30 October 2018
Used seven leftover pieces of odd-shaped Zip
System® roof sheathing to cobble together two jigsaw puzzle 4′ x 10′
9″ storage platforms up in the barn loft.
Calculated that those two areas can withstand a minimum 60 pounds per
square foot live load… more than sufficient for our bulk storage needs.
29 October 2018
Built another, higher, shelf in the southeast
corner to hold various “stuff” associated with the Kubota and trailer. Also took down the 2x4 strong backs that
supported the wall jacks on the inside of the barn. That “used but good” lumber is destined to
become shelving supports in the barn loft.
27 October 2018
Built a shelf in the southeast corner of the
barn to hold the Kubota’s diesel fuel cans.
Heaven forbid that they should have to sit on the concrete floor! With the air temperature back up into the
mid-40’s, the silane lake is almost gone…
26 October 2018
Took Delores down to the RV Medic “clinic” in
Florence (Vermont) to have her hydraulic system repaired. You don’t want to know what a new pump motor
and oil reservoir cost. Let’s just say that
the check from Buffalo Mountain for the saw logs Chree and I harvested earlier
this month just barely covered that little unexpected expense. Gaaaak!
Even though landmasses are only just emerging from the depths of the
silane lake, put everything back into the barn ahead of approaching rainy
weather. The barn certainly is not too
large… And, no, that doesn’t mean I need
fewer man-toys. Don’t be silly! Since the trailer jack stand doesn't have a wheel, fabricated a little wheeled platform for it to ride on while residing in the barn. With the jack stand sitting on the platform, I can move the trailer around easily by hand. He's just so clever, that boy!
25 October 2018
Looked all over the 5 gallon can of Master
Protect® H 440HZ breathable, solvent based, silane penetrating
water-repellent sealer (formerly Hydrozo® Silane 40 VOC) for some
indication of what environmental conditions are required when that product is
applied. Nada… except for paragraph
after paragraph, in English, Spanish, and French, warning that this stuff will
kill you if you even look at it sidewise. Oh, yeah, and it’s also highly
flammable. Judging by the fact that the
inside of the barn is still pretty much a lake hours later, perhaps the barn
floor should have been just a wee bit warmer than 39° when I coated it
this afternoon. If the silane
ever is absorbed, it will keep salty snowmelt water from penetrating and damaging
the barn floor. At least, that’s the
theory… Also built five supports 36″
above the floor along the south wall, which will be used to store the many 20
foot long pieces of Koma® trim that need an out-of-the-way place to
overwinter.
23 October 2018
Spent some quality time in the shop fabricating
a very cute 9½″ square wood cap for the peak of the barn cupola roof. Made the cap from a scrap (used but still
good?!?!) piece of 2x6 pressure treated lumber that has been lying around ever
since it was used to form the sauna concrete footers in May 2014… But wait, if you call right now
originally that 2x6 was part of the staircase (built in the late 1980’s) that
led from the Glasner’s (now Kate’s) house down to our waterfront. So it’s practically an antique! Hope the tax assessor doesn’t find out I used
such a valuable piece of wood for the tip top of the barn. If you’re wondering why I built the wood cap,
that’s because Mike will be putting a metal cap on the cupola peak, which must
be solid on the inside so that we can attach securely the flying pig
weather vane that every Vermont barn must have.
21 October 2018
Mike and Pikey showed up mid-morning and quickly
rigged a 2x4 ramp from the roof edge up which the cupola can slide to its
foundation at the roof peak. The plan
was to hoist the cupola as high as the Kubota’s folks will go, lift the cupola
onto the staging, pick the cupola up over the roof edge, then slide the beast
up the ramp to the roof peak. Great
plan! Only problem is that it started
snowing (yes, s∙n∙o∙w∙i∙n∙g) in the midst of getting ready, making the roof
much too hazardous to be working on.
20 October 2018
Mike and Pikey came over late morning and spent
a few hours putting the metal flashing around the cupola base on the barn
roof’s peak. When that was complete,
they measured the cupola base and the inside of the cupola’s bottom trim. Miracle of miracles, the cupola will, indeed,
fit easily over the cupola base. It’s a
good thing there are a plethora of acorns this year…
12 October 2018
Goodro’s delivered 24 boxes of Maibec Nantucket®
eastern white cedar shingles prefinished with H2BO bleaching stain,
plus 600 ft2 of Home Slicker® cedar breather mesh. The mesh will provide an air channel between
the barn’s Zip System® sheathing and the shingles, helping to keep
the shingles from cupping... or rotting! Only
$4,500 worth of materials! Not on
the truck were two pieces of ⁵/₄ x 6 Koma® trim for around the
overhead door opening…
6 October 2018
Mike and Pikey arrived just before 11 and spent a
half day putting the hip caps on the east end of the barn roof. They brought along a buck of their own
staging to work from, so I removed the Goose Creek wall jacks and then sent an
email to Sean asking him where he wants them delivered. Pikey also brought along 72″ lengths of
threaded rod in both ¼″ and ⁵/₁₆″ diameters… he thinking that the strength of
the larger diameter would be needed to hold the cupola down. Did the calculations and eight pieces of ¼″
rod will withstand over 8,800 pounds in tension and 5,300 pounds in shear. Sounds like enough to me! So cut the ¼″ rod into 9″ pieces and then
used Mr. Angle Grinder to remove the eight ¼″ x 7″ too-short hold-down bolts
from the cupola.
5 October 2018
Safely returned (i.e., still possessing all twenty fingers and toes) from our annual logging “vacation” in Calais, found that Mike
Many and his crew had finished putting all the metal panels on the barn roof
while we were gone. They also had installed the hip caps on the west end of the
building.
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