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  1-29-10

I decided to start a new page today since it's taking a long time to complete Phase 6 - Window Installation. This page will take us through the many projects keeping us busy during the winter, including the windows. It was a long day today, as Bob completed all the initial basement framing. Jeff got two twin windows stained, then decided to stay in the basement to help Bob where we kept it at a comfortable 45 degrees. It was in the teens outside and upstairs.

More pics here

     
  1-30-10

Jeff chose to work in the basement again today, since the temps outside were in the teens again. The radiant heat for the 1st floor bedroom was the project of choice. Jeff got about 3/4 of the tubing installed. John helped him snake some of the tubing through the holes in the joists and over the cross bracing.

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  1-31-10

Since yesterday's installation of the radiant tubing under the bedroom went so well, we thought finishing the bedroom and completing the bathroom wasn't unrealistic. We were able to do just that. The rest of the floor will be one large zone with long straight loop runs.

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  2-5-10

It was great to have Bob help out again today. His goal was to build the staircase landing, and it turned out great! Jeff continued on the radiant tubing project in the ceiling.

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  2-6-10

Jeff was on his own today, running more tubing. About half the day was spent just drilling holes through the floor joists. It took the entire day to run one loop, but it was the longest one - from the utility room to the opposite side of the house, under the main open area of the 1st floor.

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  2-7-10

Jeff didn't do much today because it's Superbowl Sunday, but he did get the landing subfloor sheet cut and screwed down. Go Saints!

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  2-11-10

Jeff went out after work tonight and ran most of another loop of tubing, working in from the east (right) wall. This is the fourth loop so far. There should be 9 or 10 by the time the entire floor is done.

     
  2-12-10

Jeff and Bob started something new today - hanging ceiling insulation. With all the moving and rearranging of scaffolding, they got almost half of the entire ceiling done! Jeff was in the air putting up the batts, while Bob was the ground man, keeping Jeff supplied with insulation, and moving the towers around.

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  2-13-10

More work on the tubing today, installing tracking and attaching the tubing that was run two days ago.

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  2-19-10

Bob and Jeff had a few projects on the agenda for today. First, they finished off the sub-flooring around the stairwell. Then, Bob put in some temporary joists across the stairwell opening to support our scaffolding when it needs to roll over that area. They also put up more ceiling insulation.

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  2-20-10

Jeff and Jillena were the team today. Jillena was up on the scaffolding putting up insulation, while Jeff prepped the batts and sent them up to her.

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  2-21-10

Jillena put the tool belt on today and installed more of the radiant heat tracking. This is the third loop heating the main 1st floor area.

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  2-27-10

It was more radiant tubing today, as we approach the half-way point across the bottom of the floor.

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  2-28-10

Tonight Jeff went out to work more on the loop from last night, including installing some of the tracking for this loop. The more loops we put in, the further toward the middle of the floor that the send and return lines need to be.

No extra pics for this day.

     
  3-5-10

During the daylight hours, Jeff and Bob worked upstairs hanging more insulation, installing fan boxes, and running electric to the fan boxes. In the evening, it was back to the basement to tackle more tubing.

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  3-6-10

Today we installed the rest of the insulation during the day, except for the areas we had to leave exposed for the electrical inspector to see. After that, Jillena and Jeff headed to the basement to work on the next tubing run.

More pics here

     
  3-9-10

We're past the half-way point across the floor with the tubing. In the pic to the left, you can see Jeff's creative tubing path to maximize track coverage where tubing passes through a joist.

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  3-12-10

Jeff and Bob finished installing the odd-length pieces of insulation at the lower ends of the rafter bays. They also put up a few more batts in the gable ends, but had to lay out the rest of the full batts on the floor to dry out. Some had gotten wet when the last storm blew snow in through the walls. In the evening, Jeff worked on yet another tubing loop in the basement.

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  3-13-10

Our friends, Dave and Katie, came out to help with defuzzing today. Dave also helped Jeff with a window opening. We think Katie had a little too much fun climbing on the log girders. She wants to come back for more!

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  3-14-10

We had some plywood and lumber delivered and left outside a few days ago. Instead of carrying it around to the back of the house and into the basement, which would take us through the worst of the mud, we decided to cut a log section out of the front wall where a window will go, and pass the materials in that way.

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  3-18-10

The electrical inspector came out this week and gave us the green light on the fan box wiring. Now we're expecting the building inspector to come out tomorrow morning and look at the insulation in the ceiling and gable walls. If everything passes, we can install the ceiling. Jeff went out tonight and put up the rest of the rafter bay and gable wall batts.

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  3-19-10

The building inspector was out at 8:30 this morning. The insulation passed! We can begin installing the ceiling now. Jeff and Bob will be working on that through next Friday, hoping to get the entire ceiling installed by then. But first, we had an appointment with the saw mill. We're having logs milled into 2" casing boards for the windows, and 1/2" siding material for the gable walls.

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  3-20-10

Today we started installing the ceiling. Jeff and Bob plan to work all next week on the ceiling, in hopes of finishing it by next Friday. We got a fair amount done today, considering we had to set up and connect our scaffold towers first. LouElla is visiting for the week and helped today, as well as Tom.

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  3-21-10

Another Sunday back in the basement, trying to finish up the radiant tubing.

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  3-22-10

The beginning of a full week of ceiling work. Today we got up past the ceiling fan boxes, and finished about half-way up the first half.

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  3-23-10

With the scaffolding built to two levels, we moved it all to the opposite side of the house to work on the other lower half. Once we make it about half-way up this side, we'll add the third level to the scaffolding and finish the ceiling up to the ridge pole.

More pics here

     
  3-24-10

We took another opportunity, with the nice weather, to head back to the sawmill to cut more lumber and siding. The highlight of the day was when Jillena got to operate the mill! When we returned, it was back to the ceiling. First, we had to build the third level on the scaffolding. Then, we started the second half of the plastic which will continue up to the ridge pole.

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  3-25-10

Today we got the plastic stapled up to the ridge pole and started nailing up more boards. With the scaffolding three levels high now, Jeff joined Bob up top and Jillena ran the saw.

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  3-26-10

After finishing up the last couple of rows on the west side of the ceiling, we repositioned our scaffolding to start on the upper half of the east side. We got the second sheet of plastic started and are ready to start nailing up more ceiling boards.

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  3-27-10

The ceiling work took a pause for a couple of weeks so LouElla and Jillena were back to scrubbing logs while Jeff finished the radiant tubing installation in the basement.

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  3-28-10

It was an exciting day of visitors, with fellow LHBA member, Fletcher, coming back out for a visit. Joining him was another local LHBA member, Bill, who brought his fiancee, Sue. There are now three LHBA members in the Rochester area! Later in the day, friends of ours, Rusty and Vicky stopped by with their two youngest sons. There was plenty of log-home-talk to go around. The girls got up on the scaffolding for some defuzzing and the guys all pitched in on our next window opening.

More pics here

     
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