Snag (august 10)

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Today I woke up and headed on our way to the Eco-Exhibit from Minnetonka. On the way we were slowed up by a bad crash in both east and west tunnels so Nick and I busted out the iPhone to find our way through traffic. We were about a half an hour late, not bad considering the traffic we almost got stuck in. On site I began work again on the shelving structure but soon switched over because the electrician had arrived. I gave him a rundown on the routes and left him to his work while Nick and I once again braved traffic in pursuit of some LED recessed fixtures. We ended up driving all the way to Plymouth to pick up the fixtures and we are still one short, but we will get it. Once back on site I continued to work on the shelving but only in brief moments. I was informed by the electrician that he ran into a little snag with the inspector and that we are unable to use the LED ribbon lights in the windows… Well this is still getting resolved it is a problem. I hope tomorrow we can begin to sort it out. The shelving was put in place and the day ended. I can already feel time creeping up on us.

shading structure has begun…

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So today the wood showed up for our shading structure.  After much anticipation we were finally able to begin!  Most of the morning was spent sorting and pairing up the 2x8x12′ for the first row of columns.  Each member was paired with another primarily based on both color/tone, and crown direction.   After pairs were matched, we marked out the bolt placements and starting drilling holes through sets of pairs.  After all of the holes were drilled they were off to the sander.  Palm sanding action with some finely gritted paper smoothened each stick out to a smooth finish.  When sanding was through it was time to start fastening the pairs together.  Shortly after laying out the hole placement on the 12 footers, I began cutting the 14 footers to exact length and the previous process was repeated for this set.  Later, Lyle and Melissa began assembling the floor structure. Some photos of the process thus far:

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13 >> 8/9/11

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Today was perhaps the slowest and quietly frustrating of the last week. Ty and I were tasked with assembling the shelving. We had to start by sanding the boards which slowed everything down. Some of the boards needed slight trimming to fit snuggly.

We started on the north side under the loft. We hit a snag when we moved away from the loft and found the second shelf to be wobbly. Chris Aldrich, Nick, and Johnny managed to solve the problem but they had the cut through the floor in order to re-block it.

When we started on the south, we realized that two boards were missing. I cut some pieces and then drove to Willy’s shop to join them. The biscuiting was fine, but I think the traffic doubled the length of the trip. I got back and we started on the south next to the loft. We finished that but called it a day after putting up the next post. The rest of the crew finished siding the west side – it looks fantastic!

12 >> 8/8/11

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Ty and I continued work on the shelving structure. We planed the rest of the 2x6s from Saturday along with some more cut today. We packed the whole lot in the box of Mike’s pickup and drove to Willy’s cabinet shop. We spent the rest of the day marking, biscuiting, and clamping.

We’ll begin assembling the shelving right away tomorrow morning. I, for one, am eager to get underway; we’ve now spent two days just doing prep work for this project. It’s refreshing to see other progress being made. The entire south side has been sided along with most of the west side. The interior sheathing has been taped and cedar cladding has been added to one of the LVL columns.

11 >> 8/6/11

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I expected working with Johnny on the interior roof sheathing and furring strips, but Nick asked Ty and I to begin on the shelving structure. That project has changed quite a bit even since the two of us worked on it in late July; the posts are now sized at 6×6 (rather than 4×4), the alignment has moved, and we’ll be using joined 2x6s from Ty’s granary instead on 2x12s.

That last change will roughly triple the amount of work to be done. We’ll have to saw twice as many boards, bring them to a cabinet shop, join them, then bring them back before we can even start assembly. But even though it will be a huge undertaking, I think it will be worth it. It’ll cost us in terms of labor, but we won’t have to buy new 2x12s. The reclaimed lumber, on the other hand, has a great deal of character but has had no use thus far except as scrap.

I spent the day taking measurements inside the cabin and then cutting boards outside. We can take the boards to the cabinet shop on Monday to begin joining them. We worked a three-quarter day and then went to a BBQ at Tom DeAngelo’s house.