now that it is almost may, i figured we aren’t having a ’2009′ dead pool; likely because i thrashed the competition last year and everyone is too discouraged to challenge my championship. anyway, here is your new receptacle to deposit well wishes, so longs, and good riddances for celebrities and other cultural figures who shuffle off this year.

ok, live from the atlanta airport, i am awaiting a flight to austin to bookend my four day blitz build. today i contributed as much as i could to the completion of the framing of the full piece so that all that is left is the cladding. craig did a few of the slats that are on the beak side so he knows the score and will be able to do them without me. ill have to say that the thing is a lot bigger than i expected, but also the site was a lot more constrained than i pictured, so it feels pretty big. i dont know if you can tell but on day 1 we lost about 18″ of the design height. 12′ just felt really imposing back there, and the client was a bit nervous about getting blowback from their neighbors if it was visible over the top of their house. so the proportions are a bit squattier than the design.

one other thing that i left without building is the little wall spanning between the first and second floor next to the hole that connects them. i think this is really important and should be equipped with a climbing surface too because the 4′ level change is hard to negotiate via chin-up. i think i might sketch some over the photos to make sure the client and his skeleton crew have a clear sense of what is left and hopefully they will send us pictures of the finished product for our ‘dwell’ centerfold.

peep the final photos.

day 3 finds a new crew. the client and my father are back to work and cousin paul is now in town. we are about to head to the indoor lumber yard to fill the truck with one by sixes for the cladding. most of the framing went up yesterday and all of the floors and decking. we are just going to plow ahead with the skin now i think. pix for today and yesterday to follow.

today’s goal is to finish framing the floors and roof and hopefully start on the cladding.

i am thinking that the ladder rungs should maybe not all be identical straight line cuts. i am concerned about my jigsaw abilities and that it might look worse if it is supposed to be straight but aint. alternatives?

day one at the job site, updates to follow.

please see the 100% bid set attached as a pdf. as-builts will be posted at a later date.

FORT DOX