21 August 2014

A nasty, rainy day, as forecast.  The Condo Association property managers informed me that the wiring problem was my responsibility to fix… not theirs, but gave me the name and number of an electrician familiar with the wiring in those units.  Arranged for that electrician to work on correcting the situation tomorrow afternoon.  Perry arrived, per usual, at 7 and we spent an hour or so designing the wall into which the sauna building pocket door will be fitted.  Sean arrived shortly after Perry left and we discovered there now are even more roof leaks than before the roof was “fixed” the other day.  Sean arranged for Kevin (the roofer) to come on Saturday to put down the (allegedly) waterproof membrane that he uses under metal roofs to provide a gliding surface for the metal as it expands and contracts with temperature changes.  Sean also leant me his self-leveling laser so that Perry and I can get the sauna building top wall plates perfectly level (critical to keeping the building of the roof structure from becoming a complete nightmare).  And, finally, Sean presented me with Goose Creek’s final bill for labor on Phase I of the house construction.  With those numbers in the spreadsheet, was able to trim $25K off the construction budget… and still project a healthy surplus by the time the house is finished.  Trailer in tow, went up to Trowel Trades in Colchester in the afternoon to retrieve our cube of Aspen White brick.  Turns out a “cube” of bricks is a rectangular solid 25″W x 39″L x 36″H.  Not very cubist!  Also turns out that the forklift that was to load the bricks on the trailer weighed more than the cube, the trailer, and the truck… combined.  So using the fold-down stern ramp wasn’t happening, unless I wanted the ramp bent into an L-shape.  Consternation all around!  Finally the yard manager suggested raising the trailer bed 14″ with junky wooden pallets and then loading the brick cube over the side onto that raised platform.  That accomplished, chained down the cube and returned to Fern Lake (via another $100 spent at Lowe’s) with no difficulties whatsoever.  Vermont ingenuity at its finest!