I finally bought a house in Cave Country! W00T!!!

[divad]

When I build the house, I will remember this.

Damn....

 

[The Chairman]

Damn....

I can't wait for you to train me how to use it too. One house, I'll probably be ready to try it on my own.

 

[divad]

FOR SALE: 18 foot pneumatic sheetrock lift, (non-magnetic)

 

[WarrenZ]

I wish you had suggested that before I started. It's hard to follow advice after the fact and that sounds like great advice. The roof was rated to be bolted straight to the joists sans the underlayment. Did I screw up? It won't be the first time.

After the next hurricane blows the roof off we will say i told you so until then if it works then it is good as long as you bolted it into the rafters.

 

[The Chairman]

if it works

There is no "if". It will survive the next ten hurricanes.

 

[The Chairman]

FOR SALE: 18 foot pneumatic sheetrock lift, (non-magnetic)

Does it come with training?

 

[divad]

Does it come with training?

If by "training" you mean "couth", then.... apparently not.

 

[Akimbo]

I built my own shop and home about 10 years ago -- concrete to the rafters. There's a lot of starving termites in the neighborhood. The most useful piece of advice I have for an owner/builder is to model it in detail using a 3D solids modeling program. It will:

• Save tons of errors.
• Reveal unforeseen design opportunities (reducing change orders).
• Support material optimization.
• Track material requirements.
• Let you figure things out before subs have to ask and stand around waiting for answers
• Impress the crap out of inspectors (if you know what you are doing).
• Confidently estimate concrete requirements (a big deal when ordering).
• Allow quick design revisions without waiting for architects.

I literally came to the worksite almost everyday with a set of drawings detailing what needed to be done, often with cut lists and dimensions. There are a lot of angles and curves that would have been very labor intensive without every measurement needed for layout specified. Several times my finish carpenter was skeptical that a design would work. I had to say "trust me, cut the pieces as dimensioned and it will fit". Pretty soon he stopped doubting.

My tile sub was amazed when I handed him drawings showing the "starting-point" centerline grout lines. I let him do the first room and didn't think it was ideal. He told me later that it save him tons of time and the layout was better than he would have come up with. I didn't tell him about all the rookie mistakes I made in CAD before settling on the optimum layouts.

The second suggestion is to keep a notebook at your bedside. You will wake up in the middle of the night with revelations and checklist items on a regular basis.

The third suggestion is to subscribe to Fine Homebuilding Magazine.

 

[The Chairman]

Wow... things I'm learning and more things to learn.

I spent thirty years mostly in automotive, and the last fifteen or so with Goodyear. I got trained to mount double bladder race tires for the movie "Days of Thunder", and in fact my shop changed ALL of the tires in that movie and I probably accounted for %40. I've changed split rims, managed the changing of an earth mover tire and bazillions of car tires. But I've never messed with tractor tires: not even once. So, today when I went to check the tire pressure, I was surprised to see water coming out of the tire. It makes sense, mind you. Water weight in those rear tires allowed me to pick up that 25 ft tree. Cool. But I have several questions. Do I top it off with air to bring it to the right pressure? The valve looks a bit funky. Do I have a double bladder in this thing like a race car tire? I called the place where I bought the tractor and service never picked up after a ten-minute wait. Kind of frustrating so I guess that now I'm done for the day I'll "GTS" or Google that Sh!t. I also bought a canopy from them. Not happy with that either. For the price, it shouldn't need this amount of finagling to get it to work. I think I'll return that.

In other news, I am finally getting the chainsaw work area close to being done in the AgShed. I have to bury some cable to it so I can run electricity for the sharpener, but that's why I got the tractor. It digs a lot better than I do. I'll post some pictures when I get it done. However, the chain repair station is purely manual and it's been mounted to the right corner of the bench. I made my first chain, and can see I need to improve a few things in the process. I don't like how the link separates as you're trying to burnish the rivet. I'm going to try a few things to keep it together during the process and am open to ideas. I also changed the hub in the 24" saw as the old one was worn through. I also cleaned out the chain oil pump and tube, including the bar orifice. Wow. What a difference! The saw is smooth as glass again and cuts trees like it's new. The chain is staying relatively cool even with almost all the bar being in the cut.

FWIW, the bar has a lot of good info on it. The length, the slot width, the length of the links and how many links to use with that bar. I had actually spent a lot of time on GTS to find out I needed 84 links, only to see that exact number on the bar. Looking at the other bars, they all have the same number. I am going to convert the medium saw to use the same chain (.050"x 3/8"), but keep the little saw with the tiny chain stock. I'll have to change the drum and the bar to do this, but that will be far cheaper in the long run than stocking additional chain.

BTW, on Saturday, I started cutting a stump as flush with the ground as I could. I had meant only to repair and test it, but once you get started it's hard to stop. Unfortunately, I was not really dressed for the occasion and was only wearing sandals, no goggles and no gloves. No, the saw didn't bite me, but the #$^&@#~! ants did. I got a dozen bites on my feet and over 50 on my left hand. It hurt like hell and while the hands never blistered, the feet sure did. Today, I finished the ant-covered stump as well as one that was not so infested.

Also, I'm finding that the little things make a huge difference. Today, I not only wore Boots, gloves, goggles and Noise Cancelling Head Phones, but I also tried out some very lightweight gaiters. I'm sold! These didn't seem to make me any hotter, though it's quite pleasant out, and they certainly kept chips and dirt out of my boots! Yay!

Finally, I feel that I have lots of areas under the oaks that are being smothered in oak debris. The acidity kills grass and such and the only way to deal with it is to get rid of the detritus. Consequently, I invested in a leaf vaccuum with mixed results. It seemed to do a good job WHEN is stayed connected. I'm afraid that the hose is just a bit too short. I want to add an 8" tube in the center to not only extend the hose, but to serve as a way to hold it up. Their bungee around the soft hose is definitely a weak link. Here's a pic of Dan @Moose on the zero turn:

 

[The Chairman]

GTS is great and it brought me to several YouTube videos about filling the rear tires and one from a tractor manufacturer. Put the valve stem at 6 o'clock and top off the tire with air. Just like I thought, but now I know for sure. I'll do that in the am and continue the cleanup. I might even try to pull out a fence post or two with the beast. I really like my farm jack and have gotten pretty handy with it. It beats the heck out of a floor jack for use on the zero turn. However, it would be pretty sweet to clamp down on a post with a claw and simply pull it up. I'll let you know how it works.