Last of the Workshop Wall Framing

My Christmas present from Scott and Sam came early this year. On Friday, they drove over from Charleston SC to help me with the last of the wall framing. Scott (the tall one) is Carolyn's nephew and Sam is Scott's daughter's (Christina's ) boyfriend.

We had a fun time eating chili and building the frames.



After they left on Saturday, I stuck around a little while to add sheathing to the new framing. When I fell off a ladder (after dropping a piece of OSB on the back of my leg), I decided it was time to retreat and lick my wounds.

More Workshop Walls, More Staining

This was a busy weekend. While I was framing and sheathing more wall sections for the workshop, Carolyn was finishing the staining project.

Next up are the window sections that will go on top of the six foot walls.

Workshop Walls

This weekend I managed to get four wall sections framed and two of them sheathed.

Not much else to say. Just need more nice weather :)

Wood Stain

As hoped, we did not spend all of our time at the Mentone Color Fest. We saved a little time for staining all that wood we salvaged from the wood pile and bleached last weekend.

We did enjoy ourselves around the fire Friday night making new friends, listening to good music, and watching the fireworks given up each time a log was thrown into the fire.

We toured the arts and crafts booths and came home with a new airplane.

The next day and a half, Carolyn stained wavy board while I cleared the area around the workshop.

Woodpile Cleanup

Well, the woodpile beside the cabin has been an eyesore for a long time. We decided to relocate it and to salvage all we could for future use. The contents were sorted into two categories; pieces that needed to be cleaned and those that were OK as-is.

The ones to be cleaned were stacked up to be treated with household bleach. The others were moved to a new woodpile closer to the workshop.


The cleaning process consisted of spraying full-strength household bleach onto the planks, letting it stand for about five minutes, and then rinsing with water from our rain barrels. The bleached and rinsed planks were then stacked under a tarp with stickers between the layers to allow air flow.

The new woodpile required a little bit of clearing. A few small saplings were cut and set aside for future stove wood. Other brush and windfall were burned as it was a calm day and rain in the immediate forecast. The remaining brush was removed with the trusty mower, "Arry". Several layers of old tarps were used to get the last bit of "good" from them.

  

Carolyn put on a big pot of chicken soup early in the day so we would have a hearty supper that night.

The final result is that now the side yard looks much nicer.  The next thing to do will be to stain all the bleached wood as soon as it is dry. Maybe next weekend if ColorFest doesn't interfere too much :)

Moving the Gate

For too long, I have worried about stopping on the road with a trailer load of building material whilst unlocking the gate. Finally, I decided to finish a project I started at the same time as the workshop. I loaded up a bunch of tools, cement mixer, barrel of water, generator, etc. and went out to the road to set the 4x4 posts in concrete.

While the concrete was curing, I rounded up some old fence wire (that had been taken down several years ago) along with the best of the old T-posts I could find. I pulled string to establish straight lines for the posts and soon found my blackberry patch to be interfering.

Next operation was to prune back all the old, dead canes and clear out honeysuckle vines.

While cleaning out the old canes, I saw what I thought at first glance was a cotton ball. To my surprise, it began to crawl away and then I saw the antennae.

Then the posts were driven in and old fencing attached.

Finally, the old gate was relocated to the new gate posts. Now I can safely pull in off the road even with a big load of lumber hanging off the back of my trailer.

Mowing the Woods

OK - so I have been a little distracted with building lately and have been neglectful of the maintenance aspect. I started to notice how growing things seem to keep on growing even when you are not looking. Like kids and weeds. Then I realized that I probably have something like 3 acres of ground that all needed mowing - NOW! While it is true that nearly all of it had been cut originally with a 21" push mower, that was done over a period of years.  Now I was faced with doing it in days. Here is what I decided to do about it...

I had been searching the want ads for over a week looking for a good used riding mower that was ready for me to use. I found several deals that were good but each one I called had already been taken. I decided to run up to RW to pick up the trailer so I could act quickly on any good deal I was able to find. On the way up, in Summerville, I saw an old riding mower in front of a house with a For Sale sign on it. I stopped to inquire and discovered it was not something I could use - BUT, the old geezer just happened to have one that he had just finished getting ready to sell. It was a little pricier than I had wanted but it looked to be in excellent condition. I headed on to get my trailer and think it over for a little while longer. I decided to get it.

I unloaded the machine from the trailer and it fired right up. I left it idling while I applied some bug spray only for it to run out of gas about 30 seconds later. I filled the tank and gave the starter rope a pull. It coughed and spewed vapors out of the exhaust. I pulled a time or two more before I was unable to pull the rope at all. It was then that I noticed the glug-glugging sound. I checked the gas tank and it was down an inch or two. I then removed the air filter and that's when I saw gasoline flowing into the engine.  I called the guy I bought it from and he acted like no big deal. The old geezer said he would fix the engine problem if I brought it back the next day. He did. After I got it back I mowed for about 20 minutes before it had a flat tire. I messed around with it for a long time before I realized it could not be fixed. A split in the bead prevented it from holding air.

Off to Ft Payne for a new tire. Found one at the third place I went to. Got back and put the wheel on just in time for a thunder storm. At least I was able to check my new roof - just one tiny leak. After the rain I got in about 45 minutes of mowing when it suddenly quit moving forward. Another phone call. The old guy told me what might have happened and offered to fix it for me if I brought it back. This morning I got under it and found the problem he described (a belt slipped off) and fixed it.

After a very rocky start in the relationship, Arry and I now seem to work well together. In about 6 hours of mowing, I managed to get the field mowed and all of the area around the cabin and bath house. I also mowed a new area out near the field and about a third of the drive through the woods that has not been mowed since Spring before last. (see Richmond Woods Drive Beautification and How to Get Rid of the Jungle) All-in-all, I'd say I have a winner.

Finishing Touches

Today Chuck came over and got me started putting the finishing touches on the roof. First we installed the rake angle. This is the trim piece that covers the gable edge of the roofing to give it a finished look. It also covers and protects the ends of the purlins.

Because this is recycled industrial roofing, there is no readily available form-fitted closure strips. These are the strips that go between the roofing and the ridge cap to prevent rain from blowing in where the valleys leave large gaps. So, Chuck had some U-channel made that tightly fits over the corrugations of the roofing. We put a bunch of caulking in the bottom of the U-channel and then along the edge of the roofing so that when they were cupped together a seal would be formed.

Then a strip of caulking was run down each edge of the ridge cap pieces and they were centered over the U-channel and stuck down. It sounds simple (and generally it is) but there is a lot of snipping and cutting with shears to make everything fit nicely. Multiple lines of silicone caulk at each overlap of the ridge cap ensures wind-blown rain will not find its way in.

When this was finished, the side laps had to be fastened down. This is where the edges of two adjacent roofing sheets overlap. Again, because this was previously installed material, there were already holes in the sheets. Naturally, they did not line up so I had to drill the underlying sheet at each of the existing holes in the upper sheet. Let's see, that is a hole plus a screw every 14 inches of each of 32 sixteen foot runs... that's about 384 holes and screws! Oh my aching back!!

Lastly, with caulk gun in hand, I hunted down each and every hole in the roofing that was not filled with a screw and plugged it with silicone. I reckon I might have to do this one more time before I die. Nah! I'll get the grand kids to do it :)

Well that's it for the roof. Next up are some walls and windows.