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| At the beginning of the weekend |
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We have ventured back to Hopewell one more time. This time
we will be handing the project over to the church, hopefully complete. The weather
was gorgeous, spirits high, and productivity in the air, we even recruited some
extra help in our friends Chris, Josh and Katie. We started Saturday taking
some time to take apart the working deck we put together so many months ago, it
took about 20 minutes to tear the whole thing apart. After that we divided into
working groups; Sam, Chris and Josh on the roof, Katie, Sahar and Anthony on
the cladding, and Sarah, brad, Terri and Don on the concrete wall cap. We also
worked on grading the soil that was generously donated by the road crew, we are
happy for the soil, not so happy about it ending up in one huge pile.
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| The deck in a pile of scrap |
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| Special thanks to our friends who pitched in to help. |
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| Josh and Chris on the roof trimming the sheet metal. |
Saturday went well, the remaining sheet metal went on the
roof and was trimmed at the edges (sparks flying!), most of the cladding got
up, and the concrete, well the concrete was started. We knew pouring the whole
cap was going to be the “critical path” in our progress because it takes 4
hours to set up enough to remove the forms so they can be moved and re-poured. Saturday
we had made 4 forms and poured 2, pretty good progress but not quite as much as
we wanted. The cladding also posed a special challenge, after taking stock of
all the salvaged wood we had left it seemed the covering all the walls was
going to be a challenge. Katie, Sahar and Anthony came up with some very
precise calculations and creative work around for the supply shortage. Remember
way back when we had piles and piles of cladding? What on earth happened to it
all? For the roof, Sam and Chris had to get
creative putting up the last piece of sheet metal with only one harness,
luckily Chris knew how to make a rope harness and they got through it without
incident.
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| The forms for the wall cap in action. |
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| It was pretty chilly starting out on Saturday. |
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| Everyone in action. |
On Sunday with the roof done we concentrated on
concrete, cladding, and grading. It was also a day of using all the resources
we had. We created a sort of French drain system along the bottom of the
foundation walls by placing leftover bricks in a trench. We also had to change
the oil in the generator because it was a thick as molasses either from
over-use or because it was frozen. So not to waste it we used the old oil to
grease up the concrete forms so they came off very nicely. Besides the one
tractor accident (it hit one of the wet forms) the day came and sent without
incident. By the end of the day the cladding was 2/3 done with only the side
walls left open and the concrete cap about ¾ done with 2 or 3 more pours left.
It’s slightly unsatisfying to leave the project so close to completion, but we
feel really proud of the work we have done, we know the Zeigler family (Terri,
Don, Dwayne, Dorothy, and Jessica) will see the project through. A lot of time,
a lot of care, and a whole lot of love has gone into this project and the space
really reflects it.
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| The very creative design solution for the west wall makes a beautiful pattern. |
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| At the end of the weekend. It's actually a little strange how much this looks like the original log cabin. |
