I am so exhausted. No matter how much I do, there seems to be very little progress with rebuilding this house. Yesterday, we installed the trusses on the roof, and today we discovered that they are about a foot too high to match the rest of the roof. The truss manufacturing guy came out and tried to convince me that I needed to buy more trusses. When that argument fizzled, he tried to blame the person that produced the drawings for the renovations (that was me) for annotating the wrong pitch. When he finally realized that a pitch was not designated, and he was the one that made the assumption for existing roof pitch, he gave in and reluctantly offered to remake the trusses. They will arrive on Monday.
The trusses....The guy that is helping me rebuild is big, and strong and most the time, dumb as dirt. I am grateful that he is big and strong, but I wish he would think about things a bit more. He drove me crazy today. Yesterday, we had the footing trenches dug to the proper depth of 18". He got obsessed with the bottom corners of the trenches and insisted that in order to pass inspection, they had to be more square. He just bought a new drill bit to fit in this massive drill and I think he wanted to use that more than adjust the bottom of the trench. In a short time he dug up more dirt, and made the sides perpendicular to the concrete slab.
All the while he is adjusting the shape, he is walking up and down the trench and compacting everything he has loosened. I cleaned up the mess he made, and remeasured the depth. I lost 2" with his brilliant idea, and now my trench was only 16" deep. I bitched about loosing the 2", and he got his trusty drill and redug the entire trench again. This time he helped shovel the rocky clay out.
Now, the trench is too big - 14" x 20", and he tries to get in there to straighten out his bottom corners. We got into another pissing match about the corners, so he decided to go have lunch. I don't think it really matters if your corners are not perfect if the trench is growing in size - somewhere in that 2" radius you will be able to fit a perfect 90 degree angle.
Sorry it is taking me so long to get to my biggest gripe. While I was digging out the remaining clay, he was sweeping the debris on the concrete. He started sweeping the stuff right back into the trench. I told him to sweep in any direction so long as the dirt and clay doesn't get back into the trench. He got really pissy, and told me that he was sweeping the dirt back in so I could pick it up again. Can you believe that? Hey, you missed the wheelbarrow, so I will help you and put the dirt back in the trench so you can shovel it out again.
So, I spent the entire day digging trenches that didn't need to be dug, and hauling about 15 wheel barrels full of wet clay and river rock in full sun. The temperature was 90 degrees in the shade........ I am sooooooo tired.
All the while he is adjusting the shape, he is walking up and down the trench and compacting everything he has loosened. I cleaned up the mess he made, and remeasured the depth. I lost 2" with his brilliant idea, and now my trench was only 16" deep. I bitched about loosing the 2", and he got his trusty drill and redug the entire trench again. This time he helped shovel the rocky clay out.
Now, the trench is too big - 14" x 20", and he tries to get in there to straighten out his bottom corners. We got into another pissing match about the corners, so he decided to go have lunch. I don't think it really matters if your corners are not perfect if the trench is growing in size - somewhere in that 2" radius you will be able to fit a perfect 90 degree angle.
Sorry it is taking me so long to get to my biggest gripe. While I was digging out the remaining clay, he was sweeping the debris on the concrete. He started sweeping the stuff right back into the trench. I told him to sweep in any direction so long as the dirt and clay doesn't get back into the trench. He got really pissy, and told me that he was sweeping the dirt back in so I could pick it up again. Can you believe that? Hey, you missed the wheelbarrow, so I will help you and put the dirt back in the trench so you can shovel it out again.
So, I spent the entire day digging trenches that didn't need to be dug, and hauling about 15 wheel barrels full of wet clay and river rock in full sun. The temperature was 90 degrees in the shade........ I am sooooooo tired.
This is what the trench looked like yesterday......
What manual labor can do for you.
posted by Sober @ Sundown @ 7:35 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Good arm shot! Sounds like this guy just finds something to do because he wants to use the "tool of the day".
Good exercise though! Buff! You remind me of me sometimes. I use a twisted line from the movie "The Sixth Sense."..."I see stupid people, walking around like regular people. They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see(the drill). They don't even know they're stupid. I see them everywhere." By the grace of God go I. Rock on girl!
You have been working your assums off and in that heat taboot.. wow!
Hope you wear sunscreen missy..
yes , that is right..I am your cyber Mother, now get your ass in a tub young lady and off to bed..heheh
Wishing you all the patience you need to deal with mr.newdrill and all the hassles with your building.
At least it is getting done,FINALLY!
Take extra good care of yourself Missy..heheh..just kidding.
Thanks for sharing Sobes:)
Wow home repair, what an opportunity to live the program.
WOW, I am impressed!
Thanks S@S for your feedback. Your hard work will not go unrewarded. Very well put by "trudging," a great time to live the program. It's like, ok, one brick at a time. Maybe you are in an area where you don't have to worry about the coming snow...I do...It's cold. But welcomed.
Good job standing firm with that guy on the trusses - I helped my uncle dig a ditch very similar to your ditch experience only I was the one digging and he was the one going around with a plumb line and a ruler - after the third hour of "This section isn't perfectly level" that was it. How you kept your temper I don't know, specially with the heat - but great picture of the arm - and I bet you slept like a rock - until you tried to stand up the next day.
Those are some awesome guns there! You have accomplished a lot even when faced with these obstacles. Your energy reminds me a lot of my mom, she loves to do hands on things on her house and vehicles. Keep it up!
Glad you like the arm shot, Daniel.
Thanks for your support, Brain. I try to see the good in these guys, cause there are a lot of things that they know, that I don't....
Tab, I wear sunscreen all day long. I try to apply it every 2 hours, but in this heat it doesn't last that long at all.
T, and G, glad to see that you are impressed....
EM, I don't keep my temper very well, but these two guys are pretty patient with me. They take their ass chewing and get back to work. Surprisingly, I don't sleep well. I worry all night long, and get up to do it all over again.
SC, I love to do hands on projects. This is probably the biggest one to date.... Sometimes, I think I would like to have a normal life.
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