North Wall 1

First let me say that, although the temperature has been better these last few days (not so heat-wave hot during the day, and cool at night), the on-again, off-again rain has been a bit challenging. During one of the on-again moments yesterday, after I'd covered everything up yet again, Bear and I went down to the river to take a break.

I know people have been eagerly awaiting the first wall. Does two-thirds of a wall count? After I assembled the bottom-plate edge of most of the north wall, the top-plate edge had to be propped up on the wheel well to assemble it. Holding everything in place and driving a screw can take me awhile, when I'm doing it alone. Dale and Arlen came by this afternoon, and then progress sped up a lot. It's amazing how those extra hands can speed everything up! We kept the wall propped on the wheel well to glue and screw the sheathing to it. (Sorry my butt is facing the camera in these shots!)

I stapled sill seal (pink, styrofoam-like stuff that comes in rolls) to the sills, then Arlen and Dale tipped the wall up into place. Arlen and Dale attached braces to keep the wall plumb, and Arlen screwed the bottom plate down to the sills.

And Arlen and Dale hammed it up a little...

It's not the whole north wall, but it's most of it! The whole dealing with the wheel-wells-in-the-way thing made it clear that the long walls had to be assembled in pieces. Now that the wall is up, it looks so simple; it makes me wonder just what took me so long in assembling it. I'd like to think that I now have a system and will be speedier assembling the other walls, but I'm not so sure. (The north wall is pretty basic compared to the others, even if it has the wheel-well complication.)

Now when I cover the JayBee for the night, it looks like a boat!

In fact, my whole yard sort of looks like a tent city.

Also see:

North Wall 2