Day 73: Hanging a ledger and more details

Today Justin planed and sanded the last 4X10 ledger. Justin, Trevor and I hung the ledger on the shear wall.

Other tasks from day 73:

• Trevor installed pipe in the footing trench around the perimeter of the home. Garden hose valves and future irrigation lines can tee into this pipe.
  
• I installed waterproofing tape around the exterior of the 1st story window openings. This layer helps protect the window framing if water gets behind the exterior plaster.
  
• Justin installed drip caps on the 2 small sliding patio doors. This piece of sheet metal directs water away from the top of the door.
  

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Day 30: Seating the BIG beam

I drove the U-haul full of wood over the hill this morning. Joshua spent most of the day planing, sanding and notching the 6X16 inch beam.

Towards the end of the day, we lifted the 450 pound beam into place. Here is a pic of Justin, Rafael, Georg, Trevor and Joshua at the half way rest point.

Joshua stretching out his back after we seated the fabulous looking beam.

It was level - nice work on those beam seats Justin! It was such a great feeling of accomplishment seeing the beam in place. At the same time it was humbling to place something that will be there long after I am gone.

Some other tasks today:

• Completed the 8th course of APEX block as far as possible before seating of the beam.
• Started digging a trench for the utility room electrical connection.
• Began sanding a 4X10 inch beam.
• Finished stacking APEX blocks and trimming rebar in the utility room.

Here is a pic from the end of day 30.

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