20 July 2018

Sonny and Luther arrived at 7.  We got straight to work framing the rest of the walls.  By noon the north, west, and south walls were done, with only the gap above the east wall garage door opening needing to be framed.  The two geese then straightened and plumbed all the walls, attaching bracing in each corner to hold everything in position.  That done, we put the first 14″ x 24′ LVL on the Kubota’s forks and hoisted it skywards… discovering that at the tractor’s highest reach the LVL was 3′ lower than it needed to be.  But, strong and clever guys that we are, the LVL was quickly and easily muscled into position atop its supporting jack studs.  A second LVL soon followed, which was glued and screwed to its sister.  A few minutes later, the third 24′ LVL was in position.  All was going too smoothly…  I was out fetching the fourth LVL when I looked back at the barn and saw, quite clearly, that LVL numero tres was not parallel with numeros uno and dos.  After a bit of head scratching, we discovered that an unnamed person (what happens in the barn stays in the barn) had cut one set of jack studs for the south wall 3⁵⁄₁₆″ longer than for the north wall.  Why 3⁵⁄₁₆″?  Because that is the offset between the beam and the base on the laser level being used to ensure all the walls, jacks, and openings are the right height.  Nothing for it but to get out the Sawzall and cut through the hidden screws holding the high end of the LVL in place, then cut off the offending too tall jacks, and lower the LVL down to the proper level.  On that note, it was Miller time, followed shortly thereafter by lake time.