Big Day at the Ranch

Big Day at the Ranch

 

Seems like Thursdays are always a big day at the build site.  Today, we arrive just after 0800 and found the painters, roofers, cleaners and masons, all getting started.  Even the builder, Jason was there doing some manual labor.

 

Painters

 

 

You can see how painting the arch trim really makes them Pop!  And I think it will set off the stone yet to be placed on the front of the house.

 

The painters finished the back of the house as well.  Looks like they did a nice job.

 

Roofers

 

These guys work quickly especially with the pneumatic nail gun.  This one guy was doing the garage area by himself, the others were concentrated around the dormers with all the tricky angles.

 

This man was installing the drip edge.  It seems strange that something so small can make such a dramatic difference on the appearance of the house.

 

Even Uriah climbed up for an elevated view.  He was checking the chimney area for clearances, it will be getting bricked later.

 

We left half way through the day and they already had so much done.  I would guess they will be finished late today or early tomorrow.

 

Cleaners

 

Maria and her worker show up about once a week to clean up the construction debris. 

Uriah and I are there everyday so we clean up all the general trash the guys leave behind.  The other day a large animal got into the dumpster and pulled a large bag into the lower field where the cows graze, it took an hour to clean up.

 

 

 

I made a comment about how messy the guys are and Maria said she was glad they were and happy to clean up after them.  She is a hard worker, she must be in her late 60s but told me that someday she hopes to become an American citizen.

 

 

Masons

 

These guys operate like a well oiled machine.  There are only a couple guys actually laying the brick, but crazy fast.  Which is largely due to the work the other guys are doing.  One cuts the brick for all the corners and turns, another is stacking the whole bricks around, anticipating need, another is mixing the mortar with sand and water to the desired consistency and yet another, takes the mixed mortar in a wheel barrel and deposits it where the brick layers are working.  He mixes the mortar, the old with the new, keeping the mixture consistent.

 

The blank space is for the stone cap that will be added later.  We are really happy with how the brick came together, the colors are gorgeous.

 

This is Jose, who is el grande hefe.

 

 

Jason, caught doing manual labor.

 

 

 

 

Front Door

Front Door Project

 

My project this week has been sanding, staining, and sealing the front door and side lights.  It has been a time consuming process.  We picked out the stain colors last week at the specialty hardware store.  After doing some experimenting with the colors and process, we settled on Empire Red and Black Cherry in several layers followed by several coats of Polyurethane.

 

The first coat of Empire Red dries to a hot pink color.

 

 

The second coat deepens the color to a lovely magenta hue.

 

 

Then we start layering on the Black Cherry to bring out the red highlights.

 

 

 

 

You can see how rich it looks once all the stain is layered on.

 

Uriah is inspecting my work.

 

 

Now that I've got the poly drying on the door, I can get started on the sidelights.

 

 

It's good we got this underway today, since the stone masons are coming tomorrow.  This will give the sidelights added protection, just in case.

Metal Roofing

Metal Roofing

 

The metal roofing got installed today.  The shingle roofing will be getting done this weekend. 

Once the outside is completed and the house is weather tight, they can begin in finishing the inside. 

 

 

The next big project should be the concrete floor staining and sealing, which has to be completed before the insulation and drywall can begin. David, the flooring guy, will be by in the next few days to create samples for us to choose from.

Brick and Stone arrive

Brick and Stone

 

The brick, mortar and flagstone arrived last week and today the remaining stone found it's way to the site.  Jose, the bricklayer dropped in yesterday and said he and his team would begin laying the brick and stone on Thursday.

 

 

These tag a long forklifts, have to had revolutionized the building industry.  Wish I would have thought of this first.  It now only requires one guy to drop off 13 pallets of brick.  He was done in only fifteen minutes.

 

Our hand picked flagstone for the hearth.

 

The "tumbled sebastian" arrived, all the way from Arkansas. 

It has a lot of color variation and a hint of sparkle.

 

 

 

 

Painting begins

Painting Begins

 

Painting begins and quickly transforms our home from Hardy board yellow blah to cozy and warm.  The painting team was only two guys but they moved quickly.  They began by covering all the windows then began spraying on the tinted base coat.  The other painter then began caulking all the seams and holes.  I'm amazed at how much they were able to accomplish in only a few hours.  They would have worked longer but thunderstorms moved in and put a halt to the work for the day.

On the right is the tinted base coat and on the right is the house color. 

You can see it is a tan color with a tinge of olive called Lindherst Mushroom from Valspar.

 

After several thunderstorm systems cleared out the painters returned, I think you will be pleased with the outcome. 

We will also add some red accents for a punch of color at the completion of the build.

 

 

 

 

 

 The painters still have to come back and do some touch ups and finish painting the rear of the house.