Dave's Workshop

Doctor, When I Start the Tiller, Why Does It Sting?

2009-07-06T06:26:00.000-07:00

Concrete Evidence that I am not a TOTAL Slacker

2009-07-06T06:10:00.000-07:00

Even More Pictures!

2009-07-06T06:01:00.000-07:00

Stuffing Some New Pictures Online

2009-07-06T05:48:00.000-07:00

2009-01-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

Spring has Sprung... Maybe

2008-04-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

Recently we have had a couple of days in a row with highs in the upper 70's, but we have also had several days with highs in the low 40's. So, although signs of Spring are all around - growing grass (that needs mowing), robins hopping around looking for worms (and trying to build nests in the shed) and spring showers (3.7 inches in 2 days) our seasonal status is still debatable.

It has certainly been a while since my last update, so there has actually been a noticeable amount of progress. Here are a few new pictures:


This is the view from the peak, overlooking the sheathing.	My fall-restraint system. The strap is a heavy-duty tie-down, C-clamped in place. The other end attaches to my toolbelt.

Mother Nature reminds us that Spring arrives when it wants to.	I built an out-rigger work platform for the areas in front of the dormers. It drops in place, hooked on the sill plates. As you can see, it is sturdy enough to hold a ladder.

A close-up view of the dormer eaves before I put up the fascia board.

More Pictures - It's Starting to Shape UP!

2007-09-19T06:48:00.000-07:00


	As you can see, I am still moving forward. The next big phase is to put sheathing on the roof.

New Pictures, Few Explanations

2007-06-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Suffice it to say, I've been busy with a variety of things, but I have made some progress.

Lessons Learned

2007-03-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

Admittedly, this entire process is a learning exercise, but in particular, here are a couple things I have figured out about subfloor decking:
- A sheet of plywood is not necessarily straight, even on a factory edge.
- If a part of the tongue or the groove edge gets damaged, you are better off if you just remove it. On the other hand, if you love beating things with a sledge hammer, I bet you could get two tongue edges together.
- Do NOT let your tubes of subfloor adhesive get wet. If the tube is still wet when you use it, you get the Pillsbury "canned biscuit explosion" effect as a seam ruptures under pressure. Or, if the tube has dried, it may seem to be working OK, but horrible things are happening on the inside, where you can't see it until its too late. Suffice it to say that only about half of the glue is going out the nozzle.
- There are differences between the T&G profiles from different manufacturers. I am using some standard grade OSB 3/4" T&G, and some "premium" stuff. They work together OK, but you would not want to randomly mix and match.
- If you don't have a helper to step on the edge to get it to mate, a box of nails works pretty well.
- Instead of hammering the heck out of a stubborn panel, it works pretty well to use a board. A piece of 2x6 about 6' long can deliver quite a whack. Just swing the board in an arc, sliding on the bare joists, keeping one end up against the plywood edge. (That way, when the board hits, you don't dent up the edge you are hitting.)
- Finally, when you are moving a sheet of plywood around, keep it down-wind from your body. Especially near the edges of the building.

Has Spring Sprung?

2007-03-12T10:27:00.000-07:00

Apparently the "Great Melt" has begun, and we have survived the Winter of '07. Mounds of snow within the confines of the existing walls of the workshop are slowly converting into sheets of ice. Luckily, they provide me with an opportunity to practice those liver-rending lurches my body goes through to prevent the injuries that might be sustained by a fall.
It seems that my schedule of Blog updates is settling toward once a month - though I would like to think that rather than being a symptom of laziness, disorganization, and apathy, it really is due to the lack of actual progress as constrained by the weather.
As far as progress is concerned, the recent warmup has helped greatly. Now that things are melting, I no longer need to spend time shoveling snow, then scraping and sweeping before I can work. Also, when it is above freezing, my nailgun works better without periodic warming. The subfloor adhesive does not need to be kept inside. I can go without a coat and wear a toolbelt. And, I can wear gloves that let me grab an individual nail from the pouch. So far, I am almost half done with the T&G plywood on the second floor. With the help of Mother Nature, I hope to have the subfloor decking finished this week and start the second floor framing.
One of these days I will put another couple of pictures up, too.

Hit the Deck

2007-02-12T10:49:00.000-08:00

Now that the deep freeze has broken, I am getting something done again. Somehow or other I was able to find something that needed more urgent attention than the building project almost every day that the weather was below zero. Once, when I was mentally preparing to face the minus-30 windchill, my wife thoughtfully provided the opportunity to disassemble our 5-disk DVD player to remove the library disks that refused to come out. Surprisingly enough, it still works after reassembly.

This past weekend, I started actually putting down the subfloor decking. It went pretty well, though I had to keep sweeping the plywood clear of the falling snow in order to tell where the joists were. Only another 30 sheets, 1200 screws to go.

Ok, Now I'm getting cold.

2007-01-28T21:21:00.000-08:00

I feel like I made good progress today, installing the (2) longer floor joists on the end of the stair opening. They were a little cumbersome, being 11-foot pieces of the 16" I-joist, but not too bad, really. I was glad, though, that I had decided to cut them a bit short of what I measured. Even so, they wanted to bind and jam on their way into place. The solution? Hammer time!

The Paslode nailgun is acting up more and more as it gets colder. It really looks like I need to put on a coalescing filter to remove most of the water vapor. That should prevent the gun from essentially freezing solid after 20 or 30 nails. I am using an antifreeze pneumatic lubricant which helps, but it won't stand up to the recent cold snap. This evening before I came into the house, the temp was getting very near those negative numbers.

More Pictures

2007-01-26T10:32:00.000-08:00

Although I have been putting some effort into the project, there seems to be little progress. My guess is it's related to the time it takes to wrestle with the larger pieces. At this point, I need to place the short joists on either end of the stair opening, then I can start on the actual subfloor decking. Below are a couple of pictures which prove not only that I am still working on the project now and then, but that winter has decided not to skip Wisconsin after all.

Still Making Progress

2007-01-02T10:23:00.000-08:00

Last night the first rimboard went up. In my enthusiasm, I thought "Sure, I can carry this thing up the ladder!" Bad idea. First, I may have to look into a better ladder - the creaking and groaning sounds were rather alarming as I carried the LVL up for placement. Afterwards, I checked the load rating (how's that for thinking ahead?) and determined I had exceeded design spec by about 50 percent. Second, the deadlift and carrying part were not too bad. But, as I started up the ladder, it dawned on me that the final placement would require getting the beam up over my head. Luckily, the stepladder was level enough that the beam would balance on the top while I took a breather. I plan to approach the next rimboard placement differently, since the effort required to lift a 165 lb beam all at once is very close to my limits. It may require some extra time and rigging, but I figure the reduced risk of grisly death is probably worth it.

Once all the rimboard is in place, the next step will be applying the decking - 3/4" T&G plywood. The trusses will be arriving next Monday, but I do not believe I will be quite ready to place them by then. The biggest holdup looks to be the steel hardware required to hang the "open ends" of the I-joists where the stairway opening comes through the floor. I have them on order, but they are scheduled for mid-January delivery. Oh, well, I think I can find something to keep me busy till then.

Freezin'

2006-12-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

Wow, it gets chilly working outdoors when the mercury dips into single digits. On the plus side, I have been exerting enough effort to keep warm. On the other hand, it is very easy to go past toasty-warm to hot-and-sweaty. And, when the windchill is 10 below, you don't want to get sweaty.

Last night I continued with the latest task, getting all the floor I-joists up onto the stud wall. With our latest snowfall (11.2 inches by my measurement) things can get interesting when carrying a 28-foot board that weighs about 150 pounds. I spent about an hour shoveling snow out of the way, then managed to hoist four of those varmints into place. It is pretty strenuous, especially the part where you climb the ladder with the I-joist on your shoulder. By the time I can set the load down, my heart rate is up around 150 bpm. I think about 30 bpm can be attributed to the fear-of-death factor - ice and snow, aluminum ladder rungs, gusts of wind, that little sign that explains that the ladder step you are currently using was not designed to be used...

So far I have 12 I-joists on the top of the wall, with 7 of those nailed in place and the others braced against the wind. My goal is to get another 20 up there by the end of the week. Once the Lego League season is over, I hope to have more working time available and make some real progress.

2006-12-01T11:05:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of the wall construction. This is the first official wall panel in place, followed by a view from the house.

Progress

2006-10-29T22:45:00.000-08:00

Things are moving along - all the first floor walls are framed in, awaiting sheathing. Pictures to come soon.

2006-08-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the progress on the concrete block wall. I started in the corners, and quickly realized that if I did the entire task myself, it would take roughly... well, forever. I called up Andy, an experienced masonry/concrete guy, and hired him for a Saturday. Between the two of us (him really) 'we' put up about 200 block, completing 3 of the four walls.

Since then I have gotten busy and finished the last wall. When I started, it was taking me 4 hours to do 8 blocks, including getting all of the tools out and clean-up at the end. Last night I did about 32 block to finish the last wall, and it took me about 6 hours. That included about 1.5 hours of getting all of the tools out and clean-up at the end. With the help of the various tips that Andy gave me, I think I am up to about 25% speed of what someone who knew what they were doing could accomplish.

Next on the task list is to fill each core where a rebar is, and set my anchor bolts. My back is starting to hurt just thinking about it. I don't know yet how much concrete it will take, but it should be around 1 cu. yd. That translates to about 45 bags of concrete. It might even be cost effective to have a truck come out with a small load. The first thing I plan to do is to buy 2 or 3 bags, mix them up, and see how many cores they fill. That will also give me a chance to figure out how to set the anchor bolts where I want them, keeping them straight, centered, and correct height.

Other items I need to take care of are the "back-plastering", where you put a thin (1/4") coat of mortar on the outside of the walls where they will be below grade, and waterproofing coating.

2006-08-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, it seems apparent that I have been spending more time on the project than on tracking my progress. So, here are a few pictures showing how things look.

First, a view of the yard in the pre-construction condition.

This pic shows the slab just after the pour, looking in the same general direction.

The view in roughly the opposite direction.

2006-07-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

Last night I made some more progress on the concrete block foundation walls. I have found that I was mixing my mortar way too thick at first. As I learn to use the proper consistency, the work should go more quickly. So far I have about 25 blocks in place.

Blog? Sure, why not?

2006-07-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

Well, this effort is mostly geared toward family and friends, who keep asking me "How's the shop project going?" With that in mind, don't expect much.