Hiatus, Part Deux

I cannot believe it is taking so long to renovate this basement. I mean, I knew it would be a lot of work and all that, but holy sweet Moses this is taking a long bloody time.

Lesley and I are off to camp for an extra extra long weekend. We leave tomorrow for the North Channel of Lake Huron, just west of Sudbury, and the blissful absence of basements. While this will push back the completion date of the reno, the break is much needed, and we are both really looking forward to it.

Tonight's task was yet another shopping trip to you-know-where. It was actually mostly successful for a change - I managed to get the flashing and vinyl moulding I need to clad and finish the basement windows' exterior. I also got the requisite screws for the flashing and adhesive for the moulding. Picked up a new pair of safety glasses while I was there too - mine are all scratched up, and I stepped on Lesley's the other day, so new ones were required - and some more 2.5" screws.

Booty

What I did not get was duct work. Not that they didn't have a plentiful supply of different ducting doohickeys, but they didn't exactly match up with what I'd remembered. The problem is, I need a catalogue of available pieces in front of me as I look up at the existing duct work so I can figure out what to use and how to use it. Unfortunately, Home Depot has no such catalogue, so I must rely on my memory, which is not unlike a sieve. I am, however, confident that the HVAC will eventually get modified.

Gotta go pack.

Rumination

Didn't get much accomplished today from a tangible standpoint. Spent much of the day ruminating upon the looming need to modify the HVAC instead. Part of the difficulty is that all of our duct work is rectangular, whereas all of the duct work you can buy at Home Depot, et al., is round. A rather frustrating problem. Still, after much deliberation, I was able to to compile a shopping list, so with a little luck, the HVAC will get modified yet.

In terms of tangible goals, I managed to accomplish two minor items today. The first was removing a problematic bulkhead. This bulkhead was attached to strapping that was, in turn, fastened to the floor joists to support the previous ceiling.

One more problem

The issue with this is that the remaining bits of strapping will ultimately interfere with the hanging of drywall. Basically, the strapping was nailed into the joists, and the bulkhead was nailed into the strapping. Also, the bulkhead had been trimmed to take into account the width of the strapping, so there was just no way to salvage this. The only solution is to take it down and start anew, so take it down I did. The plus side is that this bulkhead contains some of the duct work that I plan on modifying, so its removal will make that a bit easier.

The other accomplishment was securing the top plate of the recently completed wall to the nearest floor joist. Normally, you would attach cross pieces between joists, and attach the top plate to these, but because our joists are cemented into the foundation, there is no outer joist along the foundation wall. To solve this dilemma, I am using mini ladders to span the gap between the last joist and the top plate.

Mini-ladder

Using scrap from off-cuts, I have constructed these tiny ladders and placed them every 32" along the top-plate. I actually used nails to build them since I was going to have a bunch left over anyway, and didn't want to use up a bunch more screws. This took a bit longer, but in about an hour, I had all of the "ladders" built and installed.

Tiny ladders

That's it for today. The balance of the afternoon was spent finalising the list for our weekly trip to Home Depot, which we will do some evening this week. In the interim, work will begin constructing bulkheads, but for now, we relaxate before heading back to work in the morning.

Smurftastic

There is one hilarious downside to using Bluwood - it will slowly turn anyone that's using it to various shades of blue.

I've got the blues

Made some serious progress on framing the basement yesterday. I started out by lowering the sill for the window by 1.5" so that I could finish up the framing for that section, which went well. Had some difficulties getting the nailers installed onto the back of it though due to the tight fit of the wall, and the many hanging electrical wires, but with some muscle and some rather creative strings of curses, even if I do say so myself, the wall found its way to completion, and was put in place.

Section I complete

The wall currently being framed is the long wall of the basement. It runs 23.75", and will be done in three eight-foot sections (I could not get 12' Bluwood lumber, which would have been my first choice). Unfortunately, none of the sections are simple - they all have something that needs framing-around. Section II will frame around a bulkhead.

Section II

This section presented no issues, and went in without much difficulty. Most of the studs were nailed in on the floor to minimise the number of screws needed, which was good. I've been going through screws like it's nobody's business - there are already upwards of 500 fasteners in these here walls! Next, was the final section for the long wall, which will frame around the second window.

Section III

Having learned my lesson from the first window, I managed to get this sill set to the right height the first time. This wall had almost no studs set in place on the floor, and so many a screw was employed to fasten studs to plates, and kings to jacks.

Getting screwed up

This is also the first blue wall that will be attached directly to the floor joists above rather than nailed into the concrete. Section I has a cold air return duct directly above it, which is why the nailers are being used for it. This section will employ the "ladder" solution that mom suggested way back during demolition.

Time to turn the corner now that the long wall has been framed. Finally, I will have something to attach the top plate directly into since the floor joists will run perpendicular to this wall. It is the only wall with that luxury. The joys of renovating. This first section is also a simple wall, with nothing to be framed around, so it went up fairly quickly.

Turning the corner

I'm quite happy with yesterday's progress. I started out with the intention of framing around the corner, and I managed to meet that goal in time for dinner. Plus, I must be having fun, because Lesley caught proof of me smiling (between curses, no doubt).

In denial...

We've now basically run out of wood. There are a handful of studs left, but not enough to complete the final section of wall, and we still have some corner studs and some jack studs to install. I'm not overly surprised as I suspected this might happen shortly after we began. The original order was calculated as the number of studs required to frame up the existing lengths of wall, plus ten percent for framing around obstacles. Close, but no cigar, Unfortunately, only Lowe's in Orleans carries the Bluwood, so it'll be a bit of a trip to get out there for the wood we need to finish the job.

Despite running out framing lumber, there are still plenty of jobs to be done, not the least of which is building a new step, a new bulkhead, and filling the gap between stairs and studs. Today will see the accomplishment of some of these items - time will tell how much progress is made.

Whoopsy

Well, even the best of us can make the odd mistake.

This evening was spent framing around the window in the basement. A fairly simple task, all told, although each piece of lumber needs to be measured individually as neither the floor nor the ceiling joist are level, making the distance between them different at each point along the bottom and top plates. A little bit time-consuming, but it's not exactly rocket science.

Basically, when you're framing around a window, you want to respect the stud pattern as much as possible. Setting king and jack studs can therefore sometimes fall between studs, which is what has happened here. No worries, though. Because these wall are not load bearing, I will not be installing a proper header, nor will I be blocking the king studs. Also, since the windows are so close to the top plate, the kings and jacks will actually extend all the way to the top plate, making this task even simpler. Before too long I had the kings, jacks, and sill in place.

Progress

Lo and behold, as I was screwing in the studs, I notices that the sill was sitting a little bit higher than intended. I'm framing the opening to match the rough opening in the foundation wall, and the sill is rather conspicuously 1.5" too high. Yup. forgot to take into account the width of the lumber when I cut the bottom jacks. D-oh!! Rookie mistake.

I've cut short the completion of the wall since it's Friday and I could use a beer after a long week, and will fix the boo-boo first thing tomorrow morning before proceeding with installing the last two studs. Piece of cake.

Bit by Bit

We've been chipping away at the basement during the last three days, working on the framing. I'm hoping to get the framing done by the end of the coming weekend so I can get started on the electrical. I figure I've got about eleven hours of framing left, so this seems like an achievable goal. Since Sunday, I've managed to frame around the corner to the first window.

Framing continues

I've built as much of the wall on the floor as possible, and will be framing around the window with the wall in place to increase the accuracy of stud placement, which is tomorrow's task.

We've also made another trip to Home Depot since Sunday to pick up more supplies. We acquired a 2x10 to replace the step down into the finished part of the basement from the landing - the old one was removed so that the floor tiles could extend under the landing - some plywood that we had cut to size to fill that 1" gap between the studs and the stringers, some more screws and spray foam, concrete nails for the walls, caulking for the windows, and some nylon twine for when it comes time to insulate. More on that later. What we did not get was cladding for the windows. Neither the Home Depot nor the Rona carried what we needed, although apparently, one of the other Home Depots does. That's been one of the more frustrating parts of this renovation: having to go to multiple DIY stores to get the things we need because no one store has it all. And I don't mean Rona versus Home Depot versus Lowe's - one Home Depot carries different stuff than another. We've been to seven different stores so far. Argh.

Time to call it a night. *yawn*

Day 53

Got back to work today after an awesome day off in Montebello. It being Sunday, we'll work until 4pm and no later. That gives us precious little time to get stuff done. With the second window in, we're now concentrating on framing until it's done, and with luck, we'll be able to complete it before the end of next weekend.

Today's framing project was connecting the blue wall with the regular partition walls. This involves framing up one last segment that will go around a bulkhead. Since building walls on the floor is much easier than building them in place, we're going to measure out each piece, and hope that everything will fit as planned. We must be getting better at measuring and cutting, because everything fit like a glove.

I've been framed!

I've also had to solve a small problem of not being able to attach the top plate of the wall to anything. Actually, it will be attached to the bulkhead, but I'm not convinced that the bulkhead will provide for enough strength, so another solution is required. In the end, I've decided to attach "nailers" to the back of the top plate, and nail the nailers into the concrete foundation. This is why I've left a gap of 1.5" between the wall and the subfloor. I'm not crazy about taking this route, but the the nailers have gaskets attached to them, so it should be fine. Besides which, I'm not planning on dismantling this basement again in this lifetime, so it will be someone else's fun renovation to remove them.

Nailer, I hardly...

Time to call it a night. I can hear the sounds of Weezer playing at Bluesfest wafting in the open window, and look forward to being lulled to sleep by the melodies of  "Buddy Holly".

Compression

Lesley and I were home today as it was a "compressed" day. We each work an extra hour every day through the week (actually, Lesley works an extra four hours, but that's another story) and get a day off every other week. Today was that day off. We put the the time to good use and got in a solid eight-and-a-half hours today on the basement. Task one was putting in window two.

Soon to be replaced

This window was much more solid than the last - the frame had no rot in it , so I needed to apply some force to the pry bar to get it out. Out it came though, and before long, I was cutting boards for the new frame. The process was pretty well identical to the last one, except this window will have pvc electrical conduit running through it to accommodate both the cable, and the phone line.

Phone line

Ran into a minor problem with the spray foam while finishing off the window. As I was cutting the shims flush with the frame, I knocked over the can of spray foam, breaking the applicator straw, and sending the can into a froth. Spray foam is super-sticky, and you DO NOT want to get it on your hands because it doesn't come off. In trying to stem the tide of foam, I got it all over me. I imagine it will be a few days before it wears off. Fun. Also, because the applicator straw was busted, it was quite the messy challenge to spray-foam the gap between the window and the frame. Foam got everywhere, and that stuff really makes a mess. Despite the foam-difficulties however, the window did eventually get installed. Feels good to be done with that part, because it means that the framing can continue unfettered.

New window #2

The conduit also got installed, and I'm very happy with the result. The previous window had two holes drilled through the frame to let the cords in - now there is a better and more permanent solution.

Conduit

It took us about six hours to get the window installed. I don't know where all the time went, but chipping out the existing mortar was time consuming, as was mortaring in the new frame. Basement windows are tough - give me regular windows any day.

Unsatisfied with calling it a day after one window, we got back to framing. The next wall to be framed is the first be constructed entirely of Bluwood. The floor is not level for this span of wall, so our approach is to measure the height at each end of the eight foot wall segment, cut cap studs, and frame up the "box". Once complete, and put square, we measured each individual stud, and cut them all to length. This allowed us to build this segment on the floor despite it not being level along the floor. The approach worked well, and in a couple of hours, we had our wall up. It was a perfect fit.

The first blue wall

Tomorrow, Lesley and I are taking a day to enjoy the summer, and are off to Montebello to enjoy the day by the lake with a cooler full of beer, and steaks for the BBQ with Lesley's cousin Carol, and her husband Terry. Should be fun!

Straight up

Lesley and I got to work on the wonky wall tonight. After some deliberation, it was decided to pull the wall down and re-set the studs. They were measured properly going into the top-plate, but not the toe-plate, so we need only re-set that plate. Pulling the wall down was not too difficult as it involved only removing a few screws, and giving it a good yank.

Once on the floor, we pounded out the toe-plate, and removed the nails, saving those that were straight enough for re-use. Re-setting the studs was a simple task, involving only simple measuring - each stud was moved over about an inch, giving you some idea how un-plumb they were. Before long, the wall was back up, and ready to be fastened in place.

This wall runs parallel with the floor joists above. Part of the original problem is that I had assumed that the floor joists and the chimney stack wall ran parallel to each other. They do not. Having realised this, it was much easier to then set the wall independently of each. We secured it using wood blocks screwed into the top-plate and then into the joist. The distance to be covered is not more than an inch and a quarter, so this makes for a an easy way to fasten it. After about ninety minutes, the wall was fixed.

So plumb...

It feels good to get a victory after a couple of tough days. Renovating can be not unlike an uphill battle through quicksand at times, but when things are going well, it can also be a lot of fun.

Fixed

Renovating is Hard

Today we set out to install the new basement windows. This involved removal of the existing windows, and the associated mortar.

Because the existing window frames were all rotted out, removal was a snap. I basically grabbed a hold of the security bars, gave a good pull, and voila. Window removed. There were hundreds of earwigs living between the wood and the concrete, which was exceedingly gross. Not knowing what to do, I grabbed the shop-vac and sucked up the little buggers before they could spread their way throughout the house. Ew.

Next was chipping away at the mortar that had been "holding" in the old window frames. This proved to be a challenge. One side went very smoothly, and the mortar was removed no problem, but the other side, for whatever reason, was  much harder and more difficult to chip away. Lesley and I must have spent several hours just chipping enough mortar out that we could get our window in. Unfortunately, we were unable to provide for the recommended 1/2" gap around the window, as that would have meant several more hours of chipping, so we settled for a snug fit. At one point, I thought we would never be able to get enough mortar out, so it was a relief to get out as much as we did.

Once we were satisfied with the opening, it was time to cut the 2x6 and 1x6's to length. This was the easy part. Cutting them to length, and dry fitting them was quick, and before long, Lesley was mixing mortar, and I was cutting dados in the boards.

Mortaring

Lesley is a pro at mortaring, and it wasn't long before we were fitting in the boards. We first mortared in all the cracks and divots in the existing wall, and then back-buttered the boards, pressing mortar into the dado grooves. After that, it's pretty well just a matter of fitting the board in place, squeezing out the excess, and cleaning it all up. Once complete, we took a little break to let the mortar cure before installing the window.

Rough opening complete

After forty-five minutes or so, the mortar was hard enough for us to proceed with window installation. This was the easy part. The window basically fit like a glove - a tight, racing glove, but a glove nonetheless.

Installed

Fortunately for us, the window went in plumb, level, and square sans shimming, so we were ready to screw it into place. The only shims needed were along the sides due to the planned-for gap, and before long, the window was secured.

Fasten-ating

All that was left was the spray foam to fill in the gaps. This stuff is super-messy, and we used way too much, but at least we know the window is well insulated. We'll be putting on cladding on the outside as well, but for now, we're calling it a day. We were hoping to get both windows in place today, but the time spent chipping away at hard-as-granite mortar made that impossible. We'll just have to wait until next weekend to complete the window installation.

Windowed

Just one of those days

Yesterday was not a good day. It was one of those days where everything that can go wrong does, a few things that couldn't possibly go wrong do anyway, and you eventually wish you could just go back to bed.

The day started at Home Depot - again. I had forgotten to put pvc conduit on my shopping list for the previous outing, so we had to go get some - our cable tv is split outdoors, and the cable for the basement is currently run through the existing window. I'm going to mortar in a pvc conduit to provide a inlet through the wall for the cable. We also picked up some more screws, that elusive tape measure, and a bundle of 2x2's (you guessed it - eight footers).

More loot

By the time we made it home, it was already after noon, so we had a short day to work with. A short, hot, muggy day. We decided to put off installing windows until the Sunday, and so I continued framing while Lesley finished putting floor tiles in the under-stairs storage closet. Lesley's task went reasonably well aside from one major head-bump. The wall, however, did not go so well.

Closet finished

Framing

I wound up cutting the studs about a quarter of an inch too long somehow, and so had to dig out the chisel once more to try and fit in the wall. Because I'm building the wall on the floor and then raising it, these issues don't get realised until the wall is already built. Hence the chisel as opposed to re-cutting the studs. I also somehow screwed up attaching the bottom plate because none of the studs save the cap stud are even remotely straight. And then there was the battle to get the wall to be plumb along its entire length. . By the end, I was ready to set the torch to it.

Wonky wall

I haven't quite decided how I'm going to fix the wall, but I may just take it down and start over. I'll have some time to think about it however, since today is window installation.

Stupid Conglomerates

Just how, exactly, is someone expected to acquire the necessary building materials to complete any project when the big box stores such as Home Depot et al. have: a) put all lumber yards within a 100km radius from the city out of business; and b) don't bother to carry any of the lumber that you may actually need? Seriously! Good luck to you if you should need any dimensional lumber longer than eight feet, or god forbid, a 1x6! Man alive! In many ways, these stores have been a boon to the DIY-er, but there has got to be a better way to buy lumber.

So, as you may have intuited, this evening's foray to the Home Depot was not entirely a success. On the list, was:

• 1.25" screws
• 5/8" screws
• 1 2.x6x8
• 2 1x6x8
• insulating foam
• 2 2x2x12
• 2 2x2x8
• #2 Robertson driver bit
• tape measure

I managed to find everything but the lumber at the Home Depot - they had neither 12' 2x2's, nor 1x6's in any length. I did also find a suitable tape measure, but it wouldn't scan at the self-scan, so it got left behind as the lack of lumber had left me with a deficit of patience.

With annoyance levels peaking, I headed to Rona. They too, do not stock 12' 2x2's, but they did have 1x6's, so we were at least partially in business. Unfortunately though, their lumber is mostly garbage fit for little more than kindling, and so I had to search through most of the pile of 2x6's and most of the pile of 1x6's before I could find reasonably straight boards that didn't have giant rotting gouges out of them. Alas, there were no suitable tape measures to be found.

Today's loot

So, in the end, I spent two hours in two different "stores", and came home with roughly two thirds of what was on the list. My efforts to minimise shopping time have been thwarted, and I'm ready to resign myself to spending many more hours in home improvement box stores despite my growing dislike for them. Hopefully the dislike will not graduate to hatred before the basement is finished...

Making a List, Checking it Twice

There was a time when I would get mildly excited by a prospective trip down the Home Depot. It's a great place, replete with tools, and wood and, and general building supplies. Oh, how I would annoy Lesley by browsing through the tool selection, looking for cool stuff on sale. Good times. However, after near-weekly trips since the renovation began, the trudge to Home depot has gotten ennuiant, if you'll please excuse my French. So, I'm making a Home Depot shopping list in the interests of spending less time at our friendly neighbourhood home improvement centre. Supplies on the list include the requisite items to install those shiny new windows, which is our main goal for the coming weekend. We'll also be picking up some lumber for bulkhead construction, fasteners, and a new #2 Robertson screwdriver head since mine's starting to look more round than square after driving in +100 screws.

Progress on the framing continues -  a couple of more studs went in yesterday without major incident. Not much more work will get done until the weekend though since tonight was spent running errands, tomorrow is mine and Lesley's third anniversary (as romantic as a dark and dirty basement is, we've opted for dinner out), and Thursday is shopping day at the ol' Home Depot. With daily highs of thirty-four centigrade, it's too hot to work anyway.

So Very Hot

The mercury's risen to thirty-one degrees centigrade in the Nation's Capital this afternoon, making for a good day for sitting, and less good for renovating. Nonetheless, I managed to get some work in before the heat convinced me to reach for a cold beer. Today's task was starting to frame up the walls along the lower landing.

Today's task

These walls will be framed on the floor and then set into place. The advantage of doing so is in the ability to drive in nails directly through the top and sole plates rather than having to toe nail each stud in place. It's the difference between using four nails per stud versus eight screws per stud - 16 cents versus $1.20 worth of fasteners. Some of you may be thinking "cheap bastard" as you read this, but consider that there will be about 100 studs used in these walls - that's a difference of over $100 in renovation cost. Significant. Plus, I really am a cheap bastard.

Using my quick square that I got from Harry, I was able to easily set the studs in the right place to make them plumb, and nailed them home. In only a few hours, I managed to get a pretty good start on those walls.

Moving along

It's now just way too hot to be doing anything outside besides sitting in the shade and blogging, so we've called it a day. Tomorrow we'll continue with these walls.

The Other Side of Hell

Today saw the completion of the hell wall. Finally. I started out by replacing a problematic cap stud from side one of the drain stack framing, and proceeded to put up the studs for side two. When the two walls were up, lo and behold, they were square and lined up perfectly.

Halle-freakin-lujah

The next step was installing blocks to solidify the wall. Only the top plate of the outer wall is attached to the floor joists, as the interior wall is set to accommodate the building of bulkheads around the plumbing for the bathroom directly above, so the wall is still a bit shaky. Interestingly, that particular bit of ceiling will be installed 3/4" lower than the bottom of the floor joists in order to accommodate plumbing supply lines, so I had to cut 3/4" slices from 2x4 off-cuts to act as spacers between the top plate and the joists.

Installing the blocks was a piece of cake, and I soon had a very solid wall that wouldn't budge of I ran head-on into it, which is likely to happen at some point given my general level of agility.

Blocked

It feels pretty good to have emerged from hell with a completed set of walls that are solid and square. They're not actually totally complete though, but the worst of it is definitely over.

Now that the Hell Wall has been put behind us, it was time to move on to other things. Next on the list was to fix the dent/crack in the landing floor.

Dent/crack

The floor is made up of 3/4" tongue-and-groove boards, so it would seem as though simply replacing the broken board would be pretty easy. So it would seem. The stair stringers were actually installed on top of this floor, so I can't actually remove the board without disassembling the stairs. Enter the new 2x8. My plan is to cut the damaged board flush with an existing 2x8, install a sister 2x8, and attach the replacement boards to the sister. This solution will allow the stairs to remain undisturbed while providing adequate support for the replacement boards. The first step was cutting out the damaged board.

Damage remediated

The reciprocating saw came back out today, and was used to cut the damaged board flush with the existing 2x8. Not exactly a clean cut, but good enough for what was required. Once the damaged board was removed, it was time to install the sister joist.

Sistered

Lesley gave me a hand putting in the new joist, which is screwed into the original. Notice the difference in the dimensions of the old 2x8 versus the new 2x8. The new one is a full 1/2" smaller.

Next, it was a simple matter to install the new floor boards.

Repaired

Now that the floor has been fixed, we can start framing the walls that will sit on top of this landing.

Our friends Kerri & Grant have invited us to join them by their pool this afternoon, so this is the end of today's work. It's too nice out today to be in a dark basement anyway!

Exercise in Frustration

Six hours of work. Five feet of wall. Incomplete. The Hell Wall continues to fight back as I attempt to frame around the drain stack. The day started out with yet another trip to Home Depot - this time for a 2x8 and 1x10 to repair a dent/crack in the lower landing floor, some new saw blades - one for the chop saw, and one for the jigsaw - and more 3" screws. Unfortunately 1x10's don't come in 9 and 5/8, so I wound up getting a 1x3 and 2 1x4 to make up the difference as their combined width was greater than that of a 1x10. Why is it that dimensional lumber never has the advertised dimensions anyway? Wikipedia has this to say

 More stuff

Changing out the chop saw blade was actually quite easy, and in a couple of short minutes, I had a brand new saw blade ready for some serious cross-cutting.

Voila!

Ready for framing, I set out to cut the requisite boards. My approach today was to measure, compile a cut list, and and get all of the boards cut at once. The idea was to save time going up and down the stairs cutting boards one at a time. Once cut to length, I assembled the pieces downstairs, and attempted to set them in place. This actually worked surprising well, although problems soon arose (quel surprise!). First, the top plate did not clear the joint of the drain pipe, so I actually got up on the stool with a chisel, and started carving away until the board had the proper clearance. I needed to take out nearly a quarter inch, so it took quite a while to whittle away the notch. I fit the plate in though, and once that was accomplished, I set out to frame up wall #2. I actually decided to try dry fitting the pieces before assembly to make sure that everything fit as planned. They did not. I discovered that the 2 walls would not be properly aligned if installed as they were. There may have been cursing.

I believe there is a relatively simple solution to this problem, but it will mean removing the current cap stud, and cutting a new one. *sigh* Such is life. It will wait until tomorrow, however, as it is getting late, and I have a strict policy of not cutting wood after dark.

Today's progress

Candada Day

Ever notice how Canada Day is more and more frequently pronounced Candada Day as the party wears on?

It is our glorious nation's birthday today, and even though the Queen of Bloody England is in our glorious nation's capital to join in the festivities, the renovation marches on.

Because of a later commitment to a box of Corona and a deck, there were only a small number of hours available to be spent on the reno. Today's task: set the sole plate for the walls that will surround the main drain stack.

Stack o' drain

This part is a wee bit tricky, but nothing too difficult. I made extensive use of my handy dandy carpenter's square to set the plates where they ought to be. No measuring today. All marks will be made by aligning boards in their desired position. Fortunately, I have a number of short boards that were off-cuts, and I will be able to use them for the plates for these three very short-span walls. The shortness of the boards also makes it easy to set them in place, and mark where to cut off the excess. A couple of hours later, and the plates were in place.
 

Ready for studs

Notice the double sole plates on the ends. This was necessary to tie-in the two larger walls - normally you would attach your perpendicular walls via the the cap studs, but because these walls are so short, and because of the position of the clean-out, that wasn't going to be possible. The double plate should provide added structural strength without the need for extra studs.

I also was able to install a permanent support for the landing. When we demolished the partition wall, we discovered that they'd used that wall as a the lone support for that corner of the landing, although the only real support given was the shear strength of a couple of 8D nails. I've put in supports that will carry the load down to the floor without relying upon the shear strength of screws. Should be a bit more solid now.

Supported

And now it's time to celebrate Canada's 143rd birthday.