And Davis has the forms ready for the garage pad.
I got to dig another hole and make a lot of headers, none of which involved a black & white sphere – headers being the pieces of 2x10 fir that are placed in the framing above doors and windows.
To backtrack a bit, we arrived on site Monday morning under relatively dire weather predictions. While the cooler temperatures were welcome, they also enfolded rain, a lot of which had already fallen over the weekend. The basement again had quite a lot of water and, with floor joists strung over the sump pit area by morning coffee break, I stepped into my rubber boots and headed down to get the tank back in the sump hole I'd dug about a week before. After running the trash pump for almost an hour (nominally 8,000 gallons) I was finally able to get the 3/4" limestone rock cleaned out. While waiting for the trash pump to do its job, I'd drilled hundreds of 1/2" holes in the tank. Once back in place (which was easy, even with about 18" of water again in the hole – the water quickly filling the tank), we checked for level and positioning relative to the eventual level of the concrete floor then, just to be sure, wedged it in place with a 2/6 brace from the joists.
Meanwhile, Davis & Delaeno continued to finish up the installation of sub-flooring while Nathan installed insulation around the perimeter of the floor trusses.
We did have to take a longer lunch as the drizzle became rain, but we decided to carry on after lunch. Nathan & I secured a large tarp between some trees to protect the table and mitre saws, then we all got to work. I cut footing stakes for Davis to use in setting up the garage footings.
With heavy equipment no longer on site, Rebus was happy (insofar as a citified dog can be content in a wet, chilly treeline) to be back in the pack.
Back to today.
The weather was cool and blustery until shortly after lunch, when the sun came out. It may have been my parents' arrival for their first visit to the project they've heard so much about. It may have been Jim & Johanna showing up for a quick visit, but the sun was fully out by the time Dave Matthews, a neighbour, showed up for his first on-site inspection.
I've known Dave's wife, Carmen, long before she met and married him. She worked for The Lab Works for many years, but recently opened her own photo studio in Stonewall. When I stopped in at her studio to say "Hi" a few weeks ago, she said she'd been wondering which refugee from the flood plain was building on the ridge.
Back to the return of the sun. It seemed to light a fire under DND (I was doing too much visiting) such that, shortly after 4 p.m., the Bros. Rempel hoisted the east main entry wall into position. It was shortly followed by the south main entry wall, after which Davis & I joined to help them position the east great room wall and the west MBR wall.
Tomorrow, Matt Taplin returns with the skid steer loader and 24 cubic yards of 3/4 down limestone for the garage under-floor. We'll be seeing fairly dramatic changes to the structure over the next week or so. Then we hit another slower segment – the building of the jigsaw puzzle known as the roof.
But, for now, we get to bathe in the thrill of rapid change and the increasing definition of our future home.
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