A Few More Sheets

The snow finally stopped and we were able to work outside again! After a bit more plowing, Sam drove the scissor lift out of the building and we resumed sheathing. We began with the south face, working from the bottom up.

The bucket truck was required to reach the upper triangle under the roof.

We chipped away at it for a few days…

Sam turned the remainder of the job into a one-man operation and finished without me one night. He typically works longer hours than I do…

We covered most of it with Tyvek (we ran out) and secured our plastic door better. No more flapping in the wind!

Then, we drove the bucket truck to the north end to complete the last little triangle (which ended up being many little pieces and smaller triangles). I cut the final piece and handed it off to Sam!

Up he went!

We were so happy to finish the sheathing. We celebrated by using the hot tub for the first time in awhile.

In other exciting news, John returned! Since handling heavy plywood is a favorite past time activity for Sam and John, we decided to work on the subfloor for the office and landing. The subfloor is constructed with 3/4″ tongue and groove plywood, which is the heaviest type of plywood we have yet to use. Luckily we didn’t have to unload it by hand.

Sam picked it up with the chain hoist and put it right into the scissor lift. And I didn’t think we needed a chain hoist…

After a little planning, we (Sam and John) started laying the sheets. First, we applied “liquid nails” to the floor joists. It acts like a glue and prevents the floor from squeaking.

Then Sam and John flopped the plywood into place, making sure each sheet fit tightly and was locked into its neighbor.

Finally, we screwed them down. This was my job. You might be thinking, “isn’t crawling around with a screw driver bad for you knee?” Well… just when I thought we had every nail/staple/screw gun imaginable, Sam added another one to the collection!

This gun allows you to install screws from an upright position. Plus, you don’t need to load each screw! You insert a strip of screws and walk around putting them in. It’s much lighter than some of our nail guns too- perfect for my frame. I highly recommend one of these to anyone ever installing a subfloor.