The light beams

Freddie and Jenn again helped me out by helping me hoist the beams up that will hold the lights that were in a prior post. Thank goodness Freddie is strong because I think the beams weighed about 300 pounds each, We put one end up like a ladder and then hooked a series of pulleys to them to hoist them into place. Sandy and Jenn were down manning the ropes. One of these beams was 14 feet long and one was 15 feet long. They are both about 7 X 7 square beams.







Nothing fazes Freddie. It must have been 100 degrees where we were in the barn and we still got them into place.

Here I am crawling around the other end of the beam. You can tell by my shirt just how hot it was.

Sod, Sod and more Sod

Freddie and his friend John stopped by to help but we were all finished. Freddie is a big boy but John is even bigger. John is in the wedding so he was down visiting with Jenn and Freddie.

The sod down

Here is the sod down. We have been fighting mother nature ever since trying to keep it alive. We have hit one of the driest Junes in years and we are watering from sun up to late at night to try to keep it alive. We are hoping our well survives the usage.

Laying Sod

Michael had two friends that were looking for work so we hired them to help out. This is Dan and we did not get a picture of his friend Ron but we really appreciated all of their hard work.



Here I am piecing some sod together.







We had to do a basket weave at the corners to tie everything together. All and all it went down very well.






One of my friends, Chip Dickey helped us on Friday lay the first shipment of sod. His sister is getting married a week after Jennifer.

The sod delivery

I had a friend that had a case loader with forks on it and he came over and helped get it off the truck.

The big day finally arrived and we had a sod delivery of 10,000 sq/ft of sod. This took two deliveries of 10 pallets each to accomplish.



Here is one of the deliveries of sod. It arrived at 6:30 AM and we had it down by 12:00 noon. All ready for the second delivery.

Stamped Concrete

This is the last of the concrete work. This is a colored concrete and they place a rubber mat over it before it is dry and stamp on it with their feet to leave the impression of the pattern you want. We chose a slate pattern with a darker grey concrete. They sprinkle a release agent which adds a contrasting color to the concrete. We chose the color charcoal for the release agent. We won't know how we did until the sealer coat goes on and it brings up the contrast between the concrete and the release agent.


We encountered rain during the pour so they put plastic up to protect the concrete. There was a little damage but not much. It will add to the character of the slate pattern..

We used the same pattern on the side door entrance. The antique hinges really set off the door.

The new side door

This is the new side door I built today. I used some of the left over siding from the walls it came out pretty good. My dog Keelie came for the inspection.





My wife Sandy painted our garden shed door the same color to tie everything together.



This is the new side door up close with the antique hinges from an old barn, the new old light above and the pad all formed up and ready to go.

Installing old lights

This is a view of the new door with an old light that was in the barn before above it. These are heavy duty industrial lights that I painted and re-wired.







My wife told me to act like I was getting shocked while I was installing this one inside.

Rough in Electric

The panel box is set and we are ready for our 200 Amp service to be installed. I am going to call for the inspection on Monday.



This is the outside meter base. The electric is from underground.

The final pads

This view is pretty tough to see but the pad in front of the door is formed up for concrete. It will be 6 X 30 feet in front of the door. We are going to have it stamped and colored so I hope it comes out OK.



We are going to do the same thing to the side door entrance.

Painting the final door

Jenn and Freddie strike the classic Ma and Pa Kettle pose after helping me prime the final big door. I injured my hand and they volunteered to come over and help me paint the door and brought dinner with them. What a great family I have !




Here is the front of the barn with both big doors primed and the hinges painted. The hinges are unique and are all hand forged. The main strap part of the hinge that holds up the big doors are over 4 feet long. The pocket doors have really unique hinges also.



Another shot of Jenn and Freddie. The hardest part for Jennifer was keeping a straight face.

Painting

Installing the windows on the last side.





Stretching out to paint that last little bit.






The painters. Michael Freddie and me on the last side.

Finishing the gable end

Freddie and Jen helping out.




Touching up the paint.





Sandy installing grids.