Walls are up and sheathed!

Boy have I got a lot to chat about.

when last we met, our intrepid hero had just finished framing half of the front wall of the shop...

The rear wall was originally framed as one unit, but since 20' lumber is hard to come by, I had to effectively put it up as two sub units. (funny thing when a nail tears out the board goes 'skriiitch' which I can attest is NOT a pleasant sound at all)

SO, on the front wall, I decided that two halves were better than one long wall which would no doubt go skriiitch again.

Adam and James helped with the lifting and so forth on this wall pretty cool huh? As you can see there will be a door and window on the front expanse, the big double doors will be for tools and large projects, and occasionally for ventilation and/or cleaning of the shop.



After getting that wall up, I cut and installed the top plate, which tied the whole shebang together. (or started to)

We borrowed a ladder from the fire house (thanks Lori!) and it sure did come in handy. I've since been loaned two 'little giant' ladders (one real and one clone) which are those talented flip/fold extension ladders. I Know the budget won't hold a real Little Giant, but the Gorilla ladder which is a clone of the little giant sure seems to work just as well, so I'm saving up for a 21' Gorilla sometime next month.



There is the view from the far wall looking back at the main door. It has been almost three weeks since things looked like that, what a nice view though, no?

By the end of the day, my left knee was complaining about the ladder work, so I pressed James into service finishing off nailing the top sill in place.











At this point, all three boys have helped build the shop, and actually today, Lori got involved as well, but that's for later in this post.

















That just about wrapped up the weekend, and some time the next week, Grizz and I got this done:
That's 5/8 osb sheeting. We manhandled that into place after screwing a level board into place to hold the sheets until we got them nailed off.
Thanks Grizz!
That spindly little ladder sure wasn't cutting it, so that's why My friend Mark loaned me his Gorilla and I asked Stu for his Little Giant.

Rain and a busy wrap up on my month at work ( for bonus purposes) meant that I didn't get a lot done until last weekend. I even took half a day and helped Grizz out with re-rocking his kitchen. It seems his wife and daughter did some of the demo on it while he was out working last week. He called me Saturday morning, and by the time I left Saturday evening we had it looking like this:

ready to mud and then paint. I wonder how it turned out this week. Hmmmm









Before I scooted up to Fulton for Rock duty, I pressed James and Adam into duty for the long wall OSB. In about three hours we managed to get the last wall up, mostly without mishap, and Just as I ran out of nails for the nail gun.
Mark and I had finished the front wall the night before, and it looked something like this in the morning:
there was one sheet which needed a slight trim to fit, and we ran out of daylight before finishing that up. The boys and I eventually got the last wall up, which went very smoothly thanks to the two of them. I can't say how much I appreciate everyone's help on this project, Thanks guys!







here's the inside view by the mid morning light. Starting to look like a building now!




















The boys and I took things from there: we first nailed up the 'strippers' as one framer wrote to me, once the short strips were installed the two boys would hold up the panel and I'd nail it off with the nail gun.

Occasionally I would hold the panel while they moved the ladder and the nail gun:

there's Mark's really snazzy ladder. Thanks again Mark, it sure has come in handy!

This is how things looked through the doorway by the end of the morning: I left the end wall panels 'wild' and cut them off last night after work.





Man that sure does look nice! Still a long way to go, but I'm one major step closer to having the shop up.
Patrick had to inspect things too, I hate to say it, but I lost my temper at one point, and there is a hole to patch in the back wall. He wanted to see it, as his brothers though it was hilarious.















Sunday, Lori and I took the boys to the Syracuse Nationals car show. We had a ball, and I have loads of photos. There were about 10 '69 chevelles at the show. This rag-top was just gorgeous, having recently had a frame off restoration.

















This combination is a local shop's pride and joy. Gotta love that pairing.















As I said, this past week had me very busy at work, and when I came home I just plopped down and didn't want to work on the shop much. Also, hanging tyvek is a two person job, and it was a lot easier with Lori's help today:

I think I need to buy one more roll of Tyvek, which will have to wait just a bit, as new eyeglasses ate into the budget yesterday. (Middle age, gotta love it! can you say Bifocals? Thanks to Brother Ben Franklin I will be able to see up closer better than I do now)

Lori and I snapped chalk lines last night, before dusk put an end to the evening.
Here it is after two laps around the building, which all in all went rather quickly. I did smash a couple of finger tips installing the plastic gasket-ed nails. And promptly was reminded of Garner's law. Anything you injure will get hit at least three more times before it heals. Bill was a professional roofer for a LONG time, so I will bow to his wisdom and experience in this matter.

OW!







as you can see, dusk was approaching, so we put the ladders away and finished things up for the evening. The three tiers of tyvek are nailed off at the recommended spacing, and the seams are all taped off with house wrap tape from Lowes. Specialty product which I hope has some super formulation of glue, just seemed like blue and white packing tape to me, but what do I know?

Well, the best laid plans... I hoped to put the final wall up on Wednesday, the 4th of July. Well, rain foiled that idea. If Lori and I hadn't snuggled back down for a nice rest in the morning I suppose I could have managed to get the wall laid out, if not lifted into place.


As it was, I did this on Thursday evening instead:

I had nice sunshine to do some more work on the last wall. It was just Patrick and me, so I knew I wasn't going to get it all the way done, but we got a lot accomplished.









I cut the studs, and laid out the wall in two sections. One 8' long and the other cut to fit the remaining space. 11' and change (had to allow for the end walls yaknow)


laid out the window and doorway, nailed up the headers for each of them. Both will top off at 80"
I ran out of daylight before I could finish the complicated half, though.

Patrick helped me by holding the far end of the small wall section, while I nailed it off with the air nailer. He was startled a bit by the noise, but liked the results. At his encouragement I went ahead and lifted the 8' section into place and tacked it into place:
We ran out of daylight, but that was a pretty good start on the last wall.











At this point, I decided to stop for the night. (Not that I had a whole lot of choice in the matter).

Here is the wood pile,I've used up all of the 2x4x10' boards, and what is left are the 2x4x12's, 2x6x12's and 2x8x12's (which are the joists for the loft) Other than the last joist, I've done pretty well on the pre-order for lumber. I think I'm going to need a few more 2x4x12's, above and beyond what I have stashed down in the storage unit, plus what is on the skid there.

Friday evening came and went with zero progress, I was just wiped out after work this past week, despite the day off in mid-week.


Saturday, both James and Adam pitched in and helped me finish up the last wall:




at this stage it is just tacked in, no top sill in place yet. HOwever it is UP!
Both boys were a HUGE help this past weekend, and I'm quite proud of them.

I did most of the high ladder work, while James did the cutting and ground work. calls of 'Nailer' and 'goop' (for the construction adhesive). I kept him scurrying around, while I did my stair stepper exercises.




















Adam L. meanwhile, is the expert at toe nailing the walls into the deck.




James tried his hand at photographer, while I was putting away the tools. I really was as tired as I look there. (ok, maybe I don't look tired, but I sure was!)

























We ran out of nail strips for the air nailer on the last top sill board. I put James to work at that point nailing in more sinkers to secure the top sill.

His nickname at this point is 'Mater'. That's like Tuhmater, without the 'Tuh'!


























Again, I'm SO proud of my boys for pitching in. all three of them!

the heat index has kept me inside this week, it is supposed to cool off tomorrow, so I hope to get home and get some trusses nailed together. If it is raining, I might schlep over to Newport and borrow a ladder from Stu. ALthough judging from the email I got this evening, I think I may put that off awhile. Hope you feel better soon, Stu!

Weekend Progress

Welcome back!

After a week of little or no work on the shop. it was a busy weekend with a Lot of progress. Adam was a huge help to me this weekend, before an allergic reaction to pressure treated (we think) sawdust sidelined him. Thanks again buddy!

Even after I sent him to the showers he came out and helped me when two people were required. (lifting walls up)

Saturday, he and I used a simple floor jack to lift the deck remove each pier and shovel more stone under each one to better support the shop. After leveling the pier, Adam wound up nailing in the back of the joist connectors, I did the heavy lifting of the piers as he shoveled stone. We did them a few at a time, but finally wound up with the deck as level as it is going to be to start off. It is built on grade, and will be subject to shifting and frost heaves in winter. It looked for awhile like we'd be rained out early Sunday morning. by 10:00 or so the weather cleared up and we started in again. I started with the far wall, opposite the main doorway. I decided to use the larger of my two windows I was given last month on this wall. It is literally the first framing I've ever done. I hope it holds up (ha ha ha).

You may notice that there is no sill plate on that wall. Last weekend when my buddy Grizz and I started working on the trusses we nailed down the sill plate. Not just a couple of nails, a LOT of nails. I was not going to pull it up. Instead we just built the wall without the sill and then toe-nailed the wall in. after raising it up. I screwed a couple of scraps of plywood across the bottom of the boards to keep them relatively stable while I raised the wall.



There it is. The first wall!

the caption for this is:

"Hurry up and get a photo of this!"

note, no bracing is nailed off yet.

The window sill there is 42" from the floor, the window is 66". yep, that's one tall wall!

That window will get me the afternoon/evening light in the shop.

all braced up, much better than me holding it up for the duration. (wouldn't get much done that way would ?) That wall took us about an hour and a half to do. Not that the time was important, just a note.










About this time was when Adam discovered his dermatitis, so I sent him off to the showers, and he only helped occasionally from here on out, basically when he was absolutely needed. (pretty much helping when lifting the walls into place, primarily)

I cut and laid out the 17 studs for the long wall. It is the simplest of the four walls, no windows or doors, just 20' of structure. This wall too had part of the sill already nailed down. It was fun getting this one lifted into place. Wound up putting it up in two pieces, with a frantic repair of the top sill which came apart when we tried to lift it.

Long ago on a family canoe trip, there was a Lew and Phil creation known as the Unstable table. I've discovered its progeny, the Unstable Ladder. the only stepladder we have is one which really needs to become artwork on a wall somewhere, as it is just about beyond its useful life. Adam braced the ladder and I went up as far as I dared, and attempted to nail the two sections back together. I'll get it secured later on when I put the 2nd top sill layer on. for now, I'm leaving a plywood brace screwed in to help hold things together.


There's the long wall. with the ladder of ill repute.


Halfway there!













Now for the main doorway wall. The walls are 10' tall, and the plans call for a 6' wide double door for the entrance of the barn. I'm adding a 'man door' on the long wall facing the house, so this doorway is mostly going to be for tools and projects to enter and leave the shop. I decided to keep the doorway in scale with the building height wise. I bumped the doors up to a full 8' tall, keeping them 6' wide.



That is about where we wound up. I was pretty sore by this time, and I've decided that cleanup needs to happen before darkness falls from here on out.

Now for a few fun photos.

I have an official shop cat now. Miss kitty supervised all weekend, investigating frequently, and making sure the materials measured up.










Looks like the neighbor's crab apple tree is going to get an overdue trim in the next couple of weeks,hmmm? there is still a floor and truss system to go on top of that 10' sill plate. Actually it is more like 12' at this point, thanks to the piers, plus the 2x8 rim joists etc.

there's a view of what lumber I have left. I'm running out of 2x4x10's, but that's just fine, I know I bought a few too many 2x4x12's, and if I do run out of anything there are a few extra pieces in the storage unit just in case. the pile on the left is the stack of 2x8x12 for the loft joists.

And lastly for tonight (er, this morning, looking at the time... eep)
there is the view looking back towards the main door from the far corner of the shop.


In the background you can see my chopsaw stand, with the cutoffs strewn across the lawn. I'm happy to say that they're mostly 8" or less in length. There were a couple of longer ones, but I've saved those, knowing full well that there will be plenty of opportunity to use them up somewhere!

Thanks for looking!

Thanks again Adam!