Jib Crane in Action…

So … I visited Rockler in Minnetonka last night and purchased a new Delta bandsaw for the garage workshop at The “L” Shaped House. The saw comes in a big cardboard box with a note stating “some assembly required”.  The photos below show how nice it is to have a (1000 lb. capacity) jib crane built right into the space. A few straps make lifting the bandsaw assembly out of the box and onto the assembled base a safe, and easy operation!

A Meadow in the Making…

We are creating a meadow lawn at the “L” Shaped House. Matt Wolfe (JLM) has developed a detailed plan for the meadow which will occupy the bottom half of the front yard. The plan includes a variety of grasses and plantings as well as some boulders for sitting. The city of Minnetonka encourages the creation of meadows and publishes a series of guidelines that include procedures,  plant types, and a requirement for signage.

The image below shows the details of Matt Wolfe’s plan for the meadow lawn on  top of the master plan for landscaping at the “L” Shaped House (click on the image to make it big). Included on the plan document are all of the plant types and the placement of boulders.

The next photo shows the meadow lawn area in the front yard. The city guidelines require that we kill off the existing lawn before creating the meadow. We carefully sprayed the area with herbicide two weeks ago and have effectively killed off everything growing there. Matt’s crew is scheduled to start working on the meadow in two weeks.

In the mean time Matt and I have been shopping for boulders at Gerten’s and Hedberg Landscaping.  The four photos below show five of the boulders we’ve purchased so far…

  

Garage Organization

Ahh … I spent most of the weekend working in the garage at The “L” Shaped House attaching organizing equipment to the walls and ceiling. The photo below shows some of the fruits of this effort. First; both of our “big” ladders hanging from the Racor Bike and Ladder lifts installed to the ceiling in the foreground. Next; a hose reel, electrical cord reel, and an LED worklight all attached to the ceiling just to the left of the jib crane. Finally; the new galvanized pegboard system from Wall Control and a Gladiator GearLoft shelf on the West wall above the “tear-down” bench. All that is left now is the plumbing from the air compressor under the stairs to the cord reel on the ceiling.

The garage Lifts

After considering many options I finally selected, purchased, and installed lifts in the garage of The “L” Shaped House. The first photo below shows both the 4-post lift (in the fourth stall) and the portable scissors lift (in the third). Both lifts were purchased from Greg Smith Equipment. The 4-Post lift is an Atlas Garage Pro 8,000 chosen because it is (at least theoretically) possible to attach the wheels and push it out the door on to the garage apron. As you can see in the photo…it’s first occupants are our snow blowers.

The second lift is an Atlas Portable Scissors Lift (model TD6MR). This lift has a 6,000 lb. capacity and can be easily moved around inside the garage. The only compromise is a requirement for ramps with low clearance vehicles like the Mini. With the lifts installed and some of our tools now in place the garage at The “L” Shaped House is really taking shape!

Where to begin…

So after a nearly 10 month absence I’ve decided to re-start my blogging efforts related to The “L” Shaped House.  Since we left off with our friend Janey Westin carving house numbers in the address rock at the end of the driveway…it seems only appropriate to begin anew with her fabulous work on the Rune stone recently installed in the front yard. Here we have our friend Beau standing beside the stone in a photo taken just a couple of weeks ago.

A photo of Janey and Charlie in their Edina workshop as we loaded the finished Rune stone into my trailer for the trip to the “L” Shaped House.

And finally…Paul and Nate working to install the stone on it’s concrete base nearby the pine trees at the bottom of the front yard.

  

Address Rock…Carving and Painting

Our new friend Janey Westin showed up last week to carve our address into the face of the rock at the end of the driveway. We decided to include Pentadic numerals under the Arabic numbers on the address rock in keeping with the Runic theme we plan to spread all around the “L” Shaped House. The photos below show Janey carving and then painting the numbers…using the same paint used on the Golden Gate Bridge!

Moving…Day 1

Where in the world have you been?

The question has been asked over and over the last week and a half. Now that we are (sort of) settled in and have internet service I promise I’ll start to update the blog more regularly.

The guys from Two Men and a Truck showed up on Tuesday morning (a week ago) at 8:30 am to start the moving process. A better name for the service we used might be Five Guys and Two Trucks. The first photo below shows the whole crew as they worked to pack the last few items into the big truck just before the first trip to the new house. The filled the 26 foot straight truck and 3/4 ton van twice as they moved 90% of our belongings. 

The next photo shows the back end of the straight truck as yet another item makes its way up the ramp. Deb had about 225 boxes prepared and had already moved most of the kitchen essentials on Monday.

Garage…Sealing the floor

Sam and I spent the day Saturday working to get the garage floor cleaned and sealed before we move in on Tuesday. The first step was scrubbing the cement floor with a walk behind floor scrubber rented from Reddy Rents in Saint Louis Park. We then rolled out 5 gallons of concrete sealer on the fresh clean concrete surface.

Sam and his friend Harris moved a whole bunch of left over construction materials stored on the garage floor (ceramic tiles, fireplace stone, paint cans, carpeting, etc.) into the end of the crawl space. I have a feeling this might be the very last time we see the garage at the “L” Shaped House completely empty!

 

Cleaning…Day 1

We’ve engaged Steve Carmichael’s wife Amy and her mom (Jo) to give the “L” Shaped House a complete cleaning. They started in the bonus room Friday night and finished up in the basement late yesterday afternoon. The photo below shows Amy and Jo working to in the kitchen as they cleaned cabinets, walls, countertops, windows, and light fixtures…the place looks fabulous!

Landscaping…Compost station

Jason and his crew (Kevin) are back today working to finish up the very last landscaping details at the “L” Shaped House. The photo below shows Kevin sawing a modular block as he works to finish the compost station just beyond the back yard planting beds. In addition to this new feature Jason and his crew plan to fix up the front yard where the dumpster laid and top off the mulch throughout all the planting beds.