shedding some light on last week, part ii

so, as discussed, tuesday we made the floor…

…and wednesday was a short day.

in the directions, around step five, after you’ve built the rails all the walls go on and the support structure parts like the roof beams, it tells you to stop if you can’t complete the building all at once from there.

because tuesday had kicked my ass i was dragging a bit wednesday which meant i didn’t start until after lunch so by the time i reached the ‘stop here’ notice on step five it was almost three so i decided to to so. took mr. grey out for a bit (first time at toll road speed since 2017) and then came back and made dinner for everybody, knowing the next day we’d be a little more “real” on what we were doing with this shed project.

the next day the ufc took the day off to help because even thought the parts weren’t heavy, they were kinda awkward and it helped having somebody on the inside while you put up big wall panels on the outside. the directions warn you to be cautious of wind and they’re not bullshitting. we got more than just a bit of damage – entire corner sections twisted like kites, walls doubled over and snapped back (kinda) where they’d been. and lots of metal braces got bent and creased:

but sure as you’re born, by the end of thursday, we were able to get to a stopping point – all the walls were up, and braced, and as in place as they could be given the wind damage, and so were the gables and the roof beams. basically, my goal on thursday was to go far enough to utilize everything i’d pre-assembled on wednesday, and we met that goal.

(this is where there should be a pic but i forgot to take one)

thursday we got another early start (9:30am) so we repeated on friday with the roof. this is where the damage from the wind started to show in new ways as nothing really lined up for about forty percent of the screw holes. here was my theory – the panels have larger holes which you screw down into with short screws and rubbery washers, which i assume is to seal rain out. they drive into small starter holes on the beams, so when they don’t line up, does it really matter where the starter holes are? i mean, as long as the screws and washers cover and seal the big holes on the out side we should be good, right? that’s my theory, and we test it in the next couple of days as it’s supposed to rain. but friday was clear and sunny, so we just put down all ten roof panels, occasionally deviating from the factory starter holes. we finished at 3pm, which gave me an hour to shit, shower, shave, and eat my only morsels of food for the day before hopping in the car just after four and driving to the shop to work seven hours that night, fourteen hours the next day, and ten hours the day after that.

(which after a week for very little sleep that very much sucked)

monday was day three of nothing getting done on this project as i elected to just come home and pour a drink, but today was a mega-day – i took os to school, hit the gym, came home, and before lunch finished that fucker up (all that was left was the roof trim and the doors):

then i did the yard, loaded just enough stuff to (i think) create the emptiness i need to reshuffle the studio for the chair delivery tomorrow, and then the day (and that project) were done! now to load it up and see if the jumbo size (10′ x 12′) gives me enough room!