The journey of building our new home!: 9.5.2016

Happy Labor Day! In keeping with the spirit of the day, we labored!

Jim had so many things to figure out today - lots of new challenges awaited. Jim first started working on the corner pieces of trim board. We are starting in the back with siding to figure out the process and, of course, this is probably the hardest corner because it's so high up in the air.

First, Jim made a template of the top miter connection to make sure it would work.

The bottom of each of the trim boards needed to have the middle routed out, basically forming its own drip edge. That required Jim to find his router and the special bit he needed to use. Then he had to prime the bare wood.

Next piece made and primed...

While those pieces were drying, it was time to put up more fascia board on the overhang. This is a 16' piece of 10" Miratek - so it's extremely heavy. Plus, it has to be tucked under the drip edge along the bottom of the roof. I got on one end and Jim on the other - it would have worked better with two men but I was all he had! The fit is so tight that you basically have to get one side in and then pop out the drip edge as you work down the fascia board...all without letting the first side droop. Whew! It was tough going but we finally got it up and in place! Then Jim fastened it down with special stainless steel tech screws. Looks great and so glad it's all in place!

Then it was back to working on the corner trim boards. Here Jim is making the miter cut...

Caulking one side...

Then fitting the pieces together...

Using the Bessie clamps to hold things in place while Jim puts some screws in.

Time to take the corner piece outside and get it up the scaffolding.

Uh oh...the ledger board on the bottom causes the trim board not to fit correctly. Jim was worried that he might have to take the corner apart but he again used a cool tool and was able to cut out the needed section. In fact, this worked so well that Jim will use this method on the other corner pieces.

Having this portion cut out and fit over the ledger board actually helped hold the corner in place until Jim could get a screw in to hold it. It fit perfectly! This was also interesting - one side fastened into the sheathing while the other side fastened into steel. Which meant the steel side had to be predrilled and required different screws than the wood side!

Kind of hard to see amongst the scaffolding, but the corner is all in place!

Next step was to get the laser level out and mark a straight line along the back that Jim can use to line up the siding.

Marking the laser level spots...

In order to get the right angle for the siding pieces, Jim needed to add another small piece on top of the ledger board. He had to cut a piece of Kleer trim board that he had bought - this is actually made of PVC so it won't rot. Jim plans on using this material for the garage door trim pieces, because it can sit on the concrete floor and water won't bother it. Jim was showing me how flexible the thin piece was that he cut.

It's hard to see in this picture because everything is white, but the trim piece fit perfectly on top of the ledger board and actually made a great seal between the house wrap and the ledger board. No bugs can climb inside here! Jim stapled it in place to hold it and then put some screws in.

Next Jim designed a piece of drip edge to go next to the corner trim piece and the wall - just testing the fit here.

A bead of caulk along the corner...

Then the drip edge is put into place.

Stapling the drip edge.

Marking lines for the siding...

The starter course for the siding is a piece of Hardi plank - Jim cut a 6' piece to start with, using the cool shear.

While we waited for the primed end of the Hardi plank to dry, we went back to finishing the front fascia board.

Getting it all fit under the drip edge...

The overhang fascia is all completed! While Jim was up on the scaffolding, he decided to paint all the caulked edges and screw heads.

That job done, time to install the Hardi plank. This was another learning curve - Jim bought special screws for the siding that fit in his drywall gun. They seem to work well - but the gun hadn't been used in awhile so we had to charge up the battery some.