Summer's Project Complete - Yahoo!

In the spring the goats get all goofy and they get out on all sides. There is no reason to, it's just spring. You know how every person has "the thing" that bugs them. For my dad it was the outside dog barking at night. For me it is lots of things. Things like children fighting on either side of a door because eventually someone's fingers are going to get smashed. I could tell that for Ralph it was our goofy goats getting on his side of the fence. Generally they just eat the brush but once in a while they get close to his flower beds.

This spring the neighbors asked if they could go halves on putting in new fence. I started figuring and shooting lines trying to figure out how to straighten out the line and make the fence better. After taking out 4 trees that fell right where the fence should go we were ready to replace the fence. Any good fence requires sturdy corners and ends posts. I just happen to have some substantial I beam pieces around the place so we put in three of these with 180 pounds of concrete. They turned out fairly substantial...

I welded lock washers on to have something to tie the wire to. We put about 24 inches in the ground with the concrete and have about five and a half feet above ground.

Taking out the old fence is a job and pulling out the old posts is the hardest part. I started looking around for ideas and materials and made a post puller.

The post puller works great! We even pulled some round wooden posts out with it.

Three quarters of one Saturday and half of another were required to remove the old and put in the new fence. We bought taller "hog" wire which we hope will deter the goats come next spring.

I don't have a good picture of the new fence. (maybe I'll add that later)

It is nice to have this summer's major project done and I don't have to worry about Ralph stressing out over the dumb goats.... No we just have to fill the woodshed.

Shop 13: Roof Framing is Done

I took Friday off from work as the sun was shining and Dad was available to help. It is pretty tough working with 10 to 14 foot 2x8's anywhere from 14 to 19 feet off of the ground. So Friday we got the fascia boards on, the blocking done between the purlins at the front and rear walls, and one corner of the eaves completed. It doesn't sound like much by it takes awhile for every little step. The blocking was the worst. Each one was a slightly different length and one had to be installed before the next one could be measured. The Mrs. was on the ground cutting and Dad and I were nailing and measuring. The fascia boards required us to snap a chaulk line and trim the purlins before installation. Then we had to hoist a 14 foot 2x8 up there and mark it and cut it.


Saturday turned out to be a bit windy. A bit windy in Corbett is 40 MPH gusts. We kept at it though and we finished all of the roof framing. We worked on putting up the angle braces. The braces go between the steel trusses and adjacent purlins or girts. I ran short on some of those pieces so I have to harass the company to send me some more. So now depending on the wind I can put roof on! Whoopee

For the interest of the mechanics in the family I have included a picture of the flatbed framing on the Ford. I need to take it off and do some more welding and get it painted. The taillights are LED's from scrapped forklifts... DMP

Shop 11: Constructive Family Time

Last Saturday we got the wall girts all on except two above the large door opening. We put in the X brace cables. One pair on each of the 4 walls. The cables took a lot of time. There was the learning curve of how to assemble them. The way they are design requires drilling an angled hole through each of the girts at an angle.

I have the basic framing done around the 12' x 12' door opeing and around the man door opening.

Hopefully this Saturday we'll get the purlins up for the roof. It will take a little extra time to frame the over hangs on all 4 sides. DMP

Shop 10: The Iron is Hung

We started out Saturday planning on putting up the rest of the steel with the farm modified lift device for the TD9 loader. Even with this apparatus we just had enough height to put up the trusses with a 19 foot peak. As we were getting going the neighbor came over and asked if we need help as he had a telescopic forklift at his disposal. Holy smokes, yes! That would be great!

We used the loader to move the pieces around and get the trusses bolted together.

Using the tele and the neighbor's experience as a full-time crane operator putting up the rest of the roof structure went really well. It took alot less time and we didn't feel like we could die at any second. We got all of the wall girts on except the north wall as well. It was another really productive day. The weather even cooperated and it didn't rain all day. Dad was a great help. DMP

Shop 7

I finally made the inspector happy. Well not really. I had to go to Gresham City Hall and get the city structural engineer to sign off on the changes I had made. After getting approval to pour concrete I had to get a pump, finishers and concrete trucks all lined up for Saturday. It is Wednesday when I got the inspection approved. The hardest part was getting the concrete. The ready mix companies are really independent and charge like there is no competition. Most of the batch plants have to have 100 or even 200 cubic yards minimum before they will run on a Saturday. I ended up having to go with a "mobile mix" company. The only batch plant that was running wanted $75 per truck extra for Saturday.

Mobile mix is a truck that has a hopper of sand, one of gravel and one of cement. There is a big water tank too. The concrete is mixed in the shoot by an auger. Lesson learned: If you are pouring more that 8 yards make sure to get ready mix. The mix on site is not consistent and isn't well mixed. The finishers hated it. The other problem is the trucks are not back to back. The finishers left at 8 PM! We started pouring at a theoretical 10 AM, with the first truck being 35 minutes late.

With all of the troubles it still turned out pretty good. I am working on stripping forms right now. I have to do a little leveling work where the posts bolt down.

My Uncle Greg is coming home from a job in Minnesota and is going to help me haul the building kit from Sandy, OR to my place. That should happen next week. Onward and upward. DMP