Pictures and Progress

Yesterday I worked with Edis, and we got a lot done. I built the rake wall for the east side, which we then installed; Edis put in blocking for the edges of the OSB that makes up the sheathing; I installed a bunch of sheathing; and Edis built his first wall. It was just a wee thing, 4' high and 5' wide, for where the loft sides with the front entry, but it was his wall. I showed him where to build it, reminded him of the studs on 16" centers, and off he went. The only other thing I had to remind him of was using the level to make sure it was plumb. Kat took the above picture in the middle of the afternoon; we actually got quite a bit more done after that.

Today I worked alone and nailed off the sheathing I'd installed yesterday. Thank God for nailguns, and thank Peter for the loan of his. I bought a box of 5,000 nails (8d, for flooring and sheathing), and I went through probably 1/3rd of that today. It'll be gone by the time I'm done, between the rest of the sheathing (mostly on the south wall, facing the backyard) and the roof. I've already gone through 60 lbs. of 16d nails for the framing, and who knows how many other nails of various sorts.

I also installed a bit more sheathing, made sure the loft floors were nailed off, and put some screws into all the floors. The floors are already nailed and have subfloor adhesive to stick them to the joists, but a couple dozen deck screws here and there is mighty cheap insurance to help make sure the flooring never works loose and starts squeaking.

I decided to change the back door from a swinging door to a wider sliding door. The swinging door just wasn't going to work very well, no matter which way it opened. It would either hit the bedroom wall, or open part way into the dining room. It won't be a full 6' wide sliding door, but this way it will be wider and let more sun into the thermal mass for passive solar (that big blob of concrete at the front end of the 'hallway' in the picture shown above). Of course, much of that hallway will become part of the dining room and not be a hallway at all, just a logical flow from the front of the house to the back. One more thing to keep me busy until the trusses are ready.

Of course, there's also ordering the doors and windows. The back door will match the current one, with 5 horizontal lights. Kat has started looking at options for the front door. Given the fairly simple nature of the house, it won't be anything too fancy, but there are a ton of options out there.