more about the roof.

the roof is closed now. Zbyszek and his wonderfully crew of all polish roofers, sealed the roof with a rubber membrane, and monday and tuesday will install the insulation and the top water membrane. i really like this guy very relaxed and man of his ward.

Graham and Josh have installed the solar chimney after finishing the metal decking and acoustic insulation. the chimney was made by Kenny from Midwest Sheet Metal, a family owned business for the last 50 or 60 years. i will be painting it black sometime this coming week.

next,

- first floor framework
- ducktwork
- electrical
- plumbing
- and windows

very exciting.

i'm crying because i'm happy, really.

the roof is up. it looks supper. there is some more work to do on the beam hangers. 57 nails in each beam, and there are many beams. that's a sore wrist forecast. other than the happy moments, i have to deal with some unhappy neighbors. the size and proximity are proving themselves to be a bigger challenge than possibly expected. but what is there to do. it has been in the works for more than a year now, and there is no way of stopping this now. it's like turning a titanic in a sea of jello. but we must go on, there is absolutely no other choice. do i regret having been put in this situation, yes. i never thought that esthetics are such a effecting issue. religion, politics, and race have always been reasons for neighbors to not be 'friendly', or for moving. it's really to bad.

the roof is here!

STAR building material has finally send us the roof trusses. i still can't believe the missing page story. anyways, the crew is at it, and it's looking good. the shape is coming quick. don't miss a thing.

changes, it's all about changes

well, every day is different. trust me. as the house is growing so are my worries. Graham is doing an incredible job. i have not known what to expect from him. but i have to say, he is exceptional. unfortunately Larry left his side. he had a unresolved right wrist injury that was giving him grief.

so, meet Josh, Graham has recruited his bather in-law. ironically Josh was looking for a summer job, having just finished his undergrad studies in english. with years of experience in this trade already, he's doing just fine.

as far as the construction. the walls are up, things are looking good.

welcome to the second floor

second floor is on. walls are coming up and things are getting done. windows and electrical next week. looking good.

meet the players, meet the plan

the roof is on the ground, and being disposed off. it is incredible how much material is in a small building.



from here on it is mostly adding on material. it is very exciting to see the building taking shape. these men are the two responsible for all the carpentry. Graham and his apprentice Larry. i have first met Graham through cycling. we have raced together for a few years now. it is difficult to estimate someones skills without seeing their work, but i had a good feeling, when he said to me "i am very good". so far, he is very good! however, his company is nameless, having just recently gone independent. if there any of you have any 'good' ideas, please post them. i will show him your suggestions. the winner will be invited to our house warming party.

yesterday i had a chance to walk the floor layout in real time. it is so different to experience this in person, than on paper or with a 3-D models. in the background of all this excitement, the HVAC is almost ready to roll, electrical and plumbing is just waiting to roll in, maybe next week. Zbyszek is out of town for a couple of week, but the roof will be waiting for him by the end of this week. windows are being fabricated as we speak. it's all cooking.

raising the roof

after postponing the roof-raising two times, we finally had a date set. thursday july 2. star delayed our construction by a week. the truss engineer lost page 12b out of our book and couldn't complete his work on time? fortunately Colin Grover made him stay late after work to complete his homework. it got done. the material was delivered on july second as promised. ironically it rained all weekend. thanks Ted




the roof is off, well done Graham. i was there with few of our neighbors in the morning to watch the show put on by Ken, the boom truck operator. it was fascinating. the amount of control he had over this massive machine. i have made a video of this but i don't know how to turn the image around. now the fun begins. in about 8 days we'll have the second floor up and i can get to work on the electrical and plumbing. keep watching.