Garage / workshop project - Page 7

gasstingy · 06-08-10, 07:31 AM

Oh yeah, it's a pretty big crane and the angle of the shot makes it look all the more impressive. The tires on the crane are about a foot and a half wide each. I used to wonder why until I looked at the tracks it left in my yard.

Normal width tires would have really made a rut.

Yesterday evening, we finished bracing the trusses and put more of the floor decking up on the trusses. They aren't attached yet, but they don't have to be lifted up any more. BTW, the upper level floor is ~ 11' 1" off the slab. Considering the bottom chord of the truss is a 2x12 and the walls are ~ 10' tall, that seems about right. We also cut the extra 2' off each board on the front wall, the part that stuck out in the doorway. Now it's easier to get the truck in and out.

I ask my BIL before I do very much now that we are in over my head, and he tells me I can start putting the hurricane ties on the trusses {to add another dimension of structure to tie the truss to the walls}. These are added from the outside, so as not to show after the sheetrock is installed. We are also planning to put up more of the OSB on the side walls of the building tonight.

gasstingy · 06-09-10, 07:33 AM

I was too tired last night when we got through working at 10:00 to download the few pictures we took. I'll have to post them later. We did get the hurricane ties installed last night and added seven more pieces of OSB to the outside walls. The bottom row of OSB is still a full and a partial sheet from complete. I ran out of the 7/16" sheets we are using on the walls. After the third sheet went up though, it was too dark to see. But, I have one of the cheap 500-watt halogen work lights and put it to use for a couple of hours. I don't like using it because of the power draw, but it is a serious light when you need one. You can hear the performance of the circular saw drop when it runs with the light turned on.

We also added more bracing from the outside at the top rear of the building, in case stormy weather happens before we get far enough along that Will feels confident to start removing the truss bracing. It will take another trip to the lumberyard for 20 sheets of OSB to finish the outside of the building. When we put up the next row of OSB, we will remove bracing from the side walls.

Daox · 06-09-10, 07:41 AM

Yeah, I got that same halogen light. I tend not to use it either, except in winter! They throw off some nice heat.

gasstingy · 06-14-10, 07:40 AM

Wow, what a few days! By the weekend, we had removed the bracing from the sides of the building and hung OSB until late at night, getting both sides mostly covered. Saturday morning we went back for more lumber, OSB for the roof and for the front and back walls. Turns out we used almost none of it over the weekend.

We did install the 2x6's that stick over the front of the building to support the front overhang and then put 2x8's as facia boards on their ends. I started installing u-brackets to one end of those overhanging 2x6's to make the overhang stronger. I didn't get very far though, because the facia boards can't be installed by one person. The overhang on the back end of the building will be built a little different. Will plans to hang the 2x6's and then pull a chalk line and cut the ends off after they are nailed in place. Did I mention, it's just over 20' to the peak. I don't work very fast at that altitude.

I am learning a bit as we go along and having a good time, but the progress can never be fast enough.

During the middle of the day Sunday afternoon, the temperature stayed over 100 degrees, so we waited until 4:30 to go back to work. We worked until 9:00 and called it a night. By the time we put all of our tools up and tarped the wood and went to Burger King, it was past 10:00. So, I'm sorry to say, I haven't downloaded the pictures yet. I promise not to put that task off too much longer.

gasstingy · 06-15-10, 07:34 AM

We were back on the job last night.

I put on more of the joist hangers on the east end of the building. I still need a few more, but it's okay, I know how to do that {unsupervised even}.

Will even put up a few more sheets of OSB on the east {overhead door} end with Ricky's and my help. And as I've been promising, I downloaded a few pictures to show off what has been accomplished up until this point.

That's Will in full hammer swing attaching the third fascia board with me holding onto the opposite end and trying to hang on for dear life! The next couple is Will attaching the last of the fascia boards and me laying down on the job holding the other end. Fianlly, as we were doing cleanup work, we took a shot of the building illuminated by our 500 watt halogen light.

gasstingy · 06-15-10, 07:38 AM

I wanted to add a couple more pictures, so here they are. Will and I are seen on the scaffolding. Ricky, at ground level, has been helping carry materials and passing them up.

Daox · 06-15-10, 09:16 AM

Wow, its starting to look huge now. Great progress!

Btw, it looks horribly uncomfortable doing the building work...

Higgy · 06-15-10, 12:57 PM

Wow, I didn't realize you were making it so huge. Looks great so far.

gasstingy · 06-16-10, 07:35 AM

It looks really big in the pictures, and it is quite nicely sized.

My wife enjoyed the shot of me "laying down on the job." She thinks it shows that I really am more "laid back" than I might sometimes admit. OK, I couldn't resist, I made those corny laying down on the job comments up.

In a couple of the pictures, you can see the room I had designed into the trusses. It's going to be 16 foot wide the full length of the building, with an 8 foot high ceiling.

In some places, such as hanging the fascia boards, it seemed easier to lay down and hold the bottom of the boards than to stand on a ladder and hold them up. If you can see it in the picture, I have a ratcheting cargo strap tied around two trusses and am holding onto it with one hand and the 2x8 with the other. While Will was attaching the fascia, I was moving it up and down per his instruction to line it up.

Last night I finished adding the joist hangers to the 2x6's that make up the overhang on the end you see in the pictures above. Then I went to the opposite end of the garage and worked on the 2nd & 3rd trusses, nailing them together. From rear to front, the trusses are 2' on center, except for the second and third trusses. They are touching each other, a doubled truss to support the 3+ foot gap we left open for the stairs to come up. At the same time I was working to nail them together, Will was on top with a plane to get the trusses aligned. Just as a guess as to the problem, we think a combination of things may have contributed to the alignment issue. It's possible that the trusses are not perfectly symmetrical. Maybe the jig was not perfect and there is a small alignment problem when you hang one reversed from the next. Then the truss was either put on the stack or pulled off the stack reversed from all of the others and the alignment problem showed up. Either way, he spent some time on top with the plane and got it really closely aligned. {He noticed this a few days back when he pulled a string across the top of the building in a couple of places to check the alignement of the trusses before we finished nailing them securely.} Either way, it's great to have someone paying attention to the details. We'll get to the roof decking on soon enough.

gasstingy · 06-18-10, 07:21 AM

Progress continues, we haven't taken any days off lately. It's great to have a couple of brothers in law who are giving so much of their free time to help build this garage.

It just doesn't sound like much to add a message saying we added a few boards last night, if you know what I mean. Anytime I can't do much on my own though, I go to doing some of the smaller, though still important tasks. I've been trying to completely fasten the doubled trusses together. As an office worker, I can tell you that hand nailing gets old quickly, and the framing nailer gets heavy after a short while too when you're nailing over your head or reaching way out to the sides. On the lighter side, I'm getting lighter {lost a few pounds so far} and a bit stronger. I'm also perpetually sore these days.

We finished putting the OSB around the lower level of the garage and started putting the 2x6's cantilevered over the rear end of the building to make the rear overhang. It's great to be able to see progress! We are hopeful that we can come close to finishing the rear overhang tonight, so Saturday we can trim off the excess, add the fascia boards and start hanging roof decking. I am / am not looking forward to that. Am = the roof can go on. Am not = 5/8" OSB is heavier than 7/16 OSB and there is a lot of it to go on. Then, add the clips that go between them and it is a little tougher still. Oh well, if it was easy then anyone could do it.

06-09-10, 07:41 AM	#63
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Yeah, I got that same halogen light. I tend not to use it either, except in winter! They throw off some nice heat. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

06-15-10, 07:34 AM	#65
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	We were back on the job last night. I put on more of the joist hangers on the east end of the building. I still need a few more, but it's okay, I know how to do that {unsupervised even}. Will even put up a few more sheets of OSB on the east {overhead door} end with Ricky's and my help. And as I've been promising, I downloaded a few pictures to show off what has been accomplished up until this point. That's Will in full hammer swing attaching the third fascia board with me holding onto the opposite end and trying to hang on for dear life! The next couple is Will attaching the last of the fascia boards and me laying down on the job holding the other end. Fianlly, as we were doing cleanup work, we took a shot of the building illuminated by our 500 watt halogen light. Attached Thumbnails

06-15-10, 07:38 AM	#66
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	I wanted to add a couple more pictures, so here they are. Will and I are seen on the scaffolding. Ricky, at ground level, has been helping carry materials and passing them up. Attached Thumbnails

06-15-10, 09:16 AM	#67
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Wow, its starting to look huge now. Great progress! Btw, it looks horribly uncomfortable doing the building work... __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

06-08-10, 07:31 AM	#61
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	Oh yeah, it's a pretty big crane and the angle of the shot makes it look all the more impressive. The tires on the crane are about a foot and a half wide each. I used to wonder why until I looked at the tracks it left in my yard. Normal width tires would have really made a rut. Yesterday evening, we finished bracing the trusses and put more of the floor decking up on the trusses. They aren't attached yet, but they don't have to be lifted up any more. BTW, the upper level floor is ~ 11' 1" off the slab. Considering the bottom chord of the truss is a 2x12 and the walls are ~ 10' tall, that seems about right. We also cut the extra 2' off each board on the front wall, the part that stuck out in the doorway. Now it's easier to get the truck in and out. I ask my BIL before I do very much now that we are in over my head, and he tells me I can start putting the hurricane ties on the trusses {to add another dimension of structure to tie the truss to the walls}. These are added from the outside, so as not to show after the sheetrock is installed. We are also planning to put up more of the OSB on the side walls of the building tonight.

06-09-10, 07:33 AM	#62
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	I was too tired last night when we got through working at 10:00 to download the few pictures we took. I'll have to post them later. We did get the hurricane ties installed last night and added seven more pieces of OSB to the outside walls. The bottom row of OSB is still a full and a partial sheet from complete. I ran out of the 7/16" sheets we are using on the walls. After the third sheet went up though, it was too dark to see. But, I have one of the cheap 500-watt halogen work lights and put it to use for a couple of hours. I don't like using it because of the power draw, but it is a serious light when you need one. You can hear the performance of the circular saw drop when it runs with the light turned on. We also added more bracing from the outside at the top rear of the building, in case stormy weather happens before we get far enough along that Will feels confident to start removing the truss bracing. It will take another trip to the lumberyard for 20 sheets of OSB to finish the outside of the building. When we put up the next row of OSB, we will remove bracing from the side walls.

06-14-10, 07:40 AM	#64
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	Wow, what a few days! By the weekend, we had removed the bracing from the sides of the building and hung OSB until late at night, getting both sides mostly covered. Saturday morning we went back for more lumber, OSB for the roof and for the front and back walls. Turns out we used almost none of it over the weekend. We did install the 2x6's that stick over the front of the building to support the front overhang and then put 2x8's as facia boards on their ends. I started installing u-brackets to one end of those overhanging 2x6's to make the overhang stronger. I didn't get very far though, because the facia boards can't be installed by one person. The overhang on the back end of the building will be built a little different. Will plans to hang the 2x6's and then pull a chalk line and cut the ends off after they are nailed in place. Did I mention, it's just over 20' to the peak. I don't work very fast at that altitude. I am learning a bit as we go along and having a good time, but the progress can never be fast enough. During the middle of the day Sunday afternoon, the temperature stayed over 100 degrees, so we waited until 4:30 to go back to work. We worked until 9:00 and called it a night. By the time we put all of our tools up and tarped the wood and went to Burger King, it was past 10:00. So, I'm sorry to say, I haven't downloaded the pictures yet. I promise not to put that task off too much longer.

06-15-10, 12:57 PM	#68
Higgy The Gardener Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Manitoba - Canada Posts: 492 Thanks: 17 Thanked 8 Times in 7 Posts	Wow, I didn't realize you were making it so huge. Looks great so far.

06-16-10, 07:35 AM	#69
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	It looks really big in the pictures, and it is quite nicely sized. My wife enjoyed the shot of me "laying down on the job." She thinks it shows that I really am more "laid back" than I might sometimes admit. OK, I couldn't resist, I made those corny laying down on the job comments up. In a couple of the pictures, you can see the room I had designed into the trusses. It's going to be 16 foot wide the full length of the building, with an 8 foot high ceiling. In some places, such as hanging the fascia boards, it seemed easier to lay down and hold the bottom of the boards than to stand on a ladder and hold them up. If you can see it in the picture, I have a ratcheting cargo strap tied around two trusses and am holding onto it with one hand and the 2x8 with the other. While Will was attaching the fascia, I was moving it up and down per his instruction to line it up. Last night I finished adding the joist hangers to the 2x6's that make up the overhang on the end you see in the pictures above. Then I went to the opposite end of the garage and worked on the 2nd & 3rd trusses, nailing them together. From rear to front, the trusses are 2' on center, except for the second and third trusses. They are touching each other, a doubled truss to support the 3+ foot gap we left open for the stairs to come up. At the same time I was working to nail them together, Will was on top with a plane to get the trusses aligned. Just as a guess as to the problem, we think a combination of things may have contributed to the alignment issue. It's possible that the trusses are not perfectly symmetrical. Maybe the jig was not perfect and there is a small alignment problem when you hang one reversed from the next. Then the truss was either put on the stack or pulled off the stack reversed from all of the others and the alignment problem showed up. Either way, he spent some time on top with the plane and got it really closely aligned. {He noticed this a few days back when he pulled a string across the top of the building in a couple of places to check the alignement of the trusses before we finished nailing them securely.} Either way, it's great to have someone paying attention to the details. We'll get to the roof decking on soon enough.

06-18-10, 07:21 AM	#70
gasstingy Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Arab, AL Posts: 491 Thanks: 109 Thanked 49 Times in 43 Posts	Progress continues, we haven't taken any days off lately. It's great to have a couple of brothers in law who are giving so much of their free time to help build this garage. It just doesn't sound like much to add a message saying we added a few boards last night, if you know what I mean. Anytime I can't do much on my own though, I go to doing some of the smaller, though still important tasks. I've been trying to completely fasten the doubled trusses together. As an office worker, I can tell you that hand nailing gets old quickly, and the framing nailer gets heavy after a short while too when you're nailing over your head or reaching way out to the sides. On the lighter side, I'm getting lighter {lost a few pounds so far} and a bit stronger. I'm also perpetually sore these days. We finished putting the OSB around the lower level of the garage and started putting the 2x6's cantilevered over the rear end of the building to make the rear overhang. It's great to be able to see progress! We are hopeful that we can come close to finishing the rear overhang tonight, so Saturday we can trim off the excess, add the fascia boards and start hanging roof decking. I am / am not looking forward to that. Am = the roof can go on. Am not = 5/8" OSB is heavier than 7/16 OSB and there is a lot of it to go on. Then, add the clips that go between them and it is a little tougher still. Oh well, if it was easy then anyone could do it.