Team Bartfield

Lesley and I worked independently of each other today to accomplish different projects: I worked on woodwork, while Lesley worked on exterior cladding and trim for the windows.

The day started with that long drive to Lowe's that we had put off the other night in favour of a rest. It meant a late start on the basement, but the upside is that being in a hardware store before 9am means no crowds and no line-ups. We picked up the lumber we needed, plus a little extra so we wouldn't have to go back out there. Then it was homeward bound to begin the weekend's work.

I finally managed to fill that 1" gap between the hell-wall studs and the stair stringers. It turns out that the 1/2" plywood that I thought I had gotten was, in fact, 3/8". It was marked as 1/2", and I didn't know any better, so I brought home the wrong stuff. However, 1x3's, as it turns out, are actually only 5/8" thick, so paired with the 3/8" plywood... I picked up three of these puppies at Lowe's, and they worked perfectly. The hell-wall is now more solid, and the wall along the stairs can now support weight.

Gapless

Next on the list was building bulkheads. I was hoping to have these completed by the end of the day today, but it was not to be. Still, I managed to finish the long, replacement bulkhead, and got a good start on the rest.

Problem solved

It's a start

I also managed to get the final bulkhead measured up, so tomorrow I'll be able to jump right into cutting wood, and should be able to complete it in an hour or so, which will leave me plenty of time to finish the framing.

While I was busying myself with woodwork, Lesley was outside working on the windows. We got 2x2" drip flashing to clad the wood, and vinyl drip moulding to finish it. The flashing needs to be cut using tin snips, so it is quite time consuming. And it leaves your hands all cut-up. What takes the most time is not cutting it to length, but rather trimming it to fit properly. Once the flashing is screwed in, it's time to install the moulding. The moulding is meant to cover up all the screws and what-not, as well as cover the the gaps that have been filled with spray foam. It needs to be mitre-cut too, which is a bit of a pain. Anyone who has ever worked with trim can tell you that figuring out the angles is mind-warping until you get into a groove. Into a groove Lesley got, however, and before long, the moulding was ready for installation. Of course, the pieces didn't exactly fit the way they were supposed to, so trimming the trim was required, but eventually, all the pieces made their way into the window.

Trimmed out

All that's left is to caulk around all of the seams once the glue cures. That's for tomorrow, along with the other window.

Feeling like we made good progress today, even of our milestones weren't quite met. There's still a chance that the woodwork and window's exteriors will get finished by the end of the day tomorrow, though it may mean putting in a long day. For now, it's time for a glass of wine, and a couple of hours of downtime.

Sweet, sweet downtime.