Caught in the act!

Sam was caulking some cracks in Berdy's house after he and David removed a gutter. No more than 5 feet away, a very oblivious skunk found it necessary to enter the crawlspace under the porch. Sam was shocked but maintained his composure and because of the double stripe, chose not to shoo it away as it ambled through a hole in the screen! Now what to do???

So a trip to Lowe's and some quality time with the saws-all produced a double layer of plastic lattice that is likely to keep critters of this size from activities such as this. Mostly installed, but what if we trap someone inside??? Or, worse yet, what if there are babies inside? 

So the trusty trail camera produced evidence that very night. Skunkie didn't need a large gaping hole, but slithered through another hole! 

So now, the hole that was used is covered, and we'll see what the camera shows us tomorrow! Sam thinks that the skunk can get out the one-way door of lattice, but we'll see.

Sept. 26--Clerestory window wall

Remember the 48 foot beam? It's time to put it to work! This wall will have 5 large windows to let in light all year round, and hopefully give us some solar gain in the winter time. They face south or pretty close to it. The SkyTrak really helps make jobs like this much easier.

Truss Truck Excitement

Also on Sept 26, we had the delivery of the largest of the roof trusses. They were extra long, which required that the truck have an "escort" truck as well. Turned out to be handy. The driver had already been here several times, so he knew that he would need to use Jim's driveway which is a bit wider than ours. He made a first attempt, but didn't make it, so the escort truck was able to pull him out. 

The 2nd attempt was probably worse, and this time I arrived with camera in hand. The truck was going to take out the electric pole if it continued. The trailer was off the side of the driveway, and the two left-most wheels of the trailer were actually off the ground!

So the driver asked Sam if the framers would come and bring the SkyTrak to see if they could help straighten out the trailer. They came right away, and were able to work a miracle. The next video shows them getting it moved.

And here are the tracks in the driveway!

The truss truck is able to just roll the trusses off the back. Pretty impressive.

We are eager to have these trusses installed, but it will be a while as they will do others first. There will be another load of garage trusses tomorrow, and that will be the last delivery. We are very happy with NOW Structures and glad they were able to deliver the trusses!

Sept 24 More beams and more housewrap

We have more porch beams including some that are at the top of the 2nd story.

Sept 19 Porch beams and housewrap

Progress has been very slow in September. Some hot days, some rain, and lack of workers all contributed.

Beams have been added to the west porch posts.

And today, they started on the housewrap.

August 31--2nd floor emerges!

The second floor has started to emerge! 

These are the posts on the west side of the house, where some porches will be. 

More steel

We will have 3 different porch areas, and the roof trusses will be supported by laminated beams and steel posts. Jim ordered the steel, drilled the holes, and then did all the welding to assemble the parts. Deb gave them a couple of coats of primer to keep them from rusting. Then the guys took turns helping Sam put them into place. Sam rented a hammer drill and they went to town! The entire process took a couple of weeks but it will be worth the effort. 

To set the three largest posts, Jim drove the lift to set them into place. I was very impressed with his ability to operate it with no previous practice! Jim got more of the mechanical genes than the other brothers, although they are both pretty good too!