I went to a cookout for some of our Indian guys that are visiting, but managed to get up and check things out.  Everything was still standing, though I noticed that one of my guy ropes is pretty useless.


Apparently it rained up there, though I don't recall it raining the last couple of days.


I got the tarps pulled off and attached to the sides.  Apparently either these tarps are shorter, or this carport is longer.


All done.


I picked up a few cinderblocks to try to raise it up, so I can stand up the walls.

Roasting day.

It was hot today.  Really hot.  In an unusual turn of events, the high for the day in Swanzey was the same as Sullivan (Sullivan is normally 3-5 degrees cooler), but both areas flirted with 90.

My blocks didn't hold up well, so instead I just put the third loop on the tarp on.


I also spent a lot of time siphoning water off the tarps.  It is kind of a slow process, but I got all the water off without dumping all over my walls and subflooring.




The hose is actually for my mixer valve controller, but it worked better than a garden hose that I tried to use on the shed when I was building it.


I also put the new carport together.  They have changed the numbers on all the parts since the the one I bought a couple of weeks ago, and it took a lot (and I do mean a lot) longer with only person.  I tried to put the top on before putting the legs on, and that appears to have made it easier.  But it is standing.  I will need to figure a couple of things out, most notably being how to cover the ends, since it is 20 feet long, and the floorplan is 24 and a half feet.


A couple of changes, they changed out all the anchors.  You get 4 beefier ones, but the other ones are even wimpier than before.


The wimpy ones are a little thinner, and several inches shorter.


Even the beefier ones didn't seem to anchor that well.  All the stirred up dirt was from it moving around as I tried to tie it down.


I also realized that I didn't have enough bungee cords to move the big tarps to the sides, so those are still covering the main flooring.  This is all I have left after the one side on the other carport.


The main things I need to figure out is how to move it over about a foot (the trailer is a little too close to the edge of the slab), how to cover the extra almost 5 feet, and how I am going to raise the whole shebang up a couple of feet so that I can stand the walls up underneath it.

Almost had enough good weather to do some work.

As you might have guessed by the lack of a post, the town decided to jerk me around again.  I almost wrote a post, but it was full of expletives and anger, so I decided not to post it.  I have started looking at properties again, since it is pretty clear that the town cares more about its check boxes (that they can't even tell you what they mean) than it does actually improving the town and its constituents.

I managed to get a run to Harbor Freight in today before the storms arrived.
I picked up a new carport.  This one is primarily to expedite the work, allowing me to do work when raining (which has been the case all week) before getting the exterior sealed.


I also picked up some jack stands.  I intend to block it up so that it is more stable, and these were on sale.  3 ton ought be sufficient.  The boxes are placed roughly where they will go.  I also have the front lift, and two of the original camper jacks that were on the camper when I bought it, which will be on the very end.  I haven't decided yet if I am going to remove the wheels.  I will probably leave them, at least for now.


My new bungee cords arrived today.  I got longer ones since the tarp wasn't (supposedly) as long as the carport, it was 19' 6" not 20', but the tarp was indeed as large as the side of the carport, so they are a bit loose.  Time will tell if they work or if I need to go buy some shorter ones.


Along those lines, I got the side on the other carport.  It only has one side at the moment, since the other two big tarps I have will be going on the other one.  Once the exterior is sealed on the frame though, this will be enclosed on both sides.


I was intending to start putting up the carport, but I started getting wet, and this was inbound.  I will get it set up tomorrow.

Walls done, rafters cut.

I completed the last section of wall today.


I also got all the rafters cut.  I calculated I need 26 to do the whole roof with no overhang and 2 foot spacing, which is the same as I did on the shed.


Since I never un-tarped the frame, I stored the new wall under the center of the carport on some blocks so it isn't on the concrete.  It is leaning against the sawhorse which isn't going to move, and I piled the furnace, toolbox and screws on the other side to make sure it doesn't move.  It didn't look like the center got wet, even with the angry storms.


You can't really tell by the picture, but the reason it pooled is because the tubes bent.  You can kinda see it in the back left set of tubing on this picture.


It is a good thing the selectman meeting is tomorrow, I am rapidly running out of things that I can do without the building.  I can finish up some of the frame stuff (centering the subflooring, putting the trailer frame up on blocks, finish the sanding and painting on the newly welded parts) but other than that I am pretty close to out of things to do.  I really really hope I get the building permit tomorrow and not another run around.

Angry Storms

As is becoming my norm, I was out picking stuff up in a rather angry storm today.  I picked up two free windows.  They are actually pretty nice double-hung vinyl ones.  I had intended to use them in the shed, mostly because of their size (they are 32 x 56, bigger than any window planned for the tiny home) but I might revisit the plans and see if I can use them.




The canopy survived the storms, which is good.  I was concerned given that it is a Harbor Freight special.


The only things I noticed were that it seemed to stretch the vinyl covering and there was one spot where it resulted in pooling.


As expected, the tarps pooled in between the wall studs.  Unfortunately there isn't much I could do about that unless I bought enough plywood to lay across the top or something of that nature.


I also picked up the rest of the boards for the last wall piece (for real this time, I hope).  I will probably get the last wall piece built tomorrow, and if I have time I will start cutting the rafters and ridge boards.  I have the lengths and plumb measurements all ready to go, courtesy of an online tool:  https://www.blocklayer.com/roof/gableeng.aspx


If I use a 10' board, I can get two rafters per board, whereas if I use 8' boards I can only get one, so I will be cleaning out Home Depot's stock of 10' boards soon.

One wall complete, everything tarped.

I completed one of the walls, making the other shorter piece that attaches to the longer one.  Unfortunately it appears I miscounted, and don't have enough studs to finish the other wall (I am two short).


I also prepped the site for rain.  Unfortunately there is nothing to prevent it from pooling in between the studs, but there isn't much I can do about it.  The tarps aren't wide enough to put a drum on it and make a taper, they don't actually cover all the wood as it is.


I ended up using the two large tarps I bought for the garage, so all I managed for that was to move everything toward the center, and I did tarp the generator and miter saw.

Nice lazy day.

I got a late start, since the first thing that I did after Dad left was take a nap.  I didn't get up there until after lunch.  I had a visitor scoping out my tools when I got there.

   


I did manage to get the entire yard mowed though.


Even the back which was still a swamp.




I did pick up the rest of the boards I need for the walls, and they are all marked, so I will cut them and finish assembling the walls tomorrow.  Unfortunately tomorrow marks the end of the the rather long stretch of nice summer weather, so depending on the skies, I might just try to come up with a tarping solution.  I have tarps for the sides of the carport, but I don't know how I am going to cover the frame which now has flooring and walls on it.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day everyone, commemorating the original Brexit.  I was a little disappointed in my locals, last year there was a great display right down the street, but he apparently fired off everything he had before the 4th.  Dad and I only got to see a few off in the distance.

We got the larger chunks for the walls done today. We took it easy; we were done shortly after lunch.  I have two 16' wall chunks complete, one has a few pieces missing which is where the door will be. 



There was one minor mishap.  I was aiming away from the finger, but there was a knot or something in the board and I managed to hit Dad's finger...  He didn't need it anyways.


I will need to calculate how many more boards I need, the last few times I would just buy the entire center of the pallet, but I am down to a small number at this point.  I am almost out of wood.

I tallied up the cost of the subflooring, and the total came to $517.

Sub flooring complete

Dad got here no problems.  He has been helping me the last couple of days.  The first thing we did was set up the car port.  It seems to work ok and it is very nice to have some shade, so I might consider getting a second one at some point.


On Sunday, we got started on the subflooring.  This is as far as we got.


This is because I apparently made an error when I measured the trailer and somehow this happened:


Oops.  I will have to cut about a foot and a half out of the floorplan to make it work.  At least the new generator worked pretty good.


Today, we got the basic framing done before lunch.




We did manage to complete the subflooring too.  This is what the completed subflooring looks like.  





We even got the California corners installed (so I have a lip to attached the flooring to) and the center supports.  The only thing missing is some brackets for over the wheel wells.

It may look like the joist hangers for the longer joists are hung upside down because they are opposite normal construction.  But they are correct to the direction that the force will be applied on the joist.  In a normal house, the joists hang without supports.  You walk on the floor, the force applied goes downward.  You want the support on the bottom in that scenario.  On the trailer frame though, the only walking area is in the center, which has a fulcrum point (the frame rail) and will then push up on the outside.  I also don't have any heavy weights that will completely reside between the outside and the frame rail, so I hung them upside down since the majority of the force applied will be in that direction.

We also went and picked up some lumber for the walls.  I didn't actually think we would get this far, but we might actually finish the two smaller walls tomorrow.  The pile on the slab has gotten smaller.