My life as a "GC"

I wear a lot of hats in the course of my life, but the one that seems to always challenge me most is "being" (and I use that term loosely) a general contractor-like creature when my parents take on remodeling or additions with time constraints and health that isn't what it used to be. Given my sole previous experience building anything was theater sets (luan or canvas framed on 1x3's is not quite the same as framing a garage or pulling wire through four new rooms), these new forays into making home improvements for mom & dad got me interested in projects in my own home, too. Mostly, those are in the "dreaming" stage, though I did get a floor redone a couple years ago and resurfaced my back patio. Someone who owned the house before me caught the same bug but didn't quite get "plumb", "level", "square", and "permits" as concepts.



So this week, it is erecting (from a poured slab) a new detached garage to replace the attached one that became the master BR in their remodel of LAST year. (Photos will be available as soon as we find the damned USB cable.) Aside from one small foul-up with the initial roof decking (scratch two sheets of OSB), it is going VERY well. Structural inspection should happen tomorrow afternoon, and then I can get roof shingle and siding on and maybe even get a half day of kayaking in at the Bandon Marsh NWR or South Slough NERP during my scheduled time here on the south coast.



I will be dashing back to the Rogue Valley on Weds eve to meet with the Oregon School Employees Association - a group that represents the extremely important staff who support the efforts of our schools by assisting teachers in the classroom, feeding students lunches, driving buses, keeping the buildings cleaned and maintained, supervising our playgrounds, etc... in many districts, these are the first jobs (cafeteria, buses, and custodial, certainly) to get subbed out to private contractors. But I am back to the coast later that night, to wrap up the garage on Thursday.



Sun, dust, and wind are my friends. See you all after Aug 1 and we'll return to wearing out shoe leather en route to getting a new direction for Salem!!