Luther and Sonny arrived promptly at 7. A quick inspection determined that somebody
(probably me) put the top of the east wall end stud on the wrong side of the
mark, i.e. 1½″ out of position. With two
screws pulled and a tap-tap with a hammer on the stud, the wall became a
rectangle. Miracles do happen! With an assist from Dave Todd (across the
street neighbor who was over to check on progress), the fourth 14″ x 24′ LVL
was quickly hoist into position. Then we
put up the two 16″ x 16′ 7″ LVL’s that form the overhead door header. Piece of cake!!!! While Sonny and Luther checked to see if the
walls still were plumb and straight, I installed four king studs that secure
the 24′ LVL’s laterally, but that we had left out when we built the north and
south walls so we could slip the LVL’s into position. (Pat-on-the-back-note: We ended up with exactly
the right number of rough cut 2x4’s needed for the wall studs. Talk about luck perfect
planning!) Sonny ventured forth to scavenge
staging from other Goose Creek work sites.
As soon as Sonny (or should that be: Sunny?) left, it started
raining. Luther put up the bottom top
plate over the garage door and laid out the cripple positions while I chopped
“scrap” rough cut 2x4’s into the length needed for those cripples. (For non-carpenters: cripples are short wall
studs that distribute the top plate load down to a door or window header.) Awaiting Sonny’s return and thoroughly
drenched, Luther and I took shelter in the woodshed and did a
back-of-the-envelope design for the barn staircase. At 11:30 the prodigal returned, was quickly
unloaded, then, with rain continuing unabated, he and Luther departed for dryer
climes, i.e., lunch at Rosie’s Restaurant courtesy of the Sean (aka: The Boss). At 2:30 the sun came out! So out to the barn went I, swept the lake off
the floor, and started putting in wall blocking. Got three blocks in when rain started
again. At 4 the sun made an encore
appearance, so out went I once again.
This time I didn’t even get all the water off the floor before the next
deluge. So spent the rest of the
afternoon checking over the staircase design, catching a few errors, and
calling Goodro’s repeatedly to add items to my order for delivery tomorrow.
