Let's Build Some Walls!, Part II

Last weekend I persuaded my friend Pete to spend the weekend with me sweating in the woods hauling around heavy things instead of tending to his family. I am very grateful to have had the help.

Having fallen short of the previous goal of having all of the walls buttoned up, the Tyvec wrapped around the outside walls, and the doors and windows installed, we set out on a Saturday morning trying to do just that.

First stop, more plywood. In this picture we have made some progress and filled in some (but not all) of the open spots on the front:

I got tired of putting up the plywood (which only one person can do, after a certain point), and Pete helped me unroll the house wrap and get our first layer going:

If you look closely, you can see that the "door hole" is now a "doorway"!

I went back to nailing plywood while Pete took over installing the front door. Late in the day it was pretty clear that we weren't going to get all the windows in, but I was happy to at least be able to close the door when we were ready to leave.

Getting the house wrap on all the way to the top was challenging, because again, our ladder doesn't go all the way to the top. I ended up climbing onto the roof and reaching around the eaves, trying to hold the material against the wall and wildly smashing it with the stapler, hoping that the end result would be... ok. Here I am at the top:

let's zoom out a little...

We'll file that under "good enough". Notice how wrinkly the top piece is compared to the relatively smooth and flat layers further down.


Oh well. When we install the siding, we'll have to do a better job setting up some kind of scaffolding to do the upper part of the wall. (I don't think we will be able to install the siding from a ladder). We can use that to do a better job on the wrap, and maybe nail down the plywood a little better before we call it "done". but until then, I think we can call this building "weatherized"!

While I was finishing that, Pete came up to the roof to take some pictures, and monkey around. This isn't a zoo, you monkey! Get off the roof!

While I wish we could have done all the work from the ground and/or ladder, if we have to go on the roof, we can at least pause appreciate the view!

And lastly, in the previous post, we started out mentioning that the roof was completely shingled, so here is a nice wide shot of the roof from the top. Do people appreciate a neatly shingled roof? I sure do. I especially appreciate not having to do it personally. I should add that the roofers did this during one of those 110 degree heat index weeks. It seems like they really didn't want to do the job on account of the weather, but in the end it's hard to turn down a paycheck. And for that, we thank them.