This is the third in an (unintended) series of articles that documents our adventures building my dad's shop in North Idaho. The project began in the Summer of 2012. By now, we're 4 summers in and just about done. Seriously, we're just about done...
Articles for 2012 and 2013 are here:
Work has slowed these past two years, as other obligations have limited our availability. Indeed, in the summer of 2014, I worked only 4 weeks, while Dad was mostly limited to working just on weekends. In 2015, things slowed even further. I stopped by with Cathie and the kids for just 10 days in August, and that was more to vacation than to work. Nevertheless, we keep chipping away at it.... and enjoying ourselves along the way.
This article documents progress made during the Summers of 2014 and 2015 -- namely, installing the upstairs subfloor, closing in the gable ends, and installing the window and doors.
By now, the building is basically done. The three major steps that remain (besides moving in Dad's equipment) are to pour the concrete floor, finish the upstairs "office" and build a "bridge" to the upstairs entrance. We'll keep after it, and hopefully before too long we'll call it done. In the meantime, here are some pictures and commentary describing our progress.
By the Spring of 2014, the building looked like this:
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| The state of the shop circa Spring 2014. |
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The state of the shop circa Spring 2014. Dad cleared the trees near the building in the early spring. This turned out to be a wise decision (see below).
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That is, by the Spring of 2014 we had the foundation, walls and roof in place. The roof and side-walls were done, but the gable ends were still open, we had no doors, and no floors.
When I arrived in mid-July 2014, my first task was to install the sub-floor upstairs. This would give us over 1000 sq-ft of "office" space.
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| Using a block and tackle to hoist sheets of OSB to the 2nd floor. |
Aunt Eva and I used a block and tackle to hoist sheets of OSB to the 2nd floor. It worked quite well.
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| The partially laid subfloor. |
To my surprise and deep chagrin, I struggled mightily getting the subfloor down. It turns out there was a slight bow in the first floor joist. As a result, when I laid out the first few sheets -- aligning them with the edge of the first floor joist -- I ended up aligning the sheets slightly askew from the walls. That small mis-alignment magnified over the 60 foot span of the room lead to huge gaps as I progressed down the wall. Eventually, I realized the problem and was able to correct it... after much head scratching and loud swearing (my apologies to the local wildlife and neighbors).
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| The end result. |
In the end, the subfloor turned out just fine. But of course, I know about and can see the flaws. One other detail: In retrospect, it may have been wise to pay a few extra $$s and use Plywood instead of OSB. Plywood is more resistent to moisture, and since we don't have immediate plans to cover the subfloor, plywood would have been more durable choice. Next time, I'll use plywood.
With the subfloor done, and Dad still in Seattle, I focused on framing in the gable ends.
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| The partially-framed West-end gable. |
Each stud on the gable end had to be custom cut multiple times to accomodate the end truss. As a result, this task took a considerable amount of time, and many trips up and down the ladder.
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| The fully framed West-end gable, with upstairs door. |
I framed a door in the West-end gable. Our plans are to build a bridge from the nearby hillside over to that doorway. For now, we use a ladder to reach the second floor.
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| The fully framed East-end gable, as seen from the 2nd floor. |
I framed a window into the East-end gable. The window provides a nice view into the "loading area" at the front of the shop.
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| The fully framed East-end gable, as seen from the ground. |
Next up, the sheathing.
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| Installing the last of the sheating on the West-end gable. |
To install the sheathing, we positioned our ladders parallel to one another, then Dad and I would each carry one end of a sheet up the ladder. We'd then position the sheet, and nail it down. Carrying the sheets up the ladder was awkward at best, especially considering the heights, the sandy soil and our one rickety old wooden ladder. Dad, being the old-timer and accustomed to such things, got the old ladder. On the West-end, our aluminum ladder barely reached the top.
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| The East-end gable with the sheathing all but completed. |
On the East-end, we had to place the ladders in the truck in order to reach the upper sections of the gable.
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| We used the block and tackle to hoist the window into place. |
We left a small hole in the top of the East-gable so that when the time came, we could use the block-and-tackle to raise the window into place. This worked well and the window went in without a hitch. We got a nice Andersen window for a good price at the local
Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
We then finished up the sheathing.
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| Installing the final piece of sheathing on the East-end gable. |
With the sheathing, vapor barrier and window in place, we thought the building looked pretty good.
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| The East-end with the sheathing, wrap and window installed. |
Next up, the steel siding.
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| Siding the East-end. |
Each piece of siding on the upper gable ends had to be custom cut. We used a skill saw with a metal cutting blade. It didn't work very well, but we managed. Later (when building the garage doors), we bought a hand-held metal grinder with a cutting blade. That worked much better.
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| The West-end siding, all but finished. |
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| A view down the West-end wall. |
While we struggled at times to get the siding on straight, in the end, we were satisfied with the result.
Next we installed the doors.
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| The lower "shop" door. |
Dad brought an old "shop" door over from his shop in Seattle. This heavy old door looks pretty gritty (which is perhaps suitable for the gritty down stairs metal shop).
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| The upstairs door. |
I bought a nice new door for the upstairs "office" entrance. Once the "bridge" is in place, I think it'll look pretty good.
By the end of the Summer of 2014, we weren't finished, but we made more progress. We'd managed to lay the subfloor in the upstairs section, and we framed, sheathed, and sided the gable ends. We also got the doors and window in. Unfortunately, the summer was coming to an end (and we had other issues to contend with -- see below) so we buttoned things up and called it a year.
In 2015, we were only able to visit for 10 days. During that visit, Cathie, Anna and Audrey came along, so we mostly visited with family and vacationed. Nevertheless, we did manage to get some work done.
My building goal for the 2015 visit was to get the garage doors installed. Dad had previously installed a large roller door in the central bay. Our focus was on the two side bays.
The first step was to hang the support rails.
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| The rail hangers were bolted through the ceiling joists. |
First came the rail hangers.
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| Attaching the heavy door rails. |
Then came the door rails. The rails were surprisingly heavy. It took three of us to get things positioned just right. Aunt Eva (as always) was ready to lend a hand.
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| Dad inspecting a door frame. |
Dad built custom door frames from scrap aluminum he had in his Seattle shop. These are lightweight but strong. To complete the doors we attached steel siding to the frame. For the North bay door, we built the door on the ground then tried to hoist it into place. This proved rather difficult, due to the weight and flex of the door. For the South bay, we first hung the door, then installed the steel siding in place. This too was cumbersome, but we managed.
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| The East-end with the two side doors installed. |
I must confess, I'm not completely satisifed with the garage doors. The doors themselves are 13-feet tall, but the steel siding pieces we hung on them were only 12-feet long. Because we were working under time constraints (we needed to complete the doors so Dad could secure the building), we went with the material we had on hand. This forced us to add an extra layer of panels at the bottom. In my opinion, this looks clunky. Nevertheless, the doors work and do the job for now. At some point, I want to go back and replace the steel on these doors with full length 13-foot pieces. It'll just look better.
When we left in mid-August the core building was complete. The three biggest tasks that remain are to:
- pour the concrete floor
- finish the upstairs walls and ceiling
- build an access (bridge) to the upstairs doorway.
These will all take time, but we'll do them as time permits. For now, Dad is in the process of moving his equipment over from Seattle. Next summer, God willing, we'll start on the house. :)
Of course, we didn't spend every waking moment working on the shop, and as always, Idaho offered us plenty of excitement and adventure away from the project. For example, in late-July 2014, a powerful storm blew through the valley. It knocked out power in Sandpoint and downed trees all over the place. Dad counted 40 downed trees on his place alone. Here are some pictures.
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| Downed trees near the old trailer. |
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| A broken tree top near the West end of the shop. |
A large tree on the West side of the shop lost it's top. Luckily, the fallen top missed the building. Earlier in the year, Dad cleared a half a dozen tree near the building. It was a wise decision, as the building came through the storm unscathed.
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| A tree fell on the old trailer, crushing a corner of the lean-to. |
The lean-to covering the old trailer wasn't so lucky. A tree broke off and crushed one corner. Luckily, nearby trees caught the falling snag and prevented damage to the trailer itself.
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| Fallen trees also blocked the road. |
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| A widow-maker hanging over the corner of the old trailer. |
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| To avoid hitting the trailer, when cutting down this tree, we attached a chain to the tree and pulled it with the bobcat. When it fell, it barely missed the trailer. |
There were also plenty of widow makers, just waiting for the next wind to bring them down. We cut down another half-dozen trees, just to make it safe to walk around.
While I continued working on the building, Aunt Eva came over and limbed the trees that had fallen in the yard and along the road. She worked for several days straight and built herself several huge brush piles, which Dad burned the following Spring. Later, Dad cut the trees into logs. I took six loads of (unsplit) logs over to Eva's place to supplement her winter firewood supply. Eventually, she said: "enough!". I barely put a dent in our pile.
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| I took six loads of logs to Eva's to supplement her winter firewood supply. |
Across the valley, Aunt Eva also took hits on her place, loosing several large trees.
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| Dad standing next to the root ball of a large tree that came down on Aunt Eva's farm. |
The wind wasn't the only thing to give us fits that summer. Gweeda also had a run-in with a skunk. Poor girl.
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| Gweeda getting a bath after being sprayed in the mouth by a skunk. |
We had a chance to swim in the river and visit with family.
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| Swimming in the river with my cousin Gordon and his family. |
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| Mom (center) visiting with her sisters: Shirley (left) and Darlene (right). We also had visits from Aunt Mary, Cousin Susan, Cousin Janette and their families. |
And of course, no trip to Idaho would be complete without a visit to the White Rock!
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| Anna and Audrey with Aunt Eva at the White Rock. |
We also took time to enjoy nature and just plain lay around.
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| A family of swallows nesting in the building. |
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| Gweeda enjoying the cool sand, in the shade of the shop, on a hot day. |
