Raise the roof! It's just a frame of mind.

Okay! After a long and tortuous road, I have finally finished the roof joists in the back. Two and a half stories up and at a 45 degree angle life can be precarious. But with help (Keith and Greg), we got it done. Now to strip it for the metal roof and get that in place ASAP.

Check this site: http://nickelchurch.shutterfly.com/ for more pics.

Joist to the world...

Alrighty... I'm half done putting up roof joists almost completely by myself. OK, Greg helped me get one wall plate up, but the rest is all me. I may be getting back my "Monkey Man" status if I keep on climbing up the ladders and scaffolding like I have been. I should get the rest up this weekend. When I get 100% done, I'll post the pics from start to finish of the roofing process.

After a wind-induced mishap that damaged a nice piece of furniture, I replace the heavy door to the back with a home-made one that's much lighter. It will keep out the wind and rain but won't cause a problem.

BTW...Charles is getting married one month from today. See more on "Lamb's on the Go", my other, older blog.

To the top of the wall...

Okay. In the last post that survived hacking I complemented the brick crew for their work...that still stands, with an exception. When the top of the wall was completely done, it was finished extremely wrong! I had drawn a diagram of what I wanted and described it. That's not what happened. I had wanted a ledge on the inside, one layer of bricks deep. What I got was a sloped edge on the outside filled in with mortar at a 45 degree angle. Aaarrrggghhhh! Changes my whole design for the roof. Too late now. Just deal with it.

I have built scaffolding out of 2x4s to build the roof on the back section as renting scaffolding is really expensive. I'll be able to recycle the 2x4s easily.

I have bolted plates onto the top of the back wall with epoxy adhesive anchoring them. Same will be true for the register plates on the main wall at the top of the joists. Progress is being made.

You can also see that I've finished the fabrication on the security cages for the alleyway windows. More after this weekend is done.

Hacked!!- off

Well, I've joined the millions of folks of the "I'm a victim of hacking" club. Somebody got into this account and hijacked my password. Fortunately, Blogger has a good way to recover from that (unlike their previous incarnation). so I'm back on-line and blogging. More updates in the next post.

The walls of Jericho- Not!

This past 10 days, Quentin has had to work a different job as a substitute teacher in Westwood ISD in Art. In the meantime, Keith McIntire has been working (REALLY hard) to keep the project moving along. He's been doing well. Maybe not as good as Quentin, but acceptable. He has gone from just mixing the mortar, to laying brick around the basement window pits, to laying the runs on the main wall. He has learned a lot on the job. The top of the wall looks really good. The last couple of days Chris "Peaches" has been working with Keith. He's young, but willing to learn. I'll start the roof on Monday- Labor Day.

Quinten- you're a brick.

Beruit in Palestine? The back of the building looks like a bomb went off. That is the beginning of the...middle? Oh well. Quentin and Keith are doing a great job at both demolition and reconstruction. We did have a little excitement last night/this morning when Quentin caught someone stealing bricks from the site. He got the license and the description. Told him to call the police. We'll see the results.

Within two weeks we should have a new, solid brick wall. I'll put a new roof on it as quickly as I can once school starts. After that, we can really begin moving on many things. We do have new sewer lines into the building so maybe soon we'll have toilets instead of having to cross the street to Kroger's for a pee. Progress indeed.
More much sooner this time, I promise.

I don't cotton to that idea either...

I have finally given up being able to do the major brick work on the building. It is a skill I need a lot more work on to be at that level. I will be hiring Quentin Cotton of Palestine to do the main work. He comes well recommended and I have seen some of his work. Hopefully he can start by the end of the month.

In other news, the alarm system has driven me over the edge! Over the last year, we have averaged about 2 false alarms per month...usually after I'm in bed. I have asked for a repair ticket (yet again), but I hold little hope. I'll probably go with an unmonitored system till we get moved in. That way we at least can get some sleep.