6.30.2015

Jim was working on filling in some studs in the front wall this morning when he got the call that Lowe's was on the way with our sheathing delivery.

Wow - that's a lot of building supplies on that truck!

The first thing on the truck was 2"x4"x that Jim will use for nailers for on top of the trusses.

Jim had the driver just dump them in a pile for the moment.

Then the driver brought various piles of sheathing and OSB.

This is the subflooring that we will use for the next level.  Jim did a lot of research for this material - it's wide enough to span the truss areas.  This wasn't supposed to be delivered today - Jim had worked all this out with the rep but here it is.  The rep also promised at first that all these piles would be covered; then later she said she couldn't do that and would throw in a roll of plastic.  Which didn't happen either.

This is our Hardi Board shake siding for the outside of the building!  This is all SO exciting!  We basically have all the building materials we need now except for the roof - and Jim has a quote out for that.

Jim and I moved the 2x4s on top of the trusses and later covered them up with the old house wrap to keep them dry.
 


During the delivery, Jim and I scrambled and covered all the various piles with plastic that we had to keep things out of the weather as much as possible.

 

It's a good thing we did, because almost as soon as the Lowe's truck pulled out of the driveway, the raindrops started falling.  We were hoping it would stop but it pretty much drizzled on/off all afternoon.  Jim went and ran a few errands - he stopped at the cement plan to talk to his rep about the concrete shortage during our pour, but the guy was out for the day.  Then Jim went to Lowe's and talked to his rep there - because of the issues, she gave him a roll of plastic free as well as a very discounted extra roll of house wrap! 

 

So while we didn't get to do much on our walls, still a good day.  Poor Jim said he has a million things he can do now in every direction - from backfilling, to bricking, to walls, and on and on.  We're still so thankful that we got our pour in - ever since Wednesday when it was beautiful, the forecast has included rain most days, even though it hasn't rained much.

 

High 71/Low 62

 

6.29.2015

It rained on/off most of the day on Sunday, so we used it as a work-at-home day.  After seeing the first walls go up, it was hard not to go out and work again!

But we got started again today.  First, Jim worked on putting more screws into the last wall we had put up.

We moved the scaffolding over so that Jim could work on the corner easier than working off the ladder.

Time to build the next wall...

This is a smaller wall so Jim was able to flip it over and screw both sides of the studs down, which makes it much easier.

Using the hammer drill to fasten the track down.

This wall will have a set of double doors both from the outside into the stairwell and again into the shop.  At this point, we're leaving door and window details for after we get the basic wall structure up.

Working on the front wall...

Again, it's too bad that we don't have pictures of us actually lifting the wall up.  Then again, it's probably better that we don't!  We clamped one side of this wall to the previous corner and then moved the scaffolding over and tied it to hold it in place.

Getting the corner all connected and fastened together.

 

Jim checking out the plans and getting ready to transfer stud and window locations to the track.

 

Working on the final wall section - it really looks and feels like an inside space now!

Screwing the studs into place....

Whew....the last wall is up!

Drilling into the concrete to fasten the wall down...



Working on this corner now...

At the end of the day, we have all four walls up - tomorrow we can fill in the rest of the studs.  Quite the exciting day!

 

High 69/Low 52

 

6.27.2015

The weather forecast was for rain in the afternoon so we weren't sure how long we would have to work.  We got busy on the next wall section as soon as we got to the land and got set up.

Here Jim is marking the tracks where the studs go as well as the rough opening for the window in this section.  Then I would transfer the marks to the outside where Jim could see them when he was screwing them in place.

Before we started on the wall, Jim put some more screws in the first section.  At this point, he's only putting one screw on each side of the truss, top and bottom, until we see if we have to remove any for trimming because of the slab.

Time to build the next wall!

There are no pictures of us lifting the wall into place since we are both busy actually putting the wall into place and making sure it doesn't topple over the side!  We have a pretty good system now but Jim still has to do the brunt of the work.

He's also skilled at doing the limbo while he fastens the studs into place!

Getting the corners all set is key.

It's much better when he can work on the scaffolding and screw the top studs in place - otherwise, he's standing on the top of the ladder with me bracing it just in case!

Using the hammer drill to drill into the concrete to attach the track.

On this wall, every other stud is a double stud that we made a few weeks ago.  These are the areas that the trusses will sit on so it needs to be extra strong to carry the weight of the next story too!

The view of Jim working from down below is pretty crazy!

At this point, the wall is pretty well fastened down and is still tied to the scaffolding.  Jim is putting a brace attached to a stake down below to make sure everything is supported.

Then he fastens the brace to the wall.

Time to start the next section!

Assembling the wall.

Jim put a temporary track on top of the wall so that once we put the wall up, he can quickly clamp the top track to this temporary piece and hold things together until he can get them screwed down.

The wall is in place - Jim also put a brace on the far side.

Time to screw the other side of the studs to the track.

Then use the hammer drill to attach to the concrete.

Then we can fill in the rest of the studs!

The two sections were joined with a double stud.

Making all the connections...

Wow!!  Another wall is done!  There's still lots of detail work to be done but it's so exciting to see walls now!

The view from the driveway is amazing...

...as is the view from the back!

As the afternoon grew to a close, the skies looked a bit threatening but we kept pressing on.  Here Jim cuts the track for the next section.

Starting to assemble the wall...

It's in place!  This one was a little less scary because there wasn't a 10 foot drop on the other side.

Jim braced the wall to the temporary decking over the stairwell as well as to the other piece of bracing.

All done - the winds picked up and rain started spitting so it was time to clean up.  We were thrilled with how much we got done today.

View at the end of the day...can't wait til tomorrow!  (Unfortunately, rain is in the forecast but we have our fingers crossed that we can still work!)

 

High 74/Low 55