Facing the Stone Walls: Greenhouse Construction Continues

October 7 was a dreary, cold day, made considerably brighter by the arrival of Jeff Cline, who came to apply the manufactured stone facing I'd chosen for the greenhouse foundation walls. 

At first I had thought I'd have it only on the outside, but I quickly realized, living with the structure for a month, that the part I'd see most was the inside, so it was important to me to put beautiful stone there, too. In the photo above you can see the huge difference it makes, comparing the raw cinder block of the inside with the stone-faced outside.

He got most of it done on a Saturday of work, starting around noon. Amazing! This is why we hire professionals.

The stone is manufactured in Amish country Ohio. There are several companies that do it. This is Weatherledge Tan and it's made by Prestige. I chose it because it was pretty close to the natural riverstone that makes up the chimney on the house. I also liked its light color and the occasional orange and red stones in the mix. We're all about warm colors here.

Dorito break! 

He's leaving blank the area around where the big glass double doors will go. He won't finish up until the glass is installed, because he doesn't want to interfere with the installation. I caught a video of Jeff putting the last couple of stones in the south outer wall.  I love to think how his brain works, getting the mix of stone sizes and shapes just organically right. He must have jumped up a hundred times to back up and look at it overall, like the artist he is. I do that in the studio all the time! 

Here's a glam shot of the walls. Now, the buff-colored grout (Colonial Buff) isn't in yet. He keeps telling me how awesome it's going to look with the colored grout. I believe it, because it looks pretty awesome right now! 

And here comes the grout!

Colored grout gives it a pulled-together, finished look

which I particularly appreciate on the inner walls

which are the ones I'll see most often as I appreciate my new living space with my planties (as Bill called them) all around me.

Jeff has  left the area around the double glass doors unfaced so as not to interfere with their installation. He'll come back and finish it all off when the glass has been installed.

What a beautiful job he's done. If you need masonry work in the Marietta, Ohio area, 

Jeff Cline is your guy.

All this whets my appetite for the glass installation, the basic rudiments of which began TODAY, October 24! And the thought of  being able to install my plants in it at last, once the two gas space heaters are installed, is the most delicious of prospects. It's been such a long and sometimes weary road, but we're finally getting there. I'm kinda waiting for the next person who innocently exclaims, "You're so LUCKY to have a greenhouse!"

 And I might just sing softly, 

What's LUCK got to do, got to do with it?

Houston, We Have the Glass

Because of all the delays back in January when I was being strung along by the Dematerializing Glass Installer, I'd been told to expect my glass to be delivered in November. There's an eight month lagtime between laying down your first deposit until the glass finally ships. Whew. That'll cool your jets. And then, out of nowhere, I got a call in July telling me the glass would be shipping at the end of August. Holy cow. Now that changes things! Hence my mad scramble to firm up the mason. You see, my part in all this was having a concrete foundation with monolithic footers poured, and having the supporting walls done before the glass got here, or Florian Glass simply would refuse to deliver the glass. They have no place to store it and everything has to be dead ready when they ship.

The problem is, I didn't know whether the glass shipment would take hours, days, weeks, or months. It was all a big mystery. As the weeks wore on, I began to wonder if it would even arrive before frost. Some nights dipped into the upper 40's. It was invigorating, but also concerning. Creole Lady is way too big now for me to easily schlepp her in and out of the house. She's way taller than I am, and in a huge pot. Arrgh.

On September 20, we finally got word that the glass would arrive at 9 AM Sept. 21. Well, that's not quite the end of August, but it's better than November. I'll take it.

 AJ Johns hustled out with his skid steer to shuttle the glass from the semi truck to my house. Nobody showed up. First it would be an hour late, then two hours late. AJ had to go to another job. He told me to tell the driver just to drop it off at the driveway turnaround, and he'd be by to get it into my garage in the next day or two. 

Instead, the semi just came roaring right up the driveway around 11:45 am, and the driver jumped out to start unloading it. 

As it happens, I was trying to leave for a talk I had to give in Columbus that same evening, but instead I (of course) started helping the truck driver to unload the glass and metal framing. It was a JOB. Lord, it was a job. I wasn't prepared for that much exertion  in 80 degree heat before leaving for a talk (I'd already loaded my car full of heavy books and stuff). But it had to be done, and NOW. 

He was such a nice guy...how could I leave him to do this alone? We had to cut this whole skid apart, steel bands and all, because the glass was too tall to go into the garage. Good thing I have a boltcutter.

I gave him quiche and cold water, and he got to relax a bit and tell me what it's like to be a long-haul trucker. He'd been on the road for two days, bringing this load of glass from South Carolina. Now his truck was empty, and he was going to comb the Internet for loads he might take back on his way home to Titusville, Florida. As he sat on the new greenhouse pad, he said he loves this weather and wants to live in a place like this. We talked about the real estate market here, and I could see him dreaming of living in Ohio. It was nice. For me, living here is a continuing dream.

The glass all fit in one bay of the garage, thank goodness. That right there is my greenhouse, just not yet put together. A heady thought. I don't even let myself look at it, or I'll get too impatient.

 I'm told the glass installation process takes about five days. I can understand that, looking at all the parts we schlepped into the garage. 

Again, for weeks on end I had no idea when the glass might arrive, or when installation would happen,  but I've learned to expect nothing, to bide my time and wait for weeks, and to be happy with whatever happens. I just have to work on keeping the big picture in mind. I started working on this in January, for goodness sake. I can't lose my cool now, eight months later. If the weather freezes up (and it did) before the glass gets here, I'll deal with it; I'll lug the plants into the house and somehow keep them alive. I suppose I can take a bunch to the tower room. (I did...) When I heard the glass was shipping in late August, I never thought I'd still be waiting in late September for it to be installed, but hey. This whole experience has taught me a lot about perseverance and patience. Or doggedness and indefatigability. It'll be worth it!

It'll be worth it. 

A Snag, and then: Masons Arrive!

 I had plenty of time to admire the new concrete pad

and photograph it from different angles, and dream about when there'd be a real greenhouse on it. 

We'd made such great progress, something had to go wrong. I'd been talking with a mason since March, calling him periodically to make sure he was still on for the job. Well, it was getting on time to order the block and rock facing and line him up, so I called him on Thursday, August 10, wanting to discuss the specifics of the job. He was strangely detached, and as we talked I could tell he was looking for a way out. It was unimaginable to me that he'd back out now. But I truly felt my dream slipping through my hands again when he told me I'd have to be the one to order all the materials and have them on the site, waiting for him. How in the holy hell was I supposed to know what to order, how much block, and mortar, and...seriously, WHAT??

I'd learned so much in this project, but I had not learned the ins and outs of masonry as yet.

 And then he dropped the bomb. "Well, I'd just as soon not fool with it." 

"With what?" I asked. "Ordering the materials, or the job?"

"The job." 

I gaped like a fish, speechless. He hung up hurriedly, without even an apology for stringing me along for five months. Embarrassed, I guess. After a wonderful interlude with AJ Johns, my flair for finding people who promise big and don't intend to follow through came roaring back to the fore.

After I'd cussed and stomped around for awhile, blowing off steam, I got on the phone to Pioneer Masonry to ask if they could recommend a mason who could work at a moment's notice. Because I had been told the glass would ship at the end of August, and it was August 10! I had no idea how long it would take to build the foundation for the greenhouse, but if it wasn't ready when the glass was, I was in big trouble.

 Always helpful, they emailed me a list of recommended masons. I noted that the man who'd dropped out on me was not on it. On their list of general contractors, I saw the name of someone I knew--Chip Ditchendorf. I called him and described my sudden and unexpected plight. Chip didn't mess around. "Call Jeff Cline. I think he's the right guy for this job."

I called Jeff on a Thursday afternoon; he CAME OUT TO LOOK AT THE JOB THE SAME DAY (yes, I'm shouting!) and by Friday morning, the block and mortar he had ordered were on their way to me. Whoaaaa!! Jeff was as responsive and thorough as anyone could hope. I didn't have to estimate how much block I'd need; I didn't have to order the materials; he did it for me. I think that's the way it's supposed to work. I don't see how it could work the other way. 

I'm so grateful to Chip for this recommendation!

Here's the truck that delivered the block and mortar.

I was thrilled to watch the remote-controlled crane on this huge truck, and the way the driver deftly operated it with what looked like a gamer's remote. Crazy how people operate machinery with these little plastic controls.

And get this. Mason Jeff Cline and his son Christopher were on the job by Saturday!! Thursday morning, I'd thought all was lost. Saturday, I had masons on the job, and the materials there waiting for them. What a gift Pioneer Masonry and the Clines were to me and this project!!

Jeff and Christopher did NOT fool around. That's a rented electric concrete mixer dressed in red.

They're building the wall the glass will rest upon. It's going to look like a real building! 

Imagine my excitement, watching it all go up.

 

By Saturday afternoon, their mission was accomplished. Sweetest guys you could ever want to meet, and they did beautiful and precise work. Curtis and I are their biggest fans! 

I knew, looking at this beautiful wall, that I'd want rock facing not only on the outside, but on the inside, because that's what I'd be looking at most of the time. So off I went to Pioneer Masonry to choose some manufactured rock facing: Weatherledge Tan by Prestige. It's made in Amish Country, right here in Ohio. Jeff and Christopher would return to put that facing on in just a few weeks' time.

They're standing in the double doorway. I'd say that's big enough to get Creole Lady in and out of...for now.