The board-form-finish phase is drawing to a close... thank god! I've just about had enough of these little sticks... just need to power through one more day then I'm done. 

This is one of those little areas that took more time than it should have... measuring and cutting each piece so it lines up just right. I'll be happy, later, that I put in this much effort, now.

This part is just ridiculous... I don't have ice or a refrigerator, but I do have a burbling creek! Negra-Modelo has never looked so good.

 My construction site has become more musical... this is a runner-up for the best-twelve-dollars-I've-ever-spent award. (Just behind the rebar-tying-tool, for those who are just tuning in...) And, yes... I had a choice between black and purple, and I chose purple. I'm entirely comfortable with that.

Here's the progress on the big retaining wall. I'm loving the way this looks. I hope I love it this much when it's cast in concrete!

The fun part of working with geologists (the guys who helped me with the slab pour) is that they point out cool stuff like fault traces in the steep earth slope you're going to retain with a concrete wall... it's the diagonal line running through the middle of the photo. Fun stuff!!!

Another fault trace. The jog in the middle of the frame is the fault line. An iron-oxide layer that got offset by about 4 inches. 

I took a walk after I ran out of boards for the retaining wall forms. Strolling down a pleasant country road and waving to passing cars, and came across this brick. I had seen it before, but it was long after we started calling Diablo, Diablo. I might have to hijack this brick and use it in our house somewhere... keystone for an arch over the fireplace mantle? ...still working on that one.

Another shot from my walk. This is the covered bridge on the road to our house. All kinds of ridiculous charm here!

The insects are settling in on the form work. I've seen a bunch of spiders, and this mosquito-hawk. Strangely, I'm thinking I'll have to incorporate some stained glass work into my project. Sort of on a roll here... and loving it!!!

I got a nice chunk of work done today, but first... let's talk about the food. I prepped some dutch-oven ingredients before heading out to the property - potatoes, salt, pepper, fermented garlic, and bay leaf:

The day is off to a good start.

Next up, putting in some more time on the table saw. I'm getting a rhythm down, and this part of the process is going pretty quickly.

Upon arrival at the property, I started the coals warming up, set the generator to work filling up the air compressor, and took a walk to pick a couple of handfuls of wild onions. These, along with beef broth and ham-hocks, are the makings for a little bit of awesome. I'm loving the dutch oven; after I got the coals going in the chimney-starter and spread in layers below and on the lid, the thing basically took care of itself for a couple of hours. The only time it got my attention was when a bit of heavenly aroma collided with my olfactory nerve. Just about zero effort after starting it up. 

...and a couple of hours later it was lunchtime! It doesn't look like anything too special, but some serious magic happened over those couple of hours. This was amazing food!

Lots of drama in the sky today, but enough sun filtering through to put me at risk of getting a tan... perfect!

 

I love the way this pattern is developing now that it is wrapping around the corners. I am excited about seeing this in concrete.

Another view of the day's work. The bit to the left is what I posted on Thursday... here it is in context! These small parts, where I have to measure and cut each board to fit, are sucking up a lot of time. I'm just about through those parts, and I'm ready to rock and roll on the finish work for the big retaining wall tomorrow.

I left some daylight on the table to take my daughter roller-skating. Somehow, this building project is infusing confidence into the rest of my life... I haven't had my feet strapped into anything that rolls or slides in over 20 years, but I thought, "sure, I'll just strap these things on and go for it!" And... I only landed on my ass once, and had an absolute blast with Coral. Life is good.

Chipping away at the form-building work... I had about two hours between meeting work commitments, a monthly board-of-directors meeting, and an intramural volleyball game, so I ran out to the property and put together another piece of the board-form puzzle. This is the pier between the garage doors. It actually takes quite a bit of attention and effort to create a pleasingly-random-but-uniformly-textured effect.

Uniformly-random; striving for a uniform texture without creating a defined pattern. The little returns around the corners are intended to give some depth to the finish, so it doesn't just look like a two-dimensional facade stuck to the face of the wall. Nothing looks more architecturally-horrible to me than a brick or rock wall facing that ends abruptly at a corner, and I really don't want to risk creating that effect here.

Another view... mostly because I like angles. It will be fun to compare this one side-by-side with the concrete wall when it's done.

Today was split between repaying some labor from the slab pour and working on my wall forms. The first half of the day was spent hauling mulch from a free pile of chipped redwood bark and edge-cuts... presumably from a lumber-milling operation. The mulch was actually pretty good stuff, especially considering the price! We made two trips to the mulch pile with two pickup trucks... probably moved around 6-8 cubic yards of the stuff and spread it in small piles around his back-yard orchard, and then had some awesome cheeseburgers and lemonade afterward. Something about doing a big chunk of hard work on a home-improvement project is immensely satisfying, whether or not it's your own project... I would be doing this for fun even if it wasn't in trade for his help on my concrete pour.

The second half of the day was spent on my concrete wall forms. I put most of the strips that I had ripped on Friday onto the forms. I borrowed a generator that was big-enough to run my air compressor, and the installation went a LOT quicker with a nail-gun. I think the end result looks fantastic... I can't wait to see it cast in concrete!

I feel like this part of the project is taking a long, LONG time, but I keep reminding myself that what I am doing now is actually the finish work... in my house, the structure is going to be the finish. What-you-see is what-it-is, and I'm front-loading the finish work... an honest building through and through. I couldn't do it this way if I was rushing through the foundation work to get to the first draw on my construction loan... I've said it before, but it is definitely worth repeating: I get to do it this way, because I'm doing it myself.

This sort of reminds me of the pixelated look of my daughter's Minecraft worlds... I think it looks really cool!

Another view of the forms... just for fun!

Started into creating the wall finishes today... exciting stuff. First part of the day was finishing the retaining wall forms and forming the edges of the door openings. There was a lot of precision chainsaw work today... not the most ideal tool for the job, but it's what I have available, so I'm making it work... and it's a good opportunity to gain some new skills!

Ripping to a line with a chainsaw. I wouldn't have thought this was possible if I hadn't watched some crazy-skilled guys in the Philippines (via YouTube) free-hand milling beautiful lumber with a chainsaw like it's no big deal. I copied their technique, and amazingly enough it worked out just fine with a little practice. 

Here's the board from the previous photo installed in the retaining wall form. It's the narrower, slightly wedge-shaped one in the middle of the photo. Fits just fine!

I bought a dutch oven today. I had never actually used one of these before, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it cooked a pot full of food with just a handful of briquettes. 

Chicken, potatoes, and wild onions... this smelled heavenly when I opened the lid to take a look.

I'll definitely have to borrow a generator big-enough to run my air compressor and nail gun. Working around the rebar and finish-nailing these little boards on by hand got very tedious, very quickly.

...but it was well worth the tedious work to get a peek of the finished form pattern. This is going to look awesome when it's cast in concrete!

One interesting side-note: the physical changes from doing this amount of work have been a little startling. I have lost four inches around my waist in four weeks, while eating all I can fit into my stomach... and at the same time I have gained about three pounds of body-weight. I've been lifting weights off and on for the better part of 20 years, and I've never seen these kinds of changes, this quickly, in the gym. Hard, sustained physical work can work wonders if you're getting a little soft around the middle!

ready to get to work...

I've been waiting all week for this...I'm ready to get some work done! Aside from working at my day job, I've spent this week planning the form-work for the concrete walls. I've settled on a form-tie system consisting of all-thread rod, washers, hex-nuts, and tack-welds. I'm going to return the pre-fab Simpson form ties because they just won't work with my construction style. In the spirit of keepin'-it-real... I'm working with base ingredients here... no proprietary crap is going to contaminate my authentic house.

Form trial run:

...this is a negative of the concrete work... I think it's going to be awesome!

End-grain shot of six 10-ounce silver bars... cashing in some precious-metal investments at the wrong time (way, WAY down from where I bought it). I consoled myself with the thought that, if I had kept these in cash form, they would have been spent long before now. Even selling at a loss, I'm ahead of my paycheck-to-paycheck habits... yay! ...but, it was hard to let go of these; precious metals in your hand develop a severe sentimental attachment... but I have more sentimental attachment to our house, so... goodbye and safe travels!!! 

The reality of an artsy-board-form finish... lots and lots of table-saw-time... ripping and ripping and ripping... And this is just scratching the surface. I console myself by saying, "this is one more surface that I won't have to paint." (I absolutely HATE painting!)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

I got in a nice full day of work at the property today. By the end of the day, I had just about all of the form boards in place for the inside of the concrete stem-walls and the air face of the retaining wall. I would have finished the rest of the retaining wall forms, but... I ran out of nails!

In the process of digging some form boards out of the bottom of the pile, I took a minute to admire this beam. It's a 24-foot 6x12 that's going to support the center of the second floor. It's going to be very visible and a center-piece of the design. I got lucky and was able to pick this one out of a freshly-opened unit at the lumber yard. Straight, tight grain, and as close to clear as lumber gets these days, especially in a longer piece. This was a major score!

About an hour into the work day. Setting these boards got a lot more interesting when the forms got above my head height. 

I came across this gem in my rafter pile. This is supposed to be "#1 and better", and doesn't leave me brimming with confidence in the lumber graders.

I got almost all of the form boards in place for the inside of the stem-walls and air-face of the retaining wall. Also built the scaffold to give a working surface during the concrete pour. The greenery in the foreground is a bit of dinner shrapnel... wild onions to go with steaks on the grill (Thanks Shawna!). 

End-of-the-day progress shot from the usual spot up the hill. I am feeling more and more like I know where every piece of this house goes; it's just a matter of putting each of them in place.

It was a bit of a gloomy day today; it started off with a good rain in the morning, then was threatening to rain for the rest of the day. Between sleeping in, the rain, and Coral's roller skating this evening, I only got in a half-day of work. Good progress despite the short day.

Took a few minutes before starting work to cut a couple of Swedish torches. This day needed an infusion of cheer. Tangent: I am loving using my chainsaw in this building project. ...one of my quirks is that I thrive on doing things that others tell me I can't do. When I say I'm going to rip a 2x4 in half to form the recesses for the garage doors and Danny the slab-finishing-guy says "good luck"... I say "thank you" and get to ripping. (it turned out fine, five minutes before the concrete truck arrived.) ...when I say I'm going to rip some form stakes with my chainsaw, and a buddy says... WTF? ...NO. ...I say "look... it's done!!!" ...and so. it. is. done. The chainsaw is an awesome tool in a steady hand. ...and mine is getting steadier by the day. Booyah!!!

Hey, it worked! A little bit of fire helped dispel the gloom and turned the mood around immediately. The Toadies played a central role in my internal sound-track today: Burn

View from the back side of the retaining wall. I got about half of the form boards for this face of the wall in place today.

I got all of the form boards in place for two of the low walls. I'm saving the front wall for last so I don't have to carry all of the retaining wall form boards over a three-foot obstacle. Wet 24-foot two-by-eights are a bit of a handful even without the obstacle!

Up-the-hill progress shot. I'm already appreciating being out of the dirt and working on a nice level slab!

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Here's a little update on Diablo: Luis is churning out some beautiful lumber... on a roll now! He's into a couple of very solid pieces, and the results are beautiful... eye candy:

...the *awesome* stack is growing rapidly!

...fresh off of the mill. This is good stuff!!!

Luis has a knack for leaving his job-site in a very aesthetically-pleasing condition at the end of the day. I appreciate that, and it brings me more joy than it probably should.

No building this week, just the mundane task of stopping by daily to throw some water on the slab so it cures properly, but here's an update just for funsies!

I have all sorts of awesome ideas floating around in my head, and I'm going to throw them out there just for fun. ...sort of like throwing the gauntlet down on myself... a fight to the death!!! ...two Nathans enter ...one Nathan leaves!!! (...like Thunderdome, but more Gemini).

...anyway, here's my vision for my dream-garage, or at least a rendering of the finish-scheme:

Google Sketchup for the win! This program has been awesome... lets me design and build my project virtually, and make all of my mistakes virtually before they cost me any real money. Good stuff!

The downside of a free blogging platform: you can't rotate a f***ing image! ...I had to re-take this one with it hanging on the wall so my smart-phone would know which way was up. Even rotating and saving the image and re-uploading wouldn't work; blogger.com somehow felt that readers should still have to tilt their heads to the right to view this one. 

Lumber-pile progress... working through the schwag. The good stuff is yet to come!!! (and this stuff is pretty good anyway...)

Lumber package delivered on Friday... a house in compressed form. Now I just have to assemble it. (Just!) I got the 6x8 near the the right of this photo to make the garage door headers, but that is such a nice piece of tight-grain quarter-sawn timber that I'm trying to find an exposed use for it. I can laminate a few 2x8 boards to make headers that are going to be hidden in a wall...

Second stack of lumber. This is the really-good stuff.

Money shot. This is old-growth redwood lumber at $0.50 per board foot... a 90% discount over retail prices for absolutely beautiful finish lumber... finally a win! (getting ready to sell a couple hundred ounces of silver at a 50% loss to cover this, but still ahead even considering the metals-market loss ...got to keep smiling somehow :-)

OK... now it's time to build this!!!