1.31.2016

Last day of January and we're still out building - really incredible!  Although the temperature was around 40 degrees, it felt much cooler because the sun was behind the clouds most of the day.  However, we'll take it!

First thing Jim did was to finish putting the screws in the piece we put up yesterday and then put the next piece up that we had already cut and marked.

He moved around to the back side and put the flashing on.

Bringing out the next piece of sheathing...

Up in place and starting to fasten down.  Now the bottom row is done all the way around except for the little space around the door.  It's starting to feel like a room inside.

Before we could build up any farther, we had to put up more scaffolding.  Little scary on these slanted planks but Jim got it all leveled and the feet fastened down to the boards.

Strapping is next...

Then the next piece of sheathing...

Up in place and time to fasten!

Cutting the next piece of sheathing in half...

Now that we have sheathing on the outside, we can take the last of our braces down!

Setting the next piece of sheathing in place.

After he got it fastened down, time for more strapping.

It always seems like it's time to build up more scaffolding!

Rain is possible over the next couple of days so Jim wanted to try and divert any possible water that would funnel into the downstairs shop and force it out the door.  So we put some old pieces of wood next to the studs and Jim stapled the tarp down to make what looks like a swimming pool liner! 

End-of-the-day picture...

 

High 42/Low 37

 

1.30.2016

When I got to the property, Jim was up on the landing!  He was putting some screws in the top of the header.

In order to do that, he put some scrap OSB on top of the joists so that we could walk up there.

I went up to take a peak too.  This is the view from the top landing down to the next one!



In this picture, Jim is working on installing the stud and then the track on top for the extra stability for the roof rafters.

Then it was time for more sheathing.  It's always a challenge to figure out how best to get the sheathing where it needs to be.  This time, Jim pushed it up from the bottom up to the landing...

 

He balanced it up on top of the wall until he could come around and get back on the scaffolding...

...and then was able to bring it down into place.

Working on all the fasteners...

Jim wants to work on the east side of the stairwell next.  In order to do that, he will have to take down the original bracing.  So first he put up a brace on the inside of the wall.

Then he was able to safely take down the other brace.

With the brace out of the way, he can now continue putting up the ledger board.  It's not easy to work here - everything is iced over and on a hill!

And then the flashing.

He decided to continue with the ledger board around the back side also.

It was challenging enough for Jim to try and put up the ledger board and flashing in this area...you can see that it goes down a steep hill which is now covered in slippery ice.  But now how do you put scaffolding up so that we can work on sheathing?  Jim's solution was to put planks up - he fastened two together...

and then two more on the other side.  For this first piece, he can work off a platform just on the planks but he will later build scaffolding on top of these planks.

Finally time for sheathing!

Jim put enough fasteners in to hold it down for the moment.

But before he could go too far, he had to put another stud in this area.  This was one of the pieces in the new steel delivery so now it's time to get it in place.

Fastening down the stud.  At this point, I had to leave to get ready for church.  Jim stayed just a bit longer and got some more fasteners in the sheathing.  We'll pick up here tomorrow - it's supposed to be a little warmer day so we wanted to take full advantage!

 

High 32/Low 28

 

1.29.2016

As promised, a couple of landing pictures from yesterday.  It's hard to get pictures because the second landing is kind of at eye level.

This viewpoint is from the back side of the stairwell so you can see the different landings a little better.

This morning, Jim made the block that will go between the box beam joist and its neighbor to provide extra stability for the staircase attachment.

 

Then he made more mounting plates - this time for the timber braces that will go here.  We are having an overhang over the door with braces underneath so Jim will use these mounting plates to attach those later on.

Putting up the other mounting plate...

We took our lunch break and went to Lowe's to pick up the screws that Jim needs to finish attaching the track to the carriage house wall.  We also wanted to talk to them about our appliance delivery that is scheduled for next week - with the icy driveway, Jim's a little worried that the Lowe's box truck may not make it up the driveway and up to the carriage house.  We'll see how the weather goes next week.  We also did some preliminary searches of flooring for the carriage house - Jim needs to know how to proceed with the apartment floor, which will be dependent on how thick of flooring we decide on.  We really want strand bamboo so we'll be looking into that further.

Once we got back to the site, it was time to turn our attention to sheathing again!  Jim first cut some of the flashing he had made to go over the ledger boards.

Fitting the flashing on...

...and stapling it into place.

Then we got our first piece of sheathing cut and marked and Jim carried it outside.

First piece is in place and Jim is starting the fastening process.

Next it's strapping...

Before we can proceed any further, we have to set up scaffolding.  However, the ground is frozen and icy - not good.  So Jim had to get the pick out and work the areas where the feet would go.

Scaffolding in place, time to cut the next piece of sheathing.  On this piece, Jim had me take measurements and draw out the window opening so that he would know where to put the screws.

Putting the next piece up...

...and into place.

End-of-the day picture - now you can really see the stairwell taking shape and how it fits in with the rest of the carriage house.

Getting ready for tomorrow - we put up another section of scaffolding and cut and marked the next piece of sheathing.

 

The pictures don't show it, but it pretty much snowed all afternoon.  It wasn't enough to do any more than a slight dusting on the ground but did make things cold and damp.  So we got a lot done in wintery conditions!

 

High 35/Low 18