A lot has happened since the last chapter. The building has now been framed, insulated, roofing applied and siding installed. Thanks to a lot of friends with experience this was still a lot of hard work in the hottest part of the summer. Temperatures were above 100 degrees for much of this work. The only real problem was caused by the floor slab being about 1 ½” too large each way which messed up stud locations and sheathing dimensions.

My new shop




Glass has not been installed yet nor have the doors been installed but the exterior is ready for painting. The electrical wiring has been installed along with the panel and meter can and are ready for inspection. That will allow the building inspector to make his last framing inspection, which in turn will allow me to start work inside. 

After using I-joists and oriented strand board sheathing I can’t say that I will ever use these products again. The joists are too limber and the sheathing did not instill confidence after a couple of heavy rains during this process. Working primarily on week ends left the framing and sheathing exposed to the weather longer than normal. I think I probably lost some gypsum board to the rain also. Budget problems have not gone away but we are continuing the work. I will probably have to wait on the compressed air system and the air conditioner for a while but still have hopes for the dust collector.

The building will not be completely finished in time for the shop tour but you all will be welcome to stop by anyway.

Chapter 5