Lessons

Saturday
We had ordered wood for this weekend's projects ahead of time. When we arrived, there it was sitting exactly where we had hoped they'd put it. Close to the cottage. First thing we noticed was there were no mosquitos this morning, so there was no need to spray on toxic bug repellants, only the required gobs of sunscreen.

Our first task of the day was to finish the flooring, so that is what we did. Bill and I normally work pretty well together, but at one point today, I apparently backed up too close while he was on the upstroke of a hammer swing. In order to miss my bum, he broke the swing only to come down on his thumb. Lesson: hammers, thumbs and bums don't mix.

Once done, we started going through the wood. The 8 foot 2 x 6s looked pretty good, but Bill noticed that the 10 footers which we were going to need for the top and bottom plates were ratty looking. Of the 8 that we'd gotten, 4 were deemed unusable. We decided replace 2 and get a refund for the others. So off I go.

On my return, Bill had taken 3 of the remaining good ones and was just finishing up planning out the stud placement. We're on our way..... or so we thought. Once we dug out the 2 x 6s to use as studs, we realized that they too were not premium quality, but were bowed, twisted, and barky.

It was by then too late to take them back and get different ones (besides, I really had to work at finding good ones last time, as the whole bundle was questionable). So we decided to call it an early day. We would hit Home Depot that night and get enough studs to finish the next days work and do the same for Monday.

So we went through the bundle, picked out what was useable and set aside the ones we would return.

Sunday
First thing was the trip back to the local supplier to return the wood. The boss was there, so I told him we were disappointed, would you please put something on our account to say that we expected good wood. We buy from them because they'll deliver and it would be easier for us. But we refuse to use that 2nd quality wood. We can get premium wood at Home Depot $1 per board cheaper. (I didn't tell him that). I tried to be nice. How do you say "we're not accepting crap" nicely? He talked about them having to decide if they should only carry premium wood, but it would be 25% higher, yada yada yada. They're already $1 higher per board for lesser quality wood. This is getting hard to swallow. *sigh* but I'll be nice. I've made my point to them.

So back to the site I go. We focus on putting the first 3 - 8 foot sections of the wall together (minus windows) before lunch. The heat of the sun at midday is brutal

After lunch we begin getting some shade on parts of the worksite and it is slightly more confortable. We concentrate on windows (I believe its a 3 hammer level job). It all goes fairly well and by the end of the day, we've raised the 3 sections and have them in place. We're feeling pretty good about things. By the time we got home though, it was too late to go to Home Depot for more wood.

Lesson: check your order thoroughly first thing. Oh and before the store closes.

Monday
We hit Home Depot right at 7 am and filled up the Cavalier with the wood. You'd be surprised to see how much we can fit in that little car.

First thing we did once we got to the cottage was measure everything (again). Somehow, we've lost 1/4 inch on one side and 1/2 inch on the other of the width of our cottage. Hmmm. What to do. After much thinking and colourful language, we end up taking all the nails out (they weren't fully nailed in) in order to move the wall out. Once we try to move it over, and I can feel the thing wobble, I'm beginning to doubt the wisdom of our choice. I see visions of disaster and I'm starting to sweat. I voice my concerns about the ability of 2 people to move 30 feet of wall. We decide that the 1/4 inch on the one end is liveable, but we have to move the 3rd section which is in too far off. We're not sure which major board is slightly bowed, but one of them is and we have to correct for it. It has to be square. So we move the 3rd section to match the others.

However, this was not to be our only frustration for the day. Bill noticed while working on this wall that the front corner studs were not flush with the bottom plate. Since this is a corner, it is critical, we have to correct it. So we decide to take that section down and fix that corner. Now putting up a wall is easier than taking it down. We were very concerned about it sliding off of the floor. Again visions of disaster come to mind, so I strategically place myself in a 16 inch stud opening. Bill however, didn't realize this and while we're taking it down, he starts to yell at me to back up so I wouldn't get caught under it, when in actuality I can let it ease down and then slide right over me. It actually came down without a hitch, much to both of our relief.

Bill then tackles removing the offending nails and straightening out the boards. This job resulted in more cuss words than all of driving throughout Portugal and Spain. But it too passed, was corrected and the wall put back in place.

But we're getting tired and it isn't even lunch time. The heat takes alot out of you, we're drinking alot of water.

Next we start on the back wall. It is shorter, only 24 feet total, but we do it in 2 sections. This wall only has one door and one window, it should be easier, but somehow we have more trouble with them today. The headers cause us some difficulty. I think we're just tired. We get the corner section done, put up and squared. It turned out well. The 2nd section isn't square. It's only off slightly, but we try to adjust before putting it up. It is late by the time we're done and have tidied up. We're exhausted and hungry when we head home. We noticed though that we no longer hurt at the end of the weekend. We're only dog tired. I never thought I'd say I was looking forward to going to work so I wouldn't have to work so hard. But it was true. We both needed the break.

*sigh* I think someone was looking over us this day.

Lesson 1: You can't measure too many times.
Lesson 2 for Mary: Don't trust the level of the boards just because they're lying flat on the floor.
Lesson 3 - Bill is still learning this one: Don't just throw your tools down when you're done with them, that is what the little loops on your toolbelt is for (ask Bill how much time we spend looking for his hammer and such).