Groundbreaking day, shovels are for young people! :-)
Thanks to my friend Leo Martinez for his help and loan of his dozer. |
The foundation for my new metal shop building. I am blessed having a
talented cousin/contractor (Scott Parker is shown standing in the ditch) and
a skilled and congenial crew.
|
The finished floor of the shop building awaiting the
steel to be erected - its also smooth enough to be a good dance floor
:-) |
Brian's new home being jockeyed into position on the
western edge of the ranch. The photo of the mountain on the gallery
page is taken from where his front porch will be. |
Ascertaining level and how many 'steps' can be made to save
concrete forms and mud. My cousin Scott enjoying his new autolevel transit -
the case is still shiny & bright! |
We
rented an 8,000# capacity forklift to unload the new metal building, sort of
overkill maybe but we had to move it around on dirt roads and were playing
it safe. The building is now ready to assemble and bolt into place. |
The new shell of the metal shop building has finally
made it out of the ground. It will be completed while the
concrete cures in the house stem walls and floors. |
The stem wall forms in place awaiting bracing and
inspection prior to pouring concrete into the forms. When completed,
it gives a double insulated crawl space under the home. |
The view of the future crawl space under the houst,
the round columns are where the supporting beams will be to support
the floor joists and decking. |
The area to the lift is the future solarium floor - it will be
backfilled further until a floor slab can be poured level with the
house floor.
|
An inside view as the wall panels get screwed
into place. You can see one of the door frames awaiting the door to
be mounted. |
The south side wall in place on the new shop. |
The floor joists being nailed into place on the two
supporting beams.
|
The "Compound", its nice having resident contractors
that keep an eye on the place while under construction. |
The shop now has all its sides and two doors - soon
it will have a roof, skylights, roof vent and a garage door!
The underground electric cable was installed last week along with
the electric panel.
|
The house now has a sub-floor in place awaiting
arrival of the walls on Monday. The stack of green 2 x 6's is
the bottom sill plate against which the concrete will be poured for
the in floor heating cable. |
In the background you can see the trusses for the
main house. There is a lot of stuff in the way at this point.
Concrete will be poured Friday and Saturday on the Solarium and
garage floors.
|
At last, walls begin to define the space into suites.
All walls are now on site awaiting erection. The garage floor will
be poured Wednesday morning and the garage walls erected Monday. |
The front of the house facing the creek - each suite
has a private entrance to the outside porches. |
Interior walls being nailed into place. There
is always fine tuning needed, usually with a large hammer :-)
|
At last- the roof begins |
Glad its not me up there! |
a long reach |
The stack dwindles as each truss is hoisted into
place |
The front porch facing the river begins to take
shape.
|
The new shop building is finished and sitting on its
small hilltop. Skylights make it bright inside during the day. A
great space for hobbies!!
|
The roof decking begins to cover the trusses. |
The new vega porch posts are visible under the back
tires of the lift truck. Soon the temporary posts will be removed as
the vegas are placed under the box beam.
|
Tar paper is on the roof and windows are installed,
yea! |
The first of the windows is in place - they are
energy star units with thermal break, low-E glass with argon gas
filling between the panes.
|
The new Galvalume steel roofing is now completed on
the river side, almost looks white to the eye. The standing seams
will allow us to affix solar panels without bolting directly into
the roof deck by.using special clamps that grip the vertical seam.
|
An eagle's eye view of the ranch, the new ranchhouse
is on the right.
|
The summer sun IS blocked from overheating the
courtyard entrance to the house - my best guess in the design phase.
|
The front porch overlooking the river, eventually we
will backfill the walls so the porch will end up level with the
adjoining ground.
|
The first scratch coat of stucco is applied and
curing so the brown and color coats can follow. |
The scaffolding in place for stuccoing. Thanks
to Leo Martinez and his crew (one of whom is a lady) for old world
craftsmanship. |
The covered porch and garage awaiting the first coats of stucco. |
Brian's new carport in progress. Soon there
will be covered porches and a garden - Life is getting better
and better on the ranch. |
This
tubing is like pex-al-pex but is easier to work with and retains
shape better. Thanks to Ned's Plumbing and my crew for a
speedy installation. |
The radiant tubing has been laid and we are awaiting
arrival of the Therma-Floor installation crew on Monday to pour the
finished floor over it. |
The gypcrete is pumped onto the radiant tubes as a
slurry. |
This heat retention medium flows out of the hose much
like molasses, it is almost self leveling. |
A shot of the finished color as it gets applied to
the garage (and upscale cathouse) |
|
