WOOHOO! Good weather = time to build
#1
After seeing all the great layouts in the various threads lately, I am anxious to get back to work on my layout. But as many of you know, I am moving the layout to a new building, which still needs to be built. Unfortunately, it seems to have been raining for the last month down here.

Well, the weatherman is predicting NO RAIN for the next four days. So, my plan is to spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday getting in as much progress as I can. I want to have the walls up and roof tar-papered before it starts raining again.

I think I have all the lumber I need for the framing. Will have to get around 70 sheets of plywood for the wall sheathing and roof decking though. That's 3 trips to the HD right there.

Anyway, wish me luck!

Oh... anyone on here live in Houston? Wanna come help?

EDIT: Added some photos of the slab installation. This work wasdone in November 2009.

[Image: foundationpic4.jpg]

[Image: foundationpic2.jpg]

[Image: concrete.jpg]

[Image: foundationbefore.jpg]

[Image: foundationafter2.jpg]
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#2
Mmmhhh ... Houston is not just around the corner ... sorry, can’t help, Wink ... but I can keep my fingers crossed for the weather to stay dry!
Kurt
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#3
Good luck on your weather and building. If I were there, I would help. My son, however, is on his way here to Iowa for the holiday so I guess I have to stay here and visit. The back surgery on Tuesday would probably limit my contributions anyway unless you have sheets of plywood that weigh less than 5 pounds. That the weight limit my doctor has put me on for the next two weeks.

Tom
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#4
You sure you don't want some of our English snow? We have plenty of it at the moment.
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#5
Rain? What's that? I haven't seen more than a drizzle since september!
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#6
Kurt - It's just a hop, skip, and a jump from your place to mine. Wink Come on over and we'll get mine done, then I'll help you build one. I would love to see a 20' x 40' trainroom filled up with your excellent work!

Tom - Sorry to hear that you are down. My best wishes on a speedy recovery. Hope you have a grand time with your son's visit. Now, the plywood actually weighs about 10 times your weight limit. At least that is what the internet said when I was calculating how many sheets I could carry in my truck. But 50 pounds for a sheet of 1/2" sounds too high. I would guess it is maybe 30 pounds each.

Oh... the bad news is that I am going to have to carry every piece of lumber by hand to the foundation - about 100 feet. The yard is just too mushy to drive on right now. UGH. As I think about it right now, that is going to really, well, suck, for lack of a better term.

Poliss - Don't need the snow for the next four days. But we will take some on Christmas morning. Here in southeast Texas, we get snow maybe once every 3 or 4 years. Several years ago, on Christmas day no less, we woke up with 6" of white stuff covering everything! It was truly spectacular, and unforgettable, like they say, a Christmas miracle! It was the by far the most snow I had ever seen in the Houston area, and I have been living here for 49 years.

On that note, just a couple weeks ago, we had about 1 to 2 inches of snow already. It was the earliest recorded snowfall ever in the Houston area. The temperature wasn't below freezing, so the snow melted off in just a few hours. Still, it is quite spectacular for us to see everything covered in white.

Nacho - We had our dry spell last July and August. Seemed like 2 months with no rain. We were 10 inches behind! Last fall we bought some land and had planted 80 trees. Every week we were hauling water. I bought a 250 gallon tank which fits in the back of the truck, and it kept us busy! And we only lost maybe 5 or 6 of the trees.

Anyway, over the past month, we have caught up on the 10 inches and are actually over our average annual rainfall now.

Back to the building - I drilled the anchor bolt holes for the bottom plates, cut some of the studs for the places where the slab is out of level, and am laying out the bottom plates and top plates. Tomorrow it will be time to rOcK aNd RoLL!
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#7
Oh... also, 8:30 at night is THE TIME to shop at Home Depot. The place was empty. I bought 21 sheets of plywood, and two of the employees used the fork lift, brought it out, and loaded it for me.
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#8
Lots of pictures please! At the end it would be fun to watch a time lapse of the whole thing, building the building, building the layout.
Scott
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#9
Hey Scott:

I'll keep The Gauge posted on my progress. With photos.

So far tonight, about half of the top and bottom plates are marked and drilled. "Drilled?" you ask... Yep, I will be using screws instead of nails. I think they hold better. And down here in hurricane country, that is a good thing!
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#10
Gary, what you might want to do is to pick up a few sheets of cheap chip board, and then go to Harbor Freight and get some large casters. Make one piece of chip board or plywood a carrier with the casters bolted to the four corners and lay two or three pieces of chip board down to roll over and keep the wheels from sinking into the mud. As you roll over a piece of chip board, pick it up and move it forward to transport your plywood. I forgot to mention that Harbor Freight also sells a neat little handle designed to mount to a piano dolly for pulling. Put swivel casters on the front, and bolt on one of those handles and pull the plywood like a child's toy wagon.
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#11
Oh my aching back. :x Spent about 12 hours working on the building today. Didn't get nearly as far as I thought I would. Will be back at it tomorrow.

Here is a photo taken at around 2 pm. I am further along then what shows in the photo, but I still don't have all the exterior walls framed yet. Should finish that tomorrow morning and then on to the load bearing wall in the middle of the room.

My wife Vicki spent most of the day out there helping me. She is a real trooper and I am lucky to have her!


   
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#12
Russ - That is a good idea. I think I will modify the suggestion and use the wheelbarrow to carry about 4 sheets or so at once. I already have some leftover plywood strips from a different project. You can see some of them in the photo. I'll lay more of them down and see how it works.

Thanks for the suggestion. Can't wait to give it a shot tomorrow. I was really dreading having to carry the plywood one sheet at a time across 100 feet of mud.
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#13
Oops.

Sorry guys, I forgot to take pictures today - I was just so busy and concentrating on the work at hand. All the walls are finished, top plates on, I have started on the ridge boards/load bearing walls, and am pretty pleased with the progress. Plus, everything seems to be staying straight and square and level which is a good thing!

But UGH! I am again feeling exhausted. Worked from 8am to 8pm.

On a good note, the weather has been great. I don't know what the temp was, but I was out there in shorts and t-shirt all day. It felt a little nippy, but nice. And I didn't sweat a bit. I'm glad i'm not doing this in July with the 100 degree days.

Off to bed, back at it tomorrow.
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#14
I stepped out the back door and took a photo into the darkness. I had to do some major phot-editing to get anything to show up. Tomoorow, I'll take some more photos and close-ups of the work in progress.

Now it is off to a bath and bed. Goodnight!

   
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#15
I like that spooky night shot Misngth . Looks like you made some good progress ... so we can expect to see pics of your layout soon Wink .
Kurt
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