2007_09_06 Ceiling started and spider

The ceiling (tongue and groove 2 x 6 pine) is now being put over the rooms of the first floor that have ceilings. Well, they'll all technically have ceilings, but the great room ceiling will be up at the roof level and that isn't there yet of course. The "hole" in the front part of the ceiling is the elevator space.

Below is a spider that now resides in the basement. He's about 2 inches across and has an impressive web although you can't really see it in the picture. The only part of it that you can see is the spiral or spring shaped white part that goes above and below the spider. It's goes about 6 inches above and below him (or her). The spider has yellow markings. If you get too close, the spider begins causing the web (and spider of course) to vibrate rapidly back and forth. I believe it to be a Black and Yellow Argiope (or Argiope Aurantia). The other side had larger portions of yellow on it, but I couldn't get a good picture from that angle. I'll have to get rid of the guys' pet though since she produces 300 to 1400 eggs and they hatch in the fall!

Below is a shot I took from on top of a stack of beams in the front. I like the view from up there. During the winter when the leaves are gone we may have a nice view even without taking out any of the trees below.

Here is a view of the ceiling over the foyer and sort of over the closet in the entry way and the half bath just beyond it. You can see the first of the wires in any of the pictures. There is a wire hanging down (for a light) from the center of one of the beams.

Here you can see the new view into the master bathroom with the ceiling going in. No, there won't be a hole between the wall and ceiling! :-) That gets covered up later. However, you can see that this space is where the tops of the long screws and the springs go.

Looking into the bathroom to the right from just inside so you can see the other end where the toilet will go. My Jeep is out front on Scenic Peak. The timbers you see are what I climbed up on to take the pictures of the house from the front so you could see the ceiling better. Yeah, dumb. When I was up there a couple of the boards started to slide down toward the house an inch or two. I got down carefully! I'll take pictures from the road next time!

Below you can see a close up of the mechanism that goes on top of each of the log support posts. This is for the purpose of allowing adjustments to be made later to keep things level once log settlement takes place.

You can see the large nut that allows you to turn it to lower the support beam above it, if necessary, to adjust it downward whatever distance the log wall may have settled over time. According to Steve, these spaces are covered up by a cylindrical piece that covers up the metal piece.

He said that in a year or so after completion he'll come back and check everything with their laser levels to see what settlement has taken place and make the necessary adjustments. He also said that his experience is that logs such as ours (6 x 12 rectangular logs) don't seem to have as much settlement as round logs. He said he has no idea why that is, but he's convinced of it.

Steve and I discussed several things on 09/06:

Kathy wanted to make sure that he understood that we want lighting underneath the cabinets in the kitchen. He said that was no problem and can be provided for later. In the kitchen they will put up another "wall" behind the cabinets, etc to allow the cabinets to be attached to it and

the wiring can be in between the two walls. I guess that the second wall is attached to the logs with screws that are allowed to "float" in vertical grooves in the second wall so that as the logs shrink a little the screws in them just slide down through the grooves in the wall material as opposed to actually trying to push down on the wall itself causing it to bow or tear up, etc. That's basically how everything is attached to the log walls since they WILL move over time.

Steve also said that after they apply the wood preservative to the outside of the logs they will go back and caulk any of the cracks in the logs that are large or that slant downward toward the inside so that any rain water will not tend to run down toward the inside of the logs which would eventually cause damage. He said that small cracks that would only allow water to enter if it were to go UP may be left as they are. I'll be more inclined to caulk whenever possible.

Steve did (before I got there) recognize that they had inadvertently not provided for a door at all in the storage area in the laundry room (or pantry if you prefer) and they had removed the studs that were inappropriate.

We discussed whether we might want to switch some of the French doors (dining room and master bedroom) so that the primary door would open whichever way (right hand or left hand) is best for us. He said that's no problem, but we haven't determined yet which way is going to be best based on what furniture goes where.

We also talked about lighting outside. We want to have flood lights outside (both up on the deck and down at ground level and we want to be able to turn them on all at once if desired or at least all in front or all in back. Steve suggests that we also allow for them to be motion activated. That sounds good to us.

I asked him how the gutters would be routed from the roof to the ground. I didn't know at what points he expects that the downspouts would make their way down through the deck to the ground below. He thinks that there will probably be a couple of them that will come down from the front of the front porch roof to the ground in front of the house and there will be at least one on the back side that might go down the corner of the screened room, through the deck, down to the ground at the back of the house and then out and down the hill away from the house. I hope that the ones in the front of the house can be routed toward the outside edges of the house and away from it so that the water coming off the front will not just be left to drain down to the front of the basement wall. I'm sure it will be.

I asked Steve if they could please be sure to save the left over round logs for us. He said that they could. He asked what we had planned. I told him that we weren't sure, but if nothing else comes to mind, Kathy said they could be used as seats out in the yard for grandchildren, etc. Steve said that if we want him to he could use them as supports for a mantel above the fireplace (or fireplaces since we also will have one in the master bedroom). I actually like that idea. I asked whether mounting them on the wall (sticking our lengthwise from the wall) would be a problem and he said not.

I asked Steve if he had an idea how much longer his part might take. He said that he hopes to be finished with the dry-in (with the felt on the roof) in possibly as soon as 3 weeks! That isn't with the metal roof on (which someone else must do), but at least the inside will then be protected from the weather.