Pool House Expansion Project, Day Thirty-Four, 09/11/15

The Excavator arrives and gets to work.

Day Thirty-Four, 09 November, 2015

Excavator, Track Hoe, Big-Ass Piece of Equipment, whatever you want to call it. Should be here Monday, around 10:00 AM or so. And so it was. It arrived about 10:30, give or take a few minutes.

It was mounted side-saddle on the low-boy trailer so they just had to drive it off the trailer and through the gates with plenty of room to spare.

Trummer's Machine Arriving

 Here it comes through our trees. Kind of cool how low it can tuck itself to get through. Not bad for basically a huge machine.

Ducking Down Below the Trees

 Arriving at the actual place where the work needs to be done. It's first order of business is to move as much of a pile of sand that was in its way as possible.

At Last - Into the Work Area

 First off, un-tucking itself, it stretched, and then got righ to work.

Stretching It's Arm - Ready To Go

 A couple of scoops of sand and this pile was no longer a problem.

Gotta Move the Sand Pile

 I thought you might like to see the nuts and bolts that actually anchor the trusses to the chain.

Some of the Nuts, Bols, and Washers to Hold the Trusses On

 Now's the fun part. The machine picks up the first truss and begins to swing it around and move it up to the north end of the roof.

Hoisting the Fierst One - the North Gable End

 Up and over. Gently does it. The guys are keeping it under control with lines on either end as the Track Hoe moves it along to its final position.

Up and Over As It Goes

 Omar's directing its placement on the end. It will still need some final tweaking and adjusting.

Omar Wants It Right Here

 Everybody gets into the act. This first one was the hardest. The boom hadn't gotten to the site yet, so there was barely enough room for the Excavator to maneuver the truss. It was tough for the guys to move it too. Each of the gable end trusses weigh about 1,500 pounds, or so. All of the truss lumber is bullet-tree wood, an extremely dense and heavy wood, that can effectively only be cut and drilled while it's still green. All the truss lumber for this project weighed in the vicinity of six and three-quarter tons. Magnificent, heavy stuff. Virtually termite-proof because of the density.

A Little This Way

Here's a shot showing the blocks that had to be trimmed so that the end gable on the north end would seat just so. This had to be done, as this is where the two structures, the existing pool house and the new construction actually come together. Wasn't necesary for it to be done on the other end.

The Angle Fits Perfectly

Now, with the boom in place, moving the trusses is significantly easier, and since most of them aren't gable end pieces, they're quite a bit lighter and more easily maneuvered into place.

Picking Up the Third One

From the inside, you can see progress is coming fast. Once the boom got here, the process moved right along. The machine was only here a little over three hours, much faster than we had initially estimated.

Adjusting Another One

Just a shot to show you the cubby above the closet that will also be where the access hatch to the attic will be located.

Future Site of Attic Access Hatch

In addition to bolting each truss to the anchor points, they are joined by wood pieces temporarily until the furring strips can be added prepatory to the roofing zinc being added.

Joining Them Together With Wood Pieces

The last truss is in position and being fastened into place. Not as hard as we thought it might be.

The Last Truss Going Up

Carl had to use a couple of wood pieces to push the center of the last truss into place until weight could be applied to the truss.

Bracing With A Couple of Boards

Once that was done, we had one last chore for the machine - dig the septic tank hole. Since we're going to use a Rotoplas plastic septic tank, a deep hole, relatively small diameter had to be dug within the confines of the steel markers.

Marks Where the Septic Tank Will Go

The first push into the ground. That lets you know just how powerful this machine is. That marl is as hard as concrete, but seemed like butter to the machine.

Starting to Dig the Septic Tank Hole

The machine's operator, is really an artist with that thing. Notice how close he's come to the markers.

Fine Precision Work

After about ten minutes work it was all done.

Finished Septic Tank Hole

About that time, after the danger of falling debris, etc., had passed, Dianna thought she would come down and inspect how things have gone.

Dianna Inspecting the Work

 Altogether, a short day's work for the crew. Hot but short. There's a ton more photos of this phase of the project. See the next paragraph to access them.

There's many more photos than appear in each posting. You can see all the photos of the construction project on Flickr at: https://www.flickr.com/gp/winjama/0wVc3s. There will be new photos added each day of the project.

Pool House Expansion Project, Day Thirty-Three, 07/11/15

Getting Ready for the Excavator

Day Thirty-Three, 07 November, 2015

Excavator, Track Hoe, Big-Ass Piece of Equipment, whatever you want to call it. Should be here Monday, around 10:00 AM or so.

Case Track Hoe or Excavator (courtesy of CASE, Inc.)

 I was worried about the width of the tracks on the beast. The guys had just repaired (again) the gate, to get it to swing open smoothly. I could just see that Monday, they'd have to dismantle it to get the track hoe in to do the task with the trusses.

Apparently, not to worry. The gate opening is close to fourteen feet, so there should be plenty of clearance for it to enter and depart. Not too sure about trees though. At least one of the trees would be a small loss if the track hoe had to take it out. Well, we'll see what happens on Monday morning.

The crew arrived fashionably late this morning. It was all Carl's fault. Crossing the border was crowded this morning. Anyway, it's a good day to get this stuff done. It's all stuff that needs to be done before Trummer and his Back Hoe show up on Monday.

Here Omar is laying out the lines to determine the angle. They need that because, as you'll see, the blocks on one end need to be trimmed.

Omar Laying Out the Angles

Carl and Omar getting the crew started on the day's project.

Starting the Day's Work

Enjoying the view while making sure everyone understands just what trimming needs to be done.

Going Over the Game Plan

The trim angle has been layed out and now chipping away to achieve that angled has started.

Even Fresh Concrete is Tough

Here, they're measuring to determine the center point and layout the trim angle on this side.

Finding the Center Point

 Below is what the west side cut looks like. East side will be similar.

West Side Truss Cut

Here's the completed line for the truss to lay down on. It's the outer ends on both that need trimming.

New Line for Last Truss

Getting the angle trimmed down so the truss will fit exactly.

Trimming Blocks Down to the Angle

 And, after surgery, here's what the finished item looks like. It'll be interesting to see how it all fits together.

East Side Cut Completed

This is the tile design and color that Dianna likes for the shower.

Dianna's Favorite Blue Tile for the Shower

In real light, this is more a blue-green, instead of a blue.

Not So Favorite Blue Tile

And this is not white no matter what they say.

Not So Favorite Off-White Tile

Carl and I went over to Robert's development and took a look at the installation of the Rotoplas septic tank and drain field.

Rotoplas Septic Tank Cover

Here's the soak-away. More like a buried barrel.

Soak-Away Near Septic Tank

I was a busy boy too. I got in the pool, and decided it was time to take half the awning down, which I did.

Half the Pool Awning Down

There's many more photos than appear in each posting. You can see all the photos of the construction project on Flickr at: https://www.flickr.com/gp/winjama/0wVc3s. There will be new photos added each day of the project.

Wring Out That [Insert Item Here] - Part 2

I had high hopes the day before yesterday that things would be returning to normal. I was up and raring to go by 7:00 AM. My plan was to start work on the gate for the dog run that we finally decided was a project that was way past needing to be undertaken.

I was in my workshop bashing some fittings that would be needed to attach the gate to the columns. I enlisted Carlos, our caretaker, to help me. Once those fitting had been bashed enough, we needed a hammer drill to bore through the concrete of the columns. Carlos had one at his house, so we jumped into the Sport Trac and headed off to do that.

As an aside, we also had to run into town, so that I could pick up my compressor from Terrence. He'd been able to fix it. Apparently, one of the gauges rusted and froze, and another component had rusted some, but wasn't quite frozen. That's one of the problems with tools down here. If you don't use them every day, they rust, corrode, or decay in some other ways. Rubber bits decay from ozone and/or UV rays from sunlight, and probably other causes as well.

After picking up Carlos's hammer drill, and the obligatory parts for the gate and fence from Lano's, we set to work putting the gate together and getting it hung. Then we finished hanging the fence. All this was done in a drizzle, just like in the Northwest. The only difference being about forty or so warmer degrees of temperature.

An hour or so after we completed the dog pen, I got an email from Carl, letting me know he was still stranded over in Chetumal, so the afternoon was whiled away watching the weather steadily deteriorate.

Tuesday morning dawned, overcast, drizzly at times, verging on clearing up. It seemed like it might be heading toward better skies. At least, that's what we were hoping.

Around  10:00 or 10:30 AM, I got an email from Carl, he'd finally be able to cross from Chetumal to Belize, and that he and the guys were planning to come that afternoon and at least get a half-day's work in.

Of course, at 12:02 PM, just at the start of the lunch hour, the heavens opened up once again. Consequently, no workers.

Later in the afternoon, while I was napping, Carl and Omar came by to check things out. Dianna met with them. They are planning to try and get to work on Wednesday morning. Hopefully, that will happen. I just don't have a good feel for the weather right now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Pool House Expansion Project - Day Twelve Through Fifteen - 6-9/10/15

Days Twelve Through Fifteen - 6-9 October, 2015

Things are moving right along. Plumbing needs have to be addressed at this time. Any piping that goes into or through the poured concrete must be taken care of to the same extent that it's integrity and alighnment is maintained.

Which mean't that a big chunk of time went to tapping into the cold water feed from the kitchen, as you can see in the photo below.

Gluing the Piping

Here it's finished and is run through the cabinet wall into the adjascent cabinet and then through the wall into the utility room.

Cold Water Connected

A part that also needs to be taken care of is the laundry hookup and waste line. Those are all going to be hidden in the wall, so it became necessary to cut a hole in the wall in order to feed the lines and equipment as necessary.

Washer Plumbing From Plenum

Here you can see the plumbing lines running adjascent to the west wall of the foundation.

Risers For Bathroom Faucet, Toilet, and Shower

Our first big load of cement arriving. It's soon stacked up on the pallets and protected from rainfall.

150 Bags of Cement Arriving

The washer plenum was hard to assemble. Nothing wanted to go in the right way. Just one of those days.

Assembling the Washer Plenum

Omar is patching where the water service line comes through from the kitchen into the utility room. You can also see one of the risers that is currently stubbed off. They're for the reverse osmosis system and the saltless water softener.

Omar Patching the Hole From the Kitchen

Rocks are now being placed into the gaps in the foundation block work. Hard work. None of the rocks get lighter as they're handled.

Arranging the Rocks

They've also taken the opportunity to fill the bases of the vertical columns with concrete.

Concrete Fill on Column Base

Always time for a little consultation. You have to make sure everything is being looked at and that it's in place and protected as necessary.

Conferring on Plumbing

More of the fill of rocks. Still a huge area to fill inside those two rows of blocks.

Rocks Filling the Holes

Omar, making sure the plumbing runs are in place and protected .

Setting the Plumbing on its Supports

Overfilled, but with the intent that the overage will simply be transferred to the inner void to be filled up.

One Section Filled to Overflowing

After a hard day's work, ready for the ride home in the evening.

A Hard Day's Work is Done