October Building Progress

Our massive building project, Part Three.

Progress on DH's shop continued by leaps and bounds in October.  DH and I ran the water and electric lines from my barn to his, installed the hydrant and drain, and then he added lots and lots of sand to the floor of the building in preparation for the cement work we were hiring done.

We also installed the skirt boards as he was building up the floor.

While waiting for our turn on the cement contractor's schedule, we put the purlins on all the walls but the 'front' (south wall), probably not always adhering to OSHA safety standards.  Sort of a combination of "I know how to do it; I did this with my Dad as a kid" and Amish barn raising. . . A ladder here, some climbing there. . .

No one lost their balance or fell, so all was well.  I did, however, refuse to use the air nailer unless I was on the ground or a ladder; it kicks a bit too much for me to feel comfortable operating it while balancing on the narrow edge of a two by four.

The Saturday after the purlins were finished, DS1 and DS2 came over and helped DH hang siding on the North and East sides of the shop.  He planned to put siding on the other two sides after the concrete floor had been poured, to make it easier for the delivery of the cement to all parts of the shop.

The cement contractor and his crew showed up that week and did the final prep work for the flooring in the shop, and also for the aisle and tack room in my barn.  Oh hallelujah, concrete in my barn!  (DH and I had had a conversation about the work in my barn; he'd wanted to put it off until Spring and I had pointed out it could have been done the previous Spring but he'd wanted to do it all at once to save costs on having a contractor out twice. . .)

tack room prepped for concrete

Then came the morning I was woke up at 6:30 to the sound of a cement truck. It was still dark outside, but they were pouring concrete.  The picture below was taken about a half-hour later, from the upstairs bedroom, about the time that the third truck was unloading.  Really, it was amazing how quickly they poured a 40' x 60' floor that is 4" thick in most places, and 6" thick where DH plans to add a car hoist some day.

It's happening!  Concrete delivery.

shop floor poured

tack room floor poured

barn aisle the next day, mostly cured

Boy oh boy, was I happy to see a cement aisle in my barn, and a floor in my tack room area.  Now things were happening!  I might actually have horses living at my own farm someday soon!

East end, lots of fill needed outside

DH and I put the purlins on the front (south) wall of the shop after the cement contractor had finished his work. Then, DH put up most of the steel siding on that wall, with me helping on the bottom portion, where we'd decided to go with a dark green steel as an accent.

And that was where our project took a break while DH went out west elk hunting, as mentioned in this post.