Trusses are done and so is the subfloor!

Weekend in Retrospect

     I would like to start this off by saying if the person who invented the nail gun was brilliant.  Making things go faster is very much an understatement of what that tool allowed us to accomplish.  Within two days Doug, Amber, and Myself managed to install 250 different plates, ties, and cross pieces.  The goal was to have all the trusses done by Sunday evening.  This sadly did not happen we fell short by only ten pieces, so the difference will get made up this week, and the second story room will be completely lofted.   
     Building the trusses as it turns out really isn't all that bad after about fifteen minutes the liquid nails sort of mellows everyone out and the sauna temperatures relax everyone further.  The construction would have gone much faster if we had bothered to wire up two circuits since the air compressor tripped the switch if there was any other draw of power, but it went at a pace to allow one person to rest while the other either cut out new pieces or nailed in the newly cut pieces.  Said and done I think that I took a good ten years off of the life of my knees crawling around on rafters, but the room looks amazing and the once seven foot ceilings are now arched to ten and a half feet.
     The remainder of the week will most likely consist of the mundane chore of stripping the boards pulled out of screws and nails so they can be reused in re-leveling the floors, but at least it is a low energy task that doesn't require too much thought.

Tripple Teaming Trusses

Amber, Doug, and I got to work this evening around 5:30 and in under an hour had another one of the trusses in.  Which is saying a lot since it took, the better part of a weekend to get the first one in.  Progress, and only 6 more to go!  Hopefully the skeletons of the trusses will go up fast this weekend so by the end of Saturday  they will all be in place.  That would leave Sunday for renting a nail gun and quickly putting in the gusset plates.

Fusses with Trusses

    With all the materials bought for the weekend's project on Friday evening it seemed that putting in the retrofit trusses would move quite quickly.  This was not the case, for a large part because the 328 individual pieces had not been cut.  Needless to say measuring and cutting all the various shapes required took up the majority of Saturday. By the end of the day (and in time to catch the Kentucky Derby) we had one of them half way up with two of the sixteen gusset plates liquid nailed and regular nailed with #8 common box.
     By ten in the morning with Shawn cutting the remainder of the nailing plates, Doug and I finished nailing the gussets on the first installed truss and decided that instead of fully modular trusses (assembled piece by piece in place), that it would save time to put some of the plates on the under beams and then slide them into place.  As it turns out this was not a time saving idea and the majority of the afternoon was spent pushing ornery shapes into place, trying not to fall through the rafters, and boiling in the muggy 95+ degree heat caught up in the attic space.  So with a lot of sweat we finally pushed the second truss into place with only one or two "oh shit" moment of lost balance.  With the second truss in place and secured we decided to call it quits for the day.  In the end two out of the eleven ended up getting partially completed, but all the pieces are made and are waiting in the wings to go. Plus everyone involved now has a better understanding of the order which they need to be built in.  Even if it goes slow there are only nine left to deal with.   

The Project to be

Now that the scissor truss design is done the evenings coming down to the weekend are going to consist of cutting the proper sizes of gusset plate out of 5/8 plywood and getting the rest of the materials rounded up.  I am especially looking forward to getting 2x6x16'  shoved in the back of my Toyota Camry.

Subflooring, well actually kind of boring

Today and yesterday have exhibited some pretty awesome weather, and for a few hours after work each day Doug and I managed to install a few windows on the second floor (shown above) and lay new sub-flooring in what used to be the three seasons room.  This was much to the dismay of the chipmunk who has decided to take up residence in the basement stairwell.  Progress continued despite the rodentine objections, and the sub floor has be successfully placed making the elevations of the old house and the addition match.  It also shows where the eventual staircase to the basement will be installed, though that is not a battle currently on the horizon.  "Well then what is the next battle..." you may find yourself asking.  I can say this much, it is one involving the fabrication of truss plates and nailing fasteners instead of soldiers.  It seems like I can manage general life and put a few hours of work in every evening during the week which seems to add up over time.  It doesn't give the same gratification as seeing extreme changes from one day to the next, but visible progress can still be seen.  So as always, Onward and Upward to another day of work!

Windows and Subfloor and Floor... OH MY!