Well, it’s been one year since we welded the steel loft frame in, and we are extremely grateful for progress we’ve made. Every step of the way brings us that much closer to returning to the beautiful land I grew up on.
Once again, we headed up to the farm for the Thanksgiving holiday planning to put in another week-long session of work, and of course, enjoy some fellowship with family.
Even before we got there however, I received news that a large oak had fallen atop the former chicken coop / old greenhouse.
Arriving to survey the damage ourselves, I was disappointed to lose an existing structure I had hoped to make use of. However, what started as disappointment turned into a blessing in disguise. Even though the old building was soundly built, it was framed with an abnormally low roof height, and unusually short door to gain access. Thinking things through, I realized salvaging what I could from the damaged old building and constructing something new in it’s place was going to be advantageous in the long run.
So we decided to let it sit as is for now, as there was more important work to be done
Originally, our plan for the week was to remove the roll up door, and install a sliding glass door in it’s place. However, my wife made the astute observation that it wouldn’t be prudent to close off the big access way before we were done using the scaffolding. I agreed and so we changed our plans accordingly.
It was decided to finish the ceiling and any wall work that would require the scaffold. We spent the first day sourcing the materials, which didn’t go exactly as planned. An initial stop at the big store where I have an account proved unsuccessful. We were told the specific items we wanted would not be available until early January. After leaving there and stopping for a quick bite, we pondered on how to proceed. The Good Lord always has a way of pointing you in the right direction, and my wife suggested checking the first store’s competitor. I looked online and found everything we were looking for in stock and available for pickup. Surprisingly, the total price ended up being quite a bit cheaper as well! We swung by and paid for everything, arranging to pick it all up the following day.
On Sunday, we celebrated an early Thanksgiving with my father’s side of the family. We were very thankful to see everyone and share some home cooked food. Over the meal, stories were swapped around, and I learned some fascinating family history that was new to me. Apparently, my father’s father, who was a navy man and former mayor of Gainesville, was at Normandy during D-day and piloted one of the landing craft delivering troops to the beach head. As the story goes, his landing craft became stuck in the sand because of low tide, and he wasn’t able to free it until the tide had come in. This is something very few of us knew about, and it had only come to light when some old documents had been discovered. We were all surprised to say the least.
Everyone was also excited hearing about our progress, and we look forward to living closer so family time can become a more regular occurrence!
After the festivities, we went back to the farm, hooked up the trailer, and headed into town to pick up our materials so we would be prepared to start work the next morning.
Monday began with cutting and stapling up insulation. Even though the entire building had been sprayed with foam insulation, our goal is to create as energy efficient a place as possible, especially considering the Florida climate.
I was very grateful to have my uncle Steve help us out for the day.
Steve has always been one of my favorite uncles, and is the source of many fond memories from my youth. Freshwater fishing on the local waterways, my first adventures hunting, and even working at his local restaurant were experiences that would shape my development for years to come. As of late, Steve and his wife have become a seafaring couple, living on their boat for part of each year exploring Florida’s coastal waterways and St. John’s River.
So while Steve worked at cutting the insulation to length and tethering them to the rope I used to pull them up, I spent the majority of the day on my back, on top of the scaffolding. While this didn’t initially seem too strenuous, by the time I was done my shoulders, back, and legs were quite sore from maneuvering into position for each piece.
Once we were done with the section above the living area, we used ladders to work on the ceiling above the loft. We managed to install about 80% of everything and feeling worn out, we called it a day.
Back the next day, I was able to quickly finish installing the remaining insulation, and tidy up some loose ends from previous visits. Then it was time to start prepping for the ceiling material. Originally we had thought to use tongue and groove pine, but since we plan on having wood walls we thought it would be nice to have some contrast. Some time at a new friend’s barn conversion provided an inspiration, and we decided to go with galvanized roof panels for the ceiling.
We think this will give the space a rustic look, reflect natural light, and fit nicely with the rest of our design ideas. Additionally, this material was drastically cheaper than the pine, and will be far faster and easier to install.
The first step would be to install furring strips perpendicular to the rafters, so the sheets could be anchored securely at each edge and overlapping seam. I was only able to get them started before running out of daylight.
Thursday, we celebrated a quiet Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle from my mom’s side. Again we were thankful to stop for a day to share some time with loved ones and enjoy another wonderful home cooked meal. We showed them our progress and my uncle offered some good advice for moving forward.
My uncle, Guy, is quite an interesting individual as well. He has been a long time collector of native Floridian artifacts. I have memories from my youth of walking with him in freshly plowed fields, and in freshwater creek beds, looking for arrowheads and shark teeth. Visiting his house was always a treat as well, the entire upstairs of his unique A frame house served as an exhibit of his personal collection. Later, he founded the Silver River Museum, which stands as an example to other teaching museums in Florida.
Sadly, Friday was our time to head back to the big city, in order to have a weekend to recover before returning to the daily grind. So we tidied everything up, securing all the tools in their appropriate storage areas, helped my mom a bit, and hit the road. I had hoped to have the ceiling finished on this trip, but we will be back during Christmas and I feel good about being able to finish it up then.
As always thanks for reading, and GOD Bless!!!
FXT LEATHER 