| |
7/24/2014 - Frame out the Bathroom
With the front of the building level and plumb, I sent Leroy out on the lift to make sure the whole thing was tight and Alston to clean up the trash.
Brandon arrived and the project for the day was to frame out the bathroom walls. He sent me over to Lowes for some silicone to seal between the floor plates and the concrete and some anchor devices. While out at Lowes, the delivery from the supply yard came and Brandon called me for a couple more pieces of lumber that we were short. I got back and they had already cut all of the PT lumber for the floor plates. Brandon put Alston to work laying down silicone to seal the floor plates while Brandon drilled the wood for the anchors. We suddenly realized we didn’t have a 3/8 inch masonry bit for the anchors, so off to Lowes again for me to get some tools.
By the time I returned they had the floor plates down and were ready to drill for the anchor bolts. Things really went fast from there. Using old school techniques and hand tools the framing went pretty fast. Leroy was measuring and Brandon was cutting while Alston humped wood back and forth. A regular assembly line. They were working so fast I forgot to get pictures early in the day. We cut the stub for the shower drain and placed the shower stall in place before we had too many studs in place. The stall wouldn’t have fit through the door opening. After making sure the stall was located properly, we cut and placed braces for the shower faucet. I got all that located and had Brandon set the shower head height because he is the tallest one and I wanted to make sure I didn’t locate the shower head too low.
I had to break away to do some computer work while they continued framing the walls. I even managed to mount an American Flag to the building while Brandon and Leroy took a quick break.
While were working a HUGE rain storm rolled over. It reminded me of the hurricane parties in Florida. Hanging out in the garage watching the buckets of rain blow sideways. Ten minutes later it was blowing just as hard in the opposite direction. It rained so hard that the carport flooded and we had to stop working to sweep water out of the garage.
After the ceiling joists were installed we started on the decking above. One piece is pressure treated because the water heater will get mounted above the shower stall. Because we had laid out the walls by inside dimension (10 x 12 feet) we came up short on decking. The outside dimensions are 11 inches wider so stock lumber lengths don’t quite make it. At least with lumber the changes are easier. We had to stick with the wall sizes because of the plumbing in the concrete. Those choices seem so long ago but now I understand the reason for planning ahead and knowing the big picture.
I had Leroy and Alston load all of the wet cardboard shipping boxes and trash bags into the truck so I could go to the dump later. The storm had blown so hard it had picked up one of the big sheets of thick, wet cardboard and blown it all the way across the yard (and over the fence) into the driveway. After I stopped at the dump I went back over to Lowes and dropped a few more bucks for a bathroom door and a couple more sheets of ¾ ply for the decking. I also got return calls from the plumber and another electrician to finish off work inside.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2004-2014, Larry Manka. all rights reserved.
|
|
