day one hundred thirty // fifty six.

today was our last real day of being on site for a while, but it didn't really feel like it since we have SO much left to do, and i know i'll be around a lot over the next few months. sweet.

so this morning, jayson, megan & i finished up all the bricking... we cut a few pieces for the front patch, and redid an area near the back. then we filled everything up with more gravel, because some of it has washed out. after we were done with the brick cutting saw, megan & i took it apart and cleaned it up, so that we can return it.

and that was it for today :)

day one hundred twenty nine // fifty five.

today, i got a break from [us] for the morning, because i had a doctor's appointment and other random things to do. i got to sleep in like an hour later than usual, and it was amazing. so i got on site at about 1.00, just in time for a HUGE thunderstorm. but we have plenty of painting to do inside, so we did that. josh & lauren finished up the main hallway, while denise, jayson, megan & i primed the entryway, which we finished after a few hours, including the ceiling. and painting ceilings SUCKS. it involves tilting your head up constantly, and it was making me feel dizzy and nauseous after a while. so denise finished up the last part of the ceiling while megan & i primed the cement columns.

also, for the past few days, adrianna has been working on her entry sculpture thing, and it looks really cool. she's painted the metal pieces so that they're no longer the same color as the stucco, and it contrasts nicely with the front of the building. i'm not sure what else is involved in her design, but i'm excited to see it finished.

day one hundred twenty eight // fifty four.

today kind of sucked. it was hot as HELL outside, and jayson and i were working in the front yard, where there is constant sun. it was not fun. we finished grading our little square connecting the sidewalk and the driveway, then we got started laying the bricks. we got all the whole bricks layed, and tomorrow we'll worry about the ones that need to be cut.

so at 12, we all went to lunch as usual. i wasn't feeling well though, so i decided to go home and have a nap. it was longer than i intended, but i felt much better afterwards. so i got back to site around 2, and we began cleaning up the site. we got most of the wood, roof, trash, and other miscellaneous materials up, and into the dumpster or in the wood pile. then our neighbor friend from across the street [not the crack house] came and picked up the big pieces. he comes and gets some scrap every once in a while to build some dog houses that he sells. it's pretty cool that we can reuse the wood, instead of just throwing it away.

then after we cleaned, i went inside & helped josh & lauren do some priming. they were working in the big hallway, and i thought it was going to take forever to paint. but we have these huge 18" rollers that make it much easier, so we got a lot of it done in the hour or so that we were working :)

day one hundred twenty seven // fifty three.

today was rather uneventful.... this morning jayson and i did a LOT of pickaxing and shoveling. there is a 5x5ish area between the front sidewalk and the driveway that robert wants us to brick. i'm not sure why, but whatever. however there was a small dirt mountain in the way that we had to remove. so we did that until like 1.00, when we went to lunch.

after lunch, megan & i went to the studio to meet with debbie & janel. they were giving me all their LEED stuff and giving me a tutorial about what all needs to be done. which is a LOT. and i'm quite terrified. but i know megan and can get it done! it'll be great fun.

day one hundred twenty six // fifty two.

today there was a surprise for us when we got on site: broken glass. some asshole kids broke 2 of the panes of glass on the front curtain wall. obviously, denise & robert were PISSED. denise had actually come by site on saturday morning and saw it then, and she called the police and told them the dealio. but they couldn't really do much, so it pretty much sucks.

anyway, today jayson and i finished our brick pathway! we had to do some more pickaxing to get it level, but we got that done pretty quickly, and we laid the pavers quickly. so by 1.00 when i had to go, we were finished! except for the recycling pad area, but we have to wait for our grading friends to come back and move the dirt hills that are in our way.

day one hundred twenty five // fifty one.

today jayson and i of course continued working on pavers. we kicked ass during the morning and got a LOT done, and we were well on course to finishing everything by 5.00. but alas, we did not. we had to finish work that people supposedly did WEEKS ago. back when we first started pavers, a group of people worked on grading the site so that when we come along, we just have to throw a little extra gravel on and start laying bricks. however, there was one area which needed to be dug out a LOT because we couldn't slope a lot due to ADA purposes. but they apparently decided they only wanted to grade it halfway, and deal with it later. which meant jayson and i had to deal with it. so our afternoon was spent pick-axing and shoveling out 4 or 5 inches of dirt. but i haven't had to redo someone else's work in quite some time, so i guess i was overdue. anyway, now we should finish bricking on monday :)

day one hundred twenty four // fifty.

today megan and i elected to venture around greensboro searching for donations. we went to site to see if robert was ok with this plan and also to have him look at our book we created yesterday. he saw us in our normal clothes and couldn't say no, plus he liked our book. first we had to go to the studio to quickly edit the book & update the blog. then we went to kinko's to get it printed, and then we began our adventure. it wasn't very exciting though and we didn't get any free stuff or money, but we made some progress. we'll just have to continue calling & visiting people until we get our stuff :)

so we spent the morning doing this, and then i went back to site to help jayson work on pavers. and fortunately, we got quite a bit done! and ideally, we should be able to finish the rest of the sidewalk tomorrow!

also today, the curtain wall guys installed glass! it looks AWESOME. it's kind of greenish-blue glass which i don't normally like, but it looks really good with the blueish gray of the building. and it obviously lets a LOT of light into the building, so it looks super nice :)

day one hundred twenty three // forty nine.

today was gross and rainy. but at least it wasn't sweltering hot like yesterday & the day before. i got to site, and jayson, megan & i got started on pavers. while we were working, denise, megan, gabe & i were talking and decided we needed some sort of brochure/booklet to actually take to different places in greensboro to look for donations. calling people up doesn't seem to work, because they can't SEE what's going on and how awesome we are. so around 9.00, megan & i went to the studio to work on this book! we got it done, and we just have to show it to robert for approval, and then hopefully we can get it printed and start getting some free stuff!

day one hundred twenty two // forty eight.

this morning i met denise & megan at caribou coffee. we were on a mission to get stuff donated. i was in charge of appliances, and i called a whole bunch of distributors in greensboro & winston-salem. most people were not useful, but one guy said he was willing to give us as much of a discount as possible. and one place sounded very interested, i just have to fax over some info to the owner/manager. so i hope something works out! denise did the best job, and essentially got all our landscaping stuff donated. it's not a done deal yet, but one guy said he's VERY interested in doing all the landscaping. which is AWESOME and i'm trying to get paid for (at least) my 200 hours from this summer :)

so after this, i went back to site for a bit and helped with pavers. jayson was at lunch when i got there, and josh & lauren didn't need any help, so i did some random stuff while i waited for jayson, like cut some bricks in half to finish the holes in the herringbone sections, and filled gravel in the sections that were completed yesterday and this morning. then jayson arrived, and we pretty much finished the intersection of the herringbone & running bond pattern by the shed. then we got started leveling & grading the area by the door.

also today, robert told me that i'm going to be in charge of LEED from now on. he had been hinting at this for a while, but i wasn't sure if he was serious or actually going to do it. so i guess he told debbie & janel today that i'm doing it from now on. and as i imagined, it didn't go over well. it'll be interesting though, because i don't exactly know what i'll be doing. but i'll be getting GREAT experience. and i'll be getting paid :)

day one hundred twenty one // forty seven.

today was once again, rather uneventful. megan, jayson & i began working on the brick pavers once again. we did some calculating with string to figure out the slopes, then shoveled a lot of gravel. we got the path to the mechanical room finished, and started leveling out the curved part. then 1.30 rolled around, and i left for fleming's.

day one hundred twenty // forty six.

today was rather uneventful. cody, anna, josh, jayson & lauren worked on finishing up the roof, but they didn't need any other help. so i painted. all day long. in the morning, laura & i painted the last few rafter tails on the front of the building. it's on the east side, so its super sunny and HOT. it wasn't exactly fun.

then after lunch, we painted some siding. we finished up the part to the left of the atruim, which needed another coat. then we began on the right side, where they finished installing the hardiplank this week. yay. and more painting will occur next week, i'm sure.

day one hundred nineteen // forty five.

today was another looong day. however, i found out that i'm getting paid for my labor until we finish, so i'm MORE than willing to put in long hours :)

anyway, today i mostly worked with lauren & josh to finish up the hardiplank. there was just one wall remaining, in the little alcove/corner thing behind the atrium, where megan & i waterproofed wayyyyyyyy back in april. and became clear that our waterproofing skills are stellar, because the whole area was filled with 3-4 inches of water, plus a whole bunch of trash. so the first order of business was to remove said water. so we fetched our dear friend, The Pump. he didn't get all the water out, so we got the shop vac to suck the rest out. and i learned that shop vacs can indeed suck up water, as well as mudish substances. who knew. then we got started on installing the hardiplank, which involved a lot of leveling, a jig to keep the pieces even, my arms hurting from holding the pieces straight, and a crazy sawing contraption. there's this strange attatchment that goes on the end of a drill that chomps through the hardiplank. i'm not sure how it goes from spinning to cutting, but it's cool. so we got the majority of this wall finished by lunch, and finished it up afterwards. then we caulked the holes from our wall and yesterdays wall, and that was about it for today!

we have also begun picking out colors for the interior! robert showed us the 'techtonic' color scheme, which is basically white walls in the majority of the building, with certain walls of accent colors. denise picked out some REALLY nice colors that i loved, but they got vetoed by robert :( basically, we have to keep in the same sort of color scheme as the exterior, which is blue-ish gray. and there's a limeish green that he really likes too. so there's certain areas of color in the public spaces that need to be decided on, and i guess we're going to pick out the accent colors for the bedrooms in teams of 2 or something. so we can each have our own color! it's exciting :)

day one hundred eighteen // forty four.

well, our mini-vacation ended this morning. we were back on site at 8.00 as usual. and as expected, no one showed up except for megan, josh, denise, anna, cody, lauren, and myself. the interns. and of course robert. mostly everyone else clearly has no interest in seeing the project get finished, and were just here this summer for the credit. [well, except for doug, who has been working in the shop with adrian, and jayson, who will be there tomorrow.] oh well. we'll be the only ones who can have the WHOLE project in our portfolios, from start to finish :)

anyway, today was HOT. i helped cody & anna finish waterproofing the green roof. lately, it has been seriously leaking, because the waterproofing that we put on wayyyy back in april is no longer working. apparently, if you leave it exposed during the summer for extended periods of time, it loses it's effectiveness. so on friday, anna & cody put down a few layers of the EXTREMELY disgusting tar stuff and some sort of strange feltish material to make everything super waterproofed. then today, we had to go over the edges again with some foilskin, a foil-like substance with tar on the back to make it stick. then we havd to cover those edges with some super sticky blue tape. so now there seems to be an extreme amount of waterproofing action going on, and nothing will get through. hopefully.

that's what we did until about 3.00 today, when i had to leave. fortunately, i missed the next step: more tar. so hopefully they got the rest of it done today! also, robert is sending cody & anna to the shop next week, so they have to finish the whole roof by the end of friday. there are still a few more trim pieces that need to be ordered, so i went around with them and helped them measure, so that they can be delivered tommorrow :)

OH and we have drywall! and the stucco is finished! over the past 4 days, our drywall & stucco friends have continued working! the stucco is finished, and the color & texture looks really cool. and the majority of the drywall is finished also! so there are real life rooms. it's crazy. it REALLY looks like a house. and it kind of hit me today that we ACTUALLY built this thing. i still can't get over it.