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Photo Page:
These are the most recent photos, also check out the archives:
The destruction process.
A good footing.
A floor show.
Wallbangers in action.
Taking shape.
Sorry about the hiatus in live from the Freddy broadcasts. It's been busy
though. We've got some interesting photos now to show some big progress in
the construction. By the way, I was probably a little too tired and a little
overwhelmed by the work load when the last update went out. Sorry if I
sounded nasty. Things have progressed pretty well to this point. We just
want to keep them rolling along.
We start with the beginning of the trusses going up in sequence. It took
most of the morning to get most of them up with a crew of 6. Job one was
spending 2.5 hours building scaffolds so we could walk and work at a level
that would make the job easier. From there until noon (did I mention the
weekday work starts at 7 AM?) we raised most of the trusses. I think there
were 6 or 8 (plus the double end truss) to go by lunch time.
Raising them was a delicate operation. Doug and I slid the trusses flat
across the roof until they were almost in place. Bruce and Bernadette had to
lift the truss to vertical and once in position Dad kept it balanced while
Jim, Doug and I secured our respective areas of the truss. It doesn't show
in the pictures but Jim spent much of his day standing on the wobbly trusses
with nothing but air between him and the floor some 12 feet below.
Apparently you can get used to this sort of thing.
Bruce had to leave at noon so Dad and I took him to the harbour during lunch
also expecting to pick up a load of lumber. Unfortunately the lumber did not
arrive. We waited a while but returned empty-boated. On our return we were
quite amazed to see the Doug, Bernadette and Jim had finished raising the
trusses (except that nasty double end truss) and only had 4 more to secure
in place. The five of us finished up those 4 and then set about raising the
nasty double truss. We did it in 2 pieces but it was still not much fun.
Leaning out over the highest point of the cottage frame with nowhere to
stand and nothing holding you back if the truss decided to slip. Anyway we
got it done. That was Tuesday.
On Wednesday Robitaille's brought in a few extra guys and they got about
half the roof done. The also completed the walls from the top of the basic
frame to the bottom of the trusses. Wait until you see the great windows
we're going to have.
Thursday saw the arrival of John Joe (Thanks again for the time John!). I
wasn't there but as I understand the rest of the roof sheathing got done and
John spent a good part of his day crawling among the trusses attaching the
10 rows of strapping that run from front to back.
More of the same on Friday as I understand it. I returned and with an extra
boat ride (compliments of the Delawana) Paul Mathers also arrived. We were
at the harbor at 2PM on our way up and phoned the Delawana to see if we
could get Paul. They told us his conference ran until 5Pm and they couldn't
page him or get a message to him. Nice, he was already out of the meeting
and we probably missed by a few minutes.
Friday afternoon and Saturday involved clean up of some of the bracing that
was no longer needed, filling the trenches around the foundation and
finishing up some of the sheathing on the outside. None of it was too
visible unless you are into close-up photos of Aspenite and Tyvec Housewrap.
I didn't think so. There was clean-up going on across the channel too. The
church arranged for one of Robitaille's barges and a crew of volunteers to
clean up the rock where the dock people used to gather. It's the end of an
era and the site is looking quite a bit better already.
On Sunday it was more clean-up and more touch up as we (OK, John and Paul)
finished filling the trenches. And if that wasn't enough digging they also
dug the post holes for the deck on the door from the kitchen. I think now
that all generations will settle on this as being the side door. The front
of the cottage is now officially the side with the most glass in it. We also
started further work on the interior walls.
I'm here in Toronto today, but I know that the team of roofers are putting
the shingles on today. That's important because we found out Friday
afternoon that the plywood alone is pretty leaky. Once that's on things can
go more at our own pace. This week most or all of the interior framing
should be done. I also heard rumor that most of the windows and doors will
be delivered to the site around Wednesday.
This weekend should see the beginning of the wiring rough in.
So, if you feel like doing a little work like pulling a wire, drilling a
whole or hammering a nail we welcome the help. It's great exercise. If your
preference is a bed and your own room, accommodations are a little tight
still so call ahead. If you have a tent and don't mind roughing it we can
handle almost all who want to work. Of course we need to make sure we bring
enough food so call ahead anyway. You could even be the first to sleep in
the new building if you wanted to pitch the tent inside it. And on that
note, thanks to Mum for coming up each weekend and cooking for all the tired
warriors. It's much easier to work all day when you know you don't have to
lift a finger to make your own food at the end of it.
By the way, it is a job site. There are lots of nails and power tools lying
around. If you are planning to come up think safety. And did I mention bugs?
The black flies won't die and you haven't ever seen this many of them.
Hopefully they'll be done soon but in the meantime a bug hat makes the
working quite bearable.
Here's the latest photos, some go back to a week ago.
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