Framing - July 23rd

Okay, so, we started to get ready for demo yesterday, now it is time to do the deed. Dave and I got started early this morning. In fact, we were started before Gary got there (this was a first, but we had the upper hand because we sleep next to the shack in a tent.) I was the first one up the scaffolding in the early morning, and I started taking off the trim boards around the roof. I usually try to hide from Dave when he has the camera, but once I got way up on the scaffolding there was nowhere to run from the camera. Here we go, starting the day off with photos.



I discovered that underneath the sheathing that one of the rafters was rotten clear through.





Here are the carpenter ants that were eating it...they are going nuts trying to figure out what just happened to their cozy little home.



Once I had gotten the roof free from the wall, Dad went at it with the Sawzal.



Bit by bit, we started pulling the wall away.



And a little bit more...



And a little bit more...



Now, the last part did not come out easy. Though that huge beam was rotten, it still weighed a ton! Dave and Dad wrestled it while I held onto it from above with a rope. We missed that photo op because we were all involved. We need a full time photographer to document the best stuff. But. we didn't have one today, so I'll just skip ahead. Here it is with no face on it.



I forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that I put in some temporary framing on the inside for when we removed the gable rafters and collar-tie. The building seemed to be satisfied with my temp collar-ties and posts. So, with all this work done, we could finally start framing in some new stuff! Oh, wait. Not so fast. First we needed to deal with the walls that were pitching themselves South. Here Dave and Dad are doing some of that "dealing with."



It took two Come-a-longs and some creative yanking to get them to sit right. But, they are pretty true now. (for those of you who know something about how to frame a window, don't worry, the one in the picture above will be corrected. That is just the way it was when we revealed the framing.)

I know what I need to tell you, it looks really sunny in all these pics because my camera kept flashing. But, this has actually been a very rainy day. In fact, we decided to finish the day - though the front wall had only been partially framed - because we had to stand in the pouring rain to frame it. It looks like that will be the story all week. We are bound and determined to finish it, though! Stay tuned for a finished look to the front wall (by finished, we mean covered in Tyvec) and more adventures with replacing rotten beams like this one:



Stay tuned for the next installment in shack adventures!