Journal of Progress May 28-June 2

Monday, May 28, 2018

Rainy day; not much building. Got the kitchen window placed to Barbara’s satisfaction, laid out the stud positions for the south wall, and installed the west bearing beam. Got hailed on.  Borrowed 20 2x4s from Harry, with permission. Will replace them when guy in Stockton near Tooele has some more available. What a good neighbor Harry is! Tomorrow, with good weather, I hope to finish laying out the south wall, cut the studs to length, and build the wall. With luck, I might even get the headers installed for the kitchen and dining room windows. Won’t be able to stand it up without a lot of help. Also need to build and install the east bearing beam and support post, brace the west wall, and start on the deck roof supports, add another main deck support, design and build the deck stairs, and build the interior walls. LOTS of work to be done before I’ll be ready for the joists! I’m grateful for the water, but it’s almost June, and I haven’t had more than a few decent building days.

We've been feeding this little wild, calico cat.  She is still very shy of us and will run under the car instead of running off if we come out.  I don't think she fully associates us with the food that appears.  Some days she doesn't come at all and we worry about her and then she shows up again.  We are trying not to feed our neighbor's fat cat which is an excellent mouser.  She also brings presents of birds, gophers, baby rabbits, etc to our neighbors and leaves body parts on their door step.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Red letter day! Laid out, cut, built, and erected the last outside wall, all in one long day! Had to cut all the studs to length, decide where the windows go (with Barbara’s help), etc. Because of the shortage of studs, I had no extras to build it in sections, so I decided to just put in the king studs (the full length ones), brace it, and leave out the trimmers and cripples and the heavy headers, for now, in the interest of lightness. Barbara photographed our crew of four erecting the wall. Daniel, Blaine and Margaret helped with erecting it. Fit perfectly! Tomorrow I’ll build and install the window headers and finish the rough openings. Also, I hope to build and install the east beam for the bearing wall. 

It is sometimes still cool when Don starts his day.

With all the exterior walls up, I counted all the studs needing metal “seismic” gussets or framing angles. These are not specifically for earthquakes, as the name implies, but for any similar load, such as the high winds we get around here. The building code specifies connectors for every other stud, but I intend to do virtually all of them. That’s THREE HUNDRED connectors! And twenty-four hundred nails to nail them. The gussets cost 72 cents each (in bulk), and attach in the inside corner at the top and bottom of the stud, where there are already a couple of nails. I think this makes the joint weaker, not stronger. I’d rather use 1x4 mending plates, which are cheaper, and attach at the edge of the stud, where there are no existing nails to weaken the joint. I’ll have to call up the building inspector before buying. Another job for tomorrow. I’ll also need “hurricane straps” to hold the roof to the studs, but I have no idea how many. Another question for the inspector.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Hard day, but I did get some hard things accomplished. Finished up the south wall framing, building and installing headers, trimmers, and cripples for the two window rough openings.

After much contemplation, decided the bearing beam is close enough to in line with the bearing wall to just move the trimmer, which necessitated pulling ten nails. Compensated by using 2x12s instead of the 2x10s I had planned on. It comes out seven and a half feet long. By a stroke of genius, I thought to check the plumb of the east wall, before cutting the beam. It wants to bow outward at the center of the top, by an inch and a half! Took a while to pull it into plumb and brace it that way.  Then measured and plumbed and measured until I got the true length of the beam.

Building the beam was not easy. An eight foot 2x12 is heavy. Two of them, nailed together with half-inch OSB is more than twice as heavy. Heavier than I’m willing to lift by myself. Last summer, my back didn’t bother me much for heavy work, as long as I took care to lift properly. This year, I can feel it wanting to give out whenever I do any heavy lifting, so I don’t. Figured I could lift it into place one end at a time, lifting (or prying) a couple of inches at a time. Quickly found out that doesn’t work, for several reasons, but the biggy is that it’s unsafe. Tried levering each end up. Got it up about head high on me, using clamps to keep the beam vertical and on its supports. After that, couldn’t go any higher, as there was no place to clamp to. Barbara started taking pictures. 

Rigged the come-along on one end, and got that end within three inches of its goal. Braced it, re-rigged the come-along, and got it within an inch. Tied it off with rope, and had another brainstorm. I could use rachet tie down straps! Sent Barbara to get them out of the trailer, while I got a 4x4 from the lumber pile, and laid it horizontally from the bearing wall to the east wall. Voila! Pulled the east end up to its bearing trimmer. Put the other tie down strap on the other end, and started hoisting. Got it to the right level, but it wouldn’t quite go in.

Hit it with a hand sledge (standing on a step ladder)--and lost it! I’d had to loosen the strap so it could move, and it came completely undone. Caught the beam with my left hand. All I could do just to hold it and keep it from falling. I have no doubt whatsoever that it would have punched a nice, BIG hole in the subfloor. Barbara started looking for a piece of wood to support it. I knew we didn’t have any that would fit, and there was no way I could hold the beam long enough to talk her through cutting one. My strength was failing rapidly. So, I just started shouting, “Clamp!” She’d been handing me the bar clamp several times today, so she knew what it looked like. Then, all I had to do was adjust it, one handed, while balancing on an eight foot stepladder, and supporting one end of an eight foot beam with my left hand! Managed it. Whew! Got the ratchet tie down rigged aroung the beam and the 4x4 supporting it. 

Meanwhile, the east end had slipped off its trimmer. Got it back on, then nailed 2x4s on each side, to hold it, while I worked the other end onto its trimmer. It did require a bit of tapping with the hand sledge, as it was an exact fit, but it went in, and I nailed up some more 2x4s to hold that end. Ta-da! 

By this point I was so exhausted that I just left it like that. It’s in place, but still supported by the 4x4 and the ratchet ties, and is not permanently attached. I don’t care! It’ll keep ’til tomorrow. Swept up, put away tools (except for the ratchet tie downs), and came inside. Dinner was lovely. Another twelve hour day on the job site.

Note what he is doing with his foot here to bump the beam higher.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Very windy day-- sustained winds of over 30 mph and gusts to 50 mph. Had to tie the stepladder to the wall to keep it from being blown over while I was standing on it! 

Finished the cap plates for all walls. Cut out and framed the second living room window. Barely had enough 2x4s to do the job. I’m gonna have to buy some more, at Home Depot’s full price! Fortunately, I don’t need many. Maybe twelve more for the bedroom wall, which I need to brace the bearing wall, and another twelve if we decide to separate the bathroom from the dressing room. I’d like to, if for no other reason than to provide bracing for the west end of the bearing wall.

This is the beam he was working on yesterday that was so difficult.

Building the second west living room window.  This is where our greatest view is and we realized that the other window would be near the wood stove and prohibitive to putting furniture too near it.

Note the flag doing a dance in the photo above.

Had a real hard time lifting the window beam into position, even though it was light enough to carry, due to the high winds. Not as much trouble as yesterday, as I knew what I was doing, and the beam weighed only a little more than half as much. Had to chisel the seat for one end of the beam, where it was about 1/16" proud. Yeah, the fit was that exact. Even so, needed to use a clamp AND hand sledge to position it securely. But it’s done. All that remains is to install braces in that wall. Then, I can start on the porch. That will involve building and hanging some VERY heavy beams. Also some serious digging, for the extra post I’ve never put in yet.

Here you can see both living room windows.

Once again, the flag is showing the extreme wind.

Friday, June 1, 2018

Put up one brace for the west wall, south end. It’s hard, scary, and dangerous using a worm drive saw one handed, on top of a twelve foot ladder in the wind.  Then we went into Provo for laundry, a Home Depot run and spent time with family.

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Finished the second brace on the west wall. Used my Sawzall to cut in the brace, which is much, much easier to use on top of a ladder. Still, it took a while, as I had to do a lot of hand chisel work. Also, finished framing the removable section of that wall and floor.

Don is showing the rope that got cut in the saw.

I’ve been wondering how I was going to do it! It comes out in two pieces: the wall, and the floor. Barbara was worried that making it removeable would weaken the wall. (It didn’t. I planned for it. It’s no weaker than any wall with a doorway in it.) Great to see her starting to think like a builder! Now, ALL the exterior walls are framed. HOORAY!!! 

Here Don is working on the little trap door type thing that goes over the basement.  A portion of the living room floor can be removed to allow large items to be taken into the basement.

Got water and watered the tree. Margaret and Norm came over and fixed the trailer door. Took HOURS.  Door was off for most of the day. Just now went to use the Internet and discovered the phone line is out.