urban studio o2

day . 97 | 19

2009-06-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

today was HOT. i got to site and cody lauren and josh had been there since 6 so i got up working with them as soon as i got there. robert got there shortly after i did and pointed out that the way we had installed the first panel would allow the water to drip into and under the roof. so we had to remove the first and second panel that had been put up and put a new full panel in against the wall. we then worked the rest of the day installing all of the panels on the first gabled roof. it went rather smoothly save for josh dropping a drill on the panel and it almost sliding right into my face! i ducked just in time and didnt die. throughout the day i worked again leading mira's group as to how to prep the other part of the gabled roof to be ready for roofing panels. once it was prepped i helped them get the first 2 drip edges up and got the side drip edge ready to be installed. it is getting easier to work on one task but go back to another group and answer questions and help with tasks.

josh on the roof with the drill that tried to kill me!

day . 96 | 18

2009-06-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

so today was the first day i really got good experience leading a crew that i wasn't working with. lauren josh and i started the day working on the same section of roof that we left yesterday. we were moving rather slow at 6 am plus we had to break into the shed because there was a 2x4 screwed to the deck outside the door and none of us had a drill to get it off. so we spent an hour prying the 2x4 off the porch to get in. once in we got to work setting up ladders and walkboards and getting the harness attached to the roof. once everything was ready we finally got to get to work. we put the first panel down and decided that we needed to cut out or bend a long section so it would fit up against the wall and the side overhang. once it was marked robert and our group tried to bend it but that was NOT going to happen so we had to wait for most of the morning to get an automatic cutter thing to cut a 10 foot strip off the panel. while we were waiting i worked with mira to show her how the panels worked. she and a few others were going to work on the atrium while lauren josh and i worked on the other roof. once i showed mira she and her group got working and we moved to putting the rest of the drip edge up the final part of the side of the roof. once that was finished robert was back with the cutter and we got the first panel up. after we got it in we realized that we had to fix the ridge of the roof before we could actually put any of the roof on. the gap in the ridge was supposed to be only 2" at the most and in some places it was almost 6. jayson and i went along both ridges and cut the waterproofing back so the plywood could be put in place. then josh and lauren ripped some plywood as i called out measurements from the roof and nailed them in. once they were in on both ridges on either side of the atrium, we had to put the waterproofing back down. i also put extra waterproofing around all of the pipes that were penetrating the roof because apparently they are leaking. at the end of the day mira's group got the whole atrium paneled which was awesome! we will finally get to putting panels up tomorrow on the gabled roof!

day . 95 | 17

2009-06-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

today was a long strange day. cody nor josh were there today, so lauren and i worked pretty much just the two of us all day. we started the day by putting up the drip edge but it rained the whole time and i am still sick so robert cut us loose for the day. i went to starbucks and killed some time until about 11:30 and went back to site because a large group of non-profit people were coming to tour the site. there were a lot of people that showed up, at least 6 or 7 groups of 5. so after all the tours we all made our way down to the community center for lunch and a presentation. the presentation was about all the ways [urban studio] and other departments throughout UNCG were in collaboration and how it would extend into the occupation of the house. after lunch lauren and i went back to site to work for the afternoon. we continued on the drip edge. it was quite a task because it was the first day that we were working with the roof and after only a couple of hours of instruction from andy i was definitely not confident. we ran into several issues during the afternoon. first we put a 90 degree edge up and we were supposed to put a "non 90 degree edge" on so we had to take it down. we put the "non 90 degree" edge on the roof and wrapped it around the side of the facia. come to find out it is supposed to be pieced with a 90 degree edge on the side. so we had to take it down and re do it again. finally we got the correct edge pieces on the front and the side and got to move on to the second piece and the right side. by the end of the day we had one section of drip edge done. i really hope that the rest of the roof does not go this slow! if it does it will take forever!

day . 94 | 16

2009-06-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

it poured rain today when we all arrived on site....so the roof crew got to go home, which was nice bc i have the head cold that is going around and feel terrible. also come to find out we got robbed last night...crackheads ]:

day . 93 | 15

2009-06-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

so today was a day that seemed to drag on forever with small tasks. lauren and i spent the whole day on the roof, although it was not sunny it was still super hot and muggy. the decking around the suite roof had to be trimmed so it did not hang over the fascia boards so we measured and snapped lines and then i cut the decking along the south and east side of the roof. we also had to put in 1x3's where the decking did not totally reach the edge of the rafters. once that was all done we broke for lunch because we were so hot and covered in sawdust. after lunch we talked with robert about the roof and how confident i was with doing it. i think that after i get started tomorrow i will be more confident. there are so many little things that go into putting it all together that i hope i remember them all. while lauren and i waited for josh to get back from errands lauren and i dry fitted the drip edges and got all the supplies ready to put on the last fascia board on the back of the atrium. as soon as josh got back we recruited him to help me hold the board while lauren screwed it in. once it was in we got the first drip edge in and secured to the atrium roof!

day . 81 | o3

2009-05-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

so this morning i woke up with a massive headache. aka migraine. i thought it might get better as the morning went on. so i got ready and headed out the door. well on the drive to site i got super nauseous, almost threw up twice, no fun. robert and adrian could tell i did not feel good at all so they sent me home to rest. i have slept on and off all day, and the migraine is still not gone. this sucks.

day . 8o | o2

2009-05-27T17:50:00.001-07:00

it was another slow start to the day today. we all arrived on site and there were a lot more people there than yesterday. while waiting on a wood delievery for the all of the interior framing, we set up the site, put out extension cords, set up the chop saw etc. the truck got there at 8:30 and we waited for it to be unloaded. while the lowes man was getting it off the truck cody and i got on the roof to help lauren and josh finish the rafter spacers. they needed help to push them back into place on the last few. there was tons of standing water on the roof that cody and i had to lay in so it was a messy start to the day. once we got done helping them, we moved to ferrying wood into the community area. there were about 5 bundles that were delivered but we got them all moved faster than i would have anticipated. after all the wood was moved we got to start working on the interior framing. we decided though that it would be smart to put the ceiling joist up before we put the walls in so we set up the transit, and after about 4 tries finally got a level line for the rim joist. i kept hitting the transit when we were half way though making the line and we would have to go back re level and start over! it was super frustrating. caroline and megan cut the 2 2x12's that we needed so we were able to start putting them up. we got the 2 ledgers done for the office area and the ledger over the laundry room done before i left for the day. it was a slow day. a lot of waiting and a lot of people standing around. i think though that after everyone gets in the groove it will move more quickly. i sure hope so considering we only have 9 weeks. scary. so we can start framing the interior partitions tomorrow!

day . 79 | o1

2009-05-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

so today was the first day back on site after a 2 week "summer" break to start the summer session with a new crew of people, plus the 7 of us that carried over from last semester. 8am came WAY too early, considering i could not sleep, maybe from anticipation maybe not who knows, but everyone filtered in. robert went over the intro stuff, insurance, tools, waivers, safety, all the administration things that we have to start with. after that we led everyone on a tour of the building to discuss the different areas, get everyone oriented on the site, we took everyone up on the green roof, and finished our tour in the matron suite. everyone left and went to GURP but the 7 of us, team leaders, stayed to get some things on site set up. lauren, josh, cody and i set up the scaffolding on the east side of the building to work on the rafters. once we had that set up some people began to filter back from GURP so we got to work cutting 1x3's that we needed to use as spacers for all of the rafter tails to keep them from getting all "wonky". cody and i got started on the back set of rafters and got about 6 or 7 done, explained how to do them , and handed it off to a set of new people. hopefully we did a good job explaining so they understood well enough to finish them this afternoon. overall it was a semi-productive first day back considering it rained on and off all day and there were tons of new people in and out all day. i am anxious to see how everyone this semester works together to get tasks done. i am glad to be working with cody again though, i know we can count on each other. [:

day . 78

2009-05-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

today was our review on site. it was bittersweet. the semester has flown by. i cannot believe that we have been working over 3 months together. it seems like only a few weeks. i feel like i have learned so much this semester not only about the building process but about myself as a person as well. i am excited for the summer to start but will miss the group that i worked with this semester. i have gotten so much closer to all of my classmates and would not trade this experience for anything, i know that it is invaluable. it was hard to fathom standing in the building today that we built it, from the ground up, the whole thing. it hasn’t sunk in yet. i look forward to the day it does. i think it will be amazingly overwhelming.

day . 77

2009-05-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

so today was our last workday and in [us] fashion it poured rain! but we worked anyway. we finished clearing out all the brush and loading it into the container. then somehow or another i was voted to get in the container on top of all the poison ivy infested brush and mash it down. so i got in and jumped around and got to packed down and kept it from hanging out over the edges of the container, i wrestled with a huge branch and it won and hit me in the shin so hard. this was the first time all semester than i got hurt enough to stop what i was doing. it sucked. but luckily all the brush was cleaned up and we had a meeting about our review on friday to get tasks divided up between everyone and decide what we were going to prepare. we got to go home early!

day . 76

2009-05-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

so today was clean up day! the concrete was being floated in half the building so we could not go in. it did look amazing though!! a large container arrived right at one and parked on the street so we could dispose of all the wood that was not good and all the left over icf’s. we started moving the icf’s to the container and it was filling up super fast so cody and i got in and “persuaded” them into smaller pieces. it was fun. after we busted them all up we got out and helped gather more wood around the site and unload it into the container. the first container was filled in a few hours so we had the container people come pick it up and drop off another. we then filled that one with more wood. any piece of wood that was less than 2 feet long had to be thrown away. so there was a lot to be thrown out. there seemed to be wood everywhere! once all the wood was cleaned up and we had done laps around the site riding in the georgia buckets we started cleaning out the brush. robert said there was poison ivy in it so lets hope i am not allergic. we also made corn hole things out of some of the scrap 2x4s and plywood. and i am going to make bean bags for friday! 6 came quickly and it was time to go.

day . 75

2009-05-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

today was a pretty simple day caroline and i started by installing the doors that we made yesterday. robert claimed that hanging doors was number 3 on the list of hardest things to do besides stairs and a counterslope but it was not as difficult as one would imagine. we came to the conclusion that this was because the doors are only temporary. it was hard to get the hinges on right. about half that we attached we attached backwards so the door would therefore not swing. ha so we had to take them off and do them again. it was comical. after all the hinges were finally attached we attached the doors to the jamb. after the first one caroline and i had a good system of how to get them in. we did however have to go behind some others and trim the plywood that was hanging in some places a inch over the jamb. we were not happy about that but it as easily fixable. after all the doors were in we moved to drilling holes through the door into the jamb for #5 rebar to secure the doors closed from the inside. we tried to get all the holes drilled but everytime we started the drill battery would die in like 5 mins. we went through all the batteries and none worked. so we gave up. i then moved up onto the main roof to help put down waterproofing. that was the last task of the day so we wanted to get it done quickly to go home. once lauren k blew all the debris we started laying it down. it went pretty quickly because we had about 4 or 5 people working on it. we got done for the day around 2 which was super nice.

day . 74

2009-05-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

today was a long day. some of us got to site at 8 to get everything ready for the inspection. i know i am going to be so sore tomorrow. we started the morning by taking out the foam and vapor barrier that was in the entrance and shoveling out the gravel. the foam was supposed to be 4 inches below the footing but in that case it was right up level with the top pf the footing. so that was no good. we got the gravel down and the vapor barrier back down and the foam in, then we moved around and measured every door opening to make sure there were no other places that needed to be shoveled down. the atrium needed to be taken down a couple of inches so we worked on that. after all the foam was at the right height, i went around and cleaned up all the plastic pieces from around the inside. we were all done around 10:45 so we sat around and waited for the inspector to get there. he cam around 11:30 and we passed!! woo hoo. after that we all went out to lunch at panera and almost all fell asleep right in our plates, it was sad. while we were eating it started to pour rain so densise called robert and we all went our separate ways and took naps. i got back to the site around 2 and started working with adam from [us]o1. we spent the afternoon making doors for all of the openings so when the slab is poured nothing or no one can get in. we also made a wall to go in the curtain wall opening on the south side. we got the wall installed and will start installing the doors tomorrow.

day . 73

2009-04-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-29T15:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-28T15:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-24T15:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-15T15:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-07T15:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-03T17:05:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

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.

day . 49

2009-03-31T16:35:00.000-07:00

today was more shoveling. i was so sore from yesterday at the start of the day. i felt like my back and ribs might break. i think i have decided i would make a terrible prison worker. we did have the radio today which made the work much more enjoyable. if shoveling can be enjoyable. after a few hours though, it was done. and looked so much better and pretty!

next i was assigned to put walk boards on the rafters over the mothers suite area so that the knee wall could have plywood put on it tomorrow. i probably took the hardest route possible to get up there. i climbed up on the opposite side i needed to be on and then shimmied over to the other side, forget getting a ladder and just walking up to where i needed to be. once i was finally there caroline handed 2x12s up to gabe and i while we hammered them down. for some reason i was having “being up high” issues today and getting freaked out. it took me by surprise because this is the first day i have been freaked out about being up in the air. hopefully i will get my sea legs back tomorrow.

day . 48

2009-03-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

today was one of those days that was super discouraging. a group of us graded by hand, with the help of shovels, the pick axe, and a wheel barrow, the matron suite. there was no way that the trackhoe would fit through the door and the dirt had to be taken down almost 8 inches in some places to get it 2 inches below the footing. we stated by setting up the transit and marking the really bad places to work on first. the only thing to do next was shovel and shovel and shovel some more. thankfully we had cody to wheelbarrow the dirt out to the front of the building. by the end of the day the wheel barrow was on its last leg. but robert showed up with a new super nice blue one! we spent the last part of the day putting it together. it is much sturdier than the old one, it actually stands on its own. haha.

day . 47

2009-03-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

today we continued to work on the rafter tails. once they were all cut adrain let me and a few others that stayed the whole time yesterday go early. so it was a super short day. but it is nice to have all the rafters done! looking at them all before they were cut was daunting, but with everyone working together and quickly it really didn’t take as long as i would have thought.

day . 46

2009-03-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

it was super rainy and gross again today so we had a shop day. the goal of the day was to cut all of the 176 2x6’s that are going to be used as rafter extensions on the roof to be tapered at the end. we started off the day by trying to set up to cut them on the table saw but it would run for all of 3 mins then turn off. then it would not even turn on or sounded like it was killing something on the inside. so we decided that it would be better not to use it and try something different. we then made a jig that we could use the circular saw with. alas though when we went to start we had no saw, so adrain drove to site to pick one up. while he was gone there was nothing to do so we found an abandoned television and watched cartoons. once he got back we finally got to start. we worked on ferrying the 2x6’s from the main room to the table saw room cutting them and then ferrying them back to be sanded. we got more than half done even with all the set backs. tomorrow we will work on getting them finished.

day . 45

2009-03-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

today was cold and rainy. But we had to get the scaffolding taken down for the company to pick up. They actually arrived before it was all taken down but we moved quickly and I ferried scaffolding from the atrium to the truck. After that more grading needed to be down so I stayed later and helped do that. But I got really cold and wet so I left about 4, and Adrian stayed and finished

day . 44

2009-03-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

today I was in charge of grading the courtyard area. it went well, slow but well. Thankfully Adrian got there around 2 or 3 to help direct. So we got all the dirt dug out around the footings in the back for the perimeter drain and cody got to run the trackhoe too, he was happy.

day . 43

2009-03-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

today was more trackhoe work. We started in the front of the building with the transit to see which areas needed what and how much. Cody and I shoveled along the footings to get them at the 2 inches below that they needed to be at. We were moving along quickly ten Adrian busted a pipe, which was no good. So for the next few hours cody and I dug out with our hands and the back of a hammer the dirt around the broken pipe so it could be fixed. We then moved to the kitchen and dining area to get that finished up and broke more pipes. Adrian was pissed. At the end of the day I stayed over to get a lesson in driving the trackhoe! I practiced picking up and dumping dirt from the big pile in the front. Then Adrian and I moved to the back of the building to get the machine where it need to go for tomorrow. I am super excited to run it tomorrow!

day . 42

2009-03-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

it was another 8am Saturday and cold. We started off the day by finishing the large beam that went across the front of the entrance to support the curtain wall. We had to nail together 4 2x12’s. the thing was super hefty. After all 3 beams were assembled josh and cody carried them over and we used the “do not use as a crane” trackhoe crane to lift them into place. It was a precarious venture but it worked and the front of the building looks good. After those were in I moved to the living area to take down all the scaffolding to make room for Adrian to grade the room. I am exhausted after this week. I kept running into things and tripping today it was terrible. I stepped off the side of the ramp with a huge scaffolding in my hand and bruised the heck out of my knee. I need sleep.

day . 41

2009-03-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

I started off the day by flying up more rafters to the people putting them in. that went pretty quickly. Josh and I fought over who got to push them up to kaytee and Michael but it was okay we split the job. Ha. After they were all up I moved to the front of the building to help make a ramp for Adrian and the bulldozer thing. We had to move dirt in front of the short pony wall to make a dirt ramp that would protect the ICFs but allow the bulldozer into the space. We moved a TON of dirt and then put wood on top that would be perpendicular to the tracks so the machine can move easily into the space. I am beginning to learn that to get anything done right and well there it a LOT of prep work that has to take place before hand. Which is sometimes hard for me because I just want to jump into doing something. But I am learning.

day . 4o

2009-03-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

today was an interesting and adventurous day. Caroline gabe and I went all over buying and delivering wood and supplies. We had to first go unload gabes truck at his house then head to lowes. At lowes we purchased nails and screws and a belt sander and 176 2x6’s. we loaded half of them in gabes truck and headed to the gurp. We unloaded them and headed back to lowes. Robert met us there to get the nails and belt sander to take back to site, then we waited for the lowes people to load the rest of the wood. They wanted to do it with a forklift but it would have been WAY faster to just load them by hand but oh well. We took it to the gurp and unloaded again.

Once we got back to site I helped fly rafters up to people that were putting them in. it was going really fast we finished all but 3 or 4 while I was there. It is really starting to come together.

day . 39

2009-03-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

building it is crazy. Caroline megan and I also ripped off the ICF that that had been poured separately as an experiment. It took a really long time for a 16” x 4’ panel but turned out so cool. Robert was really digging it too. I don’t know how we would do it for a large expanse but if we could pull it off it would be amazing. The studs that stick out would be awesome for mounting backlit 3-form to make a neat effect in the hallway.
more bundling today. I didn’t realize that there was SO much wood on the

day . 38

2009-03-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

today we started off by “blitzing” the yellow scaffolding that we got from loflin because he was going to pick it up at 3! Well we got it all taken down and loaded on the holder but alas he never came and got it. Hmph. I started to help gabe take down scaffolding on the side of the building and then move it around to the other side so the tree limb could be cut down. Then I moved on to bundling more wood that was coming off the building. There was a constant flow so never a shortage of wood to bundle.

day . 37

2009-03-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

it rained cats and dogs today again. It has been raining for like 5 days straight. We met today in the conference room and then split up into groups, and I was vountold for the shop group to move the dust collector. We left and met at site and then caravanned to lowes to get some things then I had to drive back to the site to get the hammer drill and grinder, then drove to the GURP. Cody and I got to work on moving the dust pipe from the right side to the left side of the table saw. It was getting all in the way when wood was being cut so we had to move it out of the way. Once that was done we fixed the table saw protective arm which was a pain! but it was a productive day in the shop.

day . 36

2009-03-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

today was the last day before spring break! Woo hooo! I drove my jeep to site because it was so nice out so that was a fun start to the day. We started the day figuring out how to use to wood bundler. Which was terribly confusing. It shouldn’t have been but it was. Haha so cody and I got to bundling, and finished early for spring break! I am glad to have a break, I am exhausted.

day . 35

2009-03-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

getting back to site after not being there for 5 days was weird! We finished pouring the last of the concrete and taking off braces as the concrete was set. it was a much nicer day than the first day we poured which was nice and it was not nearly as exciting but thats okay we have walls now!

day . 34

2009-03-04T07:33:00.000-08:00

today denise and I went to charlotte to a construction expo at the convention center. It was a lot of fun. We got to talk to a lot of different people about the project and everyone seemed really excited about it and wanted to know more. We sat in on a presentation in the morning about sustainability,

day . 33

2009-03-03T07:33:00.000-08:00

so today beaucse of the mass amount of snow we didn’t work on site, but denise, megan and I made a flyer for a construction conference that denise and I are going to attend tomorrow. We needed to make something to hand out to everyone and hopefully get some donations or just good buzz around the project.

day . 32

2009-03-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

no studio today because we poured on friday….also it snowed! like 6 inches! crayness.

day . 31

2009-02-27T07:31:00.000-08:00

so today we poured concrete and mother earth poured rain. i got to the site around 8 this morning and got the site and building ready. there were little last minute things that needed to be done. i foamed some last areas that needed to be foamed and walked around with adrian to see if there were any last places that need to be braced. about 10 the trucks got there and it was super exciting! our job for the day was to be at the ready when something went wrong and only had 2 mishaps all day. the first was within like 5 minutes of starting and we had a small blowout but it wasn’t that big of a deal then the second was not long after that. i was on the porch cleaning out the foam gun and robert hollers out my name, and i freak out and run over, well apparently a horizontal rebar was forgotten under a window, but i found some scraps and the crisis was averted! so the rest of the day went well except that around 12 it started to pour rain and it was so cold

day . 3o

2009-02-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

bracing bracing and more bracing went on today! i helped adrian cap the ends of the 13 course wall and also brace either side of the wall to the ground to keep it from racking out. that was quite and interesting task. i worked with cody and gabe and to get to the brace that was being secured onto the outside wall….i had to literally hang over the wall and drill upside now. i made cody hold my feet, because it was super scary. once that area was stable cody, gabe and i went to the front suite are and braced that wall like the atrium walls. it was able to be done with less hanging.

concrete pour tomorrow…it is very exciting.

day . 29

2009-02-25T07:29:00.000-08:00

i spent the day finishing rebar with josh. it started off super frustrating! we were putting the rebar in for the 13 course wall and some fit and others sat about 5 inches above the icf! i was not happy. so we had to get down and cut about 8 inches off at least half of the rebar. after we got that figured out we finally got it all installed. it took a lot longer than it should have but the problem was diverted we got it taken care of!

also an amazing ice cream truck came today! it was hilarious, a beat up grey van that not only sold ice cream cones that were obviously “not for individual sale” but also pickles and the kicker – newports! haha

day . 28

2009-02-24T15:40:00.000-08:00

so today i worked super hard and got a lot done! cody and i started off the day by talking to robert about our internship for this summer. we discussed the things that would be different from studio and it got me really excited but also a little overwhelmed for the responsibility that i would end up having. after that i moved to rebar of course. Ha. It was perfect timing when we got done talking to robert, denise and Candice had just finished putting up the last course on the front of the building so i was able to come behind them and start putting in vertical rebar every 36 inches for the 8 course wall. i moved around the front courses without much hold up until i dropped my phone AND the rebar ornament into the ICFs. ahh it was no good. so I recruited cody to help me fish it out. once they were out i moved to the matron suite to see how katie and lauren did with the vertical rebar in that area. i only had to fix a few but other than that they were good. i moved on to measuring above all the windows for the 8 course walls and counting how many of each measurement i would need. there were only about 20 that needed to be cut and bent so it didn’t take me very long to get that done. i hustled once they were cut and bent to get them all installed. at the end of the day everything but the 13 course wall was complete! we really hustled today and got a LOT done!!

day . 27

2009-02-23T19:29:00.000-08:00

i thought i would feel more refreshed after having a whole weekend off but i felt more tired today on site than i had in a LONG time. which was no fun. but we started off the day by volunteering for groups and i was in the plumbing group. i had a moment and thought that it meant plumbing like bathroom plumbing and it was actually plumbing like level plumbing DUH! haha. so adrian showed us how to make sure that the walls were level and what to look for and how to fix it. once we got our instructions our group went to the matron suite and began to plumb. we got them all done quickly except for about 4 braces in one corner that were being difficult. thankfully right as i was getting extremely frustrated with them, adrian came around to help us. so he and i got the last 4 firgured out and plumb. they were all locked up so he had to use his man skills and move the wall by brute strength instead of the turning braces that were locked up. once we got them to a place that adrian and i agreed on we moved to another section of the site. caroline was up on teh top scaffolding cutting down tree limbs so once she got to big ones i got up there to help her catch the big limbs, and pull them down onto the scaffolding to be cut up and thrown off the side. one in particular was super scary and i caught backhanded! i was impressed with my catch. i then moved on to help cody and his team with some window bracing and other small tasks. it go super cold super fast so we started packing up a little early today.

tomorrow we have to push it hard to get everything done! i def. feel the pressure!

day . 26

2009-02-20T19:11:00.000-08:00

today we again had lots of little tasks to finish. the short side curtain wall that serves as the main entrance into the site right now needed to be made. so i jumped on that for the start of the day. the ICFs jsut needed to be cut at half height and rebar tied to the top chair that is left. putting in the rebar was a little difficult because it had to go into either wall on either end, so it was ahrd to guide it in. after they were in we had to brace the short wall with 2x6's on either side that were flush on the top. once that was done we built an amazing ramp complete with 'chicken cleats' to go over the short wall so it was more safe to climb over since it is the main entrance and so that the ICFs wont get all beaten up. cody and i then moved on to putting the last handrails up on the scaffolding just to get it up off the ground so it will not get stolen. at the end of the day we had to wait for a load of lumber to get there that was around 4 hours late. so it finally came as the sun was going down and it was getting super cold. we got the truck unloading and were off to rest up for the upcoming week.

day . 25

2009-02-19T18:59:00.000-08:00

rebar was here today! yay! so we got right to cutting and bending the last pieces that needed to be bent for the 8 course wall and the horizontal rebar that was needed for the 13 course wall. it took a little finagling and calculating on adrian and i's part to get it right but we figured it out! we wanted to have to horizontal rebar all cut and figured out so when the ICFs were here and starting to go up there would be no running to get rebar but we could out them right in. after the rebar was all cut and bent cody and i finished installing the roof trusses. with 2 people working on them it went super fast. we also had to go around and fix a LOT of the vertical rebar that was not directly in the center of the horizontal rebar but was sitting up against the interior walls. so that was just not going to do so a good many had to be untied re positioned and re tied. but it all was fixed and good to go for the pour.

day . 24

2009-02-18T18:53:00.000-08:00

it rained super hard all day today so we had today off. it was nice to have a whole day off in the middle of the week. chalk it up to a little birthday surprise from mother nature i suppose. [:

day . 23 [my birthday!!]

2009-02-17T18:35:00.000-08:00

so today was my birthday! yay. it started out bad but ended up very good. denise brought robert and i a cake. and eventhough it was dropped in the grass we ate it anyway and it was marvelous.
so today we were slam out of ICFS and rebar so we sorted through trash and did various other small tasks. robert and i toward the end of the day installed the first about 20 something roof truss holder things. we had to cut into the ICF and push the steel plate into the wall and then tie it in with a 2 ft piece of rebar. the plates hold the truss system into the concrete which will later hold a ledger strip for the trusses to sit on. i got as many installed as we had and the other 15 or so will arrive with the rest of the rebar.

day . 22

2009-02-16T18:27:00.000-08:00

so today was more of the same, marking for vertical rebar, and making sure that it was getting cut and bent correctly. robert wanted a final count for how much more rebar we were going to need, so josh and i got that calculated. also we went around and measured over every window where the courses were complete for vertical rebar. once that was cut and bent we were able to get the front wall rebar totally complete.

at the end of the day we had run out of ICFs so we will have to wait for another shipment so who knows when the pour will be. and we have to wait for more rebar too.

day . 21

2009-02-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

today was a good day! my dad followed me to site this morning to see the progress. he had not seen the place since it was just footings. i gave him the tour and he got to meet robert. i brought muffins [blueberry] and they were a hit! once we started working [about 9:30] josh and i went to the sides of the front wall and took out the vertical rebar and took off the top course. we had to do this because there is a slight 2 percent grade on the roof and had we left the top course the front would have had to been built up 8 inches which would then dwarf the church. we took the band saw up on the top of the scaffolding and pulled the rebar out and cut it. once those were all done we moved to putting the vertical rebar in the walls that were 7 courses and we got to the walls that were 9 courses!!! robert also informed me that i was the "rebar boss" and he was not going to check behind me but hear from me when the vertical rebar was all in and done! i feel like i am finally finding my place in a leadership role, and i like it. it is a lot of responsibility to be counted on by robert and not mess up, but i am up for the challenge!

this was another long week, but the pour was moved again to thursday so i feel like i can breathe! and that also means a long weekend! i need it thats for sure!

ALSO the crack house got busted up with 12 cop cars and police everywhere with their weapons drawn. it was quit intense. i dont think i have ever seen robert climb up the scaffolding that fast to get a better look.

day . 20

2009-02-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

i woke up late this morning. i blame it on the nyquil that i took last night for my throat. it knocked me out!

i got to site about 9:30 and shortly after me renee w. got there with heart shaped krispy kreme doughnuts! they were motivation. so after 2 doughnuts we got to work on the scaffolding again. we finally got the last bays on the front finished and the 3 bays on either side of the front wall also finished. that was the morning work. we walked to skip's for lunch which was amazing! after lunch robert gave me the task of placing all the vertical rebar. every 2 feet on the 11 course wall, every 3 feet on the 8 course wall, every foot on the 13 course wall and so on. i counted them all and then robert and i calculate how long they would need to be to have a 4 inch bend and sit in the top chair. it felt good to have responsibility and know that robert was counting on me to get it right. once they were all calculated and the ones for the front 11 course wall were ready cody and i started to put them in. it was difficult considering they were 14 feet long. at the end of the day we had all of the front and one of the side walls done!

the 8 hour day flew by today!

day . 19

2009-02-12T19:38:00.000-08:00

more courses we blown off last night! ahh the wind needs to stop, and we have to tie with zip ties better! so today again began with redoing what we did yesterday! doing things twice is not fun! i think this will definitely make us be more careful. once they were fixed more scaffolding arrived and we all unloaded it off the 2 trucks. once it was all unloading gabe and i started assembling it on the front wall. it took all day. and we did not even finish. it is taking way longer to get the scaffolding up than it will take to finish the top 2 courses! we put up about 5 or 6 bays that were 3 stories up! it was smooth sailing until the last 2 bays that did NOT want to cooperate. so that will have to be left until tomorrow. we had a field trip for the lighting class so we all had to get out of there before 6. some of use are coming in early to finish the scaffolding in the morning.

day . 18

2009-02-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

today started out very frustrating. when we arrived at site we saw where the wind [which was blowing with a fury i have never felt] blew off the top 5 courses of the side wall onto the ground. we had tied them together but i guess not to the course below. it blew off with such force that it broke some of the ICFs at the corner! so we began the day by fixing that wall. after fixing that wall i got up on the scaffolding on the front wall and started on that again. we got up to 9 courses on the front which was all we could reach from teh scaffolding we have. we get new scaffolding tomorrow that will go on the front. after that we went around and helped put up the rest of the scaffolding that was not finished. and made sure all the walk boards were secure before we left so that no one would steal them!

day . 17

2009-02-10T18:41:00.001-08:00

today again was gorgeous! i really hope that winter is over! it is so much easier to work when you are not shivering! so today we continued with the scaffolding. adrian explained how the 45 degree bracing worked, so got to work putting it up. denise and i went around and tightened all the bolts that held the bracing in place while everyone else put rebar through the base so they would not slide when someone was up there. we then moved on to tightening the bolts for the walk boards. after they were all in place we hoisted the walk boards up and i got to get up on the first one and help pull the 2x12s up that we were also using as walk boards. it was a very windy day today so it was a little scary at first. once i found a gopher, cody handed me ICFs and rebar and cut the ICFs that needed to be cut. we were able to do almost all of 2 more courses on the front wall. it goes so much faster once the windows are totally in and covered.

we are going to have to push hard to get everything done by friday. it is our first deadline so i REALLY hope that we make it. robert put the word on us today so time to work hard for the rest of the week!

day . 16

2009-02-09T17:58:00.000-08:00

today was a beautiful day, but i had zero motivation. i think the six day week last week is taking its toll. i got to site really early and took at nap in my car waiting for everyone else to get there. once everyone was there we waited for robert and novem to get back with the scaffolding. while we were waiting caroling megan and i continued cutting and bracing the gaps in the ICF's so they would not blow out and spew concrete everywhere. the 2x12s were super heavy and hard to manage on my own. by the time they were done my arms were super tired! once the scaffolding got there we unloaded and placed them every 8 feet. once they were all unloading we moved to screwing them into the interior walls and making sure they were level vertically. we took our time and by the time we finished the back corner it was 4:30. the last task of the day was to brace the window that we lowered on saturday. the walls were fanning outward like a trapezoid so we had to push them in and tie them with 2x4s. on to finishing the scaffolding tomorrow, it takes much more time than i thought it would.

day . 15

2009-02-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

today was our first saturday, and also our first major on site design decision. we decided to move the window that looks out into courtyard down 2 courses of icf. so we had to take it out and cut the icf's so we could lower it. i think it will be really neat when the floor is in. the way the window will now be the sill will be about a foot from the floor were as before it was going to be almost 2 feet off the ground. after that johanna and i went around and counted how many pieces of strapping or bracing that will need to cover the cracks in the icf so the concrete doesn't bust out when it is poured. we ended up needing a lot. after that i moved to help icf the front wall and put in the last window buck. it is really coming along!

day . 14

2009-02-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

i got to have a break from putting icf's up today which was nice. caroline and i went around the building to take exact measurements of the structure. we then drew a plan that had all the measurements on it. we had to do this so that the roof trusses an be ordered. i was surprised that the measurements were not that far off from what was designed. we had to make a big push at the end of the day because apparently we forgot to put vertical rebar under the window bucks. there are SO many icf rules i am surprised that i can remember them all!

day . 13

2009-02-05T17:13:00.000-08:00

today was more of the same like yesterday. putting up icf's and leaving spaces for windows. and it was cold again.

day . 12

2009-02-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

it was really really cold today. we continued to put up more icfs. we had to backtrack though for part of the day and tie the icf's vertically. i suppose somewhere we missed the memo that we were supposed to do that. but we went back and got it done. we have gotten up high enough that we are laving spaces for the windows. it looks really neat now that something visible is forming.

day . 11

2009-02-03T17:08:00.000-08:00

today we continued to put up icf's anywhere that we could reach. we then covered the tops with plastic to keep the rain and snow out. gabe also taught caroline and i how to use the survey level thing to make sure that the icf's are level around the structure.

day . 1o

2009-02-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

today we did more icf's in what will be the matron suite in the back of the structure. we had about 4 or 5 rows up and we had to make sure that it was square. we started by measuring the diagonals and trying to fix it that way, but robert taught us a much quicker was with 6,8,10 rule. by the end of the day we had the walls above our heads! today was nice because we worked the whole time and had a task to do the whole time. it made the day go faster and i felt acomplished when i went home.

day . o9

2009-01-30T17:02:00.000-08:00

today we tried to have a group meet at site early then another group come at regular time, but it didn't work out quite to plan. only a few of us showed up early. we finally got to finish the roof planks. i got to get up and help screw them down. there was a really neat view of the site from being up that high. once the roof was complete i went to help megan start the icf's. she explained all the things that we had to remember, like to stager the joints, and where the rebar goes. it was fairly simple, but very tedious. at the end of the day we got pretty far on the corner we were working on.

day . o8

2009-01-29T16:29:00.000-08:00

after 2 days of rain we got to meet on site today. it was the first day that gtcc was there. some people pumped water but i got lucky and didnt have to. i think pumping water is going to be one of those "not it" jobs. we started out the day by cutting 2x12s that would go on the roof of the clubhouse, very similar to the floor boards. the only problem was that we had to measure and cut each one individually. it ended up taking the whole day and we ran out of screws so we couldnt finish, but we are so close to being done.

day . 07

2009-01-28T19:50:00.000-08:00

it rained cats and dogs today, so we met at the gurp. which meant we got to finish the dust collection system that we started on day 2, which i was excited about. since we had worked on it for so long the first day we got right going on it today. it only took a little over 2 hours to get it totally finished and working. after it was finished and robert approved i moved on to help renee c finish the clamp rack. it took a couple of hours to finish getting everything screwed in and the braces attached. when that was done i helped clean up the shop and get a few small tasks done, like tagging tools, breaking down cardboard boxes, and my favorite, crushing cans for the recycling bin.

day . 06

2009-01-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

it rained. a lot! well not really a lot, i am a whimp when it comes to rain. anywho. it was quite confusing as to where everyone was supposed to meet. at first on site, then the shop, then back to the site. but everyone got the message and we finished unloading the ICF's off the truck that gtcc started. and after many calls to robert we finally got a plan and moved them to the back of the site around the footings. they were so much heavier than i thought they would have been. and huge! it took 5 people to move one bundle. and there were 24 bundles. we had to put 2 2x4's through at about hip height, and squat down and put the 2x4 on our shoulder and press back up! needless to say i got a work out. once everyone got on the same page and working as a team it went very quickly. they all were moved in about an hour.

oh and the first one we moved i picked up my part and the stack tilted back and poured water all down my arm inside my jacket. it was lovely. ha.

cant wait for a warm shower!

day . 05

2009-01-26T19:14:00.000-08:00

today was great! even though it was a monday, and i was feeling less than motivated when i arrived on site, it was a beautiful day and a lot was accomplished. caroline, megan, and i started right off helping adrian get the clubhouse all square and moved into the right place on the 6x6 supports. it took a little tweaking but alas it was square. after that our work group moved to measuring and cutting the boards for the floor. we got to put on our math hats to deduce how many would be needed to span the floor. i realized how long it had been since i had needed to use any real math for a real purpose. it was sad. i had to use the calculator on my phone. but we figured it out, we needed 10 full ones and robert had to rip a final one. after they were all cut i watched and did some latter holding while robert and adrian climbed on top of the structure to place the 16' 2x12's on the sides. it was quite intense. once they were down off the roof, we had to square the buidling again so we could cut the 1x4 strapping to go under the floor joists. once they were cut i attempted to roll under the floor to attach them, but the gravel footings were too tall and my drill too large, so that will have to wait for another day. we were finally able to attach all of the floor boards which went pretty quickly with 3 drills. it turned out fairly well and i think that everyone was pleased. i know that i was. the final task of the day was to lift the back wall into place that cody, josh, and candice worked on. the clubho[us]e is coming together!

ICF's come tomorrow....and 100% chance of rain! ahhhhh.

day . o4

2009-01-23T17:01:00.000-08:00

tgif...its the first week of class and i am already counting down to fridays. thats bad. well today started less than fun. i woke up late and had to speed the 35 miles to site. no fun. i got there and volunteered to scoop the residual water from the holes that the pump could not pump...with a size medium jimmy johns cup. not a fun way to start the day. so after an hour of scooping then finally having our buckets stolen for gravel transport. robert got to the site with the pump again. so caroline, sarah, ashley, and i began to go and try to pump the rest of the water out of the foundation. some places that were deep enough were successful and others we not. it was hard to navigate around, the mud is like quicksand in places, and many times i sunk from the weight of the pump and could hardly free myself. after doing our best to pump out what was left we moved to help with the clubho[us]e assembly. for about half an hour i felt useless. it seemed while we were dealing with the water that everyone had a job to do, and i couldnt find a place to fit in. i finally helped sort 2x12's and then lift them onto the saw horses to be cut. after they were all cut and moved closer to the footings that had been made with gravel, a cement block, and 6x6's with instruction from robert we laid them out in their rectangles like they needed to be put together. caroline and i then marked all the plywood, with three lines, and a mark every foot, to be used as the walls of the structure. as robert explained the plywood would be the strength that held the repeating 2x12s in place and kept them from racking. after everything was marked and pre-drilled, the raising began. everyone assembled around and carried the structure to the footings. one by one, they were placed, and the plywood was attached. it took quite a bit of adjusting but 5 were placed and 4 plywood sheets were attached. the end result of the day was that right side was shifted about 1 1/4". which will have to wait to monday to be fixed. by then it was time to comb the site for tools and pack up for the day, not to mention it was getting cold and very windy. and from somewhere off in the distance the awful smell of propane drifted into the site.

i cant wait for monday to see the final product of the clubho[us]e. on paper it looks like an amazing structure, and once the wheat is planted on top it will be so neat. the repetition of the 2x12s on the outside of the structure is very interesting.

it is forcasted to rain tomorrow, i better not! i will not be happy.

day . o3

2009-01-22T17:45:00.000-08:00

today was one of those discouraging days. i felt like nothing really got accomplished, but in reality we accomplished a lot! i got to site WAY early again today. like 20 mins early. i cant seem to get the timing right from point a to point b in greensboro quite yet. once everyone got there and we got our task list for the day and caroline, megan, and i began tackling the pile of 2x12s that needed to be "de-nailed", sorted, and re-stacked to be used tomorrow to build the clubho[us]e also know as the place to store tools and get out of the weather. it took a little while to get a system for hammering and then prying the nails out but once we did it went pretty smoothly. gabe was a lot of help for the stubborn nails that decided they would rather stay where they were. after about 2 hours michael, josh, and cody relieved us and i went to relieve denise from the pick-axe. hunched over feeling like my right arm might just fall off at the elbow, i pick-axed out the dried dirt from the footings, while renee c. came behind and blew out the rest of the debris. this was super important to get done so that when we set up the ICFs and the concrete is poured, they will bond to the footings. after the grooves were clear and the footings clean i helped move the power cord that was attached to the pump. i felt very un-useful for the rest of the time that people pumped water out of the foundation. we only had 4 shovels and they were all being used. i felt very uncomfortable standing around watching other people work and not having a task of my own to help with. the final task of the day was to throw the ice chunks, which were about an inch thick and various sizes, into the road, so when they melted we would not have to pump out the water again. when this was all done it was only a little past 4 so we got to leave a whole 2 hours early. robert was sure to warm us not to get used to it, or take advantage of it! i didnt, i met friends for coffee.

so even though the tasks that we had to complete today were tedious and felt not exactly design related, i know they were very important and needed to be done, and done well.

tomorrow we get to build the clubho[us]e. that should be fun. not to mention it only gets warmer by the day. today was a beautiful, i hope tomorrow is just as beautiful and warm.

day . o2

2009-01-21T19:15:00.000-08:00

we met on site for the first time today to do some exploring. it was VERY cold and the interior was covered in a sheet of ice. we "ice skated" as we waited for robert and took lots of pictures. once robert got there we had a tour of the building. walking around made me realize how large it actually is. after everyone was frozen and poor lauren found where the plumbing line left the house with her leg, we caravaned out to the gurp [gateway university research park]. the space that was donated is amazing. adrian led us on a tour and told us about the "good" bathroom. it is so nice that we have our own place to work off site. i can only imagine how great it is going to be for auxiliary tasks. or days that is rains. after another tour we split up and started working. the group i was in put together the dust collection system and started connecting the band saw and belt sander to the system. it took a LOT longer than i anticipated, and was somewhat challenging. it was much like putting together a puzzle. we ended up running out of clamps and could go no further. after a few hours it was ready to test the side we finished....and it worked. very well at that.

today was a good start. it was nice to complete a task and it actually work, gave me a little confidence for the months to come, that i will be a help. again today i leave excited for the next day! i hope the excitement stays. i like it!

day . o1

2009-01-20T18:21:00.000-08:00

today was the first day back after a long relaxing vacation and was for orienting......and it snowed! everyone was excited and nervous about the upcoming experience. robert discussed the ICF's. we watched the original [us] video. it was very moving, and sparked my excitement for the project. although the task of this project i know will be daunting at times, i am ready to dive in and give my all.

i must remember to copy my insurance card!! and get a hard hat...oh osha [: