The Wood Arrives!

We got our wood today. It was dropped off while we were at work.

The first shipment

Because it wasn't delivered wrapped up as expected, I spent a couple of hours after work taking it out of our driveway and putting it away. The insulation batts got put in the garage, and the wood made it's way under the tarp in the backyard.

Stack o' Batts

Gift wrapped wood pile

No actual work got done today. After moving our building supplies and fending off crowds at the grocery store in advance of Canada Day, it was just too late to do anything but unwind and prepare for tomorrow.

Jimmy Rig

Solved a minor problem today that had been slowing things down. Whenever Lesley was otherwise indisposed, I couldn't use the chop saw, because there was nobody to hold the end of the wood. It sounds like a silly problem, but it was really debilitating. So, I fashioned a "holder" of sorts from scraps. After rummaging through the accumulated off-cuts, I managed to find a combination of materials that stack up to the perfect height.

Soon to be wood holder

Four screws later, and I had a handy-dandy jimmy rigged wood holder.

Jimmy rigged

My new wood-holder enabled me to cut the final stud for the hell-wall, which promptly got installed.

Fully studded

Guarded relief

The satisfaction of putting in the last stud was short-lived however, as the planned-for 1.5" gap between the studs and the stair stringers that was going to perfectly fit a 2x4 for support has wound up being a 1" gap. Argh. I'm pretty sure that 1" dimensional lumber doesn't exist, and I own neither a planer nor a table saw, so this ought to be fun figuring out how to fill the gap.

Time to hang up the toolbelt for the evening, and ruminate on my most recently encountered issue.

Beer time

Day 32

Only a couple of hours work got done today as Lesley's cousin Charlotte was in town from Vancouver, so we spent the afternoon visiting at Kent & Susan's place. Today's task was to install the top plate for that nasty wall. Job one was getting the necessary notches cut out of the board to accommodate the remaining hangers. I used the jigsaw to accomplish the notching, which is not ideal since we're dealing with 2x4s. I actually decided to make a quick run to Canadian tire to get a new blade for thicker wood. Waste of time. The first blade bent and snapped before I got 2 inches cut. Useless piece of crap. So I used the now-dull blade I already had, and drilled holes to facilitate turning the corners, which worked well enough. A little bit of trial and error later, including some deft handiwork with a chisel, and the top plate was installed.

Attaching the top plate

Attached

Once the top plate was on, Lesley's temporary brace could be removed. There are still two more studs to set, which should be easy now that there is a top plate, and this nightmare wall will be more-or-less complete. The next step will be to frame around the main drain stack, and construct the bulkheads that will go around all of the plumbing