Death to the North Wall and roof

On June 20th I got the opportunity to drive out to the property for a couple hours to check things out and show the land to a gentleman visiting my brother from England.


As we pulled up to the property, disappointment quickly set in.

It seems like the wind got ahold of my pre-fabricated northern-most roof section and took one wall with it due to the banding straps that were attached near the bottom of the wall. The banding straps on the west apparently broke under the stress rather than taking the wall with it.

The solution I believe that we will be trying, money permitting, is to restack the failed walls (hopefully without having to tear down the rest of the structure) and rebuild the roof in place, but this time pour 6 pylons and chain the roof directly to a positive anchor in the ground rather than the strawbale wall.

Luckily we didn't loose all of the lumber from the north roof section as it landed a dozen yards or so away and held its ground.

I stacked a half dozen bails on top of the roof on the west side just before we left a couple months ago thinking that a few hundred pounds of straw would do a pretty good job at holding the roof on in addition to the banding straps. I was very supprised to see that not a single bale (around 50-65 pounds per bale) remained on the roof section still in place. I have definitely underestimated the power of the wind.

It was a neat experience having Chris from England out for a few days. It was fun seeing the things that were new and impressive to him that I don't even give a second thought to like dirt roads, roads that stretch straight for as long as the eye can reasonably see, open space for hundreds of miles, being able to carry a pocket knife and/or other means of self defense.

Taylie realllly wants to go home with him so she can "marry him and live forever and ever in a castle." She's already got the accent down pretty well from this clip she finds hilarious http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM.

Taylie really enjoyed his company and even made him a drawing to put in his journal so that he would "Always remember her", I hope he didn't mind coming a few thousand miles to be adored to death by my 4 year old.

Fresh start

Zach here:
I have kept this on the down low for the last week; but last monday my employment was terminated with FLSmidth SLC Inc. For those of you not familiar with my employment or the company I worked for; I started out @ Summit Valley 3 years ago fresh into the mining industry knowing very little about the precious metals concentration and extraction equipment I serviced. My primary responsibilities were aftermarket sales, shipping and recieving, purchasing, expediting, and project management on a small scale. Summit Valley was aquired by FLS in Dec. of 09. We went from being a small office of two dozen people operating out of second hand cubicles and running the warehouse out of a gravel parking lot and several storage sheds; to a worldwide conglomerate of with thousands of employee's and so many bosse's to answer to I don't even know all of their names. There were definitly pro's and con's to the large company; but if given the direct choice I would take a small company like Summit Valley over a giant corporate beurocracy like FLSmidth despite the lesser benefit packages. I hope my search for gainful employment leads me to a similar place. There is something really really great about feeling welcome to walk into the CEO's office and ask for financial advice, help with your golf swing, or any concerns you may have with your job or your compensation.
I feel good about my efforts @ FLSmidth. I hope that my co-workers and customers there appreciate my efforts and service.
I feel peace despite the hardships that are sure to come with finding a job in this economy. In all of my life I have never left a job by anyone's decision but my own; this is a new feeling. I have never been at a better place in life to face unemployment (well maybe when I was 16 and had no responsibilities and bills). Clarissa has been the most supportive and loving person I could have ever asked for through the ordeal.
If anyone is aware of any technical sales/purchasing/shipping & receiving/ inventory control positions around the wasatch front feel free to email me with info and it would be greatly appreciated.

Significant Progress!

The walls are up and the roof is in place and secured.

My apologies on the quality of some of the pictures, the camera mode got changed without being noticed. It still needs a fair bit of work; like straightening the roof panel seam out on the front, waterproofing the roof, installing a door and window, and plastering the straw; but the walls are up and the roof is on top and secured from the wind.

There isn’t any hard data for its performance, but when it was painfully cold and windy outside it was comfy and cozy with a blanket hanging for a door and my little radiant propane heater inside. It’s like stepping back in time when you walk in. I am happy with how it has turned out so far.

It really has cost about twice as much as I anticipated. Much of that is due to the foundation and roof. I was planning on using more local natural resources for both but changed my mind.

Total square footage is only about 130 square feet, but weighing the costs and efforts I feel pretty good about the size. It will sit and sleep my family and a handful of guests to get out of the weather and play a game, eat, watch a movie, ect... Sheds and awnings attached to the sides should add significantly to the use-able space.

I would like to take this chance to write a public thank you. I don't know how we would have gotten the modular roof I built up and on without the help of Geoff and his tractor. It was definitely the smoothest and easiest part of the build with his help when it could have been one of the hardest.

My truck started making some awful noises as soon as I got on the pavement headed home. I ended up re-packing and tightening down a wheel bearing in the parking lot by the spigot in town on the way home. I got it all done with the exception of getting the last snap ring on the axle shaft before putting the hub back on. I struggled with that one snap ring for a good 30 minutes trying everything I could imagine to get the ring expanded and on the shaft. A local (I believe his name is Peter) came to my rescue with a small pair of needle nose pliers that did the trick, I'd probably still be there kicking myself for leaving my snap ring pliers home if it wasn't for him.