We still have bundles of foam in the truck so those can come out and other things can go back in.  We may move some things up on the deck and cover them to get them out of the way.  Stay tuned!

 

Another thing on the agenda tomorrow is keeping animals out of the ground floor.  Jim was surprised when he got to the site this morning and found a dog inside!  We shiver to think of the damage a dog or other animal could do inside so Jim is going to put up some temporary blocking yet something that's easy to take down so we can get in. 

 

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7.23.2015

Jim was back at work today on the blocking on top of the walls.  This requires a lot of thought - Jim has to think about what goes on top of this floor to make sure that everything is supported correctly.  For example, on the back wall, he had to add another stud in this location because there is a window here on the floor above.  So his blocking needs to be different here too - it becomes very custom.

Working his way down the back wall...

The front wall is all finished - another stud and different blocking had to be added underneath where the window will be on top here also.

Makes my arms tired to watch...

Late in the afternoon, we switched gears to get a start on the ground level slab work.  So first Jim brought a bucketful of fine gravel into the area.

Jim used a piece of steel to help level off the area.  The beginning is always the hardest - we needed to make sure everything was flat and at the right level.

Then we brought over our first piece of HydroFoam!

Like I said, these giant Lego boards have knobs that will eventually hold the Pex tubing.  But they also fit together like puzzle pieces.

Once the first couple of pieces were down, it was much easier to make sure things were level.  We would add fine gravel or scrape some off accordingly.

We have the beginnings of our floor heating system!

We brought in a couple of pieces of plywood and laid them on top...

...so that we could use the space to hold some more foam pieces while we work.

 

The concrete contractor is hopefully supposed to stop by tomorrow to talk about doing the floor so now we have a start to the floor to show him what is involved.

 

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7.22.2015

After more rearranging of tools and supplies - moving them from inside to the truck and the 4Runner back to inside or the truck - Jim started working on blocking.

This is meticulous work - it's like building tiny 4" walls - just a lot more work involved!

Taking shape...

At the end of the day, Jim had made a lot of progress!

 

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7.21.2015 - Road Trip!

Today was our trip to New Hampshire to pick up our HydroFoam - the Nudura product that we will use for the heating on the ground floor.  This is the product that looks like a giant Lego board - the Pex tubing just snaps around the knobs.

We had to start the day by clearing out the few things that Jim didn't want to leave at the site overnight.  Then we took a few things to the storage unit that Jim won't be using for awhile and/or didn't want to leave at the site.

Then it was time to hit the road!  The truck did great.  We did some reminiscing about how we bought the truck in Kentucky and it didn't run.  Jim did repairs in the parking lot to try and get it back to Ohio.  And it made it - spewing oil all over my car following behind!  But Jim has put a lot of work into it since then and it really runs great.  This trip alone saved us over $400 - their delivery fee is $250 plus we would have to pay NY taxes.  If we pick it up, New Hampshire doesn't have state tax so we don't have to pay anything.

Plus it's a gorgeous trip across Vermont.  The Green Mountains in Vermont are different than our Adirondack Mountains - much more hardwood, which is why they are so spectacular in the autumn.  However, they don't have the tall, majestic pines that we do and that stay green all winter.  It's definitely a beautiful trip - one road we take winds next to a river that is full of gigantic boulders.

For the first time, we had to pull over for a safety inspection in the truck.  Two troopers came to the window and started asking all kinds of questions...What company did Jim work for, what was in the truck, where were we going, where were we from, etc.  Once Jim told them that it was our personal truck and that we were going to pick up supplies, they let us move on without looking in the back of the truck.  Guess Jim has an honest face!

The Nudura department is part of a larger operation at a concrete plant.  Jim has only been to the plant once before when we picked up some Nudura; I went by myself once to pick up the plastic webs that went in the foam.  However, Jim walks into the office and it's like walking into the Cheers Bar - everyone is yelling, Jim!  The man of the hour is here!  We have these experiences all the time - amazing!

Here Jim is loading up the HydroFoam.  We bought 8 of these huge bundles.  Of course, they are very light but bulky to move around.

But besides a good trip and picking up our foam, it was valuable in other ways too.  Our Nudura rep told us about some cast steps that look like stone that we may want to use for the steps going up the side of the carriage house eventually.  The guy in charge of that department is supposed to email Jim some information.

The rep also told Jim that he is willing to come out and epoxy the shop floor too.  Jim wants a special finish on the floor that is impervious to all the things that spill and cause issues in the shop - oil, grease, paint, etc.  This guy is renowned for his epoxy finishes - people have him fly in to do this.  So he said he would come do ours, which is exciting.

As we were waiting, here's another example of my theory that boys who grow up playing with Legos end up designing products that look like giant Legos.  These are used for retaining walls.

 

We stopped at a fun farm market just over the border of Vermont in New York and bought some yummy peaches that will make their way into a pie in a couple days!

 

We got back to the site and switched a few things from car/building/truck around and headed home.  It was a fun day!



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7.20.2015 - Truss Day!

We got to the site early this morning to make sure everything was ready and in place for the trusses today.  Jim got a call saying that the crane could come a little early if we were ready...Jim told him that our help was supposed to arrive about 11:15 so if the crane could be there then instead of noon, that would be great.  It takes them quite awhile to set up so we figured we were good.  Jim was going to call the landlord and see if he could be there a little earlier.

I decided to make a quick trip home - as I was leaving the apartment, the landlord was walking in!   I asked him if he got a call from Jim and he said, yes, but there was a water leak in the basement of the building.  Great timing.

But fortunately he got to the site before the crane and with enough time for Jim to walk him through the procedure.

The crane showed up - as he was turning around, I was a little nervous at this point.  You can see it looks like he's going to back down that little hill...probably not a wise thing to do.  But he got himself situated okay.

Setting up all the outriggers to make sure everything is very stable.

Dropping the lines for the first truss!

Jim had to wear pretty much all the hats in this operation except for operating the crane!  He started out hooking up the lines to the trusses.

Then while the crane was lifting the truss up, Jim was scampering up the hill to get up on the deck and in place.

Here comes the first truss!

Setting it into place.  Once it was in the right position, they had to put giant bolts through the openings Jim made in the bearing plate to attach the truss through the top of the track.

After that was done and the lines released for the crane, Jim had to start working on attaching the brace.  Here one end is screwed into the plate Jim had attached to the stud...

Then he had to run down to attach the lines to the next truss and start the process all over again!  Jim alternated sides and worked towards the center to keep the loads equal.  Thankfully the scaffolding was on wheels so I could move the towers back and forth.

Attaching the top part of the brace to the truss...

Attaching the brace on the second truss...

Signaling to the crane driver to lift up the truss....

Here comes the next one!

And setting it into place...

It sure was a sight to see these giant trusses swinging in the air.  The crane operator was really good at getting the trusses lined up and in the right place for them to reach them.

Jim had to take the lead and grab ahold of the truss and guide it over so that Wade could grab his end and then they could set it into place.

Signaling the driver for the next truss...

Finally the last truss is being tied up and ready to be lifted.

Setting the last one into place.

WOW!!!  How different it looks now!  You can see that all the braces are up - Jim put one per truss and switched sides each time.

After everyone left and we got a chance to sit and eat lunch, Jim was back up on the scaffolding tweaking everything.  This was no easy task either - everything needs to be totally square and plumb, otherwise things won't be square when we go to put the decking on top.  So there were a lot of dimensions to worry about and it's not like you can just lift the trusses up and move them around!

But within a couple hours he had everything finished and had put the stringers through the trusses - one on each side and down the middle.  Those will eventually have to be welded down.

It really takes on a different feeling now - it feels like there's a ceiling above you!

Somehow Jim had enough energy to clean up the area where the trusses have been stored for the last 8 months or so.  This is valuable real estate for stashing other building materials.

Picking up all the concrete blocks...

 

We spent the last part of the day organizing the back of the box truck and getting it ready to hit the road to pick up our foam for the ground floor from Nudura in New Hampshire.

 

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