Nov 5th - Cut Away

Another Sunday of Cutting. Pat is with me today and we start by unloading all the nice 1 x 12's I picked up in Dolores. While Pat prepares for more steel on the roof, I begin straight line cutting all of the heart pine decking. By noon I have quite a pile which now has one side of each board nice and straight. I've chosen a nice long 16' straight 2 x 4 as a straight edge. Using some grabber screws I attach the straight edge to each individual board and then run my worm drive Skil saw down the edge.

Pat requires my help this afternoon and I go down to the trailer where we have the steel stacked. He shows me what he wants drilled as the holes for the washered screws have to be drilled. Greenbay has fabricated a ladder made from 2 x 4's that Pat tacks to the roof to climb down to the edge of the roof. He has helped me haul the 20' long sheets of steel up to the south side of the house and we stand them up so the upper edge is just above the edge of the roof. Pat has fashioned a handle from a bucket handle and by drilling two small holes near the top edge of each sheet of steel, he is able to drag the steel onto the roof while I stand below lifting and pushing. It still amazes me how comfortable he is on the roof.

Bruce has stopped by to do more cleanup and I've set him up with a chop saw to complete the cutting of firewood scrap that has once again been piling up. Not only has Bruce never used a chop saw... he doesn't even know what a chop saw is. Within minutes he has a rhythm rolling on the saw with his ear and eye protection gear in place. He is enjoying himself and I like that someone besides me is cutting up the scrap soI can focus on other things.

Hagen is back and has the block of the chimney well above the peak of the roof. Today he begins laying stone on the outside of the chimney. Pat has prepared a ledge for him to lay the stone on and before long he has a large section of the stone laid above the roof. It's dark now and Mike, myself and Pat are scrambling to hook up a propane heater up on the roof. Finally the right hoses, fittings and tanks come together and by 6:30 we are finished. I can hear the propane heater running on the roof which will prevent the mortar from freezing. None of this is new to Pat and Mike who have spent many a winter evening protecting masonry work from freezing.