Weekend of Windows

[shadesofmauve]

Okay, not so much 'windows' as 'spots where windows will be,' but we made them!



This is the row of north facing windows in the studio. The open space is where I removed the old junky window; you can see the delightful view of the crappy neighbor's crappy fence and crappy ivy. The glow to the right is the great big eastern window. (The little piece of 1x is just a ledger board I put up to support a piece of plywood over the gaping hole).

Here's the same thing from the other side! EXCITMENT.


In this picture you can clearly see the gas line and why it has to move. Also the chalk picture of Grog dad drew on my wall.

Speaking of dad, here's my dad, taking apart my house:



Dad is much, much faster at taking apart my house than I am. The combination of girth, strength, experience, and sheer willingness to risk my house make a huge difference. Or as he put it, "You're worried? I've broken WAY bigger houses than this!"* I'm really trying not to call for help too often, but sometimes the extra muscle and/or weight makes the difference between actually doing the thing and just straining pathetically. In such instances I pitifully yell "Brute squad?" and dad yells "I AM the brute squad!" in an Andre-the-Giant voice and comes and is big at the recalcitrant thing.

Still, I made big strides in my demolition abilities on Saturday -- I used my circular saw unsupervised for the first time -- and while making plunge cuts, no less! GO ME!

I really need to work on my grip strength -- holding the guard back and holding the safety button while holding the 'on' enough to get it to actually work was hard. I have really long fingers for a lady, too -- it'd be extra punishing with smaller hands. I did it, though, and feel much more comfortable working the saw than I did last week. YAY!

I also used the giant framing nail gun without instruction and supervision. It's also intimidating (and HEAVY), but not nearly as difficult (I've used nail guns before, just not great big framing guns).

Between those two things, and watching the layout of the first window, actively helping measure and cut lumber
on the second, and self-directedly measuring/cutting on the third while dad fixed a mistake he made oops I'm confident that I could frame the last window -- the laundry room one, which'll be in the same wall, but lower -- by myself. It'd be faster with dad's help (and I can't get the lumber on my bike), but I COULD do it, and that's very encouraging.

It's also encouraging to write this out, because between cats, foot pain, house/housemate noises, and a random ten minutes of dread about the inherently temporary nature of the universe, I didn't sleep well last night at all. Woke up this morning feeling pretty damn depressed, worrying (again) whether I made the right decisions on those windows we just framed, bemoaning the messy house... all that.

But, hey, I accomplished things this weekend! And that was only Saturday -- on Sunday I cleaned the garage to make a better working space and moved five loads of mulch, on the theory that I'd be less stiff Monday if I kept my ass moving (which seems to have worked).

Comments

[shadesofmauve]

Yeah, I feel so much more capable now. It's a very good feeling! As for quality, the fact that dad's been bringing his stuff and leaving the nice chop saw here does help. :D The skilsaw/circular saw I used is mine, though, and it's nothing fancy -- it came in a set of 18v battery-op tools my folks got me for christmas two years ago, and this project is the first I've used it (the drill and sawsall have gotten a workout). I think there's something to be said for learning on a circular saw with less inherent power, though -- it's less likely to get away from me than dad's huge one, even if the battery makes it just as heavy.

As for structural stuff, I think you're missing out -- it's the best bit. Framing goes up fast, and is nice visible progress. All that fiddly stuff you've done is frustrating as all get out. :P Granted, I'm a bit wary when it comes to slicing into the studs holding up the side of my house... dad did that bit. And nothing fell over. :P

[pyoor_excuse]

Ooh, that reminds me. I need to sort out a battery for my circular saw still. Hrm. Not that I need it for anything, you understand, but it's a circular saw. Clearly it needs to have a new battery. Yes. Mmm.

As for structural stuff, my problem is I'm not very good at brick laying*. And pretty much everything in the UK is made of bricks. We have the odd bit of timber framing internally, but in our house everything except the infill under the stairs is solid brick. It does make the house feel nice, but it means I'm not touching any of it!


*Indeed, if I'm being honest, I'm pretty awful at it. The bricks under the sink look 'okay' but only in the sense of 'I'm going to paint them white when I get around to it and they're more or less out of sight, but really, they're pretty terrible. Also, it took me *aaaages* and I'm not convinced I was any better at laying them at the end of the job than at the beginning. Mind you, we've a wall that's trying to fall down at the bottom of the garden, so I may get to do some more with that.

[shadesofmauve]

Oh, right! I'd actually been meaning to add something along the lines of "Don't you lot build with bricks/blocks?" because I think that's much harder. Wood framing is very simple by comparison.

There are very few brick or block (cement block) houses in our area. One was for sale when I was buying, and I didn't even look at it, because I knew I wouldn't have the first clue how to do anything. :P

[t-c-da.livejournal.com]

I grew up in a part of the world that is geologically pretty stable (Adelaide.sa.au) so pretty well everything is made of bricks or stone. When we moved to Wellington we found almost nothing made of brick 'cos wood rattles and rolls with the ground movement while bricks tend to fall apart or over. On her first visit, Mum was horrified that we were living in a "cheap house" (by her standards) until we pointed out why houses were timber...

for what's happened around here in the last day or so, have a look at the picture parade here...