Log Home
Project
"Time-line"

Kevin and Ben worked Wednesday, and Ben (bless him!) drove back and worked on his own on Thursday, completing the deck joists and building two stair stringers.

We had a great time in Nashville and our travel (four planes) was very smooth.

October 15-21
This was "siding week". With the framers getting close to installing windows and doors, we dropped work on the deck to start applying log siding - there's a lot of it! By the end of the week we had made good progress.

On Saturday and Sunday Jenny and I stained the outside logs - they have been up for about 4 weeks, and have darkened in the sun, so we needed to stain them before they got any darker. They look great!

October 22-26
Mike Labac, a high-school friend of Ben's who lives in Denver, joined us. He should be with us for a month (at least), as he is currently between projects as an IT Consultant. Mike quickly proved to be a great asset to our team - experienced, sensible and hard working. He's also good to have around. With four of us working most of the week, we made really good progress on the log siding.

The big discovery this week was that, unknown to us and unnoticed by our builder, the structural engineer decided to deviate from our architect's plans. He wanted 2x12 joists instead of using the log trusses to support the roof, and he realigned the roof valleys. As a result, although we caught the problem in time, our framers had to change the south side of our main roof supports so that the trusses will look ALMOST as originally designed. The north side truss will still need modification to "wrap" around the 2x12's.

October 29-30
Ben, Kevin and Mike worked Monday and stayed in the "apartment" Monday night - that is, the basement of the garage. They "sealed" up the walls, window opening and ceiling as best they could, after we installed the double door purchased at Home Depot in Grand Junction on Sunday.

Securing the 72"x80" door on top the toolbox and sides of the truck bed was quite an exercise, but two hours driving in the dark brought us home safely and all was well. On Thursday we had brought two mattresses, that were in perfect condition, being discarded by another RV owner at the campground; so two of the three would sleep pretty well tonight. On Monday evening Ben, Kevin, Mike and I had dinner and watched Monday night football at the Glenwood Brewery - we got off to a slow start on Tuesday! Tuesday night after another day of "siding", Ben returned home with Kevin and Mike for a better night's sleep in Edwards.

Monday also saw the arrival of our "log guys" to build the log trusses. Two men will hand-peel the logs for a week or more, while three others construct the trusses on the garage floor, before erecting them into place.

October 31
"Dried-in" before winter meant before November, and more delays have meant that this goal wasn't to be met. Sure enough, on the last day of October it rained ... hard all morning. Despite the boys' efforts the rained leaked through and drenched their mattresses and sleeping bags. Happily the sun came out after lunch (pizza at the local deli), and they were dry again by night time.