Matt Lettau 2020-09-08 06:06:47 wrote:

The Garage: Not long after moving into their Richland house, David built a garage. There are many good memories from the construction of that garage, and here are just a few from my perspective. I don't even remember what year, but I would guess early 80s. \ --(1)-- I would have been maybe 10. With a family full of carpenters there was lots of help. They found lots of good jobs for a 10 year old to do. I did a lot of hammering nails and such. David had me use a hammer where the other end was an axe. His theory being that I would learn quickly to be very respectful of the tool and not make mistakes. Guess it worked. --(2)-- Before laying the concrete for the garage floor, there was some requirement to pack the soil to a certain pressure. Most people rent some equipment to do this. David instead calculated that if all of us guys wore boots or heeled shoes, and walked around on the heels, it would be the right pressure. So we compressed all that soil by doing that... --(3)-- The earth moved for the foundation and leveling and such was dumped in a pile in the yard behind the garage. It was left there forever, and the kids loved playing in it in their younger years. David always joked that the pile got a little smaller each year, because it was coming in the house in their jeans and shirts and being flushed through the washing machine. --(4)-- David knew all the loopholes. He knew he didn't have to get an electrical inspection if the garage wasn't permanently wired. So the feed to the garage was a heavy duty extension cord... --(5)-- I'm sure there are many more, those are the ones that stick out from that building experience from the memory of a 10 year old..