Not Boring... FLOORING!

     The morning started a bit slow for me today which sometimes happens after a rooftop pitcher of good margaritas.  However, starting slow was not the apparently the case for Doug who had three or four (aka the remaining) pieces of sheathing in place when I showed up at 9:30ish with coffee.  The plan of the day was to get the floor under the addition reinforced.  The main problem with the floor is instead of using 2x8"s or 2x10"s (good building practice for the past 100 years or so) 2x6"s were used and to boot they consisted of a low grade of lumber so over half of the beams had a large cracked knot on the underside reducing their effective bearing capacity by quite a great deal. 
     The correct solution for the whole addition I am realizing now was to bulldoze it and start from scratch,  however since that did not happen, every floor joist was faced with a clear (meaning a grade with only a few small knots) 2x6.  After a half an hour of slamming the first one in place with large hammers and crowbars, Doug figured out that taking quarter inch notches from the ends of the joists made them fit without too much trouble, and the difference in height could be fixed easily with shims. 

     Once all the beams were up Doug had to run off for a few hours to volunteer at a prior engagement.  This did not stop me from cutting out the hole for the new stairwell and making sure it was cleaned of nails and materials.  I also decided to take a break a few hours into this endeavor when one of my boot laces became tangled up on a nail which in turn caused a miss-step through a gaping hole in the floor.  I got off easy though with only a bruised knee. All things considered, far better than the other potential outcomes.

   By the end of the day not only did we have what we set out to do finished part of next week's schedule was taken care of, and we had enough energy left to clean up the site before deciding to break for the day and get a beer.