INDEPENDENCE DAY

Second floor is ready for decking.

Dan goes on a month-long vacation beginning July 21 and is pushing to get everything framed up and sheathed by then (tall order).  Kath and I will be visiting July 18-22 to admire progress and re-connect on things.  Thanks to neighbor, Corey, we will be staying at his Love Shack, just below us.  This will also be the first shake-down cruise of the yet to be named 15' inflatable that will serve as transportation on and off the island.  As of July 3 the deck for the second floor has been completed and the crew will be working over the 4th of July laying the plywood decking.

View from above- 2nd floor starting to take shape.

Site mascots Eeyore (Basset Hound) and Olive Oyl (Great Dane) appreciate the shade of the newly arrived stair landing.

LET THE FRAMING BEGIN

Good progress with framing the first floor.  All seems well.  Pictures tell the story.

Dan's portable solar generator is powering the job site.

Laying out the front (south) wall over the cistern/porch.

First framed wall goes up- east side.

First floor framed.  Hurricane ties in place to secure second floor.

South wall framed.

Header bolted in place on back wall to catch 2nd floor joists.

Kitchen area.

Hurricane ties under sill plate, connecting every stud.

READY TO COME OUT OF THE DIRT

Every piece of lumber gets touched three times between the beach and the site.  Once off-loading it from the rack, a second time loading it into Dan's dump truck, and a third time off-loading it at the site.  Never mind the challenges of scheduling a barge and landing it on Lovango in the first place- even something as basic as getting materials 150' from the beach to the site is made incredibly tiresome and labor-intense by the remote island setting.  

Which is why it's so exhilarating to have the foundation stripped and back-filled and all the lumber up at the site.  Heidi just got final prints to Dan and the structure should start coming off the page in a hurry.  The fun part.

Dan's dump truck with a load from the beach.

Sill plates stacked and ready to be placed.

The originally cut drive to the right and newly cut drive down to cottage on left.  Great access.  For the record- while the cottage is 150' from beach, the drive is about probably .2 miles down the beach and then  switchback and another .2 miles up the hill.

Back doorway out of upstairs bedroom to (future) outdoor shower.

West wall and site of master bedroom outdoor shower.

Trying to create some terracing between drive and east lawn area.

East lawn area of kitchen/living room.

Trac hoe packed up and leaving.  For last time?

LUMBER ARRIVING

The forms have been stripped over the past couple of weeks and on Saturday all the lumber to frame and sheath the cottage arrived (first from FL, more recently from STT) on two 20' racks.  At the same time the barge (re)delivered the track hoe to do the final grading for the driveway and around the foundation.  As of today, June 15, all the lumber has been off-loaded from the racks and Dan's dump truck (which also came over on the barge) is ready to start hauling it all from the beach up to the site.  Framing is about to begin.

The recession ended about 5 minutes before we started to build this place and shipping and barge companies were the first to leverage the fact.  Both the barge rental and the rack shipping were a form of legalized (as far as we can tell) sodomy.  But still much more convenient than our swimming it over ourselves.

The foundation stripped and coated... ready for backfilling.

Another view of the stripped foundation.

Barge arrived with 2 20' racks of lumber, the track hoe, and Dan's dump truck.  Landing on west side of dock to avoid coral (and expensive fines for damaging coral).

Off loading the track hoe on the beach.

The track hoe sneaking bewteen the dock and Love Shack... Barely.

First rack, off loaded on the beach.

Second rack... still waiting.

Track hoe cutting drive and terracing.

ONE YEAR & ONE DAY LATER- THE BIG POUR

366 days ago the first shovelfuls of earth were moved on the Lovango lot.  Today, the final yard of concrete was poured for the cottage.  It's been a long and winding road that has nonetheless been productive and always forward moving.  As good as we could have hoped for given the challenges.

The logistics of this pour were staggering, beginning with the forms themselves and the enormous 12' back wall.  That it all came together as beautifully as it did is a real testament to Dan and his crew.  Exceptional work.

Things should be simpler (not easy) as we come out of the dirt.  In the next couple of weeks the forms will be stripped and earth will be back-filled and finish graded.  All the structural lumber has been ordered and should be shipping from Florida in the next few weeks and arriving to a site that will be ready to emerge from its new, solid foundation.

The morning dawned clear and calm, a perfect day for landing on Lovango.  The barge made two runs with 3 full trucks on each.  The pumper truck was delivered the day before and returned on the second run.

Filling the footers first.  Note stainless steel anchor bolts positioned pre-pour.

Waiting for the second barge run.  This is where things stood after the first three truckloads of concrete.

All poured, barge and trucks back in St. Thomas.  Beginning the spin cycle as evening arrived.

'nuf said.

BIG DAY TOMORROW

Dan has been working on his captain's license the last couple of weeks but has everything set up for the final pour tomorrow morning.  Should get the footers, floor, cistern cap, and 12' back wall in one felled swoop.  The pumper truck is on the beach and ready to go.  Dan is looking to pour 54 yds (6 truckloads) in two barge runs.  Last time he went with two trucks per run... this time three in hopes of speeding things up.  Big day tomorrow.  Fingers crossed.

Pumper truck delivered to the beach today all ready for pumping 54 yds of concrete up to the site.  

STILL STILL PREPPING FOR SLAB

... but getting really close!  Alot of work forming the 12' back wall and laying in both the reinforcing steel and plumbing that will run through floor and back wall.  And building the scaffolding that will facilitate the pour.

Pano shot from the cistern looking to the 12' back wall.  Mechanical room (batteries and pump) back left, laundry room center, and storage back right.  Lots of rebar!  The shed in the background is on Dan's property and the cottage to the right is Capt Phil's.

The back wall is being laid back 1.5" over the 12' height to try to balance pressures from the bank.

Looking down on the floor.  The dug out spot is a footing to support a carrying post.

Impressive array of scaffolding to provide access for folks to handle the concrete.

Shot from the top of the driveway.  St Thomas in the back ground.