Flooring

Thursday morning, Phil ran some errands. He spent the afternoon cutting through 7" diameter columns. Our saw doesn't extend quite that far, so he hacked through the center with a handsaw. It took a while. Not only that, but in order to have a professional outcome, Phil had his surveyor level out, to ensure he cut the columns to just the right height.

Then he finished two long walls of rimboard. That meant he first cut up the bituthene, a waterproofing product that is sort of like a thick sticker made of asphalt. Simply remove the backing and stick it in place. But it doesn't come pre-cut, so piece by piece, he stuck it up.

The rimboard, too, did not go in easily. He dropped from a 3/4" bit to a 1/2" bit, and so when he tried to put the rimboard on, once in place it stayed securely. But to get it on required a lot of hammering. But at the end of the day, three walls had support in place.

Today was a day for flooring. We were ready. No rain predicted, sunny weather in the low 80s, summer solstice: perfect! I decided in advance that I would do what I could for Phil all day. Jadon, though, ended up being a bigger helper, as he went down probably before 10am and worked solidly until Phil quit for the day at 9pm or a bit later.

The first thing Phil and Jadon did was put in the center beam. When Phil was thinking about what materials to order, he initially had considered a solid center beam. Then he remembered that he does all heavy lifting alone and by hand, so he opted for manufactured lumber, 3 pieces screwed together once in place. Jadon helped with that. One end of the first section rests on the concrete lip (no rimboard in that precise spot); the other rests on the precisely cut 7" diameter column.

That took care of the long direction. To hold it in place, Jadon and I hammered in ingeniously designed holders, both to the perimeter rimboard and the center beam (lined up precisely by measuring with tape measure along the perimeter, every two feet, then with a string line snapped over the center beam to line it up perfectly).

These holders were, happily, extremely strong. I don't know how often I hit them with the hammer while driving nails, but they deformed almost nil. The tops needed to be precisely 3.25" apart, in order to grip the I-joists perfectly. (I-joists named because, from the side, they make an I. Another way of getting a good deal of strength of material without too much weight.)

So I made tick marks, and the little windows at the top showed the ticks easily. If I was more adept at hammering, the holder has two tabs near the top; a talented hammerer could knock those in to the wood as a preliminary stabilizing force. I simply hammered two nails in the top two spots. Each holder required ten nails.

When both perimeter and center holders were in place, Phil carried a precisely cut I-joist over and fitted it into place. The holders gripped the I-joist firmly, so Phil or Jadon used a wooden mallet to whack the joist down to the bottom of the holder. The bottom has additional tabs to keep the joist from moving up, sort of like those horrible "do not drive backwards or huge nails will pop your tires" speed bumps that show up occasionally.

I would get the holders started. Then Jadon drove 9-gauge (fat) nails 1.5" into the perimeter. He did two pounds of nails today, and then, having met his personal goal, he decided he was done. It was close to 7pm before I caught him sitting down to take a little break.

I don't know how tired his forearm will be tomorrow: driving through rimboard was not easy, and he hammered from a squatting position, hammer held vertically.

I did the center beam holders, using 3" ten penny nails. I realized after I got started that my hammering experience thus far in life has been primarily hammering little brads into drywall to hang light pictures. I don't know that I have any prior experience driving construction nails into serious wood. It's ridiculously more difficult!

You wouldn't think, if you kept your eye on the unmoving nail, that it would be very difficult to hit with a hammer. But I had times when I would whack seven times and hit the nail once. (Okay, that didn't happen often, but what a lot of wasted energy!) After about three hours, I was totally done. My forearm was about to fall off, I was faint from the heat of the sun, and, well, I'm 23 weeks pregnant!

But after a half hour or so of sitting inside, out of the sun, resting my arm, and eating a peach, I was ready to return. And, you know, that rest must have been what my body needed, because I could see how much more momentum I had, how much more each swing drove each nail. Driving nails: an acquired skill. Not a lengthy time to acquire, but still.

By late afternoon, we had finished just about half the I-joists. Phil started to bring down the plywood flooring.

Flooring needs to be laid sort of like blocks: one sheet needs to not line up with another sheet. They need to be offset. To keep the squeaking down, and to form a better bond, Phil used a large caulking-type gun to put down a line of floor adhesive on all joists and rimboards that would touch the plywood. Put the plywood on top, tap into place with wooden mallet, then screw in place, using the pre-printed symbols on the plywood as a guide. Jadon and Isaiah were eager for that job, so Phil passed it to them.

I carried on with perimeter wall hangers. (I figure: Jadon can use the driver tomorrow to screw down flooring. If I can spare his arms a little, so much the better. And there wasn't much else for me to do.)

After a short bit, the first flooring was in. All four brothers were desperate to experience the wonder of flooring, so they all climbed up. Some (all?) pretended they were on a raft at sea. It was adorable.

Even the brothers who weren't working were happy to be where the action was. The little brothers came down maybe around 4pm, and they watched and chatted with us, more-or-less stayed out of the way, but still stayed in the thick of things. The walked the plank (center beam); they practiced balancing on the rimboard; they stuck Sam the stuffed dog up through the joists. They're homeschooled: they come up with ways to entertain themselves.

Once some of the plywood was set down (although not nailed), the fun increased. While Jadon screwed down a sheet, Isaiah laid down on the center beam while Shadow tried to nibble on him. The little boys walked aimlessly around. Activity at all times!

As I headed up around 8pm to milk the cow, I left some busy workers.

Phil came up the driveway soon after to get another tube of floor adhesive. He realized he needed to move Belle, so he put the next line up. She was antsy, eager to get to her new paddock, and it was a bit intimidating to milk her (I don't usually feel like that). When Phil was done setting up her paddock, I said, "Will you just sit for a few minutes while I finish? I want you to put her in her new pen."

"Sit for a few minutes? I haven't sat all day. I'd love to!"

And he wasn't exaggerating. He had eaten nothing (not hungry, just thirsty; two gallons of kombucha between the workers was enough to tide him over ... I guess?). He had been on the go since probably about 8am.

And now, twelve hours later, he sat for the first time. When Belle was moved, the cool evening air washed over us. "I think I'll be done for tonight," he said.

And in a moment that probably will make every man thankful not to be married to me, I said, "Oh! Don't you want to keep going? It's such perfect weather, and I have to go make dinner anyway."

The look he gave me was one of incredulous disbelief. But he went down anyway, along with four eager boys, and they got a few more pieces of plywood set in place as darkness fell.