The cherry picker is a wonderful tool. With the flip of a switch you can be lifted 40 feet into the air - safely. It also can lift heavy building materials. Before we take that back to Home Depot - I want to go for a ride. It cost $50,000 for a new one. $250 a day or $750 a week rental.
Except for 2 doors and the 2 porch ceilings - our new home is completely closed in. We finished the gables today - they are gigantic. The gables are big triangles 64 feet wide and 15 feet tall. Carrying 3/4 inch plywood sheets up that high was really hard. We got a cherry picker to help with the heavy lifting.
Around noon the city arrived with a crew of 8 - 3 trucks - a trailer - a bull dozer - and a Ditchwitch. It took them 5 hours to install the natural gas line from the street to the house. When they dug up the main line to tap onto it - they discovered a gash in the main gas line. It was not leaking but they decided to replace about 10 feet of of the main line. That is why so many VIP's were there to make sure we did not have an explosion.
Our house will have a Rennai tankless natural gas water heater and a GE natural gas range and oven. We will also have an outlet for a gas grill - a gas fire pit - and a tap for a gas generator. They used Yellowstripe 8300 black plastic gas pipe. Street pressure in the gas lines is under 60 PSI. When it enters the house the pressure is only 2 PSI. They intentionally add an odor to the normally odorless natural gas to warn you that there may be a leak. Since the gas is under pressure - when there is a power failure - you gas still works. One can run a natural gas generator without fear of running our of gas.
Gary Wayne is mounting the last big plywood panel to the gables. After that - they installed the framework for the fascia and soffits.
This is a view of the neighbors' house to our west. I took the picture from the ridge of our roof.
This is the front yard looking east. You can see the city crew working on our gas line. That is the corner of Seminole and Clark. People will just drive south on Magnolia and west on Clark and run right into our house.
The attic is finally completely closed in. Tomorrow they will install the 4 attic windows - again using the cherry picker.
This is the view of Seminole View from Seminole Drive. The house is about 8 feet above the street. The columns are space so that the doors and windows have clear views.
Here is a view of the metal barn that Lulu loves to hate. Those azaleas were from in front of the old brick house. Lulu wants to mask the metal man cave from the house. What she does not talk about is that the big 10 x 10 garage doors hold her precious motor home.
This blue clamp was used to squeeze the gas main to shut if off. The main in the street is about 2 inches in diameter. Gas pressure is under 60 PSI.
Here they are digging a trough for part of the gas line.
They used a Ditchwitch to pull the gas line thru the dirt without having to dig. It went slowly but surely - pulling a 1 inch Yellowstripe 8300 plastic gas pipe to the street.
This machine was elegant. It heated the two ends of the gas main and then squeezed them together in a bond. It is very similar to a device you use to load bullets.
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