12 August 2011

Chree and I began the task of framing the garage door opening in the north end of the shed lower level.  First task was to attach some 2 x 4 studs to the end concrete columns and the footers.  To do that I had Perry’s Remington gun that uses 22 caliber blanks to fire 2½″ nails through the lumber and into the concrete.  The first “shot” I took was a tad too close to the edge of the column, causing a fair-sized chunk of concrete to go flying off the corner, hitting Chree in two places and then bouncing off Shlomo.  Ooops!  After Chree and the dogs had taken refuge in the RV, the next ten shots went just fine… and those studs ain’t never coming off.  The king studs took some adjusting to get them to form a square opening, but after three or four tries they were correctly positioned.  Put the jack studs into position and all of a sudden the opening was a ¼″ too narrow. WTH,O!!!! After much head scratching, determined that the pressure treated lumber I was using was 1⅝″ thick vice the 1½″ it was supposed to be.  Then found out that the project architect (his name is Doug) had miscalculated the header length by 1½″ too short, which probably is an accurate description of the architect himself.  Chree came up with the brilliant idea of inserting a 3½″ square piece of ¾″ plywood at each end of the header (held in position by a slathering of Liquid Nails and 3″ screws­), and presto chango, problem solved.  By the end of the afternoon the basic framing was in place, formed a rough opening of approximately the right size and shape, the header was level, and we were still married.  Can’t ask for much more than that!