Work on the Home Front

I have been letting things slide around here for too long, doing the bare minimum. Hasn't help that I have been laid up with Piriformis Syndrome, or as I like to refer to it as, "Pain in the Ass Syndrome"-it involves a muscle deep in the butt that spasms and pinches the sciatic nerve.

Well, enduring the most beautiful summer of my life hobbling back and forth to the pond has progressed to me gradually pushing myself into three day agonies, but persisiting nonetheless.

This week has been especially productive, and my trip to the lumber company yesterday yielded the materials for a long overdue job-bracing the downstairs beam.

As will happen when you do something amoung others, things become a group cohesive rather than an individual process. As is the case with certain stages of this house. When the ground floor was going up, I was in a long term relationship, and had a very experienced do it your selfer patriarch neighbor.

Together they convinced me that the downstairs should be supported by a hand hewn beam across the center. My initial plan was a half wall standing bar/overhead storage support, but the overhead beam sounded nice, including coming from the property and hand hewn. So they dropped it and hewed it and installed it with me in agreement but absentia.

Later the neighbor, before he passed, confided in me that he had not realized that we were to have a full second floor-he was thinking in terms of an open loft.

I improvised a bit with a maple center post which had many crazy vertical checks in it when I decided to replace it with a larger pine post.

The house has always had a lot of sway; in past years with small children and a bit of a lightweight myself, it was not an issue. But lately I have felt the house swaying if the kids get jumping around. The steps I put in myself, and they have been a huge culprit to the sway. Especially since the inside wall has not been installed-when the stringer would be nailed through the whole thing.

I picked up some milled rough cut four by four to brace off the beam and some other things to brace the outside stair stringer. I got quite a lot done today, even though I had to use a skil saw with dull blade and make two or three cuts to right angle the four by four-and they came out great, which I was thrilled, as I had nightmared many times over miscutting the whole thing!!!!

I also took the time to pre-drill the nail holes on the four by four, which really paid off. Dried hemlock is hard to nail, and splits easily. I just pre-drilled the nail holes a little smaller to act as guides, and it was a lot easier to sink the nails trying to hold up an angle brace with the other hand. Easier on my wrists, too-hand nailing is tough on the joints.

Ideally I would have drilled larger holes through both brace and beam, and pegged it, but I didn't have the pegs on hand nor did I desire trying to drill into the ceiling beam standing on a ladder with my cranky old drill.

The stairs are a lot sturdier, at least. Now I feel like I might be up for tackling the foundation posts-a bit of concrete, some more posts and bracing...and maybe a front entry...yeah!