When We Last Left Off...

...we were about halfway through with the shear on the house. That seems like forever ago. I've spent the last month working dawn til dusk on the project. So much has changed that it is hard for me to remember it all.  I'll use photos to help jog my memory.

With help from Alex and Kelby, we finished the shear on the house and passed the inspection. But, not without a few struggles...

Before...

After...

We replaced a small transom window in the bathroom with a large slider. That meant new framing. During the process we also moved the header up an inch and a half so that the tops of all the windows and doors on the rear of the house would be level. Moving the header required creative use of a car jack, but removed the sag in the roof line.

We also replaced the bedroom window with a set of french doors. That required more framing, just not as extensive as the bathroom. The door actually was cut an inch and a half too long, so we had to remove the sole plate from the original framing to accommodate it. It took us most of the day, but we got'r done.

Before...

After...

The south gable end was my biggest fear. That is where the gas and electrical enter the house. I envisioned having to turn the gas off at the meter and the electrical off at the street, but it turned out to be much easier... by notching and sliding the shear we were able to wiggle everything into place without disrupting any services. The siding would not be so easy on the same end, but that is a story for a future post.

It all looks so simple on paper-- just slap up some OSB on the exterior and away you go... In reality, it involved re-routing electrical, re-plumbing exterior faucets, firring out wavy walls, cutting venting, replacing windows and doors, etc, ad infinitum. It took us the better part of a week and a half from start to finish. And I would still be pounding nails if it wasn't for neighbor Tom allowing us to use his framing nailer. With a 6 and 12 nailing schedule (one nail every six inches around the perimeter of each sheet of OSB and one nail every twelve inches in the interior of every sheet) there are somewhere in the neighborhood of three thousand new nails in the house.

But, like I said, the inspector liked our work and gave us the go ahead to start covering the OSB with actual siding...