Wow Factor

Even though the crew did not put in a full week, much progress was made on the tree house in the gorge. The front entry roof framing was put up and tied to the house, and the inside fireplace chase was built. Everything we do now makes a big differance in the apppearance of the house, so this is a fun time. My plan is to have the metal roofing on and the deck completed within two weeks. David and Don's last day is the 13th of July so it is important to complete as much as is possible. The 1" foil board and windows come after that, and it is possible that we might get that done within the same timeframe. I have selected an electrician, and I have bid the HVAC. Leaving only the foam insulation to find a sub for installation. The guys have impressed me walking all over the roof and framing and with the positioning of the skytrak anywhere on the site. It looked like that machine would just flip over and fall off the bluff several times, but I am so glad I rented it. I can now put together a timeframe for progress, and my goal is to be in the dry with all framing and windows & doors complete by the end of July, and all plumbing-electric-hvac to be complete by the end of August. That would leave 4 full months before the end of the year to complete all of the inside, not unachievable and a reasonable goal. As the front of the house takes on features, I am very pleased with the design I produced. The house looks like it belongs there, and people say they love the layout of the interior. If nothing else, the design is dramatic and highlights the gorge. The typical reaction from people is "wow", just what I wanted. It has been nice to have a little break on this holiday weekend, and we had a wonderful visit from our good freinds Eric and Marilyn from Little Rock. Matt and I will do some fireworks today, and tommoroe it's back at it. I will post some pictures of the guys skywalking above the trees this week, and of the amazing Skytrak's abilitys. Have a safe one, The Podge

Big Day

Progress Report

Got a small amount of rain yesterday and my crew did'nt show, something about 35' in the air on a slippery slope. I do understand, but I would love to have a week of uninterupted work from everyone. I took the opportunity to call electricians and hvac guys to come out and give me a quote. I have found my electrician, and the last sub I need is the heat and air guy. We also have chosen our metal roof color and our 2 fireplaces. It is nice to have decisions behind us, as these things are always lively descusions. I'm really happy with the color blend of the roof-windows-siding, and I'm happier that Robyn is happy with them. Now if we can get some rock that goes well, we will be set on the outside. Today we start the deck, and hopefully get most of the roof decked and tar papered. I want this thing in the dry before vacation starts at the end of July. I have come up with some changes to dress up the front of the house that are really going to set it off and complete our look, so things are coming together. It's gonna be hot over the next week so it's work and swimming. Adios RJ

Progress

Have been working on the roof all week. We were making great headway until my helper layed out the rafters wrong and 28 of them were nailed up wrong. This drives me insane, I know we all make mistakes, but what makes good carpenters is constantly checking yourself and the accurarcy of measurements. I did'nt discover this until the last board was being put-in, and I thought that the house was a little off. Going back and checking, we found that after the sixth rafter all measurements were 2" off.  This put me in a bad mood, I had just commented on what a good day we had. Now the rafters have to all be cut out and reset, this kills time, material, and attitude. I dont do mistakes well, and I hate the attitude of almost all carpenters. "Oh well, everyone makes mistakes". They sure do, and they surely do alot more with such a cavalier response. I would rather not even do the project than accept "ah shucks". Now, this morning we will be hopefully doing the short fix of this mistake, and not the long fix that it could turn into. When I owned the countertop co., we would go months without costly mistakes. It was drilled into my guys head, we are professionals, perform as such. If you want to make good money, make yourself worth good money. They knew that pushing for perfection payed off even if we were not perfect. One mistake leads to others, and before you know it, thats all you do. If you accept mistakes, then thats all you get. To eliminate mistakes is all awareness and focus. I know Richard felt horrible, hopefully this wont happen much more.

Sweet Summer

I'll be honest, I really enjoy the summer up here. It's not the kind of heat that I'm used to, and it does'nt feel oppressive until August. By that time its almost fall and I know relief is on the way. Going swimming at the end of the day cools you down so much that the cool evenings feel great being outside. The past couple of nights have been in the 60's so I have enjoyed a fire down at the site. You get to meet cool people at the river vacationing who are all very curious about how we get to live here. And there are always kids at the river for Matt to play with. If I was'nt workin so hard, I would feel like I'm on vacation. I think our family forgets how fun it is here in the summer, there havent  been many visitors to the cabin in the past couple months. I guess I will start booking friends to stay in the cabin and keep me company. Made good progress this week, but the other crew still has not shown up. I am going to act like they are not coming, and just push on. I am thinking of ways to deal with the staggering height of the roof becouse I will probably end up doing it myself. The next 2 weeks will be huge if I can stay on track. Expect pictures of the roof and deck, and the completion of the main framing. Seeing the rafters go up has been a huge emotional lift, and has given me recharged batteries. One of the biggest challenges has been to keep all of my energy focused on the house day after day, and it will be so good to have the plumber, electrition, and hvac guys to keep things rolling when the framing is done. Thankfully, I have Robyn to run the store and to do so many other things that allow me to build our house.

Roof Appears

The beams are up. We are at the top of the house with the placement of the 28' beam in the master bedroom. Thank goodness the skyfork reached the peak, I dont think I could have lifted that beam standing on scaffolding 25ft. in the air. But, we did exactly that on the 22 ft. beam in the awesome room. In two days we have placed both of the big beams with 2 people and 1 skyfork, and we are closing in on finishing out all of the rafters. The goal for this week is to have as much of the roof on as is possible, that is if the other crew does'nt show up. If they do, we want the roof decked, tar-papered, and the 1x4 pearlings on. And , the deck started on at least. I am starting to be more productive and it shows, the last 2 days  we have really got things done. We are also hitting a differant swimming hole lately, the ponca bridge. Not my favorite, but Matt has been hanging with Charles and his grandsons havin a big time.