Barn Progress

Day Lilies

Are Enjoying the Weather

Pad All Cleaned Up

I got the floor of the barn all swept up - no more leaves, sticks or nails - on Saturday. By the time I got home from the gym and had a bite to eat it was pretty warm so I took it kind of easy and just did the clean up and a couple of little odds and ends.

Today I got after the sill plates and the top and bottom plates of the walls. For those of you unfamiliar with framing techniques of walls, there is a sill (mud) plate anchored to the blocks and the bottom of the wall has a plate that the studs are nailed to that sits on top of the sill plate. Likewise the top of the wall has a double set of plates. One has the studs nailed to it forming the top of the wall and then another plate goes on top of that one. The uppermost plate joins the corners of the building together by overlapping the adjacent wall and bridges across any splices in the plate below it when you have walls longer than available length lumber. The trusses or rafters then sit on top of the top double plate. Hard to describe but simple to construct.

When the barn went down, it pulled the studs loose from the plates so I had two plates fastened to the blocks on the bottom and two plates fastened to the bottom of the trusses on top. In order to rebuild the walls, I need to have one plate only on the bottom and the top. So today I pulled the top plate off the bottom and the bottom plate off the top. Probably makes no sense reading it but makes a lot of sense if you want to build new walls. Any way, I got the bottom all taken care of and three sides of the top done. So I'm about ready to build some walls.

The Building Trades instructor is supposed to come by tomorrow to give me a hand. However, the weatherman is talking some rain in the forecast, so we'll have to see what gets done. He's going out of town right after I go out of town so it might be difficult for us to get much done but while he's out of town and I'm doing my blacksmithing stint, I can be working on the lifting cradle. I only work half a day at the fair, so I should be able to make a little progress on the barn.

I moved the staircase to clean up the pad and it's bent up a little more than I originally thought so it's probably going back to school to get straightened out. The barn photo was taken about 7:00 pm and it was still about 85 out. I'm not sure how hot it got today but I'm glad I don't have to work out in the heat on a regular basis. I've done my fair share of of it over the years - spent many a summer in welding shops - and I don't miss it at all. With all the sweating, jumping over and crawling under, I have toned up the old muscles a little. That's a plus. And the day lilies seem to be enjoying the weather. The weeds also. The garden's almost beyond salvation, I'm afraid. It's time to cut the grass again too. Oh well, at least with the barn project, I can see the progress.

Have a good week - be cool.