I'M JUST FLOORED!!

The long winter "cabin fever" syndrom is over. Herself and I loaded up and headed for the hills of Missouri. Our goal was to stock up the cabin with supplies and goodies, and start some work on the new cabin.  I started by removing the propane heater from the shed and installing it in the new cabin to take the edge off any cold temperatures.

After herself returned from her shopping "drudgeries" we discussed the stairs, then went to work on bracing the floor/ceiling rafters. All was well, we knew they were supposed to be 24" on center, so we measured and remeasured and came up with 22 1/2" for the proper length for the bracing. We measured after each brace we put in just to make sure, and sure enough each rafter measured exactly 24" on center. BUT, as we started looking it appeared the rafters were starting to bow. We measured again, and again, all were exactly 24" on center. What the hell was going on. I finally went over to the side walls and measured, and sure enough, the sides had not been installed exactly 24" on center, causing our 24" on center in the middle of the rafters to be off. We decided we had to get some of the bows out so we hammered out 3 or 4 braces and just cut them to size. Just goes to show, no matter how perfect your measurements and plans are, they aren't worth a hoot if the other work is not done perfectly.

Nance:  Himself and his nailer bracing the joists. Don't let him fool you as he knows what he is doing . . . I have an occasional flash back to when Gramps built houses but basically, I'm clueless!


Then, we went up the "stairs", ladder, and started on the floors. Of course we precut our flooring boards to exactly 12 and8 feet hoping to just be able to lay them down and nail them. But of course that didn't work out either. A couple of the wall studs stuck out further that the others, so we had to allow for that so we could lay a straight line to following laying down the first course. Thanks to a tip from Tommy on HGTV, we figured out how to lay down a chalk line allowing for the studs that were sticking out. Then because the Amish didn't place the rafters exactly 24" on center, we  had to recut the flooring boards to fit wherever the rafters came out. We ended up laying about 7 or 8 rows of 2X6 which will be the rustic upstairs flooring.

Nance:  There has been lots of "stairway" discussion but so far, this is our stairs. 

After we get the floor done, we will work on the stairs. I reminded herself that when finishing the floor that we will need to leave a way for us to get down. Kind of like painting yourself into a corner.

Nance:  there was a whole lot of open space; well, still is -- but not for long!  I spent more time crawling around clinging to things while Himself swung from board to board like a monkey.  I was ashamed of myself!



I can tell this will be a slow process as it appears neither of us knows what the heck we are doing. But we didn't have any major spats, and it was actually fun. Herself is kinda sore, but I came out of it in pretty good shape. We will both be lean and trim after this summer.

still BOI

Nance: this is going to be a nice big loft.