Steve-A-Go-Go or, What the Cupola is that?

The beams we put in to keep the compression ring level served as great anchor points for a platform to work on the cupola.  But while I was up there taking measurements, I just couldn’t resist a little go-go dancing.

We have to build a form that the concrete will go up to surround the cupola.

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I started out by making a pattern of the compression ring.  Then I built the framework from the lumber milled on our property.

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The framework is then skinned with OSB board and will be wrapped with roofing felt.  A rebar grid will continue up from the top of the arch to surround the cupola. We decided to have a skylight  atop our cupola instead of vertical windows, which will simplify the construction process.  We will have a bit of a challenge figuring out how to cut, what is essentially a octagonal tube, at an angle.  Sort of like taking a diagonal slice out of a carrot. The North side will be roughly two feet higher than the South side.  I’m afraid that this is all we accomplished this weekend but Jeff did get a bunch more rebar painted.

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North Meets South

Today was a milestone.  It was the day that we connected the first piece of vertical rebar from the North side of the main barrel vaulted structure, over the top, with a rod coming up from the South side.

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We made great progress with the help of some wonderful friends.  Claire, Eric, Beckett, Karen, Meredith and David stopped by.

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While Claire pounded in the steel tabs on the arch beams,  Eric and David completed one of the sections of vertical rebar.

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Note that David is wearing his tie dye shirt in honor of this rebar tying event.

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Meredith and Karen finished off the North entrance arch.

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Beckett was on hand to fetch rebar ties and pass around the Hickey Bar.  He also stationed himself on top of the scaffolding to protect us from intruders with an amazing arsenal of weaponry. (pipe wrench bazooka and the like)

The hard workers were rewarded with my Thai BBQ Tuna, Jeff’s wonderful potato salad and Karen’s famous salsa.

THANK YOU Everyone.

I’m King of the Hill or Look Ma, No Hands

We have reached the top of the arches and have installed a few more verticals.  The scaffolding has come in really handy working at the level of our 12 foot ceilings. (Thank you, Paul)

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We are expecting a few friends tomorrow to help with putting up much of the vertical rebar.  It’s a real “Tie” affair with rebar tying, Thai food, and perhaps a tie dye shirt or two.  Black tie optional.

pastedGraphic_1.pdfJeff figured out that if he closed the cover on my flip phone (with camera), he could take a picture of himself.  In fact, almost all the pictures on our website were taken with my phone.

It’s All About Perspective

There was a lot going on this weekend, aside from working on our house.  There was the Toledo Wooden Boat Show which we had our boat in. pastedGraphic.pdf  On Friday, a dear friend from Hawaii came for a visit. On Saturday, we went and helped friends (who had helped us raise some of our arches), put up a fence on their property.

We did manage to get another row of horizontal rebar and a bunch of the verticals on the North entry. (See at top of page)

But I thought this would be a good time to see really how far we have come as represented in the two pictures below.

BEFORE:

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and LADDER; (pardon the pun)

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Sweet Sixteen

It’s been a very productive weekend, despite some cloudy wet weather.  We now have finished 16 rows of rebar and the North entrance is completely covered.

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The transition between the North entrance and main room is very cool.  The bare arch ( by Jeff’s feet in picture above) will actually be cut out after the concrete shell is done.

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I sometimes feel like a kid on a big jungle gym.

Jeff is a bit more comfortable on the scaffolding.

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As we get towards the top, the horizontal rebar starts to transition to vertical.

We’ve Got The Building Bug

This was a short building weekend as I worked at Lazerquick on Saturday.  Jeff painted re-bar and started grading the Southern terrace. On  Sunday, we completed the twelfth horizontal row plus we added additional verticals to the retaining wall arches.  David Adamson and his son, Aaron, rode their bikes from Newport and stopped by for a visit.  As you can see from the picture below, David tried out our new re-barcalounger.

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Might not be too comfortable, but the view’s spectacular.

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We’re nearly at the top! And if anyone knows the name of that bug in the first pic,  Jeff would be extremely grateful.

2 comments

Jess
BTW: An update. The beetle is called a Golden Bupestrid. Sorry about the blurry pic, but all I had was the camera on my cell phone (no macro lens).
Monday, August 3, 2009 – 08:02 PM
Anonymous
With these latest shots it really is showing more of a form!
Your friend bug could be a green iradescent bottle beetle?
Monday, August 3, 2009 – 08:09 PM