Nov 7th - Up On The House Top...

Hagen has completed the stonework on the chimney and it looks fabulous. I am thoroughly pleased with the way it looks and Pat has done a fine job of installing the flashing under the stone. R. D. has spent a good part of the day helping Pat tear off Hagen's work platform from the north side of the roof. Pat had sturdily built it himself to hold a stone mason and a lot of rock. Now it's time for it to come off. R. D. and Pat continue on the roof and by the end of the day the north side of the roof is close to being completed. Pat will complete the main section of the roof and hopefully the weather will hold for at least another day. We have been so fortunate with the weather these days and it makes such a difference in progress.

Bruce has arrived this afternoon and I have him clean out the attic of the cabin of all the used lumber that has been sitting up there since summer. Most of it is short and I have had him stack all the short lumber inside the crate where the leaded glass windows had been sitting. It makes a perfect area to store the short boards that we will be needing later on.

Greenbay and I have completed all the roof framing for the master suite and it's now ready for decking which is also ripped down now to a consistent width. It should go fairly quickly tomorrow and weather permitting, we should actually be dried in by tomorrow night and ready for the rim joists for the insulated panels. Hopefully, within a week we will have the steel roof on over the master suite. It has been an exceptionally difficult roof to frame even with a simple layout as the rafters are solid oak and each fastener must be pre-drilled because the oak is so hard. The old oak rafters look great and are of great quality dried white oak.

Bill has helped R. D. and me install the final leaded glass window in the main part of the house and the first and 2nd floor are now complete with all the windows. Only the master suite and garage remain and these will be ready as soon as the roof is on.

Pat has helped me tonite install the old wood pot belly stove on the first floor and we have it hooked up and ready to go as soon as the weather turns cold. It's exceptionally warm tonight and while I have a coat on, my hands are not cold. I spend 3 more hours this evening preparing more drain lines and fittings for the 2nd floor bath and laundry. With a little cutting tomorrow, the plumbing drain lines will be complete over the kitchen area. I am beat...