shadesofmauve (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shadesofmauve) wrote2013-09-23 02:50 pm
shadesofmauve) wrote2013-09-23 02:50 pm
Entry tags:
(no subject)
Saturday-Shimming-Day started out as a bit of a disaster.
Because there's only room for 2x4 joists over the garage slab, we ran three rows of sleepers underneath the joists to break up the span (Inspector said we could get away with two; I'm so glad dad insisted on three!). Figuring solid was better, we shot the sleepers into the cement slab with a powder-activated nailer. It worked fine!
...until we hit the middle of the garage.
Both ends of my garage were poured to acceptable standards, but the slab in the middle is crap, and when we tried to nail into it, it shattered. If you stepped on the sleeper, not only did it wiggle, but you could hear it crunch. The broken cement was sealed under the vapor barrier, which in turn was pinned under several firmly attached sleepers, the whole lot covered with joists, so we couldn't exactly get at it, even if we'd had a fix (lots of epoxy, maybe?).
I was not going to be happy with a floor that occasionally made broken-cement-crunching noises. We decided to lay sleepers alongside the poorly attached ones and shim to those, hoping the pressure'd keep 'em in place and they wouldn't crunch the cement, but we weren't sure it would work.
At about this discouraging juncture, while we were sitting on the windowsill going "Hmmmm" with our heads to one side, I noticed that the water heater plumbing was leaking* and dad got a call from mom, saying he'd ordered the wrong product and so she was having a DIY emergency at home** (and generally having a bad day, as well).
Once we started in on actually shimming, it started to feel like progress, and we both got a bit cheerier. We used ridiculous amounts of liquid nails. I termed our goopy shim blocks 'construction shit sandwiches', but they were working. After a few joists dad ran off to get a second caulk gun and more shims. By the time he came back, I'd completed half the floor, so he decided I had it under control and I sent him straight back home to deal with his own emergencies. (Well, he ripped a few things for me first. I'm not comfortable with table saws. And he felt bad about leaving partway through, but I reminded him that part of the point was that I learn to do things myself).
A construction shit sandwich. The 2x4 joists are supported by a block of pressure treated wood with shims on top, all stuck together with liquid nails. Also actual nails.
...four hours later, covered in construction adhesive...
I managed to glue my fingers into the Live-Long-And-Prosper sign. Oops.
But I also finished shimming the floor!
Stay tuned for "The epic of how little I got done Sunday", on this same station.
*It's the old valve, not any of our replacement work, and I have a plan for damage mitigation and when and how to deal with it. It'll be fine, but it wasn't what I needed to see right then.
**have I mentioned that my parents discovered rot in the exposed south face of their house a month or so ago? They've been scrambling to try to repair extensive damage in something they put a huge amount of labor into constructing in the first place, and the rain is here already).
Because there's only room for 2x4 joists over the garage slab, we ran three rows of sleepers underneath the joists to break up the span (Inspector said we could get away with two; I'm so glad dad insisted on three!). Figuring solid was better, we shot the sleepers into the cement slab with a powder-activated nailer. It worked fine!
...until we hit the middle of the garage.
Both ends of my garage were poured to acceptable standards, but the slab in the middle is crap, and when we tried to nail into it, it shattered. If you stepped on the sleeper, not only did it wiggle, but you could hear it crunch. The broken cement was sealed under the vapor barrier, which in turn was pinned under several firmly attached sleepers, the whole lot covered with joists, so we couldn't exactly get at it, even if we'd had a fix (lots of epoxy, maybe?).
I was not going to be happy with a floor that occasionally made broken-cement-crunching noises. We decided to lay sleepers alongside the poorly attached ones and shim to those, hoping the pressure'd keep 'em in place and they wouldn't crunch the cement, but we weren't sure it would work.
At about this discouraging juncture, while we were sitting on the windowsill going "Hmmmm" with our heads to one side, I noticed that the water heater plumbing was leaking* and dad got a call from mom, saying he'd ordered the wrong product and so she was having a DIY emergency at home** (and generally having a bad day, as well).
Once we started in on actually shimming, it started to feel like progress, and we both got a bit cheerier. We used ridiculous amounts of liquid nails. I termed our goopy shim blocks 'construction shit sandwiches', but they were working. After a few joists dad ran off to get a second caulk gun and more shims. By the time he came back, I'd completed half the floor, so he decided I had it under control and I sent him straight back home to deal with his own emergencies. (Well, he ripped a few things for me first. I'm not comfortable with table saws. And he felt bad about leaving partway through, but I reminded him that part of the point was that I learn to do things myself).
A construction shit sandwich. The 2x4 joists are supported by a block of pressure treated wood with shims on top, all stuck together with liquid nails. Also actual nails.
...four hours later, covered in construction adhesive...
I managed to glue my fingers into the Live-Long-And-Prosper sign. Oops.
But I also finished shimming the floor!
Stay tuned for "The epic of how little I got done Sunday", on this same station.
*It's the old valve, not any of our replacement work, and I have a plan for damage mitigation and when and how to deal with it. It'll be fine, but it wasn't what I needed to see right then.
**have I mentioned that my parents discovered rot in the exposed south face of their house a month or so ago? They've been scrambling to try to repair extensive damage in something they put a huge amount of labor into constructing in the first place, and the rain is here already).
no subject
Your trials and
tribblationstribulations sound horrid. :( But what would be awesome (if you could stand it) would be PEEKTURES, because I re-read your first paragraphs twice and thought "Nope, I have no actual idea what she's talking about lol."Only reason I know what a shim is because I helped my dad replace my door frame a few years back. I don't even recognize the rest of the terms. XD
no subject
And, really, and icky as Saturday morning felt, these things just happen in remodeling, and we haven't run into anything we can't deal with thus far.
no subject
no subject
no subject
It's all physics, really, it's just that in construction all the physics has trade names. :P