⇐Last Report
⇒Next Report
May,
2007
Almost Winter
Winter
Still Winter
Construction
29 May 2007
When the
snow guards
were installed on the Main House,
we had them installed over the ones at the Carriage House as well
because the old ones were not effective enough.
Here,
it is apparent that the new ones do a good job of holding back Spring
snows.
Unlike last month,
the progress this month included obvious changes in the appearance of
the house inside and out.
First,
the drywall hangers started on May 2nd.
Drywall suddenly makes all the rooms seem smaller,
and it means we have to actually use the doors to get from one room to
the next instead of slipping between the studs!
In addition,
the stucco contractor was upset that his scheduled customer was not
paying up,
so he moved his equipment and started work on our house on May 8th.
This meant the stucco work started a month earlier than scheduled.
It's not a
critical path
item,
but we're happy to get this final layer of protection in place sooner.
We had two incidents of people trying to get close to the house by
driving heavy equipment onto the Garage roof.
Fortunately,
the roof is
very strong.
But,
we don't want to take any chances;
Gary constructed a sign to warn people not to drive into that area.
(It says: "NO! Cave-in Danger”.)
On May 2nd,
we were able to complete the roof membrane system by "shooting" several
inches of sand onto the bare rubber and covering that with
filter fabric
to keep the final layer of top soil from infiltrating.
Ultimately,
we will cover the roof with native plants and separate it from the
parking area with a faux stream bed that will carry away run-off water
from the gutter system.
It is good that we finished this task on the 2nd because it rained and
snowed that night and all the next day.
When we introduced the
redesign
of the Master Bedroom ceiling in January,
we conjectured that computing the curve for a template for
the intersection of the ellipses at the corners was too
complex for us –
requiring
3 dimensional analytic geometry
and a non-linear
projection
from
3-space
to
2-space.
The practical solution was to apply a sheet of cardboard to
the trusses and
scribe
it to create a template.
When the template was flattened
(i.e.,
non-linearly projected)
to 2-space,
we were surprised to see that it was mostly straight with
just a bit of curvature near the bottom end
(see picture at left).
The template was used to cut ¼" sheets of drywall,
which were moistened to make them more flexible,
then they were applied in two layers.
Refer to the pictures in the
Main House Progress
page to see how the drywall pieces fit together.
Pauline left on May 5 for southern California,
anticipating the birth of a grandchild
(Lauren Mei Zhu Chua,
born May 22).
So,
most of the drywall cleanup was left to Gary.
The drywall phase generates a lot of waste because of the
desire to minimize the number of seams between drywall
sheets.
Fewer seams makes for better looking walls and ceilings,
reduces the labor for
taping
and has less potential for problems later on.
For this cleanup,
a huge advantage our trailer has over a dumpster is that we
can back up to a convenient door or window and throw waste
directly into the trailer,
as opposed to carrying the waste to a dumpster sitting about
80' from the house and throwing it over the high sides.
Total drywall waste:
9,400 pounds.
The primary ingredient of drywall is gypsum;
it is unfortunate that we could not recycle it to a better
use as a
soil amendment
here in the Gallatin Valley.
Now we can compare the Great Room with
20 September 2005.
The effect of lowering the Great Room ceiling 2½' is
immediately apparent:
it makes the
bays
seem wider.
In fact,
the fireplace bay and the bay to its right are a
little
wider;
this was done by reducing the hallway width from 4' to 3'.
The window to the left of the fireplace was widened to fill
its bay
(which is the same width as before).
The 12" by 15" timber was continued through the fireplace
bay,
reducing the apparent height of that bay by a bit more than a foot.
The plywood around the fireplace will be covered with
moss rock.
We think the new look has much more pleasing proportions.
As soon as the drywall cleanup was complete,
taping began.
At left,
the Master Bedroom ceiling starts to take shape.
Refer to the
Main House Progress
to see what it looked like before taping.
(The blue cylinder is a temporary cover for a fire sprinkler
head.) Taping takes about a week,
then the painters can start on the inside walls and
ceilings,
followed by the finish carpenters.
Meanwhile,
the painters are outside,
working around the stucco contractors to treat the exterior
beams.
These activities should generate far less waste than the
drywall,
so we won't be making many dump runs over the next months.
After several dry weeks with highs around 70°F and only
sporadic rain showers,
the week of May 20 started with sustained rain.
By the morning of the 22nd,
rain turned to snow and it snowed all day.
Rain and snow stopped or slowed everything;
the stucco and paint contractors could not work outside and
the taping crew could only work short days because it was
too cool for their work to dry between coats.
Taping is a critical path task,
and this cost us several days of time towards getting the
interior painting started.
Comparing the picture at right with
02 Nov 2005,
a major difference is that the Entry slab has not yet been
poured.
Interior work is closer to where we were in mid-September,
2005.
After a rainy week,
it snowed again on the 29th
(see picture at top).
Many in this region are hoping for continued precipitation,
since the snow pack is at record lows –
only 30% of normal for the Bridgers.
And many are hoping for a hard freeze soon to kill the
Spruce Budworm.
Weather did not stop the painters,
who started on the interior May 30th.
We're still waiting for the stucco workers to return;
they have had a 10 day vacation.
Parting Shot
Obligatory Flower Picture
May and June is time for pictures of flowers.
Here are some lupines on May 29th.