We headed out on a Friday to pick up a pile of 2x6s and some Anderson 200 series windows. Bright and early on Saturday morning Ray and I began our first framing exercise. It was a long frustrating day;.We found additional rotten wood that needed to be torn out, Every time we tore out another board our dimensions for the new wall changed. There was also a lot time spent trying to figure out exactly how this is was going to work. We began building our masterpiece. The first thing we learned was that we couldn't make a straight cut with the circular saw to save our lives. We seemed to bend as many nails as we pounded in. Also had to redo about half of our studs By the end of the day we had one small section created:
Seems fitting that my finger is in the picture of the disaster!
Everything about it seemed cockeyed. Despite our best efforts to square everything before nailing it was as crooked as a dog's hind leg. We were pretty demoralized at that point.
Sunday morning back on the phone with Bill getting our design updated once again. Also consulting on how we were supposed to build this thing. He gave us a loAt of advise, The real game changer was when he explained how to cut with the circular saw by using a quick square next to it. Here is the youtube he sent: Using a speed square with a circular saw
Ray and I arrived around noon on Sunday, made a few test cuts with the saw. The results were nothing short of amazing. Time to measure and cut was reduced to less than half, cuts were straight and exactly the correct length. After reviewing our day 1 effort we knew it was time to tear that one down and start over. We began rebuilding the first section. Things went much better. In a few hours we had it done. After getting started on the next section we realized that we were out of 2x6's due to the waste from the first day. I decided to go get some more supplies while Ray worked on getting what we had already cut ready for assembly. We I returned I find Ray and Gloria working together to frame as much of the next section as there was wood for. Ray told me "Mom is the X-factor in the operation". Before long it was time to wrap up and go to church. Ray had a change of clothes already over at the house and was able to get cleaned up. I was too filthy to even consider it so Ray and Gloria headed to St. Monica while I headed home for a quick shower and change of clothes. I then headed downtown for the second week in a row to catch the "Last Chance" mass at St; Johns.
Monday I took off as another vacation day so that we could finish the framing. By the time we quit we had it looking pretty good. We were getting better at the framing, Our big challenge then was trying to get the walls in place under the header from the original porch. We used our jacks to raise things up a tiny bit and then beat it into place with Ray's large dead blow hammer. At the end of the day we had it basically in place:
Ray measuring that in fact the door opening is exactly 38 inches.
Time to head home after a long sweaty day in sweltering August heat!
We managed to get back over one evening to get it in it's final location, anchor it and begin sheathing. We spent at least an hour getting everything just right to we were plumb in every direction the window sill framing was level etc. By the time we finished this we realized that somehow we had managed to get it just right but sticking out almost 1/2 inch too far. We began working to correct but after a short time I was having back spasms and Ray had a headache and it was starting to rain. Quitting time, This was hard because I knew that this was Ray's last day to help as he needed to get ready to travel to Turkey with his new job.
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