Sunday March 25, 2012 Checkpoint on Rockwork

Here's how it looked Sunday Morning.

By now you regulars know which side of the house you are looking at.

I'm not cleaning this up.

Saturday, March 24, 2012 Masons Masons Masons!!!

My Goodness!  I have Masons all around my house when I arrived at the construction site.   At one point I counted 8 men working.  We even had dueling Mexican music with one radio in front and one in back.

It made all the difference that they didn't have to move the rock.  I had to pay an extra $200 for the Bobcat but it probably took a week off the job plus I am not sure I would have had any Masons if I hadn't taken care of the issue with the stone.

South Side or back side of house.

East Side of house.

Front of house.  Notice front window is covered and they are at the ceiling going up into the gable.

Moving fast, East side of house.

More progress, South or Back side of house.

They have moved to the roof of the porch and put in flashing and starting to rock the gable.

This is under the roof of the porch.  The rock is to support the gable.  I am going to have to put some foam in those holes even though the wall will be foamed on the other side.  These rock won't be visible..just support for those above.

East wall complete and scaffolding removed....one day.

Back wall.

Underneath all that rubble is my covered porch floor...I hope.

Back wall almost complete...amazing how much work they did in one day. The green wall is the side of the Garage.

Friday, March 23, 2012 Rocking, Inspections, HVAC

The Framers were at the site early to fix the issues pointed out by the inspector.  There were about 6 people moving really fast and were gone before I knew it.  I had been moving water since the Masons were using that water fast.  Several big problems were pointed out by the Inspector such as the rafters were required to hit the studs on a 24 inch on center wall or be within 4 inches of the stud.  There were 10 locations that needed to be corrected.  Also, the pony walls over the Great Room were not supported from the rafter pushing the wall out of alignment.   Later in the day, Fred from Built Green Custom Homes pointed out they did not correct all the problems.

Also, when the Mason showed up he said his crew felt the work was too hard having to move the stone, sand and cement so far.  One guy, the one doing all the moving said he wasn't coming back.  I immediately attempted to get my guy, Bill Stocklin, to bring some equipment and move the stone around the house.  I never heard back from him.  Chava said he would try to get one of his friends to bring his equipment over.

Better picture of the stone being layed on the "brick ledge" on top of the moisture block.

This is the front porch by the front door.

Looking down the porch from the side showing the rubble that is being created.

The placement of the sill made out of the standing stones.

We all had to help each other.  Good group of guys.  The AirTech guy, Jeff standing behind the blue truck and joking that I just wanted to take a picture of him getting zapped.  I even went back to my house to get the jumper cables and the Mason provided his truck for the jump.

This is the completion of the rough-in installation of the Zehnder Energy Recovery Ventilation System and that is Charles sweeping up.  See the drain under the unit going into the wall which then connects to the gray water system since this is almost distilled water coming from the dehumidified air.

OK, here's my mistake.  I forgot that the exhaust and supply air for the ERV had to be in place before the wall was rocked.  Obviously, there's a rock in this opening.  Good thing the Masons were still on the job so the stone could easily be removed and fixed to seal up the hole.

Yep the other hole that isn't.

This is the double french doors on the front porch.

Now the large pipes can be placed in the holes.

Similar to a can of worms....this is a garage of worms...just the extra lengths of tubes cut off the installation

AND THE BOBCAT SHOWED UP TO MOVE THE STONE.  NOW THE MASONS WILL RETURN TOMORROW.

Thursday, March 22, 2012 Masons Are Here!

Yea, the Masons are on the job early and hard at work.  The concrete mixer was set up near the sand pile and water was brought to the area by a new water pump and about 100 ft of hose.  I had to continually watch the pump, hoses and connections since the crew did not seem to care if the water was running on the ground or the hose was run over by trucks.  They went through 200 gallons of water real quick.  I had about 700 gallons of water in two tanks but if they just waste it on the ground, it won't be enough.

One thing we noticed right away -- the rocks had to be brought from the pile to the house via wheelbarrow which was about 200 feet.  The mortar also had to be moved to the masons area.  This was the crewman who moved the cement from the garage, mixed the mortar, moved the rocks and brought the mortar to the two masons.

This was two wheelbarrows of stone.  It was going to be a hard day for him.

This is Chava and his brother, Antonio.

The faucet showing orange has been marked to indicate the vacuum relief valve was removed so I could do the water test.  I never could get it to work...kept squirting the water back out.

Notice the ties to the wall from the rock in the space left so air could move up behind the wall to the soffit and water down to weep holes yet to be placed at the bottom.

It is also visible where I put ZIP tape on the holes created by Electricians for the fuse box to be placed on this wall.  This keeps the wall water tight.  Notice also that the rock is placed on top of the black moisture block material which is under the ZIP wall and has been sealed with caulk to the studs to further seal out water from getting into the wall.

Moving up to the window.  The bottom and top will have standing blocks for trim.  The sides will be plain since they will have shutters for trim to match the fascia.

The do-everything guy even has to put the mortar up on the scaffolding so the masons can keep working.  He also watches the moisture of the mix and remixes on the boards when necessary.  The three of them were able to get a lot of rock layed.  Notice Chava has moved around the corner to the bedroom window.

I had been meaning to get to putting spray foam around the windows so I attempted to fill the cracks last night.  What I didn't know is that this stuff will continue to grow even after you think it has stopped just slower.  When I came back the next day, this is what greeted me.  Now I have to figure out how to get this stuff off the windows without damaging the finish.  The instructions say to remove with a serrated knife and remove the residue with acetone.  What a bother.  I am glad I only did the garage windows before I found out this stuff has a life of its own.