The Second Steel Beam

Yesterday I drove up here to Rogers City to have breakfast and do my blog post.  When I returned to Presque Isle I wound up having a 45 minute conversation with a local resident whose husband operates a boat repair business out of his home.  The township verbally agreed to this thirteen years ago, and she says they have abided by all the restrictions, e.g., hours, that the Township Board imposed.  Now their neighbor next door, who operates a boat repair and storage business on his own property, has made a complaint.  It seems he wants to shut them down, and to eliminate some competition.  More small town politics and sour interpersonal relationships!  If Presque Isle is the Garden, then it has more than its share of chatty snakes!

When I finally got to the site, I had just missed installation of the second steel beam.  This beam runs from the masonry wall to the corner of the kitchen wall, and it will support several of the second floor joists while allowing the main ground floor area (living room, kitchen, dining area) to be one open space.  Kyle told me his crew of five put the beam in place by muscle power alone — no help from the Bobcat this time.  Had they lost control of the beam, Kyle said, it would have fallen through the ground floor deck and ended up in the basement, destroying most of the house in the process.  What he didn't say, I think, is that the crew would have followed the beam on its downward journey.  Perhaps there are some aspects of home construction of which I ought to remain blessedly ignorant.

The north end of the beam fits into a pocket at the
northeast corner of the kitchen wall.

The south end of the beam fits into a pocket in the masonry wall.

Joists for the second floor now rest on the steel beam.

The masons finished the wall yesterday afternoon.  To make it thermally efficient, it has been filled with concrete — 65 bags of it.  Jim suggested that in case of tornado, I should head for the corner of the "L" because that wall isn't going anywhere!

The masonry wall, filled with concrete, will be my tornado shelter!

Kyle has rebuilt the east wall of the stairwell with the windows where they should be.  This raises the level of this wall about five inches above where it would normally be.  How this will be reconciled with the level of the second floor is unclear at this moment.

Kyle measures the south wall of the stairwell.

Meanwhile, Kyle's crew has continued to build the interior partition walls on the ground floor.  By late yesterday afternoon the men were talking their way through measuring, cutting, and installing floor joists for the second floor deck.

Sam nails together the vestibule wall...

...and Jose nails down the main entrance threshold.

Dave, Sean and Sam discuss placement of the floor joists
for the second floor.

Today we should have the second floor deck in place, and perhaps even a wall or two. •••