12.28.2015 - West Wall Sheathed!

The wonderful weather party is definitely over!  We definitely know that we have been very blessed so won't complain, but you always wish you had just one more week!

It was cold today - the high only got to 27 but there was a brisk wind which made it felt more like 14 out.  Definitely not used to that.

Jim had some errands to run in the morning - he had to pick up some steel from the cold-formed steel company and stopped at Lowe's for a few supplies.  Unfortunately, house wrap was one of those items on the list but the Lowe's he stopped at didn't carry the Tyvek he needed.  So we'll have to go to our normal Lowe's store.

Jim had planned this to be a moving day - moving into the building the piles of plywood and OSB that were delivered last week as well as our doors.  However, once he got to the site after lunch, he decided that we could try to work on the wall again.

Of course, because it's so cold, we are all bundled up in our coveralls - which makes climbing around on the scaffolding and in and out of tight spaces really difficult for Jim.  But he climbed out the top and got busy taking some measurements and getting ready.

Cutting the next piece...

The plywood Jim put on the ceiling joists came in handy - Jim was able to put the piece of sheathing up there...

...and then climb outside.

Before the sheathing could go up, the strapping had to be put on and attached first.

Once that was done, Jim had to maneuver the piece of sheathing out the wall.

Then he had to get it in place and start fastening.

Cutting the last two pieces of sheathing for this wall!

Signing the triangle that will go on the very top!

To make things easier when it's time to fasten, Jim predrilled the holes in this piece.

 

 

Back outside, he got the triangle piece of sheathing attached on the corner - only the top to go now!

 

Fastening the top piece - you can see from this picture how close he is to the piece he's working on.  Because he has to put the ladder up on the scaffolding platform (be still my heart!), the ladder ends up right next to the wall.  There is no leverage for him to use to fasten the screws - if he pushes too hard, the ladder kicks out.

That was the close-up view - this is the view from the ground! 

But to make matters worse, this side of the property really drops off so to Jim looking down, down is a long way away!

The halleluiah fist pump - it's all sheathed!

All closed in from the inside view...

We didn't have much house wrap but Jim put a couple strips up...

Standing on the window trying to get plastic stapled up - it's supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow.

The end-of-the-day shot - we are still in awe that this wall has sheathing on it!  The thought of working on this side has plagued us for a long time.  There's still a little work left to go, but the hard part is finished - we're celebrating tonight!

 

High 27/Low 18