Yippee Kai Yay! The ridge pole is up!

I had been stressing for days about the gable end walls, rafters, and ridge pole. Figuring out the angles was daunting enough, but then I had to figure out how to get the wall up on the non-loft side (i.e., the side with no floor to stand on while raising the wall) and also how to get the huge (2x15) ridge pole up. Dan especially helped me think this part through, and he came up with the idea of having two people (he and Michele) stand on the loft and use 12 foot 2x4s to raise the wall up while Dad and I were on the 2nd floor inching it along the side walls. It worked like a dream.


Then came the ridge pole. It had to be 13 1/4 inches thick, and the whole edge of the rafter had to be touching part of the ridge pole, so I made it 15" thick -- one 2x6 and one 2x10 on top of one another. There was no way we could lift the whole thing at once. I thought we would need to build a pole in the middle of the loft to support the weight until we got some rafters up, but Dan suggested just scabbing the boards together, starting with the 2x6. Of course, he had to leave long before we got to putting the 2x10 part up. It wasn't until he realized what we were doing that he mentioned he had to leave soon. Convenient! That left me, Michele, and Dad. All of us were pretty apprehensive, but I was determined to get it up while we still had Dad around.

Here is how we did it: I got up on the front wall (again, the one with no floor underneath) and held on. Michele was on the loft. Dad used the ladder to help me lift my side onto the rafter and hold it there until the other side was ready to go. He had suggested nailing a 2x4 scrap on top of the rafter to allow the ridge pole to rest there. I dismissed the idea, but it didn't take me long to realize that was a mistake. It was all I could do to hold it in place, stretched as far I could go above my head. Meanwhile, Dad climbed up to the loft, and he and Michele struggled to get their end up, then they slid it up the rafter and Dad twisted the whole board so that it fell into the notch between both rafters on either end. I couldn't have held it much longer. Michele told me later that she had congratulated Dad on being able to get the board in place and he responded that it was either that or lose his son. I'm glad he has his priorities in place! It was one of those situations that very easily could have turned out poorly. We were all exhausted and relieved when it was over, and I was on a real high for hours afterwards!

Dad's brilliant idea

I knew getting the sheathing up to the second level would be a pain, but I figured we could get it done without too much trouble by resting it on the top of the 1st floor sheathing, with someone holding it above while the other nailed. Dad disagreed, thinking it would be harder than I was anticipating, and came up with the simple idea of using 2x4 scraps to create a slot to hold the bottom of the sheathing in place. I dismissed the idea at first, but then I acquiesced, figuring I should humor him, then finally had to admit that it was a really, really good idea. That realization really hit home when on of the 2x4's slipped off and I had to try to hold the bottom in place while trying to nail. Sure, I had to listen to lots of "I told you so's" from Dad, but it was worth it.

The loft

What a sad day it was on Tuesday. I realized last week, after I spent a half a day putting up the 2x6 joists for the loft, that the floor wasn't anywhere near strong enough. I had planned to do 2x8s, but the building inspector who approved my plans made a note that a 2x6 could span 14'4". I assumed he was talked about ceiling joists, which I assumed meant it was strong enough for an attic floor, which I then assumed meant it was strong enough for a loft (surely the weight in a full attic is more than I will have in my loft). That is a lot of assuming, and yes, I know what happens when I assume. I had a bad feeling about it before I started, figuring I should probably just go buy the 2x8s and do it right. But after considering all that would mean -- going to the store, buying a bunch more 16 foot boards, loading them in the poor little truck (great truck, but not a fan of lots of weight), and losing an hour and a half to do all of that -- I decided to give it a shot. To no one's surprise, it was a bad idea. There was even too much bounce in the floor to use the "it's just a barn" line to justify a mistake. To make matters worse, I doubled up on one set of 2x6s, then nailed in a sheet of plywood (getting it to the 3rd level by myself was a beast) to see if it would help. That cost me even more time when I finally took it all down.

I kept asking friends and family what I should do, knowing that I had to take it down and start over but hoping that I could find a quorum to give me permission to leave it like it was. After a bunch of time spent shopping, renting the Home Depot truck to transport everything, prying off the plywood, knocking off the joists, the remeasuring and renailing everything (thanks to Dad and Dan for helping out), I ended the day with the barn looking just a tiny bit farther along than it had when I got there in the morning. Not the best day for the spirits.

It doesn't get any better than this

It is starting to look like a real building! ... so much so that I am starting to think that I might actually get to move in one of these days! Thanks to Dad for sacrificing his vacation to help his loony son with yet another crazy project. And help he did. He's going home with enough sore joints and bruises to remember this trip for a while. Thanks also to Michele, who likes me enough to not only sacrifice much of her vacation, too, but also to get up at 5am on Thurs so she can fly down in time to get a full day's work in. Dan finally showed up. I figured I would go slow enough up until this point to make sure I could get some work out of him. It wasn't enough that he gave me tools, ladders, and something else ... oh yeah, A TRUCK! I can't say describe how wonderful it was to have someone out there who knows tricks of the trade and someone who can look at me like I'm out of my mind when I describe an idea. Larry also put in more time as my phone consultant, which saved me from doing some extra work. Luckily, I couldn't see his face as he was also thinking I was out of my mind. Couldn't have done it without them!

Accomplishments since my mandatory rain break on Christmas:
All corners are braced with OSB sheathing
OSB sheathing mostly nailed up (thanks to Dad and Michele for doing such a thankless job while I got to do the sexy work -- I owe them and their thumbs a big debt)
Gable end walls up
4 rafters up
the ridge pole up!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then:



Now:

Upclose sawmill pics

Michele builds a wall

Barry's Playdate

Thanks to Sharon for letting Barry come out to play when the sawmill was there! (Finally got the pictures from Dad's camera)

fine tuning - chainsaw style

The big screw-up for the day was thinking I had enough 93" 2x4s for framing the interior walls and buying true 8' 2x4s for the knee walls along the loft. Turns out, I didn't account for the closet, and had to cut the studs down to 93". Somehow, I was consistently off by 1/4" on the short wall, but got it right on the longer wall. The top plate would have caused the loft joists to be off by quite a bit, so I did a little fine tuning, made all the more exciting since the top plate was already partially nailed in, and my having to saw and an awkward angle while standing on a ladder.

before


after

Troopers!

Taylor and Logan came out to work -- in the rain -- yesterday. True friends! It was one of those days where we could stand back when we finished and really see the progress. We framed in the bathroom and closet and had it ready for me to start on the joists for the loft.

(Pics, from top: action shot, made all the more dramatic by the steam from my breath fogging up the lens; cute couple shot; posed action shot -- as far as I know, they didn't have those silly looks on their faces the whole time they were working!)

What is wrong with this picture?

(flashback to last weekend)

Here I am trying to add a little excitement to my life - that kind of excitement that one can only experience when knowingly doing something could go really, really wrong. I figured the whole log pile could start rolling, and was ready (hopefully) to jump off if it did. Gracias a dios, my reflexes were not put to the test.

In my defense, I thought this was my only option for moving the logs since the weight had locked in the lower logs. Tim later showed me that it was possible to pry the bottom log out with two people working together at either end of the log.

Don't try this at home.

Progress

Finished framing the exterior 2nd floor walls today. Libby, Halley, and Liam came out yesterday to help me raise one of the walls, then I lifted the final two on my own today. The first one wasn't so bad, but I guess the framing for the 3 windows in the last wall must have added a lot of weight. (Mom, maybe you shouldn't read any further!) It was at the absolute limit of what I could do by myself. There was a moment when it was up to my waist that I wasn't sure whether (a) I could actually lift it and (b) what would happen if I did. The prospect of my pushing the wall over the edge was real and scary, but I decided to go for it and see what happened (surprise, surprise). I gambled that the supports for the east and west walls, nailed to the outside of the rim joist, would prevent me from going too far over the edge. Somehow, it worked. I took a moment to make sure my back was still in working order. I feel like part of this process is discovering what is possible, hopefully without going beyond safe limits.

It is supposed to rain tomorrow and I don't have any idea what I will do. I might have a break from both of my jobs. Maybe I'll sleep late.

I'm one lucky fella

Check out this hot shot! You'd never guess that in her other life she is a stressed out law student. You'd also never guess how tough she is just from looking at her. She works so hard that I sometimes have to beg her to take a break so I can catch my breath! (She's using the cant hook to roll a log onto the mill)

more weekend pics

One of the great things about having so many people help over the weekend (other than the fact that I got A LOT of work done and I absolutely love having people I care about helping me and taking ownership in this whole crazy process) is that there are lots of amateur photographers helping me document everything.

I'm still waiting for the pics from Dad's camera, so there will be at least one more of these posts.

foundation fiasco -- take #? (I have lost track)

Much to my dismay, but not to my surprise, the foundation isn't level. These pics don't do it justice, but there is either a nice bump toward the front, or the corner dips quite a bit. I had to take the chainsaw to cut three of the studs to make the rim joist sit anywhere close to level. Never mind that the whole reason I hired someone to do this rather than do it myself was because I wanted to make sure the foundation was square and level. What a waste of time and money! I was so pissed off when I discovered how bad a job they did (for some reason I thought they would at least get the pour correct) that I called and told them I wanted some money back. They agreed to give me the $250 that I paid above the contact price back (because they underbid and then dug the footers too deep and wide and thus had to order a lot more concrete than they expected). Deborah agreed to that after I played the lawyer card. I was supposed to get the refund on Friday, but of course Deborah didn't return my phone call. I finally spoke to her on Monday, and she started giving me a sob story about how they paid so much, and how it wasn't so bad (without having even seen it). I played the lawyer card again, and she said she would get me the money in order to protect the good name of their business (??!!). Stay tuned to see whether I actually get the money. (can't wait until I'm through with the Foundation Fiasco posts)