RAISING THE UPPER DECK TIMBERS

MID-AUGUST

THE EXTERIOR:

Currenty the exterior is being covered with stucco. First the building is covered with 2" thick foam inuslation panels and then covered with chicken wire mesh. Then a primary coat of cement is applied. After a week to 10 days of curing, a second finish coat with pigment is added. The roof timbers (columns and posts and rafters) are up. We will be adding the purlins across the rafters soon. The sheet metal roofing will then be attached to the purlins. We hope to start the first floor deck this week. First we will layout the concrete pier locations and dig holes with an auger attachment on the Bob Cat. Then we insert the sono tube formwork in the hole and place the concrete. From there we will begin to frame the deck on top of the concrete footings.

THE INTERIOR:

All of the new walls have been plastered and painted. Some of the doors have been hung. This week the electricians will return and install all of the remaining light fixtures and electrical outlets. Ahhhh.... walls, doors and light fixtures. No more sleeping on the floor and using a flash light to find the bathroom. Living large!

We are having some difficulty getting our custom made exterior doors and our interior transoms.

This is a picture of the upper deck before we applied the Trex decking. This image shows the rubber roof applied on top of a solid roof that slopes 1/8" per foot toward the front of the building. At the front there is a trough that directs water to a down spout. On top of the rubber roof are tappered 2x joists. The top of these joists are level and the bottom follow the slope of the roof. Placed perpendicular on top of the tappered joists are 2x4 joist spaced 12" on center. Origianlly I had planned on making three sections of deck that could be lifted up independantly to inspect the rubber roof for leaks but when we changed the design from face screwed to hidden fastener, this was no longer possible.

ELLEN'S GARDEN GATE

Using the old cedar joists from the deck we demolished, I made a new gate for Ellen's garden. We used a cast iron fire place surround for the ornamental infill. I used one of the fireplace surrounds feet as the handle. The arch on the top is made from two prongs off an old hay raking machine. It was Ellen's idea to weld them together to form an arch.