For more than a month we’ve been working hard to come up with a design for a building that our client loves and yet is within the budget we have to work with. That tricky balance is always a real challenge but for some reason this project is particularly tough. After a couple of long drives today, looking at every building I saw along the 100 miles I drove, I felt I had enough ideas to give it another try. The first concept was square timber framed with large boulders around the base. It definitely looks West Coast - something our client is looking for but was a little too formal and didn’t make me smile. So while I was still in the mood I kept drawing, this time with a log structure and rocks once more. This version made me grin… maybe the client will too? :)
The easy way.
If you really want to appreciate a job well done it’s best to give the task a try yourself. Today I started applying the diamond shingles to the last castle tower. Each one needs to be trimmed to size, fitted and then nailed in place. There’s 22 shingles per course and nineteen courses to the top, each one in diminishing size. I was pleased with my progress and they looked pretty good. But I was doing the task in a heated shop, stating on a level floor with my tools within easy reach. Our roofers did the same task out in the wind, cold and rain, standing on a sloped roof or in a swaying basket of the man lift. My hat is off to the true professionals for a job well done!
Spiffy looking tower
The Hazelnut Inn is coming along nicely, both onsite and components in the shop. The tower is now all base painted and the glazes are in progress. It’s looking very grand! We’ve started nailing to roofing materials into the tower roof as well. We’ll soon begin welding up the tower roof cap. It’s a spiffy looking tower!
