31 May 2014
Off to Goodro’s early
morn to put the first color coat on the two steel beams. Met Alverta at a rendezvous along US 7 and
guided her back to Fern Lake, arriving a few minutes before Alex, Katy, &
Devin, up for the weekend from the Boston environs. After a tour of the premises, Alex and I
installed the radon abatement piping by cutting out a section of Blueboard, digging
out the sand and stone underneath to make a shallow trench, putting in the
holey pipe I had fabricated, and, finally, reinstalling the foam over top. Marty came up early afternoon to kindly offer
use of Chez Lapidus for the cookout planned for later. As it was a cold, windy, cloudy day, we
gratefully accepted. Sitting around an
hour later enjoying a pre-prandial beverage (or two) while staying warm by the
campfire, the sun came out and the wind abated.
So canceled our off-site dining reservation and started grilling
burgers. Lynne brought a large garden salad
and desert, Merry came with her famous orzo salad, Alverta provided potato
salad, beanies and weenies appeared by magic, and Dolores contributed many fluid
ounces of imminently potable libations.
After the dishes were done, Alex, Katy, & Devin took possession of the
RV and I went down to bed at Marty & Merry’s.
30 May 2014
Only made three trips
to Goodro Lumber today… Could have been worse.
First trip was crack of dawn early to prep and apply primer to the two
additional steel beams we’ve decided to use to support the house Main Level. Using steel instead of LGL (lumber glue
laminate) beams is not only safer in case of a fire, but less expensive to
boot. Got back to Fern Lake at 11 to
find Jimmy hard at work back filling the foundation and Sean, Ben, and Ty Zimmerman nearly done with installing the under-slab foam insulation in the
cellar. Just before Sean and his crew
departed, he gave me a list of tasks to accomplish this weekend: making and
installing the radon gas abatement piping, spray foam sealing the under-slab
foam insulation, and putting onto a drawing all the measurements needed to
install the under-slab radiant heating piping.
Right after lunch Jimmy asked me to go to Goodro’s to pick up some more
fittings needed for the perimeter drain installation. Brought back Schedule 40 PVC fittings (‘cause
that was what Chuck used for all the under-slab drains) only to learn that
there is specific sewer and drain pipe (which is what Jimmy was using for the
perimeter drains) and, no 4″ PVC does not fit 4″ SDR. So back to Goodro’s I went. The difference in price between the two types
of fittings almost paid for the gas I burned making the exchange. Jimmy and I installed a vertical branch off
the perimeter drain to which a grate will be fitted to catch water coming off
the roof valley onto the Patio. Had him
put a ton of stone (literally) all around that vertical pipe so water will have
no excuse to stay on the Patio surface.
Jimmy then commenced digging the trenches for the Garage frost
walls. Right in the southeast corner he
uncovered a 2-ton rock, which made that corner of the trench extra big...
severing the footpath over to the wood walkway.
James came for his after work job and used the skid-steer to move to the
north side of the house the smaller rocks and dirt Jimmy was digging out. That done, James and I lugged the detachable
section of the wood walkway up the hill and made a temporary bridge across the
Garage frost wall trench, suitable for 90 year old ladies to cross.
29 May 2014
Wink pulled up just
after 7 to trade Jimmy’s “small” grade-all excavator (John Deere 120C) for the
JD160C, needed on another job. Spent another hour moving stone around in the
cellar hole until Jimmy got here with his skid-steer and compactors. The two of
us then spent two more hours rearranging and compacting stone so that, by 10
o’clock, the cellar floor was back to the same condition it was in last
Thursday, albeit now with a bunch of PVC pipes sticking up through the surface. Wink brought us a load of sand that Jimmy and
I spread over top the stone… Jimmy spreading (with his excavator and
skid-steer) and raking (‘cause Jimmy is just as good at raking a smooth, level
surface as he is at everything else, i.e., fabulous), me shoveling, checking
grade with his laser leveler, and compacting.
By lunchtime the cellar was ready for polyethylene sheeting and seven
Kubota payments worth of polystyrene foam.
In the 23 days since Jimmy dug the cellar hole, many rocks have fallen
off the banks and fetched up against the foundation footers. After lunch Jimmy
and I moved all those rocks out of the way, by hand. Then we hand shoveled a trench next to the
footers. Into that trench Jimmy placed a
layer of stone using his JD120C. Because
the bucket can be tilted in any direction (which is why they call it a
grade-all), Jimmy could literally pour stone wherever he wanted it. Beyond tricky!!!! Jimmy then put 4″ perimeter drain pipes (aka
weeping tiles) in the footer trenches, bedded them so that water would flow
from a high point in the middle of the house east side towards two termination
points at either end of the west side.
He then poured another foot of stone over the pipes. I got plenty of exercise wielding an idiot
stick to keep the stone level. Over top
of all that stone we spread filter fabric, which will keep dirt from leaching
into and clogging the stone and perimeter drains. I took Jimmy over to his shop on Upper Plains
Road so that he could bring a dump truck (loaded with more sand) over here,
ready to move the stockpile of backfill dirt from next to the driveway down to
the house foundation. But that’s
tomorrow’s story… After a heavy day of
hot and dirty work, the lake was as refreshing as always. So was the Sam Adams Boston Lager!
28 May 2014
Jimmy Ploof came
bearing gifts (a truckload of stone for bedding the perimeter drains) just on
7:30. Chuck pulled in at 8 and continued
putting in the under-slab plumbing conduit.
I built a 14″ square by 5½″ deep box that will be used to keep part of
the floor under the Guest Bath shower concrete-less, ‘cause we won’t know
exactly where the drain will be located until we buy that shower, many moons
after the cellar floor concrete is poured.
I also dug more trenches and helped Chuck whenever he needed an extra
hand or two. Used a hand sledge and cold
chisel to notch the footers in two places so that plumbing stacks for the Main
Level could be run from under the slab into the wall without being seen. Early afternoon Jason and Nate came back and,
in short order, sprayed a tar and rubber compound over all the below-grade
portions of the exterior walls. While
that was ongoing, the Goodro Lumber delivery truck arrived with the closed-cell
polystyrene foam (aka Blueboard) that will be used to insulate under the cellar
floor. Boy is that stuff E∙X∙P∙E∙N∙S∙I∙V∙E!!!! Somebody (Dow Chemical?) is
raking in the big bucks with that product. The driver was pleased to see that
the Kubota has forks… which made unloading the truck a lot easier than moving
120 4x8 sheets by hand. Chuck finished his work and left at 3. I then spent
another 3 hours moving stone around, trying to at least approximate the
conditions that obtained before Chuck started the plumbing rough-in.
27 May 2014
While waiting for all
and sundry to arrive this morning, drilled the hole for the sauna French drain
and lined the bottom of the barrel with previously washed stones. Sean showed up shortly after 8, just as I was
finishing that job. Chuck Ringer from
Ryan’s Plumbing got here around 9 and we began laying out the under-slab waste
drains that will convey liquids to the septic tank. Dennis Senesac made his appearance
mid-morning to consult on the piping layout.
On a very positive note, Dennis had been in touch with his geothermal
guru and preliminary indications are that a ground-loop energy recovery system
is possible, the trenches may be shorter and the depth shallower than I had
expected, but there is concern about putting the coils under the driveway. More to follow… After Dennis left, I used the backhoe to dig
the first trench for Chuck, for which he was duly appreciative, since normally
all under-slab trenches have to be dug by hand… his hand. Sean and I set chalk lines around the
exterior foundation walls to show the limits of where we want the waterproofing
sealer to be applied. Steve Poplawski
from Ryans pulled in early afternoon to help Chuck. I continued digging trenches with the
backhoe, seriously disrupting the compacted stone that Jimmy Ploof and I had
put in on Thursday last. Jason Day and
Nate Pettys from Northern Vermont Pressure Seal arrived at 3. They quickly prepped the exterior walls for
waterproofing. Just as they were about
to start spraying sealer, a thunderstorm came rolling though… ending all work
for the day. Everyone left. Wisely, I had put my computer and camera in
the back of Chuck’s truck in case it started to rain. Not so wisely, he drove off before I
remembered that minor critical detail. I
chased him all the way up the driveway and (seemingly) halfway to Fernville
Road before he spotted that he was being pursued by an arm-waving drowned rat carrying
a broom (don’t ask) in a completely ineffective yellow raincoat. Crises averted, took shelter in the RV,
replacing my outer clothing with drier versions. At 5 the sun came out, so went back to work. Installed the sauna drain. Then spent some fun time removing from the
house cellar all the large rocks I had dredged up from today’s excavations and
rough backfilling the first couple of trenches.
Quit when it started raining again at 7.
26 May 2014
The long-range
forecast said today was supposed to be like yesterday. That forecast was not accurate. Unfortunate, ‘cause I had invited the Lapidii
up for steaks-on-the-cook fire based on the forecast. Did manage to sear some cow between rain
showers, so that turned out well. Also
washed both trucks between rain showers, so the day wasn’t spent in total
idolatry. In spite of not getting sprayed last night, there were very few mosquitoes
out, the few times I was.
25 May 2014
An absolutely gorgeous
day… mostly spent shoveling dirt down in Mosquito Central (aka: the Sauna
Building hole). Good thing I’m a major
investor in the S.C. Johnson Company (maker of Deep Woods Off). Got the area around the footers leveled out
and the area in what will be the actual sauna graded and ready for the final
batch of concrete. Did take an hour
mid-afternoon for some sunbathing and swimming.
Sure that time will be docked from my pay, the boss being a no-fun kind
of guy. The mosquito control spray truck
was in the neighborhood just before bedtime… but did not deign to come down the
Δ□O driveway!
24 May 2014
Another rainy morning,
great for doing more construction drawings.
Weather broke early afternoon so used the Kubota to fill in a couple of
mud holes at the RV campsite, using rock and sand scavenged from Friday’s
deliveries. Then I spent an hour
sharpening Mr. Jonsered, who was looking somewhat the worse for wear after
hitting a small rock during his last outing.
To finish out the day, spent some more time organizing the Shed upper
level… which is finally in good enough order to be going forward with.
23 May 2014
Woke up to the sound
of rain and the nightmare realization that I’d put two of the west frost wall
penetration sleeves in the wrong place.
Did some drawings needed for next week’s planned construction, talked to
Sean, and eventually figured out how to correct the wall penetration problems
with minimal fuss and bother. Jimmy
stopped by mid-afternoon to retrieve his skid-steer. On the few occasions when I ventured outside
between rain showers the mosquitoes were REALLY BAD! Called the BLSC (Brandon, Leicester,
Salisbury Commission) and requested a spraying, as the cries of the children
being carried away by the swarm were most pitiful.
22 May 2014
5 o’clock Thursday and
the start of a four-day weekend, so kickin’ back, writin’ me blog, and havin’ a
Bud. Yep, since Sean has been spot on
with all his recommendations so far, figured I’d try the beer that he prefers
and, you know, that brew ain’t half bad.
Sean arrived at 7:30 and, not having a long list of house building
issues to discuss, regaled me with stories about the adventures of owning a
boat. Jimmy Ploof got here about 9 to start backfilling the west frost wall and
putting down the compacted crushed stone that will be the next to bottom layer
in the cellar floor matrix, consisting of: 7,926 miles of earth (some of it
molten), 4″ – 48″ of 1¾″ crushed stone, 6 millimeters of polyethylene sheeting (vapor
barrier), 3″ of closed-cell polystyrene (insulation), 4″ of 2,500 psi concrete,
and the finished floor (tile, carpet, whatever). Over the course of the day Wink Rhodes brought
in 6 truckloads (about 84 cubic yards) of stone for the cellar and 3 truckloads
of sandy gravel backfill for the exterior side of the frost wall (cheaper than
having Jimmy find suitable material by pawing through the “stuff” that came out
of the cellar hole). James Ploof came at
3:30 for his after-school job, using the skid-steer to spread stone around,
something he learned to do when he was 10…
My job throughout the day was to help shovel stone, when shoveling stone
was needed, plus Jimmy had me operate the compactor for much of the afternoon. During breaks I moved all of the leftover
wood walkway construction lumber out of the car-turnaround area and then took a
stab at organizing the mess in the shed upper level. After every rain shower kept finding more
nails in areas that I would have sworn were “clean”. It’s like they were sprouting! Also sprouting are the mosquitoes!
21 May 2014
Mosquitoes were out in
force this morning and evening. Kevin,
Victor, and Ben came at 8 and continued loading the Long Ridge trucks with all
their concrete forms and associated gear. By 9 that job was done and the crew
joined me in breaking form ties, finishing that not-so-pleasant task by
10. Once the Long Ridge folks had headed
for greener pastures, I used Perry’s big magnet to collect nails, rebar ties,
form tie ends, and other scrap metal that were thick on the ground in the
cellar hole. Got 22 pounds, destined for
recycling. Just as I was wrapping up
that activity, heard the beep, beep, beep of a piece of heavy machinery up on
the driveway. It was Jimmy Ploof,
dropping off his John Deere skid-steer, which he will be using tomorrow. I then spent a couple of hours getting all
the big rocks out of the cellar hole (actually, dumped them in the frost wall
trench). VERY hot, sweaty, and dirty at
that point, discovered that the lake temperature was up to 68°, so took the
plunge for the first time this year.
Brisk, but refreshing! Lynne came by to check on progress as I was
enjoying a late dinner.
20 May 2014
Woke up at 5 am with
an epiphany. Why don’t we run a
ground-loop geothermal system under the driveway, since we’re already going to
dig up ⅔ of its length in order to run the water line from the well to the
house? Sent those thoughts off to Dennis
and Sean in an email. Sean arrived at
Fern Lake just as he got that missive.
Perfect timing! Larry, Rick,
Kevin, Victor, Scott, and Ben also got here about the same time and began
prepping for three concrete pours planned for this morning. Sean left after he and I had caught up on
current and near-term planned events… and all the changes to the house
specifications document. Soon thereafter
a Carrara mixer lumbered down the driveway yet again, this time with only half
a load. By 10 we had poured a nice floor
for the Shed lower level, put concrete in the footer for the house chimney, and
dumped 4 wheelbarrow loads into the form for the sauna stove pad. The
Longrridge crew then began the laborious process of stripping forms off the
cellar walls and lugging those beasts out of the hole. Talked to Dennis and got the cost (from
Spaffords) to drill three 200 foot wells for a vertical closed-loop geothermal
system. Expensive, but just barely
within budget. Certain that a
ground-loop system would be far more pocketbook-friendly, Dennis is going to
consult with his geothermal engineers to see if a system such as I proposed
could work. I then spent the rest of the morning pulling and de-nailing cleats
used to hold the concrete forms in place.
Sometime around midday Jimmy LaFlam (Sean’s & Ben’s father)
visited. We had a nice chat, after which
Sean’s ears were probably burning. (Ben
got off easy… this time.) After lunch
Larry taught me how to break off form ties, which you do by swatting them back
and forth with a hammer. He made it look
very easy. It’s not. By the end of the afternoon my right forearm
was pretty much dead. Also by the end of
the afternoon the shed garage floor still had not taken an initial set (most
likely due to the low temperature and high humidity in those nether regions),
which meant that it couldn’t be floated, which meant that Rick’s wife was not
at all pleased that he couldn’t come home on time for dinner. Once Larry and the rest of his gang were
gone, made a quick trip into Brandon for the usual (the flavor this time is
Sugarloaf Mint Chip). Rick had FINALLY
been able to float the floor while I was gone.
A quick Bud consumed, so was he, and I settled down for some burgers and
dogs hot off the campfire… and my own Allagash Triple Ale. Oh, yeah, remembered to call Chree to wish her
a happy anniversary. She seemed to
recognize the name of the guy she’s been married to for the last 42 years…
19 May 2014
Was just getting out
of bed when Rick arrived to start work.
Guess doing laundry yesterday took more out of me than I realized. Larry,
Kevin, Victor, and Scott got here at 8, by which time I, too, was ready for
work. While the Long Ridge gang put the
final bits and pieces of the cellar wall forms together, I continued working on
and printing out the latest round of changes to the house specifications
documents. At 1 Carrara’s pump truck
arrived. With a reach of 95 feet, seemed
adequate for the job. The first (of
four) fully loaded concrete mixer pulled in at 1:30. By 3 all 41 cubic yards of 3,000 psi concrete
had been transferred from the mixers to the cellar wall forms. The Long Ridge crew left at 4:30 with all the
walls floated, J-bolts inserted, and the Δ□O logo and MAY 2014 scratched into the Porch threshold. Dennis called to say he had finally traded
voicemails with Spafford's. That was the
good news. The bad news is that,
according to Spafford's, an open-loop geothermal system is completely out of the
question in this neck of the woods. More
news at 11. A monster chef’s salad for
dinner, starring a bunch of blanched asparagus fresh from Lynne & Perry’s
garden.
18 May 2014
Spent the day at Lynne
& Perry’s doing four loads of very dirty laundry and, in spite of it not
being the hottest day of the year, helping move seven pickup truck loads from
the mounds of split firewood to the stacked-and-ready-for-next-winter racks
near the house. Don’t tell Perry, but by
the end of the day I was pretty worn out!
17 May 2014
Back to Goodro’s once
again to put the final coat of paint on the steel beam. Then, even though the overnight rain had
abated, spent the day ensconced in Dolores catching up on cost accounting and
making all the changes to our house specifications document engendered by the HVAC
and other recent decisions. Those of you who know me well will think a major
malady has befallen, as I took a two hour nap this afternoon. Must have been considerably sleep depraved
from having awoken most of this week around 4 am, with my brain all a tizzy
thinking about the upcoming day’s agenda.
16 May 2014
Off to Goodro’s again
first thing this morning to put the first color coat of paint on the steel beam
and pick up some fittings for the cellar wall penetrations. Back to Fern Lake shortly after 9 to find
Larry and The Gang (Rick, Kevin, Victor, and Scott) busy tying rebar. Given the soil type found here in Leicester
(sandy rocky gravel) and the wall height we’re putting in (8′ 8½″), the 2012
International Residential Building Code calls for vertical rebar 41″ on center
with two courses of horizontal rebar, the first 12″ below the top and the
second in the middle of the wall. Larry
put in vertical rebar 18″ on center and 6 courses of rebar horizontally. That wall ain’t never breaking! Larry and I spent some quality time putting
sleeves in the forms for the many thru-wall penetrations needed for utilities
running into and out of the house.
Awaited a call / email from Dennis Senesac all morning to confirm the
size wall penetrations needed for the potential geothermal system. Hearing nothing, had to fake three sleeves
and have fingers crossed they are the right size and in the right location. At noon had to run back to Goodro’s to
exchange the conduit couplings I bought this morning for a larger size. Returned to Fern Lake just as the crew was
finishing lunch, so joined them for an entertaining (and very dirty) afternoon
of putting up forms for the inside of the walls. That is a tricky operation, as all the form
ties (20 per 4x8 sheet of plywood) have to be threaded through holes in the
form from the inside out. Needless to
say, the pros from Long Ridge (near Dover) knew all the little tricks to make
that job, if not easy, at least not excruciatingly frustrating. My job was to slide ½″ smooth steel rods through
the loops in each row of ties, thereby locking the forms together and reinforcing
them. By beer time the wall forms were
complete except for the boards that will form the top 8½″ of the walls… a job
for Monday morning. As I was inhaling
some pizza as a late lunch / early dinner, Dennis called to say he STILL has
not heard from Spafford's… and that the 2″ sleeves I put in the walls for the
(hoped for) open-loop geothermal system… really should have been 3″. Oh, fudge!
15 May 2014
Drove into Goodro’s to
prep and prime the 43′ 9″ W10x15 steel beam that will hold up the middle of the
house Main Level. (TMI: the W means it
is a “web” beam, commonly known as an I-beam; 10 means the beam is 10 inches
high; 15 means it weighs 15 pounds per lineal foot; and the beam top and bottom
flanges are 4″ wide.) So, doing the
math, the beam weighs in at a svelte 671 pounds. That is an important number,
as you’ll see. Four of the more stoutly built Goodro’s folks most kindly moved
the beam into their (rather large) maintenance shop and set it on a couple of
sturdy sawhorses for me to work on. The beam
was raw steel and slightly rusty, so sanded it down before applying a premium-quality
rust-inhibiting primer paint. In order
to work on all sides of the beam, obviously I had to turn it over, which was within
my abilities going from the skinny (4″) to the fat (10″) side, but was just a
bit beyond my strength going the other way.
No problem! Whenever I needed to turn
the beam back upright, one of the Goodro’s folks came right over and the two of
us did the he-man thing. Got back to
Fern Lake, with all vertebral disks intact, at 11:30 to find Larry, Kevin,
Rick, Victor, and Scott busily erecting concrete wall forms. Early afternoon
Sean stopped by to see how things were going and discuss / resolve the current
crop of issues / questions. I swear the
house is on springs: yesterday Larry told me he had to raise it up an inch (due
to a high spot on the footers) and today he told me he had to lower it back
down an inch and a half (due to a low spot, he said, in his brain when he
calculated the intersection height of the frost wall and the cellar floor). By the end of the day the exterior side of
all the wall forms were set up with their form ties inserted. [Further TMI: form ties are a twisted metal
device with a loop at each end that are used to keep the concrete forms from
spreading apart as the concrete is put in.
At the bottom of an 8 foot wall, concrete exerts a force of 1,200 psi on
the forms until it sets.] I helped with
the latter activity, as there is a form tie every 12″ horizontally and 20″ vertically,
i.e., about 910 of those critters in them thar walls. Had a long HVAC
conversation with Matt Sergeant at the close of business. Then an even longer conversation with Chree
about all the decisions recently made and forthcoming with respect to how we
want the house built. The lake
temperature is up to 62°; a few more degrees and another really hot day…
14 May 2014
Pulled the forms off
the sauna building footers while Larry, Kevin, Victor, Scott, and Rick Martell
did the same to the house footers.
Somehow they won that race. Sean stopped by to check on progress and
take away some of the materials needed so he can make the many penetrations
that have to be put in the cellar walls for incoming power, telephone, water, etc.
and outgoing power, water, and septic waste.
Made the form for the concrete pad the sauna stove will sit on and
discovered that the sauna French drain would be right underneath that pad. That wouldna work so good! Tammy, of course, had use of the backhoe when
she installed the 55 gallon drain barrel in the (wrong) spot I specified. So had to hand dig that barrel back out of
the ground. Had accomplished that task,
with much sweat expended, by late morning.
As I was about to put the barrel back into its final resting space two
of the banks collapsed. Lunch time!!!! Finished reburying the barrel and placing the
sauna stove concrete pad form just before time to leave for an eagerly
anticipated meeting the Sean and Dennis (at Dennis’ office in Vergennes) to
make final decisions about the HVAC system for the house. A very productive
meeting… and the price plummeted drastically based on the system design Chree
and I had agreed on coupled with the energy use modeling done by Matt Sergeant
(Efficiency Vermont). Still no word from
Spaffords (well drillers) on whether the water quality in this area is suitable
for use in a geothermal energy system.
After our meeting with Dennis, Sean took me just around the corner to
the house he just bought… and will move into just as soon as he finds some free
time. With triple pane windows and
doors, 18 inch thick walls with R60 insulation (R30 is what our Fern Lake house
will have), R80 ceiling insulation (we’ll have R50), the ANNUAL heating and
cooling cost last year was $261. The builder (not Sean) won all sorts of energy
efficiency innovation awards for that house… and many commissions to build
more. While admiring the house features,
met Ashley, Abigail, and Tucker, Sean’s wife and kids.
13 May 2014
Spent the morning
putting rebar in the sauna building footer trenches then moving more dirt and
rocks around down at that site. Larry,
Kevin, Victor, Ben Cook, and Scott Messer all arrived about 11:30, ready for
some football to pour concrete. The
Carrara truck, fully loaded with 11 cubic yards of 3,000 psi concrete, arrived
at 12:45 and then the hard work began, wheelbarrowing and shoveling the mix
into the house footer forms. I helped
with the shoveling for awhile, then was giving the task of inserting the
vertical rebar into the forms that will tie the footers to the cellar
walls. The house footers filled and
floated (i.e., smoothed off with a trowel), the driver estimated he had a ½
yard left… and I had calculated that we would need about a yard and a quarter
to do the sauna building pour. So Larry
ordered another yard to be delivered while his crew began the arduous task of
taking wheelbarrow load after wheelbarrow load of very heavy concrete down the
wood walkway to the sauna site. Kevin
and I spread the mix around and then floated the top surface smooth. I put the J-bolts in very carefully (they
hold the building to the foundation) and then discovered, much too late to move
them, that I had put them all 5¼ inches from the outside edges of the footers
instead of the 6¼ inches that they were supposed to be. Marty & Merry came up to review progress,
then, having heard my tale of woe vis á vis the sauna building bolts, invited
me down to their place for some scotch and steak… in that order. The12 year old helped considerably to ease the pain. The steaks and potato salad came from Dave’s Ferndale Store (very local) and were exceptionally good… as was the 2012 Blackstone Pinot Noir that we washed them down with.
12 May 2014
0800 and everybody
arrived at once: Perry to help me with putting in the forms for the sauna
building footers, Larry, Kevin, and Victor to put in the forms for the house
footers, and Sean to talk about the usual host of details needing to be
resolved as he plans the next phase of the house construction. After thrashing out the issues with Chree
over the weekend (and thrashing is the correct term!), told Sean what we
I want to do for the HVAC system, subject to a “final” meeting with Dennis
Senesac, now scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
Sean and I agreed that the steel beam that will support the middle of
the house should extend wall to wall across the whole house vice the shorter
version that I had designed. Mid-morning
Tammy stopped by to borrow my Kubota to do some firewood gathering over at
Marty & Merry’s place. By the end of
the day Perry and I had the sauna building footer forms in place, square and as
level as we could get them using my leveling sight and Perry’s 6-foot level. We had to remove countless large boulders from
the footer trenches in spite of all the digging (and rock removal) I had done
yesterday. Think we’ll both sleep well
tonight! Larry and company had likewise
finished the forms for the house footers and put in the rebar reinforcing
steel… so those forms are ready for concrete.
11 May 2014
An
absolutely perfect day weather-wise… and NO bugs! After yesterday’s work with the rebar cutter
/ bender, weren’t movin’ nearly so fast as usual come daybreak. Much worse after spending the morning hand
digging the sauna building footer trenches to their proper depth. Only hit, and had to dig out, seven, yes
seven, 100 pound plus boulders. After
lunch, cut a bunch of 2x6’s salvaged from the old stairway (that ran from the
Glassner’s place down to the waterfront) to the lengths needed for the sauna
building footer forms. Stopped work
early in order to prepare Dolores, food, and me for having the Lapidii come for
the first barbeque of the season.
Another delightful repast with our good neighbors to the north. Enough liquid painkillers were ingested to at
least dull most of the aches and pains resulting from this “relaxing” weekend.
10 May 2014
Lots of rain this
morning so spent that time doing more detailed drawings needed for the next
phase of the house construction. Am beginning
to understand why architects get 20% of the cost of the house as their
fee. Weather cleared at noon (as
forecast) into a gorgeous Saturday, with just enough breeze to blow the black
flies away. Spent a few hours cutting
and bending the rebar that will be used to reinforce the sauna building
footers. As always, an excellent upper
body workout… and this time there was no snow coming down to make the exercise
even more interesting. (Refer to the
blog posting for 28 April 2010.) To
round out the day, put in 12″ offset stakes to mark the corners of the sauna
building (we are getting just tooooo professional!) so that I can shovel some
dirt tomorrow to create footer trenches at the desired elevation (that
elevation being 5¾ inches below a mark that I’ve put on the wood walkway which,
in theory, is where the southwest corner of the sauna building deck will join
with the walkway).
9 May 2014
Forecast
to be sort of a rainy, miserable day, so spent most of the morning doing
detailed drawings to pinpoint where the footers need to be placed for the
chimney and the two support posts for the steel I-beam that will support the
middle of the house. For a break from
sitting, tackled smoothing out the driveway with the Kubota; the fill that was
put in to even out the driveway slope was more than a little bony. In the midst of that endeavor, Ceil Todd
(neighbor across the street) brought over a couple of banana nut muffins hot
out of the oven. They went down real
easy with some homemade chicken soup Lynne brought over the other day. After two hours of grading, the driveway is
much more passable (you’ll only lose one or two fillings driving over it), but
still needs a couple of truckloads of crushed gravel to be right. About 3:30 Larry Kaufmann (Long Ridge Concrete)
arrived with a caravan driven by his two assistants, Kevin Clark and Victor
Fifield. The two helpers spent some
quality time unloading concrete forms while Larry and I supervised
reviewed the plan of attack for next week. By 4:15 they were gone, leaving me
Long Ridge’s rebar cutter / bender so I can get some good exercise this
weekend. Went back to drawing…
determining where the two Lower Level toilets and shower drain will be located
with respect to the foundation wall sill plates, as that plumbing and the main
waste line have to be roughed in before the cellar slab is poured. Plus the main waste line has to penetrate the
west side frost wall at some elevation en route to the septic tank. Somehow they forgot to teach me all these
things in college…
8 May 2014
Jimmy was back at
0745. Wink delivered a dump truck load
of sand shortly before 8, which Jimmy used to smooth the cellar area where the
wall footers will be laid. Then Jimmy
started digging the trench for the frost wall that will support the west side
of the house. While that was ongoing, I went
over to Kate’s to check email and put in an online order. Just as I started the latter activity, the
touchpad mouse on my (not-so) trusty laptop computer stopped working. Nothing I could think to do would rectify the
problem. Gaack! Headed into Middlebury (was out of ice cream,
AGAIN!!!!), stopped to reassure the Goodro Lumber staff that I would be putting
all their kids through college this summer, then went to CSI, a computer repair
place I’d heard good things about. The
denizen of that emporium asked, “Is the touchpad turned on?” To which I replied, “I didn’t know you could
turn it off.” So he pressed the F5 key
and (1) the touchpad mouse started working again just fine and (2) my face
turned bright red. Got back to Fern Lake
about 11, just as Jimmy was packing up from finishing this phase of his site
work responsibilities. After he left,
went into Brandon to do more errands.
Then started cleaning up chunks of roots and some stumps that didn’t
make it onto the truck on Tuesday. Met
Sean headed in as I was headed out the driveway with the first load. We reviewed progress and the short-term
schedule for an hour. Then I finished
the site cleanup, greased the poor tractor, and washed the mud and the blood
and the gore off that much-abused machine. Black flies still are well and truly present.
7 May 2014
Jimmy and Wink Rhodes
(Ploof Excavating’s driver, loader operator, and man about town) started work
at 0730. Wink spent the morning hauling
loader bucket after loader bucket of “extra” gravel from the house site to fill
in the dip in our driveway. The driveway
now has a nice even, and much more benign, pitch for the first 200 feet. Jimmy continued digging his way towards
China. Tammy, Nate, and Mary came at
0830 to recommence work on the sauna building site retaining wall. The four of us had the wall complete, the
sauna’s French drain installed, and the Kubota safely returned to its garage by
3:30. Jimmy finally quit for the day at
6:30. Black flies were pretty miserable
in the afternoon.
6 May 2014
Dolores drank another
11 gallons of propane again today. Temps
still are getting down into the 30’s at night, so the furnace has been running
a lot. Jimmy arrived at 0730 and sent
three large dump truck loads of stumps off to the landfill. Tammy Walsh, Nathan Clert (Tammy’s nephew and
assistant rock wall builder), and Mary Stockwell (no relation, but also a
hard-working builder with rocks) all arrived just after 8. The four of us proceeded to tackle the sauna
building site retaining wall, with occasional help from Jimmy, who delivered
and set several multi-ton rocks that were way beyond the Kubota’s
capacity. Knowing our relative
abilities, Tammy operated the tractor all day while I helped with the manual
labor side of things. Sean arrived late
morning and he, Jimmy, and I took a look at the accuracy of the nail I put in
the hemlock by the car turnaround area ages ago, which theoretically
represented the top of the house cellar
concrete walls. After a fair bit of
deliberation, we decided that the nail (and thus the house) was 10 inches too
low. Adjustment made, Jimmy went back to
making big holes in the ground and even bigger piles of dirt. By 4 o’clock (when Tammy and crew had to leave)
about ⅞ of the sauna building retaining wall was built. I then took over the reins of the tractor to
remove excess dirt from the site. Was
just finishing up that work shortly before 6 when I got just a little too close
to the soft bank I was working near… and the Kubota came within a whisker of
rolling over, which would have done terrible things to (1) the tractor,
(2) the wood walkway and halfway bench, (3) Fern Lake, and (4) my marriage. Tried to extricate the tractor using the backhoe
boom… but just made things worse and worse and worse. On the brink of total disaster, left “I’ve
got an emergency and I need you back here right now” voicemails with Sean and
every number I could find for Jimmy. Sean
called back in short order, recommending that I secure the Kubota to a big
tree, which I did using my biggest logging chain and come-along. Jimmy sent me
a text message saying he was on his way.
He arrived, driving his front end loader (needed for tomorrow’s agenda)
at 6:45. We walked down to the scene of
the crime, whereupon he said, “Would you mind if I try something?” To which I replied, “Not at all, but be VERY
careful!” Whereupon Jimmy (using the backhoe controls) and I (keeping tension
on the logging chain with the come-along and operating (by hand) the foot pedal
that makes the tractor go in reverse, slowly pulled / drove the tractor back up
onto level ground. PFM on Jimmy’s part;
the guy is an absolute wizard!!!! James arrived just as we declared mission
accomplished. Right after Jimmy and
James left at 7 (note the arrival / departure time differential!), Sean and Luther
Corcoran (Sean’s other foreman) arrived. With the panic now abated, we three adjourned
to Dolores for a liquid dinner.
5 May 2014
Eagerly anticipating
today’s milestone event, was dressed in my work duds and out the door at
0700. Still very lonely two hours later,
called Sean to see if maybe (sic) there had been a change in plans. Got the text message (sent hours earlier) a
few minutes later (thanks for nothing, Verizon Wireless), informing me that
Jimmy Ploof wouldn’t be available until about noon. Jimmy arrived just after
11, and in an absolutely amazing display of excavator expertise, completely
de-stumped the house site in just over an hour of frenetic digging. The size stump that took me 5 hours with the
Kubota to claw out down at the sauna site took Jimmy less than a minute to
unearth. Even with all that raw power, I
swear he could have picked up a sheet of paper with his excavator… without
wrinkling it! Sean arrived, in company
with his brother (and foreman) Ben, just as Jimmy was finishing the stump
removal, which made quite a large pile. With Ben doing the photographer honors,
Sean, Jimmy, and I posed for the obligatory ground-breaking ceremony
picture. Somehow the gold plating seems
to have worn off my shovel. After Jimmy
left to retrieve his truck from the tire repair shop (which is why he was late
arriving this morning), Sean, Ben, and I spent a couple of hours going over
administrative and house specification issues.
Spent the next couple of hours coaxing electrons into patterns
consistent with what Sean and I had decided.
Jimmy arrived back, with his son, James, at 4:30. The three of us then spent an hour accurately
staking out the house corners, then putting in ten-foot offset stakes so that
Jimmy will know where to dig for the foundation tomorrow.
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