Snow

It snowed on Sunday and on Tuesday afternoon when it was all gone in Highlands Ranch there was still snow on the loft flooring in the barn. I shoveled it off in hopes that the dry and warmer day predicted for Wednesday would dry things out and allow us to make some progress on getting the roof up. There are 4 of the guys that are planning to come down after work on Thursday evening to help hold everything just right to try and get the trusses up. If that gets done we ought to make good progress over the weekend (besides moving out of the house).

Barn Raising Day 2

The second day around brought high winds, high hopes and great accomplishments. Our neighbor Melanie Bastian was there to get us started and then we had several return appearances. Tom Scanlan could not let the staircase go and came back to get it "half way to heaven". Mark Spain and Dave Bogard did comeback tours and of course John Merkling was leading the way. Our ranks were joined by Donna Ellsworth and two father and son teams, Dennis and Brady Hansen and Gary and Scott Brown. Both were great. Mike Bailey is going to be very sore from crawling around on the decking for the loft and Joe Rutherford took a windblown ladder in the head for all of us. Eric Thorderson came by for lunch and stayed to hlep get the heavy stuff up on the roof. He was tall enough that he and Dennis could just hand the stuff up and we didn't need the lift. The Pichulo family came down with the whole gang and it was great to have a whole family down at the barn. It was great fun and we got the loft decking in, all the supplies loaded on the top and the brackets in place to lift the pony poles for the roof. All in all a very good weekend for the Merkling Barn. Thanks to all for your time, your talents and your friendship. Hopefully this is a place where you all will feel welcome to come back to.

Barn Rasing Day 1

Well the call went out and the only slightly Amish clad poured in to help. It was a great turn out. Our special thanks (in random order) to: Ed Hettler, Dave Bogard, Mike and Jan Hole, Lou Turner, Tom & Sharon Scanlan, Gene & Peggy Dionne, Rich & Ben Smith and friend, Gary and Janet Gardner, Mark Flak, Jon Groves, Dan Gotzinger, Alex Santiago, Riches Dixon and S-in-L, Mark Spain, Steve Knudtson, Tom Smith & Julie, Dave Burrup & girls, John Merkling, Dick Merkling, and my favorite Lora Merkling.



Despite poor program management and obvious lack of planning and little coordination the team as usual carried the day. It is starting to look like a BARN. Take a look at the progress in the Barn Movie.

John and a Jack Hammer !!!!

We were working hard to get the drains in so we could have a successful inspection on Monday and we hit dirt so hard it hit back! After we had told John and Kate that we would be fine getting it done that day they made the long drive and showed up anyway. Dad had gone to get a Jack Hammer since we were going through real concrete. After lots of digging (thanks to John getting every shovel full out of that trench) and lots of the jack hammer we had enough of a trench to get us through the inspection. We were almost 3 feet down. The well company wants 5 feet so with a little insulation on the pipes we are good to go. Next step is the concrete floor which will be late this week and then on to the barn raising.

Tractor Man

Need we really say more. It's Eddy Albert all over again and wait till you see Zsa Zsa.

Barn has Holes and Poles, thanks to Superwoman

This is the before picture. It is not really before considering we had the caison drilling company out to drill the 21 five foot deep holes that ranges from 18" to 30" in diameter. Lora and I then stood the fifteen 16 foot, four 14 foot and one 23 foot 6x6's into position. Then came the 11 tons of gravel to fill all but 6 of the holes.

This is the after picture. That is after the first day of work together. You will notice that the poles are straighter and the pile of gravel is smaller. Tomorrow we do the rough plumbing for the bathroom and get the frame ready for pouring the concrete slab. The bad news is that we are one pole short. Even though I checked the bill of material prior to shipment and called and sent a note to the Barn company they still shipped it short the one pole. It is not easy to run out and buy a replacement 16' pressure treated 6x6. Hopefully this can be solved before the concrete is poured.

Movin' On Up

The framing crew is really, really good. They are making great progress and as you can see are working on the upper level exterior and interior walls. It is wonderful to stand in the spaces and get a feel for what the house will be like. We have made several changes. Mostly we ave been adding back windows into the design and making a few even larger. The previous 2'x6' window in the shower is now a 3 1/2' x 6' (what a view). A window has been added to the side wall of the exercise room to give you that great view to the south. We are hoping the prediction for precipitation and even some snow for this weekend is not correct as we hurry to get a roof on the structure.