Before the actual framing began the beams needed to be set, lumber needed to be delivered and the crew needed to show and be ready to go all in one day. It was D's first day as acting general contractor to coordinate all the trades and of course it was chaotic. The crain arrived and was unable to set the beam because the beams pockets we cut wrong - a grumpy, stand-in inspector dropped in out of the blue to ruffle some feathers - the crew was ready to call it a day because the beam weren't in place - and I think the lumber may have been a bit flubbed. I heard all the drama via the phone. But luckily Charlie was there and helped calm things down. The cement company sent someone out right away to correct the mistake - Mr. Inspector grumbled away - and D was fired as the lumber-order-guy by Chainsaw. Whew! (click pics to enlarge)
The game plan was changed as far as our start time goes - and believe me, this wasn't the first time. D & I along with Charlie decided that it may be best to prolong our start date until the spring in order to avoid trekking from Detroit through the winter months to build. Framing began in the fall so that when spring finally rolled around we'd be ready for logs right away which would in turn speed up the entire process. And the quicker we can wrap up our construction loan the less money we will be spending.
The framing of the walkout and the first floor not only helps speed things along but it will be a like a sweater for the cement that's been poured, protecting it from the cold winter winds and all the snow. All we had to do was figure out how to keep it dry and somewhat warm to keep it from cracking. Protecting the cement was our main priority now.
Charlie brought the crew and threw D into the mix and they all went to work. Believe it or not they finished in a day and a half. These guys meant business.
We saw our first floor view for the first time.
These are the guys responsible for it all (shown here after a hard days work). We're gonna learn a lot from this awesome crew.
