Another run today but the heat made it a real struggle. I got the distance in but needed to stop and cool off a few times. This time I took a water bottle with me and I'm glad I did - I drank most of it by the time I was done. Then I got some more wall framing done. I've got one section done, so now I'm ready to start work on the next two sections. I'm going to need some more wall studs. I bought 15 of them do to one section and I'm going to need another 20 or so. It's fiddly trying to get top and bottom bars properly aligned but once they are in place fitting the studs is a simple job.
Well, the taxes are finally finished. As much as I hate giving the government a tax free loan, I managed to do that this year as I made a significant estimated payment last fall, and overdid it just a smidge. So they owe me money for the first time in 15 years, and I'll likely just turn around and apply that as an estimated tax payment for Q2, since the penalty for not withholding and paying enough every quarter is greater than what piddling amount I could earn on that money over the next 8 months. So, happily, I don't have to write any checks to either the IRS or the state dept of revenue. Sadly, I added up all the federal, state, and social security payments I made in 2022 (including the employer side of the social security, since I'm an owner of the biz), and the amount made me throw up a little bit. This country has a ridiculous spending problem, and waaaaaaayyyyy to many folks don't pay any taxes at all other than their withholding on social security (which, of course, is highly indexed in favor of the low income worker and against the high income worker). But, nevertheless, God is good, and I don't have to deal with tax returns for another year.
Had a couple of days away with a group from church. Before we went I took the chance to stock up on wall studs because the forecast was grim for today. As it happened the weather today was pretty good, so I went for a run and then spent some time building some more wall. It's starting to look quite good in there now. There's still more wall to build and I think I might need some extra studs, but we'll see. I will need studs for the next room around. I'll also need to make a hole in another section of wall because at present I'm very close to a place where I won't be able to get out of that space any more. I have a temporary floor over the stairs, which makes it very difficult to use the stairs. Once the drywall is hung there will be no useful way in or out. It's not a problem, I planned to make a doorway in ths particular location anyway, I just need to actually make it happen.
Or at least leave a whole where Mrs. Tango can drop the occasional strawberry and water through if you happen to wall yourself in...
I won't wall myself in but I imagine whoever I have come and hang the drywall for me will ask a few questions about how they get out again, given they will be drywalling over the walls they step through to get into the room. It would be handy to have an answer that doesn't involve climbing out of an upstairs window...
Today's fun was building a bit more wall. I think I'm going to run out of studs again - a couple of sections have required two studs close together and I'm not sure I adequately accounted for that when figuring how many I needed. In any case I can only fit so many across the top of my car at a time, so even if I'd known that I'd need a couple more it would probably have still required another trip. I'm hoping I can combine a trip to get some 2x4 studs with a trip to get 2x10 studs, I just need to figure how to get it all home safely. When everything is the same size I can tie things together on the roof bars. When things are very different sizes ropes don't work so well and clamps don't hold it all either. I had planned to continue with walls this afternoon but I got a call from a friend who has a spare planer. He had one that he didn't think he'd use much but used it enough to upgrade it. I was trying to arrange a time to relieve him of the old planer. Anyway, now I'm the proud second owner of a planer. I'm not sure just where I'm going to put the planer but it was something I wanted at a price I couldn't afford to pass up. It was a bit windy to run today so I went for a walk, and ended up gently jogging about 40% of it. I had planned to alternate walking and jogging but gave up the jogging parts when I was dealing with a 30mph headwind.
A little more Fun With Walls although I didn't get very far because the next thing I need is an 8-foot stud screwed to the ceiling, aligned to be perpendicular with an existing stud screwed to the ceiling and also aligned to be as close to perfectly above a matching stud screwed to the floor as I can manage. But I need someone to hold the far end while I hold and position the near end, which means my wife needs to be on a ladder. And there wasn't space for a ladder, so I needed to move everything around. Only because the power is turned off in that room I needed an extension cord so I can still run my saw and my shop vac, and the extension cord that can carry that much power was tangled up among a load of stuff in the next room. So it took me a good chunk of time to untangle the cord, get it across to the work room and plugged in, and move stuff around so I can get a ladder where it needs to be. Then I noticed I still need to trim some edges from the soundproofing material across the ceiling because there's a little bit of overlap. At that point I decided to go for a run. The suggested workout for today was sprint repeats. Not as hard as I'd have done had I planned them myself - 10 seconds of all-out sprinting at a pace I struggled with in places and three minutes of recovery. At the end of the workout it proved to have been easier than I had hoped. But it's another day of running, a little more fitness, a bit more anaerobic strength, and a bit more sunshine. Now my legs are reminding me that I haven't done sprint repeats for a while.
You realize that once you get all the work on that house done you're going to have to buy another house to renovate.
This is incredible. Especially if you like Wilford Brimley (wait for it). (And that channel has some of the best parody Star Wars videos that you will ever see).
I got a bit more done in my work room. I needed my wife to help me because I needed to get an 8-foot 2x4 stud aligned perpendicular with another stud and screwed into place. That's easy enough but I needed it screwed into the ceiling, so I needed someone to hold the far end of it while I positioned it. And we got it into place remarkably easily. Now my somewhat shortened closet is fully framed and I just need to figure how wide to make the door to the closet accessible from my work room. The final stage is to figure exactly where the door is going to go. I may need to remove a couple of bricks of the old wall to make some extra space. I think I can do it without too much wanton destruction but we'll have to see. Then I need to make the hole through the wall at the top of the stairs because, as at right now, there's no way to get into the workroom that doesn't involve squeezing through a small gap. You can either step sideways through the gaps between the wall studs, or you can climb the stairs and shimmy under a low bar. So getting large tools in and out isn't happening right now. I will definitely need some more studs. I bought 20 on Friday and now have 7. Some of them will be needed to make some large shims so I can put switch boxes where I need them to be.
I actually realised I need a slight redesign. Previously I'd envisioned a wall with a doorframe perpendicular at the end. This morning I had something of an awakening - it won't work like that. I'll need at least a few inches of perpendicular wall so the door has space to actually open into the room. So I will need to take out a few bricks of the old wall, and I'll need to rejig most of the walls around the other rooms in that part of the house. I'd planned to rejig a lot of that anyway, I just didn't think I was going to have to do quite so much. Oh well, I ran out of sacks of trash to put out so this will help make a few more.
I'm just wondering how many more wall studs I'm going to need here. I could reuse some of what I'm taking out but it's easier to replace all or nothing. My house was built back when 2x4 meant 2x4 and not something a bit less than what it says, so matching old and new studs is going to be a hassle. And the old studs are 100+ year old wood rather than new construction lumber, so are probably worth keeping. I may yet make myself a desk out of the old wall studs when this is all said and done. If it's ever all said and done.
Further demolition today. I've been pulling down some more drywall and pulling apart a bit more wall. I managed to fill two garbage sacks with drywall scraps and salvage a full-height piece I can rest in place to help contain the cat so I don't have to have everything finished before reopening some space he used to be allowed to explore. I've probably got enough drywall to fill another two or three garbage sacks, and I'm hoping to be able to salvage another full-height piece to prop in one of my workspaces. I need to wrap up working this evening so my wife can clean - we're having visitors tomorrow and for some reason she doesn't like the house to look like a bomb site when we have visitors.
I was able to salvage another full-height piece. It's cracked but still mostly intact. And I've got a bit more wall and space cleared out. I'm up to nearly three full sacks of scraps, as well as a bucket of scrapings off the floor and another bucket slowly filling up as I'm using it for a separator attached to my shop vac.Maybe on Monday I can resume some serious wrecking, and maybe start pulling out some more wall studs. I think even the brick wall I need to remove is going to be easier than I thought. I think there's a supporting wood beam across the top, which means I should be able to take down the wall gradually and replace it with wooden studs as I go. It would be ever so nice if it works out as easily as that.
Glad you had a safe journey. Praying for wisdom and stamina and safety and effectiveness for whatever God calls you to do, even if just sitting on the dock of the bay.
I got to have fun with power tools on Friday and Saturday. Our back deck (elevated 10 feet off the ground) has a lovely concrete patio underneath it, and the previous owner had rigged up some Rube Goldberg machine of a "rain system" that was in reality nothing more than a 6 x 12 foot plastic panel suspended from all sorts of wires and just ostensibly to keep the rain that dripped through the deck above from getting his lawn mover wet. So, we took everything down (10 feet high, so no short ladder for this one) without dropping it on anyone's head, cleaned off all the various nails and hooks and pulleys (don't ask) and other handing paraphernalia, then got to work. Installed new 2 x 12 foot dark grey plastic panels, after setting up a nailing system so that we had a slight slope from house to outside edge. Installed a gutter and downspout so now the "roof" from below is one smooth corrugated plastic look, is watertight, and we set up out outdoor furniture underneath. Looks about 8000% better, but now I'm so tired and sore I can hardly move... Nothing like working with you arms above shoulder height for two days to let you know that you are .... old.
Working over head height is always fun. What's really fun is the decision between not wearing safety glasses and risking things falling into your eyes, or wearing safety glasses knowing they'll mist up and leave you struggling to see much of anything. Sounds like you turned a botched job into a job well done. The next step, if you didn't already, is crack open your preferred beverage and enjoy it on the reworked patio.