Papercrete And Me

This weekend we finally finished getting the roof on building #1. Of course I always underestimate the time it will take to get something accomplished but this time I really outdid myself. It was one thing after another with equipment breakdowns, dead battery, company for 10 days, and workers not able to show up.

Well anyway, we got back into action this weekend and in 3 batches we had the final papercrete on the roof. This picture shows how it looked back when we were just getting started. Unfortunately the camera was acting up (or maybe I should say not acting at all) yesterday when I wanted a shot of the finished roof. I will try again and post it next time.

I’m not sure yet what I will do to waterproof it, if anything. I plan to let it set up and observe what happens during a heavy rain. The roof itself is about a foot thick so I’m thinking that whatever rain or snow lands on it will only penetrate an inch or so then quickly evaporate.

I had two goals at the beginning of the weekend. The first was to get the roof finished and the second was to have all my vigas for building #2 moved over next to the building and lined up in the order in which they will go on.

This was a major thing because I had used all of the best logs for the roof on themy first papercrete building (the one in my DVD), which has since been sold. I had spent many months peeling those vigas and I knew that they would not be approved for a permitted building (which the new owner has planned) so I contacted her and asked if I could have them. She agreed so on Friday I got up on the ladder with my sawzall and started cutting the rebar they are pinned with. I got 3 off myself and and yesterday my helpers and I got the rest of them and moved them over to the new building site across the road.

I have them set on the long logs that will be used as ramps when it’s time to put them up. I would prefer to have them on saw horses for the peeling and painting but it was easier for us to do it this way. During the week I can work on them by myself and hopefully have them ready by Saturday.

You can see in the picture that the one in the middle has already been treated with Minwax Indoor/Outdoor Helmsman Spar Urethane. It is a gorgeous twisted log with many colors of red and gold. I will try to get a closeup and post it.

I just want to add a little something about working alone and moving heavy awkward things. I have been able to move all my vigas regardless of size either with a dolly or by dragging them behind the truck. You can hook them to a chain while they are still in the log pile then use the dolly after you drag them out. To move a viga you just find the middle and put the dolly under, lift and move. It helps to have all the tires fully inflated.

If you have help or the viga is very long or curved you can put a dolly at each end and move it that way.

I am a great fan of dollies and other devices that enable me to work alone and not have to wait until I have help. I’m not exaggerating when I say I have moved tons of stuff with dollies.

So that’s the news for this weekend. I’ll be spending the week getting these vigas ready, an activity I find very relaxing and therapeutic. Next week I should have some photos of the finished product and also maybe some of putting them up.

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This entry was posted by Judith on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 8:21 am and is filed under What Was I Thinking???. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.