Over the loft

If you go back and look at my pencil sketch for the cross-section you can see that the ceiling would have to change over the loft area in order for there to be enough head room to stand up at all. This is one of the places where J.'s expertise really helped me plan and execute properly. He worked out the math so that I'd have maximum height on both the ground floor and loft. I should note here that I was working with a maximum overall height allowance of 16' to meet building code regulations for a garage/workshop structure.

The best way to make this work both economically and structurally was to go with pre-fab trusses for the main room and hand-cut trusses for over the loft. That's why, in the next-to-last post, the pre-fab truss work stops where the loft begins.

Here, you can see J. and his lovely assistant finishing off their hand-cut truss work.

One thing I would have done differently is to leave maximum overhang of eaves. J. gave me the option of leaving any length of overhang and suggested a maximum. My roofer recommended a minimum. I went for a happy medium because I was concerned that a big overhang might interfere with light and not be in keeping with the other architecture in the neighborhood. In retrospect, I would have preferred a deeper overhang for more protection from the rain.

This was one of many instances of my own inexperience causing stress and confusion about decisions I had to make on the fly without enough time to really reflect on the consequences. Fortunately, none of these confusions created any structural problems. They just contributed to my own stress and tried the patience (understandably) of the workers. As one of the electricians said (while I was trying to decide on the placement of the track lighting or one of the switches or something), "It's like watching a tennis match."

Raising the trusses

Here's how the pre-fab trusses were raised:

Click here for a quick technical explanation of this process.

Nowhere in any technical explanation of this process does it say to order 2 six-packs of beer with a pizza lunch for two men with bad backs climbing on scaffolding to affix trusses over concrete slab. When I strongly objected to the liquid portion of the lunch order, I was dismissed and overruled.

But there was the structure at the stage that it was, and it had to be finished, so things proceeded but less happily than before.

The guest

Meanwhile....

Here's the thing, if I see the body of an animal that's been hit by a car in the street, I will stop (if I'm not endangering myself or others) and move the body to the side of the road because I think it's barbaric and obscene to leave the remnants of a living thing to be unceremoniously run over again and again as if it's of absolutely no consequence. So... driving home from an errand, I came upon a squirrel in the middle of a side street. When I stopped to move it, I discovered that it was still alive but stunned and limping. There happened to be two large dogs barking and making tracks for us so I put the squirrel in the back seat, drove it home, put it in one of the cat carriers and called the only wildlife rehabilitator in the region who talked me through the basics. A local vet took a look at the injured limb. Between the three of us, the solution seemed to be to let the squirrel rest up and see what might happen.



















He (she?) stayed in the guest room for about ten days, rested and ate apples, peanut butter, and some sort of rodent protein pellets. We were both a little frightened of each other. It was a challenge to clean the cage but I used thick work gloves. I did not name him or have even a fleeting thought of keeping him. At a certain point, I took him outside to see his reaction. He immediately directed every shred of energy to getting out of the carrier. So, I popped him back into the car, drove to where I'd originally found him and opened the carrier. Something to tell his grandsquirrels about.

Soundtrack

During demolition and foundation work, the yard and trees were filled with Robins, busy with their nests. Once the framing work started, a Mockingbird with the most muscular voice I'd ever heard took up residence right in front of the studio-to-be and serenaded us throughout in no uncertain terms. J's cell phone had a rather obnoxious alarm sound for a ring — like a house burglar alarm. In no time, the mockingbird, to my dismay, had added the alarm to his repertoire. The fun part is that I have since been able to recognize that particular mockingbird whenever he comes to call.

Raising the rest of the frame

The back (south) wall goes up

and the OSB is attached.

We included a garage door frame in the front wall. Just in case some future person might want to use the building as a garage (you never know!).

The interior wall finally goes up after considerable deliberation on my part to figure the measurements properly. (They're still being patient with me.)

Becoming something!

View from the alley.

Go! (Raising the Frame)

Just like building blocks. What I thought would be difficult, turned out to be simple and what I gave no thought to at all, turned out to be difficult. That's life, eh?

J. took a look at my pencil sketches on graph paper, marked off the 2 x 4s with his carpenters pencil and the three of them cut, assembled an raised the walls in a morning. To me, it was amazing!

I had so many questions that I truly was a pain in the ass. But J. was patient and explained things to me and I tried to stay out of the way and inside (which was a challenge).

I loved seeing the window framing! It gave me a little thrill to see the window ideas appear in three dimensions. Isn't that funny?

I mean, imagine Brunelleschi!

One.

Two.

Three.

Setting Up

The 2 x 4s and saw horses arrive.

Setting up the work table.

J studies the plan and sketches.

Laying out the supports for the 2 x 4s. Willi was supposed to have given us a second row of cinder blocks. One of the communication casualties ... But J made do.

The Stuff

Here's most of the Home Depot delivery. The plywood, OSB, bags of cement, black paper for the roof was delivered without much of a hitch though we did discover where the old septic tank is situated.

We put the pile of siding out of the way for the time being. You can see it stacked to the left of the trusses. The truss delivery truck managed to run over my young Leland Cypress:

Which I propped back up and am happy to say is now quite a bit taller than I am. The 2 x 4s would come in the morning and out of these little piles (more or less) we made quite a nice building. What's missing in these photos are the shingles, windows and doors. Oh, and the sheet rock. Plus, of course, everything inside.

One thing I am utterly proud of is the very little bit of waste we made in the process. Just a pile of dirt and hunks of cement that Willi let drip and harden and bits and pieces of this and that. Except for one heave-ho, most everything fit in the regular trash cans and nothing, that I can remember, was toxic. Ok, well, almost nothing.