Autumn Pups

It's hard to get them both to sit still and look at the camera at the same time. But I did try.

The House is Dried In!

This afternoon Hal screwed in the last 2 pieces of vented ridge cap. Theoretically, if it rains now, it shouldn't rain inside. Hal joked about now we look for leaks.  I hope there aren't any! While he finished up there, I started painting the fascia in case the weather doesn't allow us to get the fascia trim up this year (the horizontal edges).  Hopefully, we can at least get the remaining rake trim up (the angled trim he is standing in front of). Either way we can now breathe a little easier.

One Rake Trim FInished

When Hal hasn't been able to work on the roof  we've  been working on the rake trim and last week, the garage rake was finished.

Ridge Cap, Ridge Cap, Ridge Cap

Still doing vented ridge cap. But the main house was done last week, WOOT!

And today Hal got a piece and a third up on the reverse gable. One more piece to go,  looks like the weather will cooperate in 3 days, on Friday.

the chicken ladder has come in really handy

One more piece of ridge cap to go and no more climbing on the roof!

Happy Anniversary and the Home Build

So Friday was our 33rd wedding anniversary but before we went out to eat that night we still worked on the house build despite being a cold, clammy, damp and cloudy day. The high temperature at that time of the day was about 49 degrees. But the winds were reasonably low, below 10 mph, so Hal decided to head on up and put 2 pieces of ridge cap onto the roof.

Today, though it was very windy, we got up our first piece of fascia and another bottom piece of rake trim on the north side of the house.

Hal carrying a piece of ridge cap, he is tied in to a safety rope

screwing ridge cap down

the ridge cap gap is closing

Rake Trim

Still too windy or rainy to work on the roof but we've had a few hours here and there to do other things so we started putting up the rake trim on the varge rafters. It consists of a bottom piece and then a larger piece that covers the side and top.

north side rake trim

So Much for Being Dried in by October!

We need pearl gray stitch screws to finish putting up the ridge cap to essentially have the house dried in. Last week they sent the wrong color which were delivered Monday. I bitched. They sent the correct ones, supposedly Wednesday. They didn't. Hal bitched (or I did, we lose track). Our liaison with Hansen checked with shipping, suddenly they got shipped again to come in today. Hal checked his email. They didn't actually go out till this morning, No screws till Monday. Bad weather till next Thursday. I am annoyed. Hal said don't worry about it. I'm not, just annoyed. So okay, maybe we'll be dried in a week from now. We'll see.

Well, That Hurt

So there I was, standing on a ladder, trying to put a screw through 2 pieces of steel to secure some rake trim, and wham! Screw gun slipped off the screw head and slammed into my teeth. Well now, that was a surprise. I knew one of my small teeth was broken but had no idea if anything else was damaged. Called my dentist, got in by seeing his new partner and after waiting a bit and telling my story again (for some reason everyone in the office was fascinated by it) he went to work and about 30 minutes later I had a tooth that matched so perfectly it was as though it never happened.

Now this doesn't mean this fill in composite thing he did will hold but we'll see. If it doesn't a crown will be required. He said it was quite a hit and my enamel on the tooth was shattered. He also said my lower gums were damaged and when I looked in a the mirror there is a big gouge. Oddly, it doesn't hurt. Time will tell. In the meantime I know what not to do with a power screwdriver any more.

The Walls are DONE (mostly)

Hal and I put up the last big sheet of wall steel the other day. We still have the gable returns to do, those tiny triangles under each roof corner, but the exterior walls are done! Still have to finish ridge cap and the screws we need won't be here till Monday. We were told they shipped last week but they didn't ship till yesterday. *Sigh* Still it feels good to be this far along.

We're working on trim until more materials arrive.

The Short Wall is Finished

Today Hal finished the short wall over the garage roof. We're getting closer! He'll switch to other trim or the ridge vents until the F-channel for the garage door arrives. No ETA on that yet.

Despite a Few Hiccups..

The wall steel is moving right along. The back wall is done, the house main roof is done (the replacement steel arrived last week.)

I am on the roof under the eave putting up soffit

I have been unneeded these last few days as I got all the soffit up and only one person at a time can be on the chicken ladder so Hal has been putting up these short pieces of steel on the main house end wall yesterday and today. Tomorrow he'll start on the other side. That will be a little slower as he has to cut these sheets off the pieces that still have to go on the garage wall. We are waiting for another piece of F-channel before finishing the garage wall. Had one, but, oops. Crap happens.

All the Windows!

We picked up the replacement window this afternoon from Home Depot and though it had rained hard all morning, it stopped and we were able to install it. We thought the day was lost on the build but here it is. All the windows are now installed!

One Piece of Steel and More Soffit

Hal and I put up the last piece of steel on the garage that we can do till the missing F-channel is delivered.

And I installed more soffit over the garage this time. Can't do any more till the last piece of roof steel is also delivered. No idea when this will happen, hope it's soon, summer is waning.

I was able to do this because Hal constructed a chicken ladder that keeps us from sliding off the roof. I'll have to get a photo of it another time.

Two Years Running

Hal posted these on Facebook, I thought it would be good to post them here. The end of August 2017, 2018, and 2019.

23 poles in 2017

garage roof up

closing in on final steel walls

We added a roof panel on the front today and another garage door wall panel. The front roof panels are all up now. Just missing a few screws, they are shipping more next week. Still awaiting the final 2 roof panels for the back.

We Managed Some Steel Today

The wind was still strong but from a better direction so we got some garage steel up today. We can only put up one more piece there until some missing F-channel gets delivered. ETA: unknown.

Too Much Wind

We wanted to put up steel on the garage door wall today. We cut and drilled the first piece and even put up some J-channel but with sustained winds over 15 mph and gusts around 30 mph, it was too insane.

normally this grass stands straight up

Instead we installed some base channel along the northeast wall where the wind was almost non-existent as it was coming out of the southwest.

We finally got sick of fighting the wind and quit before 3 pm. Wind forecast doesn't look good till Saturday, 3 days from now.

The North Wall!

We finished the north wall on Thursday afternoon. The trickiest bit we thought would be the tallest piece in the gable center but it was actually the piece to the right of the window. We finally got it in and looking pretty good.

Last wall panel being screwed in

Vanna has nothing on me

inside still waiting on the window to finish the back corner

 After this we went on to the garage wall. I finished putting the soffits up yesterday, and today I finished the housewrap that Hal started yesterday as well. Today he started putting up the F-channel for the garage door jambs. Then he discovered we were missing a piece, we also discovered there isn't enough soffit to finish the rest of the house. Hal has emailed Hansen. They should send the soffit without a problem as they simply miscounted. But the F- channel was listed  on the manifest as correct and we signed for it. We could be screwed in having to pay for that twice. Guess we'll know in a couple of days.

Hal's contribution

 In the next photo you can see the white edges around the smaller garage door, that is the F-channel.

I did the upper portion of house wrap

On a better note, the replacement window should be in around the 3rd of September rather than the 11th.

More Steel

And we keep plugging along. Two more sheets of steel today, the tallest and trickiest pieces. Plus more green house wrap and a bit of J-channel as well as more soffit panels.

Two More Windows

We got two more windows, these are the smallest and are the bathroom windows, and a few pieces of steel installed since the last post. Two pieces of steel were installed today and then we had to quit because the wind was just getting too strong and the next sheet would be nearly 19 feet tall. Don't need to send it sailing.

Today after moving scaffolding

Yesterday, 2 windows

Today, 2nd piece of steel

Yesterday, installing 1st bathroom window

Today, looking from northeast corner

Check Out the Front of the House!

Two sheets of steel make all the difference. As well as moving the scaffolding, of course.

We moved a lot of steel sheets around, too in order to find the next piece for the north side of the house.