The Continuation

After bidding Rob and Lori farewell I continue the work on building the remaining walls. I have all the sticks up now straight and level making Dad proud I’m sure. The unusual characteristics about this build is, the cement slap and roof have a down slope of about 2 inches. which makes the studs look crooked in comparison to the roof. Something I have to get over I guess. The next step was to get my building permit. Most of you may think that you should have a building permit before you begin a project like this but it isn’t really necessary, especially when you forget about it. The inspector forgave my senior moments and approved the building anyways.

Just a Little Help From My Friends

The next victim to assist me in my build was Donna’s dad, Del. A little background first: We went to Del’s family reunion up by Alton Missouri in the Ozark Mountains. Met some real nice folks. Afterwards Del & Arlene follow us back to our home to continue the visit. Donna and Arlene had always heard about Canton, Texas where Texas largest and oldest swap meet or flea market occurs before the weekend of the 1st Monday of the month. I believe it covered about 12 acres. We turn that trip in a camp outing. This was Del and Arlene’s first time in the new camper and it worked well for the four of us. The next test will be for 6 (Sam, Matt Del, Arlene) or maybe not. Again another enjoyable event ended and we came back home.

During the following week Del was getting a little bored especially when he is away from his garden in Englewood, CO. I wanted to make him happy so I talk him into doing a little work on my man cave. Del is a retired electrician, he was able to help me select the correct wire based on my power requirements, along with plugs and junction boxes. And sense I had to work, he kindly volunteered to install these items as well. What professional work! He did it in such a way that a Texan electrician could simply look at the labor install my fuse box and sign off on the work, saving me countless amounts of paid electrical labor and cost.

Next, I start the outer wall.

The Barn Raisin’

Spring has gone and summer is hitting the streets at least down here in Texas. Lots of things has happen around the house. I invited my brother Rob and his wife Lori to Texas. We wanted to show them how real Americans lived. Ok well maybe we wanted a little more than that. I need to “raise a barn” a term used by the Amish. This is when you invite all the men folk over to do a little work.  I need some smart construction work so what better person to invite but a brother who has received the same training I did from our Dad. My project, though I really wanted to do some major work on the man cave, was to build a fence for my girl friend. All men should know that you can’t be selfish with your time. You need to take care of some of the honey-do requirements, this way it allows you to enjoy the man cave at a later date. This wasn’t just any old fence this was one of them plastic/vinyl/tuber ware kind. Seems a little weak to me but no painting required, just wash it off with the high pressure washer and it looks like new.

This thing look easy but there were some major thinking we had to do. After 3 trips to Lowes and 1 to Home depot and 6 hours of work we got the gate up between the garage and the house. It looks real good. It had to have a strong post in the event someone slams it. After all the lessons learn we were able to knock the to sides out fairly easy. We had a couple issues with putting post plates into the cement. Rob didn’t know this but no matter careful we were about digging the post holes in the yard we still cut a sprinkler wire. I didn’t know this until last week when I had the sprinkler dudes come out and make some repairs. Everything went well and I appreciate Rob’s wisdom and patience with me and the Texas heat.

After completion of the fence we still had a couple hours to work on the man cave. Rob has overhauled his basement and was very familiar putting up studs. He was able to get me started by putting down the frame for the cement and the ceiling.