Ready for the walls & roof...

After spending the last three or four days installing bracing and backing plates for the paneling, the shop is ready for the installation of the insulation and the wall and roof panels. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for the next few days. Today it was cloudy, cold and windy. If there is a significant breeze tomorrow, it will make installation of the 3' x 12' steel panels difficult, if not impossible.
On a brighter note, I am happy to have the door and the windows installed. I feel better knowing that that I can lock the place up at night.

Showing good form...

Susan and I finally got the last purlins bolted in place. We can now begin preparing to install the insulation and steel sheeting that will make up the walls and roof. Tomorrow we will visit the R&M Steel factory, to discuss the next steps in the shop construction with our contact there. They have been most helpful, and I would not hesitate to recommend them. You can visit their website at http://www.rmsteel.com/
I must say that I am looking forward to a day that I won't be running up and down the portable stairs and luggung steel beams around the site.
Meanwhile, at the top of the hill, the concrete forms for the house foundation are almost all in place. The pour is scheduled for early next week, weather permitting.

With a little help from my friends...

With the exception of a few purlins (the beams that support the roofing), all the steel framing has been erected, squared and plumbed. Many thanks to my good friend of over forty-seven years, John Eells, who took a week of his time to come to Idaho and help me, and to my son-in-law, Sgt. Benny Guzman, USMC, who took some leave time to give me a hand. We worked quite well together, and got a lot accomplished. Thank you John! Thank you Benny! There is still a lot to do, and I will be working on it non-stop until I complete it. There aren't that many good days left before the winter weather sets in.
While I am rushing to finish the shop, the forms for the basement walls of the house are being set up. The foundation walls are scheduled to be poured early next week.

Almost there...

Did I say I thought we'd have the framework done in two more days? Dream on. That was six days ago, and we're still not finished. Broken chains (2) on the boom truck, several small but very necessary parts left out of the original delivery necessitating a 140 mile round trip to the factory, delivery of all the insulation for the shop, and a trip to a neighbor's ranch to pick up some scaffolding have all contributed to the delay. Today we got the south end wall up after several trial and error attempts. Seems that the instructions are not as clear as we would like to have them. We now, however, have a pattern we can use for the north end wall, and are confident that we can get it all put together tomorrow. We'll see.

Getting it together...

We have wasted no time in putting the shop together. A long time friend has come up from northern California to help us erect the building. One of my neighbors has loaned me a boom truck to lift the steel beams and columns. That has really made things easy. At the rate we are going, we hope to have the entire framework finished in two more days. Then we will install the siding, roof, insulation, doors and windows. Once that is done, I will have to wire the building, build the bathroom, and install the woodstove. I am hoping the entire job will be completed by the end of the month. So far the weather has been cooperating. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will not have any bad weather before I can get the building enclosed.

The shop arrives...

One of my concerns about our driveway is an uphill turn I call "the hairpin". I am able to tow my trailers up it with ease, but didn't know if a full sized semi could make the turn. I had been assured by Harvey, the road builder, that it would be "no problem". I was glad that he was here this morning when the truck got stuck trying to make the turn. With the help of my tractor, we were able to get it unstuck and up to the shop site. Needless to say, Harvey will be doing some more work on that corner.
The shop components were unloaded and stacked near the shop pad using a forklift borrowed from a neighboring rancher. Now comes the hard work that we have been anticipating for so long. Our plan is to have the shop erected and in use before the first snowfall. We have decided to pour the foundation walls for the house, then wait until spring to pour the basement floor.

While we were working, our neighbor, Dawn, bagged this bear on our property. It weighed in at around 225 pounds. There are many bears in the area this year, and this is considered a medium sized one. I am told that bear meat is excellent, and I'm about to find out.