Shingles from heaven - September 9th

Yes, "shingles from heaven" is the name of this post. If you weren't sure of how long we've been without a roof, let me catch you up to speed. I started ripping the old shingles off of the roof on Friday August 1st, Dave finished ripping them off on Sunday the 3rd, and we have been covering the roof with a combination of greenhouse plastic and blue tarp for a total of 40 days at this point (don't get too excited, we are STILL covering the roof with greenhouse plastic and tarps, but I am getting to that.)

The reason I am calling this update "Shingles from Heaven" is because it is really REALLY exciting to have some shingles on the roof now.

Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself, let me start where I left off last time. Okay, so we put the new boards on the roof (our ceiling, essentially.) After we got that all done, we spent a lot of time wrangling the scaffolding for the South side. We did a bang-up job on that. Here is our scaffolding.





"Boy oh boy," we said, "Now we are cooking!" This is Labor Day weekend, and Dave and I decided to work straight through it and see what we could get done. Now, this is all going to be conveyed to you via narrative because it was one of those times when we were working too hard and too long to take any pictures.

Dave and I labored together inside the back of the house putting up additional rafters (improving the rafter layout from 30-on-center to 14-on-center.) It looks really good in there now, I wish I had a picture to show you all. But, we moved right on to the next task.

Dave worked on getting the roof all tidied up and ready for it's next layers, while I cut 2" ridged insulation with the table saw. I did a really great job of getting them all perfect. The problem with the insulation arose the next day when I broke out in a horrendous rash from the insulation dust (I won't give you details - it was bad.) So, in response to my "foam-a-phobia", as we call it, Dave cut the rest of the foam. He took extreme measures to prevent himself from being afflicted as I was. Here is Dave in my Dad's Tyvec suit.




Yes, we were later heard down the grapevine that you should "never cut foam on a table saw!!" My response is that I've done it on job sites before (rash free) and I was told to cut it on a table saw. I don't know - different strokes for different folks. Anyway, Dave cut all of the foam up beautifully and he didn't get a rash.

So, we forged onward! We rolled pink rosin paper over the roof to keep schmutz from sifting down on us inside the house. The next step, Gary came over and we spent an afternoon attaching our "sleepers" to the roof. The sleepers are the 2X4s that sit between our insulation pieces. Eventually they will hold up the plywood on the roof. Here are our brandy-new sleepers on pink rosin paper.




We are doing one side of the roof at a time because it is just simpler since we only have so much scaffolding. So, the next updates we do might seem really repetitive as we repeat the whole process on the other side- I'll try to keep you interested with clever wit. So, after the sleepers, it was time to squeeze the insulation into the roof. That was Dave's job since I am still suffering from foam-a-phobia.




Whooppee! Then Dave installed all the foam while I worked at the framing in the back room where we are adding a few windows and strengthening the walls (going from 30-on-center to 14-on-center.) By the end of the day on Friday (September 5th) the whole roof was insulated and it was time to put the tarp and plastic back on it to weather Hurricane Hannah-Gustav through the weekend.




Monday morning was especially exciting because it was time for plywood! We got up extra early and the three of us were on the job-site by 8am.




We had all the plywood up by 10:30am! It was a great morning.




We slapped on the Ice and Water Shield (also known as Bituthane - pronounced by contractors as BITCH-a-thane,) and rolled out the tar paper while Dad worked on the trim and shadow board at the base of the roof. Then we started in with the shingles. It was darn exciting. Here I am putting on the first course of shingles.




We set up the roofing gun and Dave and I went at it as fast as we could. We had to call it a day a few courses up because it was getting late and supper was on. But, we had time to set up our staging before dinner.



This morning was the most exciting because we were trying to shingle up the whole roof before the rain hit (heavy thunderstorms and high winds by 11am!) We were slapping the shingles down and the thunder was rumbling louder and louder. Dad came on the scene just in time to help us with the last few courses. We didn't get quite to the top of the roof before the storm really let lose, and we were scrambling in the pouring rain to get the tarp and plastic back on the roof (which is now weather proof on the South side, but not the North side.) We got everything tied down just in time. It was an exciting morning. What else would you expect from us! Tomorrow we are starting in on the other side. We are getting closer and closer to what might be a livable house! We think it will be great. We hope that you all come and visit us. I'll update again soon. Keep tuning in.

After the Wedding - September 06 2008

Hello and welcome back to the world of Taury and Dave. You've laughed and you've cried. You've followed along so devotedly, and then we got married and stopped updating at all. What have we been doing? Where have we gone? What journeys and trials have we experienced together since we became husband and wife? Well, let me tell you, our adventure has been "at times exuberant and at times difficult, but we continue on" (that is a not-so-exact quote from our wedding vows which Dave and I have really been taking to heart)

So, before I delve back into the Shack Series, how about a few updates from our wedding. We have quite a few photos from many of our guests. Our friend Kelly has posted many of her pictures on fickr. You've got to check them out, they are way cool. We are slowly getting more nice photos from some of our other guests. Here is one of Kelly's I'll post just so you can get a feel for what a fun wedding it was.



We did some Zombie wedding pictures too for all the Zombie Tag fans out there:



Yeah, we are just like zombies in love. So, after the wedding, much to our surprise, we did not just get back to work on the shack, my big brother Bry gave us a wonderful gift of a honeymoon! We partied all day after the wedding and then we slipped off in wedded bliss to Bar Harbor, Maine and galavanted around all week. We got a passing tourists to take this picture of us with our Just Married sign (which was crafted by Haley, Sophia, and Maren)



Then we got the classic follow-up picture.



Yeah, so we had a grand old time just kicking around in Maine until one morning we woke up and decided that we'd had enough of Mount Desert Island and that we missed our shack. So, we hopped in the car and drove back to the lake. Oh, and we had a gig to play with the band that we had to get back for. So, we extended our honeymoon a couple days and got to play a fun gig at ForestJam 2008. It was a blast, but by the end, we were tired and ready to return home. The shack was waiting for us.

On Wednesday the 27th, we had finally collected all the supplies we would need to start back in on the Shack. So, I started the task of tearing off the roof boards so we could replace them with something less rotten.



Oh, and did we mention that we have all the windows in now? Yeah!! AND a door! As a wedding gift to us, on August 12th, my father installed all of our windows and our front door while Dave and I were trying to throw together a wedding party. Here he is installing with the help of my mother.




It is SO COOL to have windows and doors!! We were totally excited and it was fun to sleep in our little mosquito netting bed knowing that wild animals wouldn't walk up our ramp and through the doorless doorway to eat us up in the night. So, thank you Dad, you are just the best Dad ever!

So, we have a door and windows! A great time to tear off the roof. So, there it is, no roof. We considered the option of making it a greenhouse, but decided that would would just stick with the original plan of a standard asphalt shingle roof.




In a very exciting moment, I framed in the hole where the chimney will go (once we install our brand new woodstove.) It is nice to know that we will have heat - hopefully in time for cold weather!






What next? you ask. Well, now we take all the great rough-cut 1 inch boards that we got from Fernald Lumber, and cover it all back up again. All in all, it was a great move. Now we have a roof that will hold the weight of the rest of the stuff we have to install on it!




Okay, that is all for now. I know you want to hear more, and there is lots more to tell (I am sure that I am forgetting a ton because it has been so long!) But, I am going home for one of the last "summer celebrations" here on the lake with our neighbors the Bardens and the Kaufholds. The fall is approaching fast and the light is getting shorter and shorter. There is still lots of time ahead of us for good building weather. Stay tuned for more about the roof.

The Straw that broke the Camel's Back - August 4th

Okay, it was less like a straw and more like an entire roof's worth of shingles. And it was less like a camel and more like a dump trailer. You've seen pictures of this trailer. This is it:




Well, this weekend, Dave and I stripped the asphalt shingles off the roof of the shack. (We don't really have any pictures of this because, though we have been working hard, we are at our wits end and are not reaching for the camera as often.) We put all the shingles - every single one - into this trailer. This trailer is something my father inherited from my Grandfather on my mother's side. It is made of a truck axle from a GMC truck that originated sometime in the first half of the twentieth century. Dave dubbed it the "Road Warrior" trailer because it is rusty and has things missing from it and it's brake lights are smashed. It is just full of character. Sometimes we just call it Rusty.

Anyway, my father and I are driving down Route 4 (a very busy road that runs across southern New Hampshire) on our way to the dump with a whole %!#@* load of asphalt shingles in the trailer. Suddenly there is a bang and some very load grinding. Dad pulled off the road and started shouting for me to give him my water bottle because the trailer was on fire! So, I tossed him my water bottle and he ran to cool off the trailer before the whole load lit fire.

As it turned out, the trailer was not on fire, but the axle was very very hot. The left wheel bearing had seized up and the wheel kept turning, so the whole wheel just twisted right off of the axle. (the guy in the picture is Ray. He lives near where we pulled over, and he came over to see if he could help.)




So, as you can see, the wheel is about to fall off and the trailer is looking a lot like it might dump it's load of shingles and rooffing nails all over the highway. We were lucky enough to pull over across the street from E-Z Docking Solutions owned by a friend of my father's, John, who makes and sells docks.

These three guys worked pretty hard to keep that from happening. (from top to bottom, the guy in the blue shirt is John, the guy in the green is my dad, and the guy in the gray is Brian)






The wheel had come off completely.






After deciding that it is a bad idea to try to "kinda" push the wheel back on and limp the trailer across the highway to John's parking lot, they had a new idea.




I didn't think that this forklift could pick up this trailer.




It seems that I was wrong.




They had a little trouble getting the forks underneath the trailer, so they had to try from the street. In order to do that, my mother, Liz, had to stop traffic with the Geo Metro (whose name is Buster, if you were wondering.) Liz and Buster arrived on the scene as fast as lightning with a six-ton-jack and some blocks to hold up the axle.




So, with the traffic stopped, the forklift pulled old Rusty across the highway while the cars waited.



Now here Rusty lies.




He is sitting in John's parking lot awaiting our return with a new bearing. Rusty is still full of shingles. What will happen next in these crazy shack adventures!?

Our new walls - July 31st

We're back again, Shack Lovers. Back with more pictures, and more results. Since I last updated, we have finished our new walls and we are actually ready to start tearing into the roof (quite literally.) I also had time to try on several wedding dresses and had a fashion show for Haley, Orrin, Mom, and our friends Ainsley and Priscilla. We picked out a dress that was (of course) perfect in every way. You will all get to see it soon enough!

Back to the house! Okay, so when we left you, we had holes in the South wall. Well, we fixed them. Here is Dave working on mending the gap between the front and the back of the building.



He did a really good job. While Dave worked on filling the gap, I framed in the windows we got to let the sunlight in (anyone who had seen our apartment in Bratt knows how sun-starved we are after living in a cave for three years!) Here are our two great south windows. We hadn't fixed the gap at the bottom when this picture was taken. We call it the "squirrel vent". Squirrels are great, but we don't want them living in this house. So, we finished the plywood and covered it all up with "EasyGard" (some sort of Tyvec substitute.)



Here is the front and the South wall, all wrapped up like a present.



Now that we finished those two walls, its time to move on the the North wall. Now, this is the LAST wall that we are fixing. I think (and I know I have said this before several times and been wrong) the next step is actually to replace the roof. This is only a theory. Our goal is to be sleeping in the shack by the time we get married. I think that would mean that we would probably have to forgo the planning of our wedding. So, if you all show up on the 16th of August and find the bride and groom standing on the roof of the shack, looking really surprised and wearing work clothes and tool belts, it is because we forgot we were supposed to get married that day. If that is the case, we'll climb down, splash some water on our faces and try to act like we knew we were supposed to have some sort of party.

All that aside, I started taking out the North wall on the 29th (Dave had to do some work that morning, so I was on my own with the sawzal). The upright beams were rotten (surprise surprise) and behind the door trim, I found this pert little line of acorns.



Some industrious little rodent had lined them all up there. This was no shock - we've been finding these little caches all through the house within the framing. this was just the cutest display we have found so far. After the acorns in the door, it took little time to take down the North wall since it was not really attached to much.



If you are worried, the rafters and cross-ties are being held up with metal lolly columns. It won't fall down on Dave's head. We wasted little time and got right to framing it up.



Then we sheathed it all in right fast and replaced the lolly columns with 4x6 beams.



In no time we had it covered with Tyvec (the real stuff this time)



Can you hear our big sigh of relief? One more task done. We are reaching our limit of exertion since we have been going now for two solid weeks, no weekends, ALL DAY LONG. We decided to take today (Thursday the 31st) off. Well, we took it half off. This morning Dave, Dad, and I built the framing for the front eave of the roof. But, then Dave and I went out for lunch (a real treat after PB&J sandwiches on the job site for a week) After lunch, we went swimming together and I picked blueberries while Dave enjoyed a sun nap. I think we feel a little bit better. Let me find you a picture of this our lake so you can see just how enjoyable it can be.



We are off to enjoy our evening. We are looking forward to seeing you all at the wedding.

After the Storm - July 29th

Hello fans and followers. I know I said we were okay after that tornado and that we would update soon, but we haven't had the time. We have just worked ten full days in a row (ten hour days that is.) We're tired and dirty as usual. It can be hard to motivate to write something in the end of the day. I'll see what I can dredge up to show you though. First of all, Dave and I went out to breakfast the first day that they opened up the road out of town and we got to see some of the damage the tornado did to our neighbors. These pictures are from a lake about a half-mile from our lake.




All the bare trees used to be in the middle of the woods!



These guys are just fishing in front of the disaster area...



You can see the house across the lake from here is completely smashed.



Okay okay, enough of the disaster. I am going to see how far I can get telling you about where we are at, but we have done so much that I doubt I can catch you all up in just one entry. Hang in there, maybe I'll have time for another one tomorrow. First of all, we did frame the front wall. It is beautiful. We framed it with rough cut 2x6, so it looks really tough. We appreciate that after seeing a tornado rip through. Here is the wall all framed. We finished it on Thursday, the 24th.



Here is Dave taking a rare break to enjoy the odd spot of sunshine that poked through.






It was still raining, so we had to wait another day before we could put the sheathing on. It only took a couple of hours, and here is what it looked like once we were finished. The top window it not going to be that shape once we are all done, we think it may end up being an octagon window if we can scrounge one up.



I suppose that I should show you a little bit more of our life here on the lake, since our experience is all part of the adventure. A few weeks ago, my parents lent us their Coleman stove so we could make our tea and coffee in the morning. We enjoy our wake-up-drinks as the sun rises over the far shore. (the picture is a little off kilter because I balanced it on a damp cardboard box.)



And here is Dave cooking us up his special breakfast eggs.



Yes, we feel we are living large now that we can eat breakfast "on our own" - meaning not at Mom and Dad's house. We love having breakfast with them, but we missed our quiet morning times. Ahhh. So peaceful. But, it is early to work for us. Once we finished the East wall, we started in on the South wall. Our goal is to preserve as much of the existing timber framing as we can. So far, we have only been able to save the rafters and collar ties though. The ants have been having a field day in some of these posts. Here is Dave cutting off the tip of one of the rafters to try and preserve it. We think we were successful.



We lifted up the rafters a bit in order to cut the bad posts out from under them. The results we good, but we have some new holes in the house!



The holes from the outside...



So, we have since this picture, replaced the framing on the inside of this wall and managed to keep the exterior sheathing! I will have more pictures for you soon. It will have to wait for the next update, though because my camera is somewhere else at the moment. meanwhile, we helped Gary a little bit on a film that he is working on that involves people dancing on water. We spent Sunday evening in the water installing an underwater dock. Here are Dave and Gary enjoying the results of this experiment.



We tried to show how deep the water is where we set up the platform.



Oh the weird and wild things we do at the lake. We look forward to being able to entertain visitors. More updates soon!