I'm stoned...

...barely half way. Another shipment, another 10 tons or so is coming in at the end of the week. Another two weeks - I'll be very close to 100% complete by the 20th.

Who'da thunk?

Click on the photo and it will bring you to the entire "set" of photos on flickr...

I finally got the roof deck completed and dried in as of noon today. I picked up the timbers in Tennessee on June 15. I never would have thought it would have taken me this long, but, I essentially did it by myself. I had help standing the 10"x10" posts up - they weigh in at 450lbs each. Then I had help this week with the double layer of plywood decking and getting the felt (tar paper) on the roof. Otherwise, it was just me. About 500 manhours of labor.

I figured out that the 4x4 rafters had between 16 (for commons) and 24 (for jacks) separate/individual "actions" done to them. Just lots and lots of tedious and painstaking work. Plus, there is a high degree of perfection in the joinery. Due to the natural (slight) twist in the ridge and hip rafter structural members, each common and jack rafter was scribed to fit perfectly. Only one or two fit on the first try.

Anyway, I will start laying stone on Monday, and will squeeze the roof shingles into the next week somehow. Maybe I will work at night, in the dark.

I'm beat. I think I'm going to sleep all weekend. It's supposed to rain.

Auger bit from hell...

This is the reason my shoulders and elbows hurt so bad right now...

Extreme physical exertion...

Extreme exertion, yes. Am I sore? Yes. Is it hotter and more humid than hell? Yes.

Does it feel good? You're darn tootin'.

I feel good, healthy, strong. I'm losing weight. I'm tanned from working without a shirt. I know, I know, I should be protecting myself with a shirt and sunscreen. I'm sleeping odd hours, but getting 9 or 10 hours of sleep a night. Work and sleep. I eat when I can.

I've done a couple of crazy things, like toting a 350 pound beam, on my shoulder, by myself, and worked it up two ladders to its final resting place 10 feet above the ground on top of two columns. I'm lucky I didn't fall and break my neck and then have the beam fall and crush my head like a watermelon. Augusto wasn't there to help me - he's vertically challenged anyway - I'm about three of him.

Yesterday, I almost broke my wrist twice muscle-ing a 1/2" 8.0 amp drill with a 2" auger bit 13" into the dead center end grain of a column. When the thing hawgs into the wood, sometimes it bites so hard that the resulting tweak goes from the drill to my fingers, to my wrist, torque-ing my elbow, and wrenching my shoulder.

Luckily, my cat-like reflexes allow me to react and absorb the energy - letting go of the drill and twisting with some tango contra-body torsion whilst cursing that would make a sailor blush. I have to be especially careful when drilling with this rig into the top of a column, standing on the top step (big no-no) of a 6 ft step ladder. I only have two more of these bearish monster holes to drill, and now I have scaffolding set up for better footing and safety.

That drill is deceiving in that it is so small and light, but it is a powerful little mo-fo. It must be 1 horsepower. Anyway, I'll be more careful - now that I'm almost finished with the heavy boring.

Now that I'm writing about it, I don't like it that I'm apparently taking some stupid risks. Me Mr. Safety Man. I've always been high on safety - except that time I chopped my leg with an axe. Straight on, right into the high point of my left shin bone. It didn't hurt too bad, but I got a little woozy when the flesh started to slowly part and I could see the bone.

I'll be careful, I promise. In the coming days I'll be framing the roof.

Here's the scarf joint - half of it anyway - I'll be setting the sister beam tomorrow. There are two scarf joints - dead center on the door when you walk out into the loggia. It's kinda my little signature thing to make it "special".



Here's a wider view. The small holes in the sides of the columns are for my custom designed nut thingamajigger - for the hidden structural connection using 1/2" threaded rod. The holes will be hidden/filled with wood plugs. I don't think I will even need to add kickers, but I probably will just to be safe for racking action/forces. The thing is bomb-proof.



Here are all of my hand tools, collected at the end of the day. I decided to take a photo for posterity.

The Project :: Pennsylvania Bluestone :: The Last Tango in Georgia

After almost five weeks of waiting, my stone is finally being delivered this morning - the first of two loads. I thought it was going to be roughly 16 tons, but the supplier just gave me the total weight - it's closer to 32 tons. 64,000 pounds of stone to be hauled by hand around into the backyard, and then set, obviously, by hand. Mucho trabajo would be an understatement.

It's going to look something like this. Full color, sawcut, flamed, 'pattern'.