Progress Update - October

At the beginning of the weekend

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.

The deck in a pile of scrap

Special thanks to our friends who pitched in to help.

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.

The forms for the wall cap in action.

It was pretty chilly starting out on Saturday.

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.

The very creative design solution for the west wall makes a beautiful pattern.

At the end of the weekend. It's actually a little strange how much this looks like the original log cabin.