Half way there...

When I arrived on Friday to start my long weekend construction job... I was hoping to see a finished roof -- however rain, a massive amount of rain has conspired to slow progress. Everyday during the week it rained, consequently my roofing contractor was not able to complete the work.

The roofing contractor quoted that it would take four days to complete, but with rain every day he was barely able to get a days work in.

It may look like the roof is at least sheathed, however, what you are seeing is only the front half of the roof which is exactly and only the area he was able to sheath.

The front half of the roof is actually ready for shingles, but alas it started to rain in the early afternoon on Friday, hence no shingling...

The black stuff you see at the lower portion of the roof and up the valleys - that is the part of the roof where the slopes of two roof elements meet - is called ice and water shield. Ice and water shield is used to protect the roof from the ice damming effect that can occur in the winter which lifts shingles and allows melted ice and snow to enter your house.

Hopefully, the weather will cooperate this week!

The Gazebo: The skeleton is in place!

In previous posts I mentioned that we have completed the installation of the trusses for the gazebo. Here is the promised picture.

In this picture you should be able to make out:

• 8 trusses in total
• 2 laminated trusses, these are supported on the nearest corner of the cottage and the far post.
• 6 trusses that attached to the center of the laminated trusses - three extend out to 3 posts on the left, and 3 extend towards to the cottage and are supported by the wall (can't be seen in the picture.)

As I mentioned in the previous post, they are all attached in the center by a really nifty truss hanger. Here is a picture of the real thing.

Here you can see the laminated truss (left to right) with three trusses in the foreground which are supported on their other end by the wall of the Cottage and three in the background which are supported on the other end to the posts.

As I mentioned in the previous post there are two special truss hangers used to tie all eight of the trusses together, made by (you guessed it) Simpson-StrongTie.

These hangers and a whole lot of nails, make this a very strong connections. (Notice, I need a few more nails...)

A Really neat Gazebo Truss Hanger

A week ago I mentioned that we had completed the installation of the roof trusses. The last set of trusses we installed were for the gazebo roof. The roof rather unique in that it has 8 corners, and so requires trusses that radiate out from the center of the roof.

The truss system consists of eight trusses in total. Two of the trusses are identical and span the entire width of the gazebo. These two trusses are installed together. Actually these trusses are laminated to create a reinforced central span truss to which the other six trusses are attached to in the middle.

The really neat thing about the truss system is the cool special truss hanger that is used to nail all eight trusses together. It is called a MTHM/MTHM-2 Multiple Truss Hanger, is made by Simpson-StrongTie, and was included as part of the truss system built by Kent Trusses for Dale's Home Hardware Building Centre.

In the next post I will show a few pictures of the installed trusses for the gazebo.

10 Tips for a Safe Cottage Construction Site

I am a bit of a stickler for safety on the our Cottage construction site, and it is paying off as we haven't had any major injuries other than a few cuts and bruises.

My rules are simple:

1. Eye protection shall be used with ALL power tools, and when hammering. This includes not only the operator of the tool but anyone helping them.
2. Any power tool shall be removed from its source of power, BEFORE being adjusted or fixed. This includes both air and electrical tools.
   
3. All falling hazards should be immediately covered safely or cordoned off.
4. If you remove a brace or other board, the nails in it should be immediately removed.
5. When a team of people are working on a particular task, the step shall be clearly understood before starting the task. There shall be a means of escape from danger for all members of the team
6. All ladders shall be secured by a co-worker in situation where the ladder is no unstable soil, or the work is need a falling hazard.
7. Working on a roof requires use of a safety harness.
8. No one shall work alone when the work involves danger of falling, or the lifting of heavy materials.
9. All work material, tools and debris or other items that pose a tripping hazard shall be removed from immediate work locations or placed in a safe nearby location with respect to the work activity.
10. Take all precautions to protect yourself from environmental conditions: use sunscreen, drink plenty of fluids, wear rain gear, stop work(don't use power tools) and seek shelter in thunder storms,
    

6 Tips for Safely Keeping Hydrated on the Work Site

The weather this summer has been hot and very humid! It is sometimes difficult to remember to keep yourself hydrated. the heat and simply working hard means you are sweating out and using up precious fluids. Without replenishing them you can very quickly get in to medical problems - at the very least exhaustion and sore muscles (perhaps cramps) to the worst case such as severe dehydration and shock.

Right from the start I set up a hydration center with both water and a cooler with sport drinks. Here are a few tricks and tips I have learned from the experts or experience:

• When you sweat you loose more than just water - you loose precious electrolytes and other goodies that your body needs. So just drinking water can set these electrolytes dangerously out of balance causing cramps for instance.
• I like to alternate between a sport drink and just water to alleviate these problems - and it works!
• I set up the hydration centre in the shade. Once the basement was covered with the floor I placed it there. Not only was it in the shade but the basement was just cooler.
• Provide places to sit. Everyone is on their feet slaving away. When taking a break, having a comfortable seat to rest your fanny is sure nice - especially for this old man...
• Top keep the drinks cool, I use a portable cooler with a cooling system. It isn't a fridge but certainly provided adequate welcome chilling of the drinks. Remember I have a generator going a good 50% of the time, so power is readily available.
• Stay away from alcoholic beverages. Contrary to popular myth they actually make the de-hydration worse, let alone the safety issues of alcohol on a job site. Beer is best left to the end of the day celebration and even then in moderation.
  

I'll never use another extention ladder again!

I have come to appreciate a new ladder, "World's Greatest Multi-Use Ladder", which I purchased at Costco. You can find a great review of the ladder at www.inspectorsjournal.com. It isn't a 'Little Giant' but it is very close! and at less than half the price ($139.99) it fits the bill!

I have found that the "World's Greatest Multi-Use Ladder" is vastly superior to the standard extension ladder in the following ways:

• It is less awkward to move and setup
• It is much more stable on just about any kind of ground conditions. This is particularly comforting to me as I am not a big fan of heights so having a more stable platform just makes the job go quicker
  
• It is great on sloped work site - like the side of the hill that the "Cottage on the Edge" rests. The step ladder mode an have different lengths of 'ladder for each side of the step ladder. In such a configuration the ladder is very stable and much easier to level and secure.
  
• I can work on a larger area without having to move the ladder. For instance, when putting up the 50-inch joists for the deck, the double-sided nature of the ladder in step ladder mode means I can get to both ends of the joist without having to move the ladder. Not having to constantly move the ladder saves time - big time!
• Furthermore, two people can work on the ladder in step ladder mode, which is really a time saver, for instance, when installing the joists I mentioned above. Each person can be working in one end of the joist.
  

This ladder converts without tools to: 4 positions as a step ladder, 8 heights as an extension ladder, 6 positions as a stairway ladder, 3 heights as a scaffold, and 3 heights as a wall ladder. Great for use on stairs.

Conquering My Fear of Heights

My one true phobia is heights!

I understand that at times it is quite irrational, but as phobias are they rule the roost. So you can imagine the fun I had building the beams over the lakeside deck pictured at the right.

The picture actually does do justice to the actual height. It appears only to be two stories tot he top of the post where the tow beams pictured here needed to be attached. What you don't see is that this edge of the property drops off dramatically below this corner of the deck. It is more like 3 or even 4 stories looking down perched on the top of a ladder while nailing the beam in place.

Fortunately, my sons don't share my fear of heights, as you can see Nathan, relaxing during a break. He is perched on the window sill of the picture window in the livingroom in this picture...

Pressure-Treated Wood Posts

A portion of the roof, that over the gazebo, is supported by gigantic posts. The posts we are using are 6"x6" by 20 foot pressure-treated posts. These posts are supported at the bottom by concrete piers and extend through the deck off the main floor, and support the roof over the deck.

In the pictures you can see six pressure-treated ( the green coloured posts) posts: five 6x6 posts and one 8x8 post.

The 8x8 post is required for a special purpose. It is used for supporting another huge laminated beam - like that used inside the cottage to support the floor joists - except here it is used to support the deck joists.

These posts are massive. It takes at least two of my strong strapping sons to move them! The task of righting them on to the concrete piers was a difficult one.

Here is how we got them up:

1. First we carried each post to its respective concrete pier
2. A hole was drilled in one end of the post. This hole was a 3/4 hole which is just enough to allow the pin sticking out of the concrete pier to fit. The pin serves to keep the post in place.
   
3. Then we cut a piece of asphalt shingle to fit the top of the concrete pier. The asphalt shingle serves to insulate the wood post from the concrete pier thus preventing water or moisture from entering the wood. This is just like a the sill gasket we described in an earlier post to isolated the wood walls from the concrete footings or concrete wall separates the p
   
4. The end of the post with the pin hole was positioned so that as we raised the post the pin would enter the hole.
5. Then comes the tough part... Three of us - through shear muscle power - raised the post, using various assisting tools like rope and 12-foot lengths of 2x4.
   
6. Once raised into a vertical position we leveled and secured the post temporarily. Our main securing technique was to use 12- or 16-foot lengths of 2x4 to either attach the post to a nearby object like a previously secured post or the cottage itself. We would generally use two supports set at 90 degrees to temporarily secure the post. If we didn't have an object to secure it two then we would use two 2x4's set on either side of the post as about 45 degrees set in to the ground.
7. Once the work of leveling and the post was temporarily secured, it was time for a break!
8. Permanent securing consisted of connecting the post to the adjacent post using a 2-ply 2x10 beam, and then, securing it to the ledger board on the Cottage using a 2x10 joist. In this way the post was completely tied into the deck substructure.
9. This process was repeated for every post, securing post after post until the entire deck skeletal substructure was completed.
10. Once the skeleton of the deck substructure was in place then we measured out and installed joists on a 16-inch center-on-center pattern.
11. The whole process was repeated again at the very top of the posts for the posts that extended the full 20 feet. This set of beams formed the structure on which the roof would be secured.

Hence, the two-story posts were secured in three places:

• At the bottom by the pins from the concrete piers
• at the middle by the deck substructure, and
• at the top by the beams forming the support for the gazebo roof.
  

The remainder of the posts of the deck substructure only extended to the deck. Actually the posts extend three feet beyond the top of the deck so as to provide posts to which the railing will be attached.

Stay tuned: in a future post I will provide pictures of the deck substructure and the completed deck, with the gazebo...

How Anchor Bolts work....

Anchor bolts are what secures the wood part of the cottage to the concrete part - the wood framed walls to the concrete walls. I illustrated the anchor bolts in a previous post, (Anchor Bolts... Holding the Cottage down!), and promised an explanation.

The diagram at right illustrates the parts of this system. The anchor blot is set in the concrete before it hardens with its threaded part exposed. When a wall is framed, holes corresponding to the locations of the anchor bolts are drilled in the sill or bottom plate of the wall before it is raised. (see... Framing, the 1st Wall on the 1st Floor and 4 Steps to Rasing a Wall: Square, Prepare, Lift, Level and Brace)

The wall is raided onto the bolt, and secured with a washer and nut. A critical part of the assembly is the sill gasket, which is the material which isolates the wood from the potential dampness of the concrete, avoiding mildew, rot and all sorts of bad things when wood gets wet.

Ledger Board - Getting all Decked Out...

There is a deck that surrounds about 50% of the Cottage. It starts with the porch on the front and goes all the way around the side to the lakeside.

The first step in building the deck is attaching a ledger board to the Cottage. The purpose of the ledger board is to support one end of the joists that support the deck boards.

It is important that the ledger board be attached to an element on the Cottage framing that can actually support the weight of the deck and the anticipated weight of the occupants on the deck. This is usually the floor structure of the first floor - and is exactly what we did!

The ledger board is attached using lag bolts- we used 1/2 inch lags bolts that were 6 inch long in most places and 8 inched in length in a few key places. Two lag bolts positions about 2 inched from the top and the bottom of the ledger where placed approximately every 2 feet.

The following tricks made that process easier:

• Drill a pilot hole for each lag bolt- this make the driving these in much easier if you are doing them by hand
• Be sure to use the biggest socket ratchet you have - the more leverage you have the easier it will be
• Better still if you have a air compressor use an impact wrench - you know the thing that mechanics use to put the nuts on your car wheels.
• Measure out where the joists will go, and adjust where the lag bolts should go as to not interfere with the joist hangers.

This was a time consuming job, because although I do have a compressor, I had forgotten to borrow my son's (he is the family mechanic) impact wrench. With 70 lag bolts to put in it took two of us, my wife and I about 6 hours to twist them all in...

Once they lag screws are in we started the framing of the deck superstructure, which consists of 6" x 6" posts and 2" x 10" lumber for joists and beams.

As the example in the picture illustrates:

• 4" x 10" beams were built between each of the posts (3) and between the two posts at each end and the ledger board. These beams were built up from two pieces of 2" x 10" lumber.
  
• a single 2 x 10 was used between the ledger and the middle posts.

Double and single joist hangers made the job of securing the beams and joists very easy. In fact we built the beams, nailed ( and cinched the nails) and installed the joist hangers prior installing them between the posts.

You can just barely see the metal parts used. The joist hangers between the beams and posts, and the post saddles used to secure the posts to the concrete piers on which they sit. A post saddle is a formed metal plate, which is embedded into concrete, used to hold the bottom of a post secure.

The whole process requires a level to make sure:

• the posts are perfectly vertical
• the beams and joists are perfectly horizontal AND the tops of them are at the same height as the top of the ledger board.

Throw in a square just to make sure the joists and beams a perfectly square (that is 90 degrees) to the ledger board, and voila we have the deck framed and ready for the deck boards.

COMING UP: Lots more on the deck after this weekend!

The Roof is Framed!!!

Two of my sons and I worked until midnight last night (Sunday) - driving to complete the installation of the trusses for the attached gazebo.

The reason is simple! I have hired a roofer to complete the roof - to put on the fascia, sheathing, and shingles. - and he starts this morning. The majority of the roof trusses were installed last weekend but the gazebo roof could not be completed until the superstructure for the deck was built. The reason is that the posts holding up the deck also serve as the support for the gazebo roof.

We spent Saturday installed the posts, and Sunday until mid-day we competed the deck substructure - mostly the joists. In the interests of time we just threw up some plywood so that we could used the deck as a platform to work from - to install the beams across the top of the posts which would eventually support the gazebo roof.

Even with the plywood deck the task was daunting - especially for me with my fear of heights - as the top of the posts are a full 2 stories and on the lakeside even higher. But with the help of my sons Adric and Nathan we put up ladders and got to work. Nathan was a real godsend - he doesn't share my fear of heights and was able to do those things that I couldn't do. How he can calmly site on a beam two stories up and nail away I just can't fathom - but I am very grateful.

Adric was extremely helpful. He is a big strapping and strong lad. His help in lifting big heavy 20 foot posts, roof trusses made a big difference.

At 9:30 PM, the sunlight rapidly disappearing, and 5 more trusses to put up it was clear that we we going to working into the night. Fortunately, I have a generator and a set of halogen lights. With them on it was almost like daylight. Then we heard the telltale sounds of the generator fighting for fuel - we were running out of gas! This could mean certain disaster! Without light we won't be able to finish and my roofing contractor would be arriving today to an incomplete roof.

Nathan quickly jumped in the Jimmy with an empty gasoline tank and sped of to the only gas station in Otter Lake. Fortunately there were open and catastrophe was averted.

At 12:00 PM midnight exactly I finished hammering in the last nail. After a 30 minute take down and cleanup process the tools were all in the shed, and we were on the road back home.

Sorry to disappoint! For those of you hoping for pictures you will have to wait until next weekend. In the interested of time I simply didn't take any pictures this weekend - and besides it was pitch black at 12 midnight!

A Rocky Future...

Lucie, my wife, has been labouring continuously to collect all the rocks that the construction has exposed.

What for you may ask?

Well Emitt, the fellow that delivers the construction materials from Dale's Home Hardware Building Centre, says that all the wife's do that...

Lucie's explanation has been evolving, there seems to be a new need every day, so far the list is:

• "Well we need to get them out of the way of your ladders - its dangerous you know"
• "They will make a nice border on the driveway"
• "We can use them to cover the dirt under the deck"
• "Well we will need them for the fire pit - we have to have a fire pit - after all it isn't a cottage without a fire pit..."

The list continues, but I can't disagree with any of here suggestions, and I can't deny it is nice to walk and work around the Cottage and not have to negotiate the stones.

Shopping List - Construction Style

I am notoriously bad at remembering things to get when I shop -- so a shopping list is absolutely necessary!

But what do you do when there isn't a pad of paper?

Got back to the paper source - use a tree - or one that has been cut to size...

On this trip I had to get:

• More power loads for the Remington Power Hammer (the one I described a few posts back)
• Ledger flashing for the deck (stay tuned for more on that in a future post)
• Wipes - with no running water the easiest way to cleanup was with wipes, and
  
• more gas for the generator.
  

Tyvek and Me...

Yes! That is me - getting read to saw a board.

The white stuff covering the outside wall is called Tyvek.

Tyvek is an amazing material invented back in 1955 by Dupont - and not just because it was invented the year I was born...

DuPont™ Tyvek® acts like a windbreaker and wrapped over the sheathing and under the exterior siding—cut out around windows and doors and taped securely at the seams—resists air infiltration and water intrusion and makes for a more comfortable, energy-efficient home or building.

The properties of Tyvek helps to combat water, moisture and air infiltration that are any building's worst enemies. Allowed to penetrate behind siding, wind-driven rain and moisture can saturate walls, creating a breeding ground for mold, mildew and wood rot. The properties of DuPont™ Tyvek® do not support the growth of mold or mildew. Air infiltrating from outside can create comfort-robbing cold or warm spots while increasing heating and cooling costs.

The material is light, comes in a 11 foot wide roll and is very easy to install - but it take two people to install it. I have discovered the easiest process is for one person to roll out a section, and the second person to follow behind securing it on the external sheathing with a construction stapler. Doing an entire section or wall at a time works best. Starting from a corner, lay the roll vertical to the wall and stable from the top to the bottom every 12 inches or so. Then just roll it out to the next corner and secure it again at this break point.

Outside corners are real easy - its the inside corners that are a bit tricky. In the corners we discovered that holding the roll into the corner while securing with the stapler worked well for the wall on the first side of the inside corner. We then rolled out another foot to make it around the inside corner and stapled again, but with he added step of using a hind to ensure the Tyvek was right in to the corner.

We just continued right around the whole cottage until we met up with the starting point. Then, I went back over the Tyvek putting in more stables to fully secure it tot he sheathing - about every 12 inches on the edge and every 2 feet everywhere else.

NOTE: In the above picture we had actually ran out of material on the first roll, and had not started on the next.

Shooting Nails into Concrete

How do you secure wood to concrete?

When I installed the sheathing on the walls I placed them so that about a foot of the concrete foundation was also covered. Now ordinary nails just don't do concrete so I needed another solution to secure the sheathing material to the concrete.

I used a tool called the the 'Power Hammer' made by Remington - Yes the rifle people, to literally shoot nails through the sheathing and into the concrete. This power hammer drives special concrete nails ranging from 1 to 2.5 inched in length using a .22 caliber, necked down, crimped, low velocity power loads.

The nail is placed at the end of the barrel and the power load is loaded in the other end. The Power Hammer is held on the spot the nail is to go and a hammer is used bang the other end, thus triggering the power load to fire.

It is very important to use the right length of nail and power load combination. The power loads come in 4 strengths. I used 1.5 or 2 inch nails with the highest power load, a number 4 which were colour-coded yellow.

It took a bit of trial and error to get the right combination. In the above picture you can see two power nails. The left one didn't quite go all the way into the concrete - I believe the power load was not high enough. The one on the right is perfect - I you can see where the nail is is the plastic sleeve that holds the nail in the barrel.

Ladders in the Roof!

Yes... 'IN' the Roof...

Ever wonder how they build those overhanging parts of roofs. Well they do it with something called a roof 'ladder'.

The ladder for the front gable is illustrated in the picture. How this works is that the gable truss - that is the one at the very end - is actually shorter than its sister trusses. The ladder sits on top of this gable truss and hangs over - or cantilevered in building lingo. The opposite side of the ladder is nailed to the second truss, and voila! you have the roof overhang.

There are two gabled ends on the cottage. The second one is around the side.

BTW - My trusses were manufactured by Kent Trusses based out of Sundridge Ontario.

Raising the Roof!

Well after trials by rain and sheer sweat and muscle power, the framing of the main part of the roof is complete.

This picture shows the front of the cottage, and hence you can see the central hip roof with the two gabled dormers - one on the front and one on the side. Actually the one on the right is still incomplete in this picture - there are two small trusses that need to go in behind the gable end to complete the dormer.

The worse part of the whole job was getting the trusses first up on the roof. This was accomplished with the sweat and muscle mentioned above. Fortunately I have three adult, and string sons.

The process for getting the trusses up on the roof, at least for the big ones went something like the following:

1. Three of use would pick the truss up and bring it up as close to the cottage as possible. The fourth held a 12 foot 2x4 with a v-notch cut in one end.
2. First we would orient the truss so that it was in the position when we eventually got it up on the roof. We wished to have the foot(bottom) of the truss facing the lakeside, and the head (top) facing towards the front of the cottage. The position on the ground was such that the it was length ways parallel to the front wall of the cottage.
   
3. Two of the truss movers, those closest to the cottage, would lift the truss up as high as they could.
4. The v-notch 2x4 would then be used to help them push the end of the truss over the top of the front wall.
5. One of the two truss holder then quickly ran up inside the cottage and up a ladder to grab the truss.
6. The process then consisted of pur brute strength pushing and pulling the truss up and over the front wall until about half of the truss was on the roof.
   
7. The v-notch 2x4 person would use this 2x4 to push up and hold the end hanging overhead while another person joined the one already inside the cottage and pulled the rest of the truss onto the top of the walls.
8. As they were pulling it in they also spun it around so that the truss was now parallel to the front wall with the foot of the truss facing the lakeside.
   

The trusses are not that heavy. Two people can actually lift the heaviest at 205 lbs, however, they are awkwardly shaped, and quite fragile while horizontal. It fact we damaged one of the trusses getting it up ion the roof - one of the joints bent. Fortunately, we were able to hammer it back into position.

It brute force mode, we placed all of the big trusses up on the roof in the order that we would need to install them.

Oh! Where is that crane when you need it...

BTW - My trusses were manufactured by Kent Trusses based out of Sundridge Ontario.

Rain, Rain, and More Rain...

Rain means construction halts!

Rain means you can't use power tools - unless you have a death by electrocution wish.

After 2 days of rain, and not getting much accomplished, we erected a makeshift roof with a huge tarp and a few poles to suspend it above the walls.

It worked well enough that I could continue to work inside - under the big top - to do the framing of all the interior walls.

Understanding one's Limits...

Generally the sheathing of the walls is applied at the same time as building each wall. However we took a different approach.

We framed each wall and stood them up without attaching the sheathing. The main reason was weight. With only two person crews most of the weekends, and often just myself and my wife, the added weight of the sheathing would make the walls just too heavy to lift into place safely.

So the two pictures show the before and after the sheathing.

There was another considerations. I wished to cover the whole exterior in a seamless sheathing - from below the floor joists right up to the top plate of the walls. This makes for a very strong bond between the main floor walls and the rest of the building.

It is a little bit more difficult to apply the sheathing but the end result is worth it.

Status Update! Almost a roof...

I had taken the week of June 30th of as vacation and intended to bit off a big chunk of the construction. The target was to by July 6th to have the roof on.

Well we didn't quite make it!

About 25% of the trusses have been installed and another 50% have been loaded up on the walls read to be installed.

Unfortunately the weather, illness and work got in the way:

• Of the 9 days up at the Cottage - it rained 4
• One of my sons was quite ill with a summer cold/flu
• A second son was unexpectedly called in to work on Saturday.

In any case the state of the cottage is what I would call half pregnant. A lot of things are partially done...

The target for next weekend is to finish framing the roof.

BTW - My trusses were manufactured by Kent Trusses based out of Sundridge Ontario.

A Little Oil Goes a Long Way...

In my previous post I revealed my disappointment with the air nailer I purchased from Princess Auto. Turns out the reason the nails were not advancing automagically is because the coating on the nails is scrapping off with each nail shot and gumming up the inside of the nail slide.

I little oil and presto the nailer works find!

Lesson Learned: Purchase a Professional Air Nailer

While I an very happy with every other tool I have so far purchased at Princess Auto, I am not very happy with my purchase of the 3.5 inch framing nailer, or shall I say the two have purchased.

I purchased the first one well over a year ago on sale at Princess Auto in anticipation for the cottage construction project this year. That one lasted two weeks or shall I say it lasted 4 days - two days on two consecutive weekends. First, while it punched in the 3.5 inch nails quite nicely, it simply would not take the smaller 2.5 inch nails with out jamming. Furthermore, the nailer slowly self-destructed as the plastic guides shattered and fell out of the nail guide - fortunately even without the guides the nailer kept functioning.

Finally it gave up the ghost and blew a seal.

Fortunately one of my sons had not yet began his trip up to the cottage for the weekend. (ASIDE: I have taken of Fridays from work to go up early to prepare and start work, while he follows up on Friday evening after work) A quick call on the cell phone and he made a swing by Princess Auto to pick up a new nailer.

You might say I am a gluten for punishment, but the model of nailer he purchased was a newer one - one that seems to had the deficiencies fixed. And it did have all the deficiencies of the first one remedied - but now it had a new one. The spring in the nail guide doesn't seem to push the nail with enough force, so the automatic nature of the nailer just became a single shooter...

In spite of the one shot nature the nailer works and we continue with it.

Lesson Learned:
The Princess Auto railers are roughly one-third to one quarter the price of the professional models. I have purchased two so not much savings - lots of frustration. Next time i will go professional and pay the bucks!

"Have Air, Can Build..."

Or I could have said "have gun, can build", but I need the air to power the gun, the air nailer to be specific.

The air compressor I have is a bit small for serious framing. It is a 11 HP 5 gallon compressor, but I discovered that it has difficulty keeping up with the rapid fire of the nailing gun. After about 5-6 nails, of the 3.5 inch variety, the pump starts up to refill the built in tank (5 gallon).

Having the nail driven in for me sure saves on hammer elbow, but having to pause ever so while to allow the pressure in the tank to catch up becomes a bit tiresome.

I remedied this problem by adding in series, between the compressor and the nailer, a second air tank which holds about 25 gallon.

As it turns out this combination works pretty well. I can now keep going at a fairly good pace. Remember I am not a professional builder so just not quite a quite as the pros.

Still If I had to do it again I would shell out for a more appropriate sized compressor. In this picture you can see all four key components of the framing nailer system I have. Moving from left to right:

• The framing nailer (its's blue)
• The generator
• The compressor (in front of the generator),and
  
• The supplementary air tank.

The blue stuff is the air hose.

The Power to Build....

You are probably wondering how I have been powering all the fancy tools I have been using to build the Cottage. With a circular saw, a chop saw, air compressor, fridge (yes a fridge), and drill power is needed. Dong all the nailing and sawing by hand would mean I would be done sometime next year if I was working full time at it.

The answer is my trusty electrical generator. The model I have is a 6500 watt generator, more that plenty to power the above tools, many at the same time. It holds 25 litres of gasoline and runs about 6-8 hours each weekend day before needed another drink.

The generator was brand new when I got it so after the first weekend I had to change the oil.

It has been a trooper, running almost constantly, in the hot weather, from near 8 am to 8 pm on the days that we need it. I purchased the generator at Princess Auto and have been very pleased with its operation. It starts almost every time with a single pull. It can provide both 240 and 120 volts, although I only need 120 so far.

In sizing the generator be sure to take into account the spike voltage of the tool you are using. All my tools are generally under 2500 watts, even with the spike, so you might think 6500 watts is over kill. However, I also plan to run the submersible pump I have in the lake foe water supply. While the running wattage of the pump is 2500 watts when the pump starts it spikes way over 2500 watts. If your power source can't provide the spike wattage then the tool or applicance just won't start.

So be sure the generator is the right size for your application!

Anchor Bolts... holding the Cottage down

Ever wonder how you attach the wood part of the cottage (or house) to the concrete foundation?

It is done using a special kind of bolt called an anchor bolt. These bolts are a 'J' shaped bolt which are inserted in the concrete just after it is poured. Enough of the threaded end of the bolt sticks out of the concrete so that it can go thorough and secure the sole plate of the framed walls using a washer and a nut.

The same kind of bolt is used to secure the post to a concrete pier, however, the posts are attached with a metal bracket called a saddle.

I'll provide illustrations of the bolts in both of these final configurations in a follow-up post.

Construction Status

If you haven't detected it, my posts are about one week behind when we did the actual activity mentioned in the post. Through the magic of Blogger I am able schedule my posts in advance. So when you read this on July 6th, I will actually be up at my Cottage, and will have been for the week.

If all goes well and we are able to keep to the schedule we should be finishing the roof - hopefully completing it by installing the sheathing and the tar paper. Shingles will happen the following weekend.

Furthermore, we hope to accomplish this past week the following:

• Finish the framing of the exterior walls including the sheathing
  
• Frame the interior walls
  
• Build the superstructure for the deck
• Deck the floor of the deck
  
• Install a temporary railing for the deck (for safety)
• Install the basement external doors and windows

and dreaming in Technicolor, some or all of the roofing shingles may be on.

I will next post likely on July 8th, so tune in to see if I kept to schedule!

Embedded for Life!

I was amazed how much safer the jack posts became once the concrete basement floor was poured. While we had nailed the bottom plates of the jack posts to the concrete footings they still didn't give that great Rock of Gibraltar feeling.

With at least 4 inches of concrete poured around them, they sure feel solid NOW!

Sawing Central

Over the past three weekend I have developed quite a system to measuring and cutting the lumber. I use three combination tables and saw horses as illustrated in the picture.

I use two to hold and measure the lumber, then swing the piece across to the third table where I have a chop saw. From there I take the piece about 4 paces and place it up on the floor ready for assembly.

Three Sides... One to go...

As of Sunday, June 22 at about 5 pm we have been able to complete the framing on three sides of the cottage. We had been hoping for more but it rained until about 7:30 am and then we spent - as revealed in a previous post an hour draining the basement of water from the massive rain storm the previous evening. So we started late.

On top of that we ended early - about 5 pm. And lucky we did as about 5:20 pm the skies opened up with rain once again. We we just able to get the tools away and the tarp back on the floor.

Next weekend the target is to finish the framing on the remaining walls put the sheathing up on all the exterior walls.

We are hoping to get the framing of the superstructure for the deck as well as it contains some key posts which support portions of the roofing trusses.

Imagining the Gazebo Deck

Here is the view from the garden door on the main floor. Put your imagination cap on and you can see [well I can... ;-) ] the deck for the gazebo, and just over the hand railing I can see the top of our bunkie, or guest cottage. The rough opening for the gazebo is shown below.





The Bunkie is were the project manager and the project cook ( his wife) call home at the end of a construction day. Just in front of it (to the the left of the picture you can just see the front of the outhouse.

Ringing Around the House with Walls

Over the weekend we were able to frame all but one side of the cottage. The following pictures illustrate various views of our progress as you move right to left or counterclockwise around the floor.

Our progress is illustrated in the following pictures, starting with the east wall in the left picture. The east wall has the bathroom window. The wall next to the lakeside wall will have the wood stove.


The lakeside wall with the large picture window. I posted a picture of the view it will provide in the previous post.





This is the garden door which open up onto a big screened 12 x 12 octagonal deck with a gazebo like roof. The garden door will be 6 feet in width, and open fully to expand the living space dramatically. I can't wait to be enjoying a cold one sitting in there!








The rough opening for the kitchen window in the west wall. With large casement windows this will catch the westerly breezes and flow them through the cottage. Moving around the corner you can see the opening for the front door in the partially framed southern wall.