Bathhouse 22

It took us six weeks, but we’ve finally got all the materials for our roof on the way!  I was hoping to have the roof up before the rain came again, but Trump’s silly trade war made that impossible; metal building components are hard to find here already (I reckon they’re just not as popular in Washington as in drier climes), and the tariffs made the ones that were available insultingly expensive.  But we found some leads a few weeks ago, and with the help of a generous gent I was able to shove money around to clear enough space on my credit cards to buy what I needed (if anyone else wants to volunteer to help me pay that, please do).  We got the structural steel a month ago, then this week I ordered the cee purlins (crossmembers which support the roof panels) from a place in Phoenix and the roof panels themselves from a place near Knoxville, Tennessee; today Chekhov is picking up the heavy-walled pipe we’re using for the support posts.  Since the stuff from other states is coming via freight, it’ll probably be late November before it arrives; that’s OK because it won’t be needed until the roof structure is in place, and Grace will be welding the trusses together in her shop.  Since we’ll have to work around the rain, phase four will probably go slowly; we figure it may take until the beginning of spring.  But then we’ll have shelter from the rain, so the walls should go relatively quickly afterward.  For the time being, expect about two updates a month; let’s hope the progress speeds up again in March!