Substandard tarping and the loaner truck

I ran out of time today and the probability of me getting the metal up before I leave this weekend for Krass' has now hit 0, so I went up and did a rather shoddy tarp job.  I just hope that the rain and storms don't bring a lot of wind.  It shouldn't pool too much despite not being taught because of the rafters and furring strips, but I am concerned about it blowing off.




While my truck continues to drain my wallet, I got a chance to test drive two different models of new pickups.  I had a white 2015 F 250 while I was at work, and got a 2015 GMC3500 loaner.

All in all, if I were to buy one, I would have to play with the Ford a little bit more, but it would be the front runner.  The ford was less comfortable, but I didn't mess with the seat or any settings (it was the mechanics personal vehicle), but it ran much nicer, it shifted both smoother and more decisively and at what felt like the right times, and had much better visibility, whereas the GMC was a bit lethargic shifting, leading to a bit more jerking, and the GMC had much higher shift points which didn't help its cause either.  The ford had vastly superior mirrors, and the gauges were much more readable.  I also found its little display in the dash to be much more useful and better designed.  One thing I didn't like was the weird turn signal system they have, it isn't push it down and when you make the turn it will pop the stick back to normal, you push it down and it registers, and the stick immediately goes back to the neutral spot.  It would definitely take some getting used to.

The short version is that the Ford was designed better, ran nicer, but the GMC was "familiar" and a bit more comfortable.

I only have pictures of the GMC.  The profile of the truck.


The front end.  The top of the hood was at about chest height.


The interior.


The gauge cluster. I found it very hard to read, because the cluster is nearly vertical, and you sit very upright in the truck, which means you are looking at the gauges at a very bizarre and unnatural angle.


The console area.  I haven't played with this, but the controls looked reasonable.


They don't give you space behind the seats anymore.



Part of the visibility problem with the GMC was the weird interior design.  I had plenty of headroom, but the windshields (both the front and the back) were waay too small.  You can see in the second one that the rear windshield is less than a foot tall.  The same problem existed in the front.  If I were another few inches taller, my eye level would be above the windshield.  As it was, the visibility out the front was noticeably poor.

Prepped for storms and fixed the lawnmower.

So I got the site as well prepared for rain as possible.  I no longer have the ability to tarp it, so hopefully the furring strips don't take too much beating.  Regardless of the state of my truck (which goes in tomorrow) I need to get metal up this week, since it is supposed to rain again Thursday.

This is the part that seemingly had no home.  I couldn't figure out where it went, the holes in it didn't line up with either the parts above or below, so I just removed it.  The mower runs, so it didn't seemingly need it.



The rattle in the mower was caused by the blade being loose.  As the mower sat on its side:


I could push on the blade and put it at this kind of an angle:


I guess it isn't a terrible thing though, since the blade needed sharpening anyways.  You would never know by looking at it that I just sharpened it around a month ago.

Quick easy but productive day.

Well ,we counted exactly correctly on the strips, I had none left over but had exactly what I needed for my roof.  All I have are a few pieces of scrap.


On the whole roof, I only made one slight error where something didn't line up where it should have.


All the furring strips are installed though, and the roof is ready for metal.
Top view:


From inside the shed:


I don't have the outriggers installed yet, but those aren't strictly speaking absolutely necessary to move forward with the metal.  Unfortunately, I am now out of material, and my truck is out of commission at the moment.  The wheel bearing had been getting worse for some time now, but something else (tie rod end or ball joint) just went bad and now the truck doesn't turn well and shakes real bad, so I will be getting that fixed asap.

Apparently working outside all weekend without a shirt on burned this computer nerd's shoulders right up.  It is worse than it looks in the picture.


Since I know Heather has been waiting, I will be hopefully restarting the drive recovery tonight, I have the Win7 flash drive made up, and will be installing it tonight and restarting the drive recovery that was so rudely interrupted.

H ties in, Outriggers built

I got all the H-ties in.  I doubled a couple on the edges where the wind comes in, and the ones in the middle.


I also got the outriggers built for both the front and back.  I can't install them until I finish the siding though, so that will be tomorrow's task.


I also started to get the Z flashing put in on the front.

Rafters in and mowing.

During my lunch break today, I went up and did some mowing.  I can only get one chunk in during my lunch break, but it still means I don't have to waste time after work when I could be building.


I also brought up my propane tank and tested the free grill I got off Craigslist.  They said it needed new burners and hardware, but everything lit right, and I didn't see any massive glaring problems with the burners.  Everything looked perfectly fine and easily usable.


I still hate these kinds of grates.


I also completed the rafters today, all of them are now hanging.  I just need to get the H1-ties for the bottoms and make sure everything is lined up, and then start putting on furring strips.




Since I ran out of materials and stuff to do, I also did a bit more mowing tonight until it got dark.  Got another part of it done.


I am still debating on what to do about the overhang.  Some people will hang another set of rafters and then just put interconnects back to the triangle rafter, some don't.  Don't is much easier, but I am not sure how well it will survive the wind if I don't.  I have a foot of overhang on both the front and back.

Not as much as I wanted done today, but most rafters are in.

I wanted to get all of the rafters installed today, but only got about 2/3 of them in.  They are just nailed in for now, I do intend to put actual rafter hangers on them before winter rolls in.

What I have left


What is done.


I also got the Z flashing cut and put in place today for the back.  I will do the front when I get there.

Ready for rafters finally.

I didn't have my camera yesterday so I didn't update anything, but yesterday I got the tarps cleared off, filled up the generator (it ran out of gas on me) and got the ridge beam marked.


We had a lot of wind last weekend.  Enough to destroy previously perfectly fine bungee cords.


Where I had used straps, it just shredded the tarp.


The ridge beam is marked.


Today, I got the ridge beam standing.  The top of my head is around 2-3" above the top of the beam.


Apparently I misplaced my tin snips, so the Z flashing is just kind of sticking out.  I will get it cut off eventually.  Since I am installed it after getting the end cap installed, it didn't go in very well.


It appears that there is a slight modification still required...


But all in all, I am ready for rafters at this point.

Rafters at the ready

I got 15 rafters prepared (I got 16 boards, screwed one up), and they are all cut and ready to install.  The one I hosed up is the one with the angle going the wrong way...


It made a lot of pieces, the larger chunks were taken off with the miter saw, which was fine, but the smaller pieces made me realize that I need a new jig saw, mine is only slightly faster than doing it with a hand saw, though it is an antique Black and Decker.


I won't be doing anything this weekend, I will be out in Albany helping Mike move.  I went and got my truck all cleaned out, since I will be taking that.  It is amazing how much of it I could just hide under the back seat.

Other side is ready, now just need some good weather

The other side of the roof is ready to install.  Since I will have to retarp everything afterwards though I am going to wait for a couple of nice days in a row to do it, since retarping takes a long time by myself, and I would like to also get the rafters in so the water doesn't pool in the tarp as bad.


Its final destination.


I have also started cutting rafters.  I have a couple ready, and intend to buy more boards and get the rest of them ready tonight and tomorrow (it is supposed to storm tomorrow).


Now that we are in full bloom, it is actually quite shady up there.  I have also noticed that we are at the end of bug season, they haven't been bad the last couple of times that I was up there.


You almost can't see the road from the shed anymore.


I am getting close to not needing nice weather to work, which should speed things up tremendously, which is good since I am a month behind schedule at this point.

Mowing after a long weekend

First up:  thanks Matt for lending me his old Elph camera.  I can now shoot real pictures pictures again.


So I ran into something yesterday.  Stopped the mower dead, couldn't pull the recoil either.  I figured out why today.  I apparently ran over a bunch of chicken wire.  Didn't see it, didn't know it was there, but the blades found it.


The grass needed it.  Badly.  This is the part that had been mowed previously, and it was up to my shins, though it is hard to tell in the picture.


But over the last two days, I got the whole front done.






The side and back are really really bad.  I am not sure I can easily mow them at this point.  I might just let it grow wild and do something about it towards the end of the season.


The back is probably over knee high at this point


As usual, I found some goodies in the yard.  Normally it is just rocks and garbage, but today I found a new gas can cap, one that has the insert and will actually seal.


I also found this.  The engine is familiar, the 2.8 multi-port is what mom had in her old Celebrity, but I don't recognize the part.


I haven't gotten anything done on the shed, but it looks like the second gen tarping solution didn't work either.  The shed appears to have stayed dry, but the tarp wasn't taught enough and it has now pooled.  Thankfully when I get the rafters installed that should no longer be a problem.