Monday, December 5, 2016

Finishing the walls!

As of about 5:00PM on Sunday, December 4, 2016, the stone walls are done!  Here's the rest of the story...

On Monday, 11/28, we filled the second lift on the east gable. 

Jeremy and Matt Jolley working on the wall (I mixed concrete)
 

On Tuesday, Matt and Jeremy moved the forms up and finished the east wall (woo hoo!).

Completed east wall

At this point, we knew we were under the gun.  The forecast was getting colder and our window for getting concrete to set up properly was getting really narrow.  We had 3 lifts to finish on the west wall before it got really, really cold.  Because of that, Jeremy worked after dark to get the rocks cut to fit under the roof line Tuesday night.

Jeremy working by headlamp to cut rocks


On Wednesday, Jeremy, Matt and Tucker Saunders set up the forms for the first lift on the West wall and got the first 2 sections filled.  It was a very long day in the wind and cold.  These guys are my heroes!


Matt covering the new stonework for the night
 
On Thursday we didn't work on the house because of the cold weather.  Friday, Matt, Tucker and Jeremy were back at it first thing in the morning.  They finished the lift and got the forms set for the second gable lift.
 
Wrapping up for the day Friday
 
Saturday morning we were all working by 9AM to finish the second gable lift.  We hoped to get the forms set for the last lift before the day was done, but we didn't quite make it.  Fortunately, the weather was mild and not windy.  Matt brought his son, Sebastian, out too and he, Tucker and Catherine had a good day working with us.  We finished the day with the second lift done and the forms staged for the last lift.
 
Catherine and Sebastian making wire ties
 
Sunday was the day.  The forecast was calling for single digit lows on Wednesday and we needed the concrete to have as much time as possible to set up before that.  We had to finish the last lift before the day was out.  We started on the wall about 10:00 and finished about 4:30.  It was grey and cold the whole day but we had to get it done. 
 
The peak is particularly challenging because all the rocks have to be custom cut to fit under the roof pitch and the sill plates have to be set precisely.  It took an inordinate amount of time to get that little triangle done, but we wrapped it up about 4:30.  The very last thing we did was build and pour the pedestal that the center post sits on in the center of the house. 
 
Jeremy on the wall with me at the start of the day

The view of the kids making concrete from the top of the scaffolding

The pier in the center of the house


And so, almost 4 months to the day from when we took the forms off to look at the very first lift, we put the last stones in the wall.  We began this journey in July with Jeremy and I casting the very first corner.  It has been a tremendous joy to work with my family on this house and it was very appropriate and poetic that it was just us there to set the last stones. 


Family picture with the completed wall
 
Throughout this building project, Catherine has been stuck with an almost invisible but incredibly important job - making wire ties.  These little bits of twisted wire sit under every rock in the wall to give it that much more grip in with the rest of wall.  Over the house project, she made literally thousands of ties.  Here she is with one of the last batches.
 
 
 
I can't write a post about finishing the stone walls without saying thank you to a lot of people though.  Matt Jolley has been a life saver giving of his time and experience to get us through these last lifts.  Tucker Saunders has been clutch and invaluable with his constant positive attitude and willing to do whatever needs done.  Chris Kesslering gave up his days off to come out throughout the project throughout.  To all the folks who came out for a day or two - Susan Pauls, Nancy Ward and family, Scott Dunn, Doug Dubois, Sara Lehrman, Tim O'Brien - thank you for helping us through some tough days.  Scott Dunn gets a call out for welding our door lintels late into the night so that we could keep building on schedule.  A special thank you goes to Tim O'Brien and Otto Lehrman for loaning us scaffolding.  I have no idea how we would have done this without it!  Thanks to Erin Schmidt for taking the kids to school and bringing them home so that Jeremy could get a few extra hours in each day.  This was really a community effort and we appreciate everyone who pitched in.  I'm sorry if I missed anyone, but know that we are deeply grateful for all of you! 
 
 
 
 


Beginning the gable ends

It has been a busy few weeks of work on the house.  As the weather gets colder, we are doubling down to try and get the concrete/stone work done before it gets too cold to do it.  We also crossed another milestone - we have water at the job site!  The water line finally got put in and the septic is due to be installed sometime in the next couple of weeks.  It is wonderful to not have to haul water anymore!

The first running water at the house site!


We started moving forms up for the last full lift on the 14th.  As the work gets taller, everything takes longer.  We are tremendously grateful for the loaned scaffolding that is enabling us to do this work at all.  There's no way we'd get it done with ladders!
Setting up the last lift!

With the forms set, we started pouring on the north wall on the 16th.  This was particularly exciting because this lift finished the north wall!  We set bolts in the wet concrete to hold the sill plate and screed the concrete as level as we could.  It felt amazing to actually have a wall completely done!

 
Forms up for the last lift
 


We spent Thanksgiving weekend continuing the work.  We finished the lift on Friday and set the forms for the first lift on the East gable end.  With completion of the South wall, we have 2 walls completely done!

The north wall revealed!

Working on the first lift on the east gable


On Saturday and with the help of my brother and his daughter, we managed to finish the first gable lift.  This introduced some new challenges.  The rocks on the edges are cut to match the roof slope and we have to continue setting bolts for the sill plate along the angle edge.  Our solution was to set the first layer of sill plate with the bolts already installed in smaller sections.  The second layer will be continuous to tie it all together.  At this point, the working platform is a solid 12 feet in the air and every bucket of cement has to get pulled up on the end of a length of ratchet strap, emptied and then tossed back down.  We are like a little hive of ants running around moving materials up to the wall and then cycling them back down again!

Moving materials up the scaffolding


Sill plates on the gable end



Sunday was mostly a day to rest due to rain, although we did start setting the forms for the second gable lift (of 3).  One more pair of forms to set in the morning and then we'll spend the rest of the day laying stones.  With a little luck and a lot of work, we'll get that lift done and be on track to finish the East wall on Tuesday before the weather turns on us.


Keep your fingers crossed that we get 3 or 4 more days of decent weather yet this year to finish the stones so that we can keep going.