Freezin'

Wow, it gets chilly working outdoors when the mercury dips into single digits. On the plus side, I have been exerting enough effort to keep warm. On the other hand, it is very easy to go past toasty-warm to hot-and-sweaty. And, when the windchill is 10 below, you don't want to get sweaty.

Last night I continued with the latest task, getting all the floor I-joists up onto the stud wall. With our latest snowfall (11.2 inches by my measurement) things can get interesting when carrying a 28-foot board that weighs about 150 pounds. I spent about an hour shoveling snow out of the way, then managed to hoist four of those varmints into place. It is pretty strenuous, especially the part where you climb the ladder with the I-joist on your shoulder. By the time I can set the load down, my heart rate is up around 150 bpm. I think about 30 bpm can be attributed to the fear-of-death factor - ice and snow, aluminum ladder rungs, gusts of wind, that little sign that explains that the ladder step you are currently using was not designed to be used...

So far I have 12 I-joists on the top of the wall, with 7 of those nailed in place and the others braced against the wind. My goal is to get another 20 up there by the end of the week. Once the Lego League season is over, I hope to have more working time available and make some real progress.

Here are a few pictures of the wall construction. This is the first official wall panel in place, followed by a view from the house.

Progress

Things are moving along - all the first floor walls are framed in, awaiting sheathing. Pictures to come soon.

Here are a few pictures of the progress on the concrete block wall. I started in the corners, and quickly realized that if I did the entire task myself, it would take roughly... well, forever. I called up Andy, an experienced masonry/concrete guy, and hired him for a Saturday. Between the two of us (him really) 'we' put up about 200 block, completing 3 of the four walls.



Since then I have gotten busy and finished the last wall. When I started, it was taking me 4 hours to do 8 blocks, including getting all of the tools out and clean-up at the end. Last night I did about 32 block to finish the last wall, and it took me about 6 hours. That included about 1.5 hours of getting all of the tools out and clean-up at the end. With the help of the various tips that Andy gave me, I think I am up to about 25% speed of what someone who knew what they were doing could accomplish.

Next on the task list is to fill each core where a rebar is, and set my anchor bolts. My back is starting to hurt just thinking about it. I don't know yet how much concrete it will take, but it should be around 1 cu. yd. That translates to about 45 bags of concrete. It might even be cost effective to have a truck come out with a small load. The first thing I plan to do is to buy 2 or 3 bags, mix them up, and see how many cores they fill. That will also give me a chance to figure out how to set the anchor bolts where I want them, keeping them straight, centered, and correct height.

Other items I need to take care of are the "back-plastering", where you put a thin (1/4") coat of mortar on the outside of the walls where they will be below grade, and waterproofing coating.

Ok, it seems apparent that I have been spending more time on the project than on tracking my progress. So, here are a few pictures showing how things look.

First, a view of the yard in the pre-construction condition.

This pic shows the slab just after the pour, looking in the same general direction.

The view in roughly the opposite direction.

Last night I made some more progress on the concrete block foundation walls. I have found that I was mixing my mortar way too thick at first. As I learn to use the proper consistency, the work should go more quickly. So far I have about 25 blocks in place.

Blog? Sure, why not?

Well, this effort is mostly geared toward family and friends, who keep asking me "How's the shop project going?" With that in mind, don't expect much.