day . 73

today we had to get all the vapor barrier in and pink foam down for the inspection that will happen tomorrow. cody, caroline, megan and i started working in the small suite area dry fitting the foam. it only had to go around the perimeter where a wall was adjacent with the outdoors. denise came and her and megan moved to the back area. we had to cut out around the plumbing and make them all fit nice and pretty. once they were all cut we rolled out the vapor barrier, which ended up being super annoying. the pieces were 20’x100’ so it was super large and hard to work with. we eventually figured the best way would be to tack it one side and pull it tight to the other. we didn’t think about where we would stand when doing this pulling. so we had to jump on counts of three off the barrier and then pull. it was interesting. we finally got our room done and then moved to putting more down in the entrance area. at the end of the day all the foam was down put in some places it was too high and super sloppy. so caroline and i went around with tape and spray foam and filled in cracks and holes. at the end of the robert was not happy with our work so some of us are going early in the morning to fix the mistakes and hopefully pass the inspection.

day . 72

today when we got to site and got ready to finish the pipe there was a poor bird that was trapped in some string on the north side of the building. cody, robert and i rescued him. the poor little guy was so freaked out we had to cover him with a tshirt and lift him out and get the string that was wrapped around his wing and his neck off. we were able to free him and he flew off! once our rescue was done cody and i took apart all the piping and began priming it and cementing it all together. the longer we were down in the trench with the glue the loopier we got. the fumes definitely got to us. we were laughing at everything. it was pretty funny. once that was done we moved to putting waterproofing onto the matron suite roof. this was another task that we were assigned at like 5:30 but cody and i stayed until it was complete, around 7:30. neither cody nor i had done much waterproofing so it took us a little while to get into the groove and of course once everyone left it was hard for us to concentrate over the rock music and intense air banding. but we got it done.

day . 71

adrain spent yesterday digging out the rest of the trench with the trackhoe so it is finally ready for the power company. but before they can come put the wiring in cody and i had to put the pipe in. so caroline, cody and i got down in the hole that was really deep, up to my shoulders and knocked down the high spots to make it more level so the pipe would lay flat. once that was done we gathered the pipe and dry fitted it into place. this took a lot more time that i thought it would we had to get denise to go get more 45 degree pieces so we could get it as close to the wall as possible. once she was back we got it all dry fitted and secured to the wall with some strapping. tomorrow we will glue it all together.

day . 7o

so today was a day filled with small tasks. we moved wood around the site, out of the building and into neat stacks around the site. then at about 5 robert informed cody and i that we needed to build a hand rail on the green roof. so we gathered all the 2x4’s and 1x4s that we could find and moved them to the roof. we cut vertical pieces at about 42 inches to use as the vertical supports and then used whatever other 2x4’s and 1x4’s we could find to work as a horizontal bracing. we were finally finished around 6:30 or so and even though the handrail was not too sturdy it was done. i would not trust my life to it but it is just temporary so it will work…i hope.

day . 69

it was supposed to be really hot again today but it was nice to get up on the roof before it heated up. also the beaux arts ball is tonight so we worked fast to get done before 4. we put up the last bit of sheathing and them trimmed the parts that overlapped the knee wall with the reciprocating saw. it was crazy heavy but caroline and i rotated and we got it all done in a few hours. we then moved down into the building. i had no idea until then how cool it was in the shade of the building. it was at least 20 degrees cooler, which was crazy. caroline and i built the last of the rafter tails for the south side of the large suite area for tall lauren and josh. we had to put 2 of the 2x6’s that had been cut forever ago upright, put a spacer in the front and back then screw another 2x4 on top. they look like long boxes with no bottom. we assembled about 10 of them before lunchtime, and we all walked up to skip’s. of course it took like 45 mins to get our food and by the time we got back and ate it was after 1. caroline left for work so cody and i finished assembling the last few rafter tails. next cody and i moved to helping lauren kelley and kaytee cut sheathing for the matron suite roof. we got a cut list from kaytee and began cutting them all. there were only about 8 pieces that had to be cut so we got them done pretty quickly and then handed them all up. we then started cleaning up so we could get going. once the roof sheathing was all nailed we got to leave about a half hour early! i am super excited for beaux arts tonight!!!

day . 68

today it was so hot. the heat on the roof was really intense. we worked on getting the sheathing on the knee walls but it went really slow because of the heat. we had to bend over backwards to nail it in and every time i stood up i got dizzy. so there were lots of water breaks today but we got more than half of the sheathing done.

day . 67

today we get our surprise! yay. everyone got there on time because apparently they thought we were getting food right at 1, so they wanted to be first in line. it was funny. cody and i finished the top plates on the knee wall slowly because we were hungry and it was hot and we were excited about the cookout. ha so rick boedicker got there around 2 and cooked us some super tasty barbeque! it was so nice to have time to hang out with everyone around site and not be working. after we all ate mass amounts of food gabe got out his football and everyone went out to the field and played a pick up game. caroline, megan and i were upper tired so we just laid on a blanket in the grass and took a nap. it was an amazing afternoon. robert did spoil the party and make us get back to work. but we were all super tired so a lot didn’t get done for the rest of the day. we did finish the top plates though so that was good.

day . 66

today was more knee walls. we began the day by finishing putting together the last of the knee walls from yesterday. we had to literally drop what we were doing when it started to rain so we had a little to finish. we finally got them all finished and the last 2 installed and plumbed. we then moved on to measuring and cutting the last 2x4’s for the top plates. we got them cut and started to install them around the top of the knee wall. we only got to work on them for a bit before we had to start cleaning the site for our “surprise” tomorrow. which i think is a cookout, but we are not supposed to know! we had to sort through a huge pile of wood that included scrap and pieces that were salvageable. we had to throw out anything that was less than 2 feet long and stack all the good pieces with their like sizes on the other side of the clubhouse. it seemed like the pile kept getting bigger and we were never going to be done. we sorted and moved wood and finally it was done.

day . 65

more green roof projects today. we went to installing the front and back knee walls at the start of the day, that will hold in all the dirt and plants. cody, michael, and i dry fitted them in place and then began to nail and shim them plumb. it was a little difficult to get them right because the 2x4’s were warped and not sitting right. we got the front one done and moved on the getting the back on in and plumb. once they were in cody and michael caroline and i went to help michael and cody finish the last 2 side knee walls. around 4 the bottom dropped out of the sky and it poured rain, so we packed up and went home early.

day . 64

i started the day by setting up the transit in the large front suite area so we could continue to grade by hand what was not able to be graded with the trackhoe. caroline and i shot the areas that needed the most work and began to dig with cody and renee w. we worked with shovels and the pick axe to get the ground to the proper height of 2 inches below the top of the footings. we were able to rake some of high areas into holes that were nearby which cut down on the wheelbarrowing a lot. once some of the holes were filled i helped cody tamp them down with the tamper.

before that was finsihed robert sent cody and i to work on the knee walls for the green roof. they are only 10 inches tall, jsut enough to hold in the dirt and plants on the roof. we measured for the front wall and the back wall and began putting them together. once cody had all the stud blocks cut caroline came and helped and we moved to putting them together. we got all 8 sections for the front and back put together by the end of the day and will move to getting them installed for tomorrow. and also work on getting the two side knee walls done once the other 2 are put into place.

day . 63

today it was hot, really hot. it jumped from winter to summer in a few days like north carolina does. we started out the day in chang gang style trying to dig out the trench by hand on the north side of the building. it was interesting. the 10 of us that were there lined up and started to dig. the problem was that the trench was still under about 3 inches of water and the dirt was not dirt but rather slop. everytime i would get a shovel full it was terribly hard to get it out of the trench and would inevitably almost all fall back in. so after about 30 mins of that robert admitted defeat and we deiced to wait until it gets dried out to dig the rest. we then moved to finishing the plywood on the green roof. we got all the plywood done and then started to clean off all the plywood bits, sweep and then blow off all the debris. once it was clean caroline robert and i started waterproofing. we got 2 rows done and it was time to leave. hopefully the second crew of people will get the rest done.

day . 62

so today we started the second layer of plywood on the green roof. robert thinks that it will be a good idea to make it extra sturdy. as he said we would hate to get a call in a year that there is water and dirt in the living room. i agree so plywood again we will. cody and i cut and measured while caroline came behind us and screwed it all down. we worked on it all day and got it almost done. you could really tell that it was a lot more beefy when you jumped on it with 2 layers as opposed to just one.

day . 61

today we finished the first layer of plywood on the roof! again today we had to wait for the gtcc boys to move. they are really starting to hit my nerves. i try to be nice and give them the benefit of the doubt, but really. they left today and left all of their scrap on the roof, and its not like they didn’t know we were working up there, we were standing right there. rawr. so anyway, we continued putting plywood down and got it all done! we even tested it with a golf ball and it worked! so that is very exciting. the only problem of today was that the front edge of plywood got all wacked out and in some places overhangs like a inch. so who knows how that happened but we will have to saw it off before to long.

day . 6o

today we moved on to putting plywood on the roof. it took us a little while to get going because the gtcc boys were all in the way and being loud and just really in the way. so once they left we were able to get rolling. the first row of plywood took the longest because we had to get the angle right and hang it off the back and snap and line. also since the rafters got off when they were put in, we couldn’t just lay full sheets down we had to custom fit 3 out of the 4 that went down. so that added to the time it took to get them down.

day . 59

it is so nice to arrive on site and know the task at hand and be able to get to work quickly instead of trying to find something to do! cody and i enlisted the help of caroline to hand up the counterslope pieces so that we could nail them all in. we got them all finished and were going to start putting plywood on but we were afraid that if we had messed something up and then covered it with plywood that would be no good. so we helped with the rafter tails on the main roof until robert got back from class and gave us the thumbs up on the roof.

day . 58

today cody and i worked on the counterslope again. we got all of the measurements for the 17 pieces that needed to be used. each piece is individual and looks like a giant shim, by giant i mean some are 15 feet long starting at 4.5” tall and slope down to zero. once we got them all measured we went to cutting the lengths and snapping the slope line for them. after we had them all cut and laid out we got adrian to cut them while we stood on the ends. we started putting them on the roof but we only got about 3 in, so we will have to move tomorrow to get them done.

day . 57

today was pretend friday, because easter is this weekend and we have a 3 day weekend! we started the day by taking out the next to last i-joist and replacing it. the one we took out was nasty, or not pretty as robert would say. it was all gray and yucky. so we went to get it out and i was on the back end of it, it was super complicated it get it out since there was only 16” between joist so my shoulders would not fit in-between. when we went to get it out it turned on its side and pinned my hand between it and the joist at my back. i freaked out at first but clamed down and got cody to turn it so i could get my hand out. it hurt. after we got the replacement cut and ready we proceeded to put it in well today was obviously not my day because i tripped walking backwards and fell in a puddle dropped the i-joist on my leg and made cody fall on tall lauren. i was ready to quit and go home, but alas we got it up and in. we then went to finishing up the blocking and getting all the joist nailed in a ready to be plywooded.

before robert left for class he explained to cody and i about the counterslope that was going to be on the roof. he informed us that it is on the master carpenter exam so we were a little intimidated. we got the 2 lines snapped for the front to back slope and the other 2 lines snapped for the edge slope. we started to cut some of the 2x4’s that were going to be used but decided that adrian should probably rip them because there was about an inch to hold and we could not figure out the best was to do it.

day . 56

today cody and i got to site at 12:15 to get everything set up so when it was 1 we could get rolling. we were going to start getting the joists up but we had no saw to cut the front ends of them. so as soon as robert got there we busted to get the last 8 up. and we got them done by 2! yay. so we redeemed ourselves from yesterday. after the joist were done we worked on putting blocking inbetween each joist in about 2 feet from the front and 2 feet from the back. this is to keep the joist from racking and keep them upright and parallel. towards the end we found that the 16 inch on center that was supposed to be kept for the joists was not. i was not happy. on the front some of the joist were 15” on center..wth. so therefore we had to make custom blocks for the middle joists. it was a pain.

day . 55

john sent me the group pictures that he took last week to look over so i started the day helping caroline, megan and robert pick one out for the lobby display. we ended up picking one where everyone has a serious face. i look stupid. i am terrible at making a serious face for pictures, but robert liked it…so it shall be the one. after that cody, denise and i worked on flying the i-joists up for the green roof. it is a tedious task because each rafter has to be put in place then measured with the transit, and shimmed. there is no quick or efficient way to do it. about half way through the day caroline came back to get the original of the looby pictures, because there was some issue with formatting them. we got about half of them done. we thought we had worked quickly but when robert got back to site after his class we were in trouble, apparently we were supposed to get all 19 done. we only did 12. we got an f for the day. ]: so tomorrow cody and i are going to get there early because we told robert we could do the last 8 by 2! so we shall see.

day . 54

today we continued putting up the 2x6’s on the front beam, it was nice that we got them all cut on saturday it made the nailing go a lot faster. it was hard to nail them though because the beam was higher than my shoulder so i was trying to nail down almost above my head, i felt like my arm just might fall off. after the 2x6’s were up we added 2 layers of plywood. once the beam was built up we starting putting the i-joists up!

while nailing the 2x6’s in cody and i invented a new game….hammer golf! we decided that the 3 inch nails were par 6 and the 2 inch nails par 4. it was super fun, and dorky of course. but who would expect any less.

day . 53

today was one of those 8 am saturdays, which in theory are great, got out to site early finish up some loose ends go home early. yes well 6:45 comes really early! caroline and i started out the day by working with robert to try and figure out the slope of the roof in the entrance area, which will be the green roof. since the walls angle away from each other the slope of each beam will be different, because the space gets bigger. well we were trying to figure out which way they would slope, it was super confusing. to see where we stood with the height of the beam relative to the height of the back wall we got out to transit and measured the four corners. the beam actually ended up not being level by almost 4 inches so we had to take out the shims on the south wall. after the beam was level we moved to cutting 2x6’s that will go on top of the beam to build it up 4.5” so the roof will slope from front to back. we were not able to actually put them up for a while because there were no ladders or walk boards. and what do you do in [us] if you don’t have it…..build it. so we built 2 walk boards that we could put between 2 ladders. we got them up and the started putting the 2x6’s up.

day . 52

today we did more trench digging. Cody did most of the digging and caroline and I stood in front and in back to guide cody as to where needed to be dug. It was super hard to see over the nose of the trencher so we had to direct him to turn or where to stop driving and where to put the arm down so it would not rip up the boards. Also we had to be there to move boards from the front to the back of the platform to reverse what we did to get the trencher out there. We worked on this until about 3 which was when john read was coming to take our group picture! It was a super fun time. We took some pictures on top of the roof with our feet dangling between the rafters and then moved to the front where everyone got into a window and then took some standing in the doorway to the mothers suite. I cant wait to see how they come out. It was a lot of fun to get everyone together doing something other than work. We need to do it more often. After we finished out pictures caroline, cody, and I went to lowe’s to get a gas can and then to the store to get gas for the ditch digger. When we got back we surveyed the trench and found out that it was in fact not deep enough. So we will have to, at some point, go back and dig the rest by hand.

day . 51

today it rained again. so we split up and worked on different tasks. the boys went to the shop and denise, caroline, megan, johanna, candice, and i did some administrative things. there was invoicing and scheduling that needed to be done and i had the task of sorting through over 1,200 photos to find 6 for a installation of them blown up to 24x30 in the lobby of the gatewood building. most of the file were .orf files which took a lot longer to load than the .jpg files. in the end we picked 5, 3 robert and katie took and 2 that john read [our photographer] took. we plan on having a group shot done in the near future to add to the 5. one is of me driving the trackhoe. ahh exciting. robert thought i picked it out myself but i didn't it was quite the opposite. but the pictures really show the essence of [us]. we wanted to find pictures that told a story and captured the feeling of the site.


photo: john read
photo: john read

day . 5o

more digging today but with a super crazy ditch witch extreme! the trench on the north side of the building needed to dug down to 42 inches below grade to house the 3 inch pipe that the power would come from the street to the meter in. i measured that on my person to get an idea of how deep it was…up to my ribs. so needless to say its deep, not for digging by hand. it was a little tough to get started because there was already a trench about a foot deep and 3 feet wide that kept us from being able to just drive the “barreto” out and start trenching. so we had to gather 2x12s to make a surface to drive it out onto. it took forever to get it to the end because we had about 12 boards that we had to cycle from the back to front and slowly drive out there. we did finally make it out there and started digging. i was too afraid to dig; i left it to adrain and cody. every time that they would lower the arm to dig the machine would almost pull itself off the platform. we got almost half of the trench dug so more will ensue tomorrow.