Hi Everybody.
Three days on the Mountain. Woke up to torrential rain on Saturday after arriving past midnight on Friday. We were able to locate a few leaks where the roof is only Ice and Snow Membrane. Water getting in the joint between the sidewall sheathing and the roof. An easy band-aid once the rain stopped.
I did my famous abstract expressionist plumbing for the shower and toilet....I just love (ugh) the purple plastic pipe primer and cleaner, the fumes it makes and the stupid head it puts one in. Perhaps the reports of Jackson Pollock's alcoholism were exagerated....He was a glue sniffer.
Put up some walls and 1/4 luan ply left over from closing up the windows for winter a year ago, Louise hung a tablecloth as a curtain, and presto a sanitary facility!
My brother Waring and his wife Audrey came Saturday and when the rain let up, Waring set out gathering stone for the trench around the tower foundation so it would drain ground water away. We had filled the ditch under the deck before we built the deck framing, but Waring finished the back ditch which was the deepest into the bank of dirt. Thankless work accomplished with a Zen spirit of willingness. Thanks Waring. Audrey brought an awesome Crock-Potted pork roast and we had a feast, Louise adding blueberry/peach cobbler done in a Dutch Oven...an inspiration remembered from River Rafting with Andy Glantz....thanks Andy.
The 6x6 beams for the porch roof girders were delivered, and structural Douglas fir is gorgeous stuff. I didn't even attempt to start cutting the joints, but got careful site verified dimensions and will do it in the studio in Peconic, where one doesn't have to start a generator to make a cut. We loaded the fir and cedar posts into the truck, but did a smudge blessing on the again overloaded vehicle before braving the roads to visit Jenn and Baeden on the way to the ferry and home. Having not yet heeded Bob Harper's admonishment to get the porch roof done to buttress the tower to the main house before the hurricanes hit Vermont, I installed 2x6 diagonals from the second floor double plate to the deck girders where they are supported on the concrete piers. Used Timberlock screw fasteners with a shear strength of 2995 lbs. Ought to help. Not that Hurricanes make to Vermont that often. We will return Columbus Day weekend, with a truckload of mortise and tenoned and dovetailed beam joints.
Best to all, BSB
p.s. Beware of Internet Art Transactions that offer to send you a six thousand dollar overpayment, beyond the asking price, with the demand that you immediately send the overpayment back via Western Union. Duh!
Posted by Bennett
at 6:05 PM EDT
