UPDATES:

New Year's Pics of the Lodge

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22 Feb2007
Sitting here with an ice cold Schmidt, unwinding after an evening of frigid hammering. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The weather has taken a turn towards winter with a recent ice storm. Major ice storm. Lots of folks without power, tree limbs down, cars in the ditches, etc. So much for working out at the lodge this weekend. One might think it was just a cruel joke after the glorious days we had last week, but mother nature is having the last laugh; snow every day this week!

But I'm not letting that stop me. Last night after work I struggled with "the blocks". These are 2x12 spacers approximately 30" long that block the space between the front joists (joist bays) and must line up on top of the front and side walls. The west wall is done so I've moved on to the south (front) walls. At least these can be worked on from inside on the double scaffolding. The only problem is each has to be very precise as the sides are compound angles and each joist has its own "tilt". These blocks require staining too and I've got about 38 more board-feet ahead of me! It's stuff like this that I know I need to trudge through even though I'd rather be framing the interior.

And speaking of framing, the bath is half framed, with the other half tentative for tomorrow after work. The key word is Stability. There's a pocket door to the west and a closet door to the south with 5' of tub on the interior. Glass panes will rise from the top of the walls, intersect at the corner, and will disappear into the ceiling. If you'll pardon the pun, a lofty goal. So the tiniest of flex just won't do. The pic below is the framing, sans some cripples, plates, and obvious studs. Typically I only 3D exterior walls but I wanted to play around with plate overlap on this one.

Besides construction to-do's, I'm at the point of needing some rather difficult to find materials. Cara and I managed to find a source for the bathroom formica we like, but the pre-made top depth is all wrong, so I'll fabricate the counter top and vanity myself and just purchase the laminate sheet (and a router). Also the light fixtures are all wrong. Nothing makes sense in the stores, so I have a design in mind but that'll require a stop by the sheet metal fabricator. We were successful in our hunt for tile, managing to obtain some original 1957 pink 4x4s, salvaged turquoise, NOS speckled white, and new yellow tiles. Still not everything we need, but a fantastic start considering the rarity of those items. I continue to amass several types of Despard switches and plates I plan to use, and only need to pin down a couple final mounting locations upstairs. The pink sink is still MIA but I know they're out there. We'll probably make a trip down to Cedar Rapids this weekend for another sink search. Also needed in the coming month is the shower/tub mixer set, showerheads and sink faucet. Nothing, I repeat, Nothing out there is right. Too trendy, too throwback, too Tuscan, too ornate. Yuck. I want simple+bold. I've looked at the cheap ones, the pricey ones and ebay. Notta. Would someone loan me a time machine? I'll be back in 5 with a 50 year old builders' grade model.

31JAN2007 It's cold. Damn cold. 7F. Saturday the high will be -1F! So this weekend will be a resource run for a pink sink, a 36" glass door, cabinet materials and a host of other goodies needed in the following weeks. Thankfully the garage is windproof. Sure, the snow has been blowing in and the windchill quite severe, and I've had to ramp the generator into the Blazer to thaw it out the past few days, but in the garage anything in the 15F+ range is workable. So the triangle window frames are nearing completion, the upstairs floor is 95%, and if my toes don't fall off, partition walls, plumbing, electrical and even insulation in the not too distant future. The cold I can handle, but the copper prices??!! Sheesh.

12 Jul2006
We're approaching mid July/August in Iowa which can mean only one thing. Hot, humid, muggy weather!

The upper lintels are ready to go in this week now that the specialty joist hangers are in and adjusted. The upper sidewalls are framed and sheathing/Typar should be complete this weekend. Boards are starting to get marked and framed for the clerestories. And if all goes according to plan, there's the possibility of upper roof joists getting ready to go up.

Of course it's not all fun and games, and sometimes it's tough to find time to do some of the necessary legwork that affects the overall design. Like determing the best method of roof ventilation to prevent ice dams. Which color(s) for the siding and trim? Are shingles acceptable on these low pitches? Which type? Color? Etc. I believe I have most of those questions answered, but thank God for the internet!

7 Jul2006
The ultimate problem with posting updates, is frequency. If you post everyday, it becomes a blog, and while everyone enjoys a good blog, it can get pretty time consuming. And unfortunately, by nature of the project, there's no time to post a writeup anywhere near that frequently. So, I'll keep the informal style and post whenever I get a chance….

I declared that June would be the month of the lintels, and it looks like it will be! After the major blow (pun possibly intended) of the upstairs wall being blown down and mother nature continuing to drop water from the sky over OSB that is approaching the thickness of a kitchen sponge, it's nice to report a speedy recovery. The rear wall is back up and re-wrapped…with braces on the north side 20+ feet down. The last of the steel columns and fabricated creations are all bolted in place. And the big news, the major load bearing LVL beams are in their saddles flying high. Each beam is a tad over 30' long, made up of three 18" tall LVL plies. They're sandwiched with three rows of 1/2" bolts, 12" on center, and unmistakably intimidating. Fully stained, preloaded and sealed all-around. Topping the scales at 600+lbs each. So both of those are now shimmed for the proper tilt and bolted in along with the 20' stabilizer LVL down the middle. All that remains are the 24'  built-up 2x12 lintels to support the front roof and rear clerestories. OK, easier said than done.

The race begins… If June was the month of the lintels, July is month of the roofs (wait, if hoof -> hooves..). I have a pretty aggressive plan to be ready for roof joists after the July 4th holiday. And it's not all easy-peasy as the front roof joists have varying degrees of compound angles and "hang" on both ends. Ever price out an angled (simple) joist hanger? You'd be led to believe they were gold plated and blessed by the Pope himself. The specialty 45 degree hangers are now ordered, but based on the degree and quality of service I've received at Home Depot in the past, I'm not expecting this to be a smooth delivery. Unfortunately, my mainstay store carries a competitor's brand that doesn't so much fit the bill in this situation.
Have I mentioned how much I hate rain? Not only how it can destroy anything not sealed, painted, or kept locked up, but how it manages to find its way into anything and everything even in plastic. The garage floor also becomes a swimming pool and the only recourse is fighting inch-deep water with a push broom and attempting to coerce it out of the garage before it spreads out in waves and returns around you. You quickly learn that the rear of the garage floor slants imperceptibly downwards from the front and that the rear floor drains won't drain because the ground outside is super-saturated. Ah, good times!

12Jun2006
Wow, those are some old pics posted here. It's the night before the beam raising. We've been busy, moving right along as they say. Even had a 48' long upstairs rear wall built, ready to accept its 6 windows. Well...lost it in a storm a few weeks ago. Actually, it wasn't lost, it's kind of tough to lose a wall. It was upside down leaning against the back of the garage...full length! I guess we built it pretty strong as it didn't break up. But what a shocker to see that. So, thanks to the insurance co, the crew that did the foundation will be out tomorrow to put it back up. "Can't you just lift it up?" Excuse me, it's over a thousand pounds, easy. All 2x6's and fully sheathed. Sure, I'll bake a cake while I'm at it.

Other good news, all the steel columns are up, including the fabricated double column. The geometry proves interesting as I accounted for the fact that a weld shop can't exactly hit 39° off-center and an elevation of 7°. So, the corner columns are c-clamped in place until the beam is situated, and the opposite end is saddled and ready to be bolted down when it gets comfortable on the center column's flat supporting plate. This will be interesting. And what exactly sits in these saddles? Two triple-ply LVL beams built-up by Cara, Cam and Ben. Approximately 18" tall, 32 feet long and 90 holes in each. And we stained and poly'd 'em and bolted them together with black painted hardware. Enough to make a McMansion owner foam at the mouth!  Pics to come!

	LVLs Going Up(May/June '06)
Drilling the 1/2" bolt holes(May/June '06)	Cool your jets, more pics to come!
Carriage Bolts (Mar '06)	Believe it or not.....Footings! (Nov '05)	Excavation?! (Nov '05)
The Steel is Set (Mar '06)	Forms in Place & Concrete Going In (Nov/Dec '05)	The Pit...Bring on the Washers!  (Nov/Dec '05)

The Progress: (stacked chronologically)

Good news! Lots of progress being made. The weather has warmed up- now to the point where the mosquitos are just now starting to come out, but the humidity hasn't hit yet. But the rain, oh, the rain!

Anyhow, the front corner walls (shown with me in a hardhat) are sheathed and wrapped, there are now rear 14' side walls, a 48' rear wall, all sheathed, 2x10 joists above that, 90% of the flooring down, and just this last weekend (3May) an upstairs rear wall. Plus all the little details!  Two fabricated columns are ready for pick-up, one design just submitted, and a final 3-saddled job to go. All this so we can start putting up the rear roof! This weekend: stairs? window headers? wall plates? Steel drilling? I should really show you guys a pic! (9May'06)

I'll make it short and sweet- the steel beams are now in place so the framing can get underway! Talk about a busy weekend, I'm beat.... (27Mar'06)

Pre-Construction Babbling:
Few things can excite me at the moment like mid century modern architecture. The sharp angular lines, the squared faces, the hovering roof tops blended with an enthusiasm for the future! The ‘40s, ‘50s and early ‘60s were a time of progress- in products, in design, in living. It wasn’t just about making a cheaper product or watering down a design to eliminate a tooling cost. Appliances came in a wide assortment of colors and were built like proverbial tanks. Cars pointed their chrome embellished fins toward the moon to sweep a happy couple to a fancy restaurant and a night of dancing under incandescent starbursts. Bounds were limitless and living was easy. I never had the opportunity to enjoy those care free times or the oppotunity to believe that we’d be living on the moon in the near future. I grew up with Nickelodeon and Reagonomics. Slap bracelets iconify my era. But my passion runs about 40 years prior. For my goal is jet-set-modern.

I’m a vintage TV collector, a radio collector, a vintage electronics enthusiast. My cars are Cadillacs of defining, no-nonsense style. I remember watching Dances With Wolves as a first run movie on a drive-in screen at the neon-guilded Star Lite Drive-In, gathering what ever artifacts I could as the wrecking ball beckoned to make way for a grocery store. The country had become city. A decade later, I watched the closing-night credits with my then-gf at the last drive-in in the area, the Hillcrest, which was demolished to make way for apartments. All around us these pieces of a defining era are being removed, demolished, renovated beyond recognition. As for the drive-in, I’ll elaborate later...

Olds' courtesy of EphemeraNow

Modern Living:
Lighting and furniture catalogs, books, photographs, message boards and sketches swirl in my head. It seems there’s an uprise in appreciation for timeless functional design. Festive colors and jet exhaust ports on appliances. A breaking with tradition in flooring, curtains, and wall coverings. Can you say Tiki? Even stores like Target are hopping on the bandwagon. Designer endorsed repros of famous works, such as Nelson’s Ball Clock and Eames’ timeless furniture are being reissued, at a price. And if you play your cards right at IKEA, you can come home with some high quality, MCM integral pieces without breaking your budget, or good taste.
With ideas on architectural surroundings considered, the first step is to acquire land. I’ve got just the perfect place in mind and the soil tests are underway and the earnest money is down. Let’s hope the DNR pulls through on this one as it seems the wheels in motion are crawling. (Update: Construction has begun!)

Next, the buildings. The design and dimensions for the house are approx 90% complete with only minor modifications to go. I’ve been working on this design for about half a year (now Mar’05) and find slight enhancements whenever I double click that file. The interior is a flowing, unobstructed design with kitchen leading into living area, leading into entertaining/bar room, with plenty of glass and access to the back yard. A flat-roof over 5/8 of the house completes the MCM appeal with only a 3/8 master bed/bath/deck completing a second story. In fact, the master bedroom has a deck with fireplace on the front of the house, and a sunning deck on the rear with observation deck. Floating interior stairs against a fieldstone backdrop complete the appeal. The kitchen will be completed with authentic turquoise major appliances which I’ve sourced from different parts of the country, with complimentary small app’s in sunny yellow (such as wall clock, ice crusher, radio, hand mixer, etc.). So far the theme appears to be Hotpoint/GE though I am a Frigidaire fan at heart. A recent find was a ‘61 fridge finished in “brushed chrome” which is a unique stainless steel. In perfect working condition no-less. When’s the last time you saw a stainless steel fridge from 40 years ago? But the kitchen fridge will be my ‘64 turquoise Hotpoint with freezer-opening foot pedal to complement the GE built-in wall oven and flush-mount counter cook top.

GE 40" Stratoliner for '57

Chrome Meets Stainless

Imagine the ultimate flow of the house to be a mix of James Bond meets Dick Van Dyke. The computer controlled lighting system will reside in the basement, actuated by chrome pushbuttons and a rotary dial from upstairs locations. Tiki Torches will adorn the patio while 5 authentic dual-cone fixtures line the facia and garage. Just try to find reproductions without breaking the bank!
The garage is separate, allowing a dual-car carport on the house. Figuring I have a thing for classic cars and need some room to work on them, ample car space is a sure requirement. Plans currently include a two-story garage, two-cars deep, with lightweight concrete forming a front exterior deck/overhang, and an interior balcony to look over the vehicle on the car lift below. The balcony leads into a temp living area while the house is being constructed.
Folks assume I’m crazy for dragging home appliances, dishes, artwork and light fixtures in the interim. But obviously these things won’t be popping up when the house is ready and I’m ready to turn on a light, or cook dinner. Thank goodness I’ve been collecting for a few years! So picture if you will a sunken living room, with color TV, white and red carpetting, free standing conic fireplace and stereo equipment built into a freestanding wall of fieldstone. And the Brazillian Cherry floors!

But that’s not all! If you knew me, you might wonder about the recent 16mm film obsession. Because the plan is a drive-in theatre! This project is going to require several acres to complete the pond, and the concrete pedastal for a ‘’59 Cadillac or two, and the requisite drive-in theatre! You see, I’m an actual film buff. The whole 8mm, super 8mm and 16mm deal. And one day, 35mm. But for the time being, I can throw some decent images on the big screen with my Bell and Howell 2500 series machine. Film isn’t cheap, but it’s the only way to get the brightness, consistency, and outdoor movie ambience. I just happened to have gathered speakers and junction boxes from a series of defunct Iowa drive-ins so that I can accomodate a dozen or so cars should the need arise. In order to keep the show rolling, I’ll need dual projectors, and a projection-snack bar!
But the ”snack bar” will be a fun project- Wild colors on concrete block and an angled roof design. A fridge for cold drinks and an inventive “ticket booth” will complete the project. One of my 6L6 tube amps will complete the audio side, and a film switch will transfer from projector 1 to 2 if I choose to sit under the stars with friends and enjoy a movie.
So...it’’s entirely feasible I could arrive home in a ‘59 Coupe Deville from a hard day at work, glide into the floating car port. Stroll inside to be greeted by presence-acitivated mood lighting, pour myself a vodka drink and toss a steak on the outside BBQ.

Like they say... The livin’s easy!

For the naysayers, the doubters, and the stone-casters, please realize this project is more than a place to hang my hat. While buying a house is the typical route for some, it would be difficult to find a place to store and work on my Cads and other budding hobbies with the selection of available homes in the area, and even more difficult to meet neighborhood regulations for the things I'd like to do. Windpower? Drive-in theater? But even so, this project is much more than a place to come home to at the end of the day. It's the need to try my hand at something that drives me. Have you never had the desire to create, to build, to dream? To be moved at expanses of glass and floating rooflines. Surrounded by wood and flagstone and brass trimmed spotlights. The mere thought brings a smile to my face. I figure life is too short to go through the motions. There's no reason not to try. Trying does you no good when you're pushing-up daisies. And face it folks, since when have I ever tipped my hat to conformity?

04 Nov 2005:  It's Official! And excavation has begun.

~Dec 2005: Snow has hampered the progress (and travels) to the building site, but the drains are in, walls are poured, and the floor is finished. Some of the steel columns are in place....now if the weather would just cooperate!

-Feb 2006: The temps are cold and the wind is howling. Delivery of the steel and huge LVLs has been hampered by wet weather making the ground too soft to pass.