Circles

We've started laying the decking on the main yurt platform! It's been a long time coming with any number of bumps in the road, but we're making progress. Today we started putting the decking on the yurt platform, a few days ago we finished the decking for the mudroom, and by the end of the day we had cut a nice bit of it to form a portion of the circle. Things went quite smoothly today, and even the weather was cooperative. A cool front moved in last evening providing some much needed relief from the 90 plus degree days we had for about three days prior.

Many of the steps in this whole process have been quite gratifying, but I have to say that actually seeing part of the circle cut is one of the highlights so far. I was not expecting to cut the circle until all the flooring was in, but it seemed to be the easiest way to get the portion of the floor we had finished covered. The flooring where it extends past the beams and skirting was random lengths prior to scribing the circle which would have made covering it quite difficult so we decided to start cutting which was both exciting and a bit scary. There's no going back now, and there was no room for error in the cutting, but all went smoothly.

Tomorrow its more floor, and we'll see how far we can get before the plumber comes on Monday. Hopefully the yurt shipped today which would be another big relief, but at this point I'll be happy whenever it arrives.

Time to head off to bed, we've had some pretty long days, and I should be sleeping more than I have been. Oh, I almost forgot, our fields are mowed and almost ready for baling which is also quite exciting. We have no need for the hay at the moment, but we have an arrangement with a local farmer who will provide us with firewood in return for the hay. Pretty good deal for us. Until next time.

Good progress on a hot day

It was a pretty hot day today with temps in the low to mid 90s, but Dale and I got an early start, and we were able to finish cutting the insulation to fit. Once this was finished there wasn't much left to do until the plumber comes, hopefully in the next couple of days, other than starting to lay the floor in the mudroom/entry area. So that's what we did with the sun scorching our necks, arms, faces, and anything else that was exposed. I think we're both feeling a little cooked this evening, but we made progress with over a third of the mudroom floor in place. It took a while to figure out a good system, but once we settled in things started to hum along nicely. We did make a stop at the local lumber yard to peruse their selection of fasteners, which ended up taking quite a bit of time. Tough to decide when there are many options, but none that seem to be the exact thing we were looking for. Settled on finish screws because we can only fasten down the flooring about every 4 feet. I had chosen this option originally to save time and materials, and I think that it will work out quite well though it will not be a floor without squeaks! Oh well, you can't have everything.

I'm expecting to continue on tomorrow with help once again from Dale, and Rina. What luck to have such willing and skilled helpers! Hopefully I'll have a chance to talk to the ever elusive plumber as well and we'll be able to get going on that bit. Only one picture today as I forgot to take a shot before we pulled all the insulation back out of areas that need plumbing roughed in.

Waiting for the plumber

Hey all,

The weather here is supposed to get hot in the next day or so, which may coincide nicely with a bit of delay as I try to get things set with a plumber. We have the insulation installed up to the point where the plumber has to come and rough in all the required things before we can procede with the floor installation.

With everything up on piers it has made some of the recent steps a bit more difficult. Once the floor is in it will be quite difficult, and fairly unpleasant to get at things below. We wanted to keep the deck as close to the ground as possible thinking that it would be beneficial in the winter to not have a lot of airspace between the floor and the ground. This does pose some logistical problems in terms of plumbing specifically. I had hoped to do the plumbing myself as there is very little to it with only one bathroom which was purposely placed opposite the wall with the kitchen sink. In talking with the plumbing inspector it sounds as though a newer plumbing code has been in place for a short time around here, and I guess it is a bit more complicated. I'm not really interested in redoing things so I'm trying to get a plumber to do it and be done with it. I'm sure we will get things squared away soon, and we'll be able to keep going.

When Leslie, Abrahm, and my dad were out last week Leslie and her dad went to pick up all of the flooring so that we will have it when we're ready. It is 2X6 toungue and groove pine which when it is finished should provide a beautiful floor. We chose this option because it will allow us to use one material for the floor rather than having to lay some sort of underlayment upon which we would have to install another floor. It should be pretty sturdy!

Well we'll see what the next few days bring, hopefully cooler than predicted temps (not counting on that one), and plumbers knocking down our door wanting to do what we need immediately (not counting on that one either). All is going well and we should be seeing the yurt arrive fairly soon. Until next time. Ben

Busy Busy

Hey all,

It's been a busy week around here. Last saturday Leslie, Abrahm and Dad all arrived and after a bit of relaxation (required to let the concrete set) everyone went to work on monday picking up lumber and then beginning the beam installation. Things went quite smoothly with the beams and we were done in a couple of days. Very gratifying after the long process of foundation prep.
We have water at the site which we sampled and I'm happy to report is quite tasty.
Up next was wiring, insulation, and plumbing. All of which need to be done before the floor will be installed. I'm waiting for some quotes from plumbers at the moment. The inspector said that it is possible to do it yourself, but the codes have changed fairly recently and have of course become more complicated. So we decided that it would be best to hire someone to do it instead of having to fix things multiple times.
Leslie, Abrahm, and dad left today which was hard. Originally I had planned to head back with them, but because of delays in the yurt shipment, and the fact that we're not as far along as hoped I will be here for another couple of weeks. So it's back to it tomorrow minus a few helpers, but we'll keep plugging away.
I haven't posted for a while because Abrahm was sleeping in the room with the computer and he was in bed most days before we got home from the site. I'll try to do a little better again now that he's back in MN. I'll post some pictures again tomorrow. Would have today, but the battery for our camera is in need of charging. That's it for now. Ben

Goodbye Jack!

We did it. We have gotten all of the holes for the piers finished which means I was able to bring the jackhammer back to the rental place. Hooray! We've started placing sona tubes in the holes, and we're hoping to be pouring concrete on thursday. Tomorrow will be connecting the waste pipe and pressure testing it before we bury it, and then back filling the trenches. Hopefully it won't be long now before we're done with the foundation!

It's been a hard slog the last feww days to try and get the holes done. I wouldn't recommend trying to cut holes with a jackhammer, but it seemed to be the only option. We had to get far enough down for frost and stability, and there was no other way that I could come up with so off we went. Jackhammering on level ground is not the most pleasant activity one could think of, but it's a piece of cake compared to dropping it down into a 3 foot hole and trying to loosen rocks or break up ledge. I have a lot of bruises on my legs to attest to that. But hey, we're done, and on to other things. Soon we'll retire the shovels and post hole digger in favor of saws, hammers, and drills. Bring on the wood! Soon Leslie, Abrahm, and dad will be here, and I'm sure looking forward to that! Sorry for the sideways picture, haven't got this blog thing figured out entirely.

Slow and steady

Well it's been a while since I last put something on here so I should probably back track a bit and try to bring everyone up to speed. I think the last post was about the time that the well driller was arriving with his truck. A lot has happened since then, though I was certainly hoping to be farther along than we are at this point. I was able to find someone with a mini excavator to do the trench work for the water as well as the septic drain pipe which was quite nice as that freed me up to other things. Mainly digging the holes for the piers.
Maybe I should back up a bit and explain that the yurt will be erected on a platform which will sit a minimum of about 14" off the ground. The platform consists of a number of 4X8" beams sitting parallel to each other on concrete piers which are sunk into the ground about 4'. The beams will be the support for the floor which is made up of 2X6" toungue and groove flooring. The platform will be exactly the dimension of the yurt which has a 30' diameter.
Work on the pier holes has been much more time consuming than I had hoped, though I should have assumed that we would encounter many rocks if not ledge in the process. Initially Rina and I had an auger for the skid steer which I had hoped would drill down to the desired depth and we would have minimal had digging to do to get the holes ready for the sona tubes. This turned out not to be very effective since we encounter many rocks in most of the holes which caused the auger to either stop dead or veer off from the target. So the next step was another stop at the local rental center to pick up a jackhammer which we have used to break uo or loosen rocks or break through ledge to a suitable depth. Wow, that is a lot of work, and I don't know what I would have done had I not had the help of Dale and Rina. Generally spirits have been high, and we have certainly all slept well every night.
I have been able to fill in some of the trench and we should have a temporary water hook up on monday which will be very helpful for mixing concrete. I will also get our plumbing permit on monday so that we can lay the first sections of waste pipe and fill in the trench that is still open. The weather has been great for most of the past week with only some light showers this afternoon. They were enough to make things pretty mucky, but they are supposed to move out by tomorrow morning.
All in all things are going well, and with any luck we will be pouring some concrete quite soon. Then it's on to the carpentry which we are all eagerly awaiting. Everyone will be quite glad to not dig in the dirt for a while! Leslie, Abrahm, and my dad will arrive at the end of this week which I am really looking forward to, and we'll see how far we get. I'll try to write again soon.

Well driller arrives

It was another productive day out here today. Dale, Rina, and I worked for most of the day on layout, and by the end of the day we had all of the pier spots marked. This was quite time consuming since there are 22 of them which meant many intersecting lines. 30 to be precise. It was quite a process as we had to make a square that was 30x30 and then start staking out the lines at various intervals so that the piers would fall in line with each other as well as in the right places to make a circle. It's been a lot of fun to put some of the theories I have read about into practice, and it has gone quite smoothly with the help of Rina, and Dale. The day was overcast again, but there were only a few sprinkles though there was a fair amount of rain overnight which made for some mud.
Things were moving along quite well this afternoon, and we got to the point where we needed to mark where the water line would come up through the floor. This requires a trench from the well to a point relatively near the center of the yurt. This trench of course cannot run through any of the points where piers need to go so I was thinking I needed to get in touch with the well driller. Just as I was heading for the car to get his phone number off in the distance came a rumble which sounded like it could be a big truck. Indeed it was and the well driller and his assistant arrived later in the afternoon. Yeah! He had a bit of trouble getting turned around and then getting into position because of the mud. He made it though and got the drilling rig set up so he'll be able to get to it right away on monday. I'm waiting to find out whether his excavator will be able to do the work either monday or tuesday, and if not I will be learning how to run an excavator myself so that things can stay on schedule.
Well see what can happen over the weekend, but it will not be as hectic for the next couple of days. So far, so good.