The Inspection that Wasn't...or Was?

Troy called Inspector BS on Monday to arrange an inspection of the framing. BS said ok he could do it the next morning, but could Troy please call him to remind him. [The next morning...to remind him that they had talked yesterday for an inspection today.]

So Tuesday morning Troy calls BS to remind him of the inspection they had arranged yesterday and BS says, oh yes I came by yesterday and snooped around while you weren't home. (Ok, ok, so Inspector BS probably didn't use the word snoop.) He made no comment on the framing except to say that Troy had to have the roof done (sheathed and shingled) before he could do the framing inspection. So all this time we had been waiting to start the shingling, we could have actually been shingling. (You know, me shingling while Troy was finishing up the framing piddling things.)

AND Inspector BS verifies with Troy that he's going to also add a moisture barrier* over the part of the roof that overhangs the eaves. Troy replies, you know I am going to be adding R-50 insulation and there will be no need for that, right? BS says, oh yes that is true but the code says it needs to be there. Besides I couldn't get a variance when I built my own house so I am not going to give you a variance. [I will insert here, na-na-na-na-boo-boo, but I'm sure BS didn't really say that either.]

So we will commence with roofing including the moisture barrier with two thoughts in our minds:
1. We are basically approved because if Inspector BS had seen something wrong when he was around Monday he would have said something; and
2. Inspector BS saw that the roof was not done and stopped the inspection there only to wait til the roof is done to tell us what else we need to fix.
(Ok, really there is one more option: 3. Inspector BS basically approved it but when he comes back to see the roof he will decide he doesn't like something that he thought was ok the previous time.)

Wish us luck and just a touch warmer weather!
-christina

Footnotes:
*Moisture barrier, you ask? This is for houses with insufficient insulation in the attic. This causes the attic to heat which causes the snow on the roof to melt. The melted snow runs down the roof and reaches the part of the roof over the eaves which is not heated and then freezes into ice and oh-so-picturesque-on-someone-else's-house icicles. This can cause an ice dam and then the melted snow can back up under the shingles and ruin your roof. The moisture barrier is used to try and protect the plywood from the damaging moisture. Of course, if your house is insulated, your attic is cold and then you have no need for this barrier, thank you very much, Inspector BS.

Inspection Time

Troy has called for an inspection of the framing and Inspector BS has said he will show up tomorrow morning. Please pray the cold wet crappy weather will put him in a good mood and we can get this done, and done in our favour.

In anticipation of the roofing that may follow the inspection, Troy bought me this lovely toolbelt. It is about the only "ladies'" toolbelt available so let's hope it works. He has not yet bought me the suspenders he seems to think are so necessary for his own, but hopefully I won't be carrying the 18 lbs that he is carrying in his belt. (I think that was without the screwguns.) Troy looked for it in red, but this is the only colour available. According to reports it will bleed onto my clothing so soon I will have "coordinating" pants! I can't wait.

Many Hands Make Quick Work...2

A lot has been accomplished this week thanks to the three extra pair of willing hands. They finished laying out the two layers of insulation and re-bar, and Isaac and Peggy have tied more than 2,000 wire ties to hold the re-bar in place; they have a few more to do and should finish them tomorrow. Troy wants to add more reinforcements to the forms and he’s hoping to call the inspector on Monday. If things get done on time, we’ll be pouring cement on Saturday. (Ready, troops?)

When most of that work was wrapped up (we ran out of ties over the holiday so work on the shop was halted), we started on firewood. Last winter we “filled” our five racks and burned through about 3.5. So we have 1.5 racks of dried wood to start us off this year. But of course we still wanted to fill the 5 racks again to be prepared. Troy and I got a start on it about the middle of June, but only managed to fill half a rack. Warren started splitting the stump pieces Troy had already hacked off and finished off that rack on Tuesday. Then when the shop work was held up, Troy and Isaac got serious about making wood to split.

First they tackled the debris of the walnut tree and did about half of the wood there. Then they moved on to a hickory tree that had split during a storm. Several loads with the tractor (bucket in front and trailer behind) and Troy thinks he has removed maybe half of the side limbs and branches. That’s not including any of the wood from the main trunk that fell that he hasn’t touched. Warren split it and Peggy stacked it and today we filled the fourth rack. And this time I mean fill and not “fill.” In other words, the height of the piles this year is much higher than last year. We are going to have a lot more wood. We started filling the fifth rack this afternoon but Troy has had trouble keeping up with the efficient Warren/Peggy splitting/stacking machine. Sorry, no pictures of our wonderful stacked wood (and you know I love pictures of cut and stacked wood) because we got them tarped up pronto (and pictures of tarps are not so lovely).

This is all for now because I have to go to bed and try to sleep. Try to sleep though the neighbours are loudly celebrating the Fifth of July. Someone should send them a calendar.

-christina

Inspection down the drain

This post was going to be called "Where oh where is the inspector?" b/c Troy has been done the plumbing for some days but the inspector showed up before I wrote the blog. (I guess he won that one.) Yesterday we came home to an approval on the plumbing work Troy has done...with one caveat: Troy must add a T-joint and cleanout pipe which is accessible from the outside of the builing. Troy does not think this is necessary (or he would have done it in the first place) and he's not sure why Mr Inspector wants it, but what can you do. (And this is not Inspector BS in case you are wondering.)


Here are some shots of Troy's lovely work. In the first shot, the closest drain is for the sink and the next ones for the facilities. (No shower, but I really hate to call it a "powder room" in a shop!)
In this next shot the first drain is for the mechanic shop and the next one down the line will service the biodiesel station. You use a lot of water to wash vegetable oil.

Lastly, we have a shot of the 2x6s Troy is adding to the top of the outside of the forms. This was part of the revisions to the plans made for Inspector BS earlier this spring. It will serve to make a thicker floor and foundation.
That is all for now. Troy has had good clear weather for the most part, although very hot outside on a lot of days. That is not really a complaint, just reporting the conditions.

-christina