Rafters are up!

The month has again been consumed with waiting for storms to pass and shoveling out again. Aside from a week down in Orange County to take a break from the snow and cope with cabin fever, Jeff was still at the property every weekend doing what he could to move forward. He started the framing for the main floor, but it was slow progress in between snow. But, finally we got a break in the weather long enough to get back at it. We had planned on putting off the roof for now, but Jeff's dad had worked with some guys on a project that he thought could put the rafters up. They lived out in Vegas but were willing to drive up here. They had looked at pictures and discussed the job with Jeff's dad. We were hopeful, but just a little worried that they too would find the job too difficult. But, the 4 guys agreed that they would come out and only get paid if the job was completed so we had nothing to lose. After a little of a slow start figuring out the best system for pulling these big 250 lb rafters up to the ridge pole, they did a great job. They used a combination of an electric hoist and a manual chain hoist to pull the rafters in place. They had optimistically thought they could finish in a day, but it took almost two. We had agreed on a flat fee so it didn't matter too much to us, we got them a hotel room for a night and just thrilled that the job was going to be completed. So, now weather permitting there is lots to do to continue working on the roof as well as floor. UPDATE March 8th - Jeff and a few helpers finished the rafter job by sliding each pair of rafters to their proper position. Only a little bit of notching was required and the job went pretty smoothly. With the rafters out of the way we are currently working on building the main floor.

Slow Month

Well, I typically wait till a task is accomplished to update the blog, but it has been a month and I assume there are people wondering what is happening. Early January, we were excited to be starting on the roof. It took a week or so for our roof guys to coordinate schedules and get started. The plan was to use a pulley on the ridge pole to pull up the rafters and they spent two days preparing this system. They finally went to pull up the first rafter and decided that the system wasn't going to work. It wasn't exactly the way Jeff had suggested it to be done, but he trusted their judgement. So, at the end of two days they gave up, feeling it would just be too difficult and take too long at the rate they were going. We were pretty disappointed. Jeff had first said that he would try his method but later decided that with him working only weekends, his time could be better spent on other tasks over the winter. We would wait till the spring so we could use the crane to place the rafters. Its a little unfortunate that the rafters and T&G are all stacked in the house somewhat in the way of other projects but oh well. Between snow storms and his full time job, Jeff would have plenty of other projects to keep him busy the next few months. The main projects will be building the main floor, cutting out the doors and windows, and then cleaning, staining, and chinking the log walls. We have been testing cleaning methods and stains over the past week or so. The pressure washer does a decent job on most logs but some are darker than others and its not enough on its own. Oxylic acid helps too, but there is still another product we want to try, and mold and mildew cleaner we can pick up from home depot. So, yes its been a slow month and things haven't gone as planned, but we'll keep pushing forward. More snow is arriving over the next few days so this weekend will again be spent waiting and then shoveling. Is winter over yet???