Step Ten - move inside where it's dry...

Over the last few days I've pretty much sheetrocked the ceilings, the 'Lab' walls, and the parting wall between the two sides. I've also collected most of the parts for the electrical hookup and some of the boiler plumbing - I plan on taping and mudding the Lab before plumbing and wiring everything so I won't have to go back and move things to mud around them... Also, with the weather, I can get the seams mudded and then start rough plumbing since it may take some time to harden up... I can also get that trench done that I've been grumbling about...

So from what I was murmuring about in the last post, here's the other side - the 'Studio'...

This is what the neighbor to the South would see...

Inside looking East - (some stockpiling going on...)

Looking West at the main house through the kitchen window... (more stockpiling against the bathroom wall and there's still film on the window...)

Looking East in the Lab - parting wall not covered...

Looking West-ish...

Ater a couple of evenings with nothing better to do, the ceilings are covered, insulated, and the parting wall is covered on the Lab side...

Now I need some light to work by - more incentive to get the utilities in... Then I can work on the maze of plumbing that accompanies a boiler installation ;) Oh, and the water tank. And the studio heating. And maybe I'll re-mill the maple flooring I picked up from that old basketball court. And...

The inspector says I need another cup of coffee... Hmm...

A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Step Nine - Skip a week and a couple of posts...

So I took two days off from work last week - partly for my birthday, partly for de-stressing, partly so I could get several of the large jobs done on the boiler house/studio... I got one of them done...

Shing-a-ling! (Shingling the roof...)



To clarify a little - this is the view from the driveway - the street is to the left - the open door is the Banty Shanty, the closed door is the boiler house... The end (that you can't see - around to the right) with the windows is the studio - more on that in future posts, prolly...

I drove approximately 2,640 roofing nails into almost 700 shingles in about 14.5 hours. (Yes, drove - as in human powered hammer...) Very relaxing...

In case you ever want to know: Instructions

Now it's getting the last of the sheetrock stockpiled, insulating/rocking the ceiling, power supply, water supply, hook up the boiler and get it ready to fire off... That involves trenching, plumbing, wiring, a few blisters, maybe a high-voltage shock or two... (just kidding about the blisters)

See you next time...

A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Step Seven - part deux...

OK, if the Ancient Egyptians had had Jeeps - who knows what they could have done!

I made a skid from some old dunnage I had laying about - cut some curved ends on the bandsaw, pried the boiler up so I could get them underneath, then nailed on some cross pieces so it wouldn't fold up as I pulled it behind the Jeep...



Attach a yoke I made from an old climbing rope to my hitch ball and drag -
I stopped so the boiler was pointing at the door of the boiler house...



More lumber from the yard and more skids - disconnect the airbag - push. This time the skids are longer so they would also be a ramp leading up into the building...




That's about as far as I get like this...



It's in... Technically...



Lots of prying with my 24" pinch bar, a few small wooden blocks, and it's more or less in place. (I reused the original skids to take it across the floor...) It's now sitting on 8 of those 12"square paving blocks you can see at the base of the wall...



And while I'm out here I'll assemble and install the two windows and insulate the rest of the walls...





I also installed one of the doors but neglected to take a photo...

Too much caffeine for one day, maybe?

Nah...



Beans courtesy The Alaska Coffee Roasting Company
(It's only blurry because I was shaking so fast...)

See you next time, unless you're blurry...


I believe humans get a lot done, not because we're smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee. ~Flash Rosenberg

Step Seven - get the boiler into the boiler house...

OK - that part may take a little doing - Meaning I may need a skid or some other low-tech simple machine (lever and a place to stand...) to get it in there - but the boiler house is ready for the boiler. (Dry, in a word) Actually - I'm more ready for the boiler to be out of the driveway, really, but it needs to go in so I can place the chimney, circuit panel, pipe chases, lighting, etc...

I left off at sheathing the gables and putting in the lookouts - here's what I did on the 3rd and today...

Sheathed the last walls, added eave boards...


Closed up the corners, added more eave boards...




Overframed the roof of The Banty Shanty onto the main roof...


Gable boards on and start decking the roof...



Main gable boards on...



Roof corners cleaned and ready for more decking...



This side halfway decked off... Another episode of Turtle watch ongoing...




Half decked (other side as well)...



[INSERT 4TH OF JULY HERE] Yeah, I took the day off... Mostly...





This morning before 11 - decking complete (both sides)...



Labels for the inspector to read (I can only imagine the commentary...)



Inside the roof trusses...



Roof with eave and gable flashing in place...



First course - Grace Ice & Water shield. Imagine putting a bumper sticker on your car. Now imagine that sticker 3 feet wide and 14 feet long, sticky enough that it could be used to stop continental drift, and the wind is starting to blow it around while you're walking on it trying to get it lined up to the edge of the roof without falling off... There was cursing...





After the shield, the tarpaper was welcomed like an old friend - one that might give you cancer if handled enough - or asbestosis... An old friend that made your hastily eaten sandwich taste like you just licked a hot tire...




And looking as grumpy as possible, I can only imagine what the inspector will say this time...
Must be something in her food...





We can't all be heroes because somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.
~Will Rogers

Step Seven - well, Six-and-a-half...

The next two evenings were spent raising the last trusses, blocking, putting in the runners that tie them all together, making plumb, and bracing off. There was cursing... Somehow I think I wronged a Douglas Fir in another life and it's getting back at me in this one... Sometimes I have to beat those nails like a rented mule to get them to go anywhere...




Last night I sheathed the gable trusses and put up the lookouts. I have a 4 day weekend coming up - hopes are that I'll have it edged, decked, and papered by the 6th - then it can start drying out after all the rain we've been having - and then rain while I'm trying to shingle it off... Ever run a chalkline in the rain? sigh...

There was a visitor to the chicken tractor last night as I was sheathing the gable rafters - lots of flapping and a couple of squawks until they figured out they needed to be quiet - a raptor of some kind had landed and was peeking down at the chickens while keeping an eye on me...

I barely got a phonecam picture before it took off. Initially, I thought it was a juvenile Peregrine, but now I'm not so sure. The coloring is more like a Northern Harrier, though the size is right for either... If my thumb wasn't so big or the button not so small, I might have quickly gotten another picture... Maybe I'll stake out a couple of Beanie Babies in the yard and see if it comes back and takes the bait...

Nature does nothing uselessly.
~Aristotle