Back in the Saddle Again

After a wonderful week of good friends, good food, and good times, it was time to get back to building. Sunday after church, it was hot hot hot. Did I mention that it rains here all the time? I lied. Ed spent the afternoon loading 16 sheets of plywood up onto the second floor.

You can't really see it but Ed has on a long sleeved t-shirt. That's because it's hotter than Hades here (Just how hot is it in Hades and who has the thermometer?).. I think it hit 98 today, which feels way hotter when you're working like a donkey. Anyway, to avoid chemo or possible death later, he's pretty careful about sun exposure. After that, he moved 27 sheets of cedar soffit, about the same size as the plywood. Isn't it weird how the first sheet weighs about..I dunno.. 20 lbs? But by the time you move the 33rd sheet, it weighs about 168 lbs?

It'll be my job to stain the soffit sheets. (I'm Helping!!) We're going to use Sherwin Williams Semi-Transparent stain/Cedar Bark SW3511. I'll be picking up a test gallon this week, and get a price on the 5 gal buckets and 50 gal drums. Yeah, we'll use it. The whole house and garage will be shingles.

On Monday, we both were up top installing plywood on the two support walls. Up the ladder, down the ladder. Up the ladder, down the ladder.

Mittens, the union steward, showed up and harped about the lack of hard hats and safety harnesses. " You can't be up here without the proper shoes. Where's your hard hat?" , she says.

So we bought her off with a little perk, and she went away happy. Her mouth was so full, she couldn't voice any other complaints.

Ed is very consistent about checking his measurements and calculations during the process, and because of the eyebrow dormer and the way the trusses will go, he has been extra careful. So he measures again. Oops! It's off by 1/4 of an inch, so he gets out the come-along and hooks it up and slowly, very slowly tightens the wall up to it's proper position.

By the end of Monday, Ed had the plywood on the walls to the height of 8'. Note how high the windows are in the front, 4 1/2 feet. Also note the contented union inspector taking in the view. That girl loves to climb a ladder.

Tuesday Ed was back at work on putting the plywood on the eyebrown dormer. First of all the the curve has to be perfect. Second of all, it's really really way up high, and it's on the outside of the building. So I decided to go down to the vegetable garden, because I couldn't bear to watch. "Just scream loudly when you fall, so I can run up and find you", I said. "Where's that danged union steward when I need her", I muttered under my breath. So there are no pictures of Ed precariously balanced on I-won't- even-tell-you. He measured and precut the front one, then put the back one up as sheets and then cut off the excess with the saws-all. Much easier, which of course is a relative term.

All the plywood along the dormer curve had to be notched to match the notches in the header, to receive the trusses. Finally by the end of Tuesday, the front and back plywood is on.

You can see here how high the windows will be in the front as compared to the back. The french doors to the balcony and the longer back windows will prevent the apartment from being too claustrophobic.

By the time Tuesday night came around we were both ready for a shady chair and an adult beverage. Mittens just had another mouse.