I hope you bolted those shelves down to the floor or to the walls so they do not tip over. Your shop looks great.
Bill D
I hope you bolted those shelves down to the floor or to the walls so they do not tip over. Your shop looks great.
Bill D
It started with a trip to Lowe’s to obtain all of the framing lumber needed for the apartment build out. It took my son and I about 1 1/2 hours to pick and load the pile of wood.
On Friday November 24th I transported the trailer and wood to the shop and unloaded it all by myself. I am very lucky to have help from my sons, but they both have jobs and my youngest goes to school full time, so I have to learn to do by myself. On Saturday I began forming the first stud walls. I made 10 ft sections of wall, which was very manageable size and weight wise. I’m using 3 1/4″ ring shanked collated nails in my Porter Cable framing nailer. They were a left over from my fence project years ago and they should work just fine for this job.
I decided to build all of my walls outside of the pole barns posts in order to create a straight and plumb framework for the apartment. I’ve learned that my pole barn is a little off with some of the posts warping somewhat and I didn’t want to tie into that and have less that perfectly straight walls.
For all of the window and door openings, I framed the openings to mimic the pole barn framer’s rough framing. This way I can trim out the window and door openings with pine boards that straddles their framing and mine too. I will trim out the exterior of the window case work with trim after the drywall is up.
At this point ending on Sunday November 27th, I’m about 60% done with the framing. I hope to finish it next weekend and move on to rough out the plumbing.
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Thanks for looking,
Jeff
Last edited by Jefferey Scott; 11-27-2017 at 8:31 AM.
Jeff
And the bathtub has been fitted for it’s place in the bathroom and the drain has been fitted. Just need a little more pvc to connect it and then I’ll set it in a bed of mud and attach to the walls. The bath drain was probably the hardest drain to hit due to the way it was roughed in, but no big deal.
The framing pretty much went as planned and i did it all myself except for one wall that my son Mason helped me with while he was bringing me a needed tool.
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The rafters presented a challenge as they are 12 ft long and i have to mount them 10 ft up in the air. As the pictures below show, I placed one end in the rafter tie, then lifted the opposite end onto the ladder. After that I carefully ascended the ladder and lifted the loose end into its rafter tie and centered the rafter and screwed it off.
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The rest of the framing went well with no problems. I still have the wet wall between the bathroom and utility room to construct and will do so next. Then I’m going to clad the bath alcove with cement backer board and install the tub.
Then it’s on to rough plumbing!
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Jeff
Nice progress, Jeff. I'm thinking that I would have rented a lift or a helper for those joists, however...
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Oh, I do understand as I often do a lot of my home improvement type work alone. 12' 2x joists would give me pause, however, because they can be relatively "unstable" when you're manipulating just one end at a time. A helper on the other end as you mutually co-walk up a steady stepladder with the board between you would likely be how I would do this kind of thing if a helper was available. It could go really fast, too, if you pre-place your ties so the joists can be set into them quickly on both ends. No matter...just stay safe!
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
In an effort to get the wires from the breaker box, which is located in the middle of the barn, over to the apartment, I created a "raceway" of sorts to give the wire a pathway to its destination. In the Telecommunications industry, raceways or "wire trays" are common fixtures in facilities where the electronic equipment resides. I used that idea having been in the business for 38 years to run the Romex.
I used 5/4 x 6" deck boards from the service panel to a centrally running raceway that dissects the apartment length wise as shown below
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I'm using 12/2 Romex for this phase of wiring and that includes outlet boxes around the whole apartment and switches for light receptacles. Dedicated 240 volt runs for appliances are next, once I can afford the 10/2 and 10/3 for that phase.
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A side chore this past weekend was to replace the bank 1 sensor 1 O2 sensor on my 2003 Tahoe. The front trans axle was smack in the way of getting to the electrical connection so this must be the hardest one of four sensors this truck has to get to.
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It is nice though to have the room to work out of the elements a cold temps to do the work. Love it!
Jeff
I’ve run 1300 ft of 12/2 romex and that’s all I need for that wire size in the apartment. I now have about 400 ft or so of 10/2 and 10/3 romex for the 240 volt devices like the dryer, electric water heater, backup electric heater, and HVAC mini split system.
My lovely wife, seeing that I was freezing my hind end off some days out there, upgraded my kerosene heater from a 60k BTU unit to a 180k BTU unit that heats the barn quick!
We've sold our house and close soon, which will free up the funds for the rest of the build. We're kind of tapped out at this moment so, looking forward to the closing!
Various pictures of stuff below:
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Jeff
That's coming along nicely.
Electrician tip: I find it way easier to strip the Romex sheath before putting into the box.
I have to agree with Jim as well. Just two 4’ LED lights have changed my world in the double bay garage. One more would cover all the areas where I work.
Besides their lumen ‘strength’ (?) I’m looking forward to no bulb changes and low energy usage. I keep one on all the time for security purposes. LED is the way to go IMO
I'm a fan of LED too. I've got one of the LOA or Feit 4' lights in my shop hung 12' off the floor for security right now. I'm a little disappointed with how much light it casts from that height. I've been looking at high bay fixtures and that's probably what I'm going to go with. I'll buy one to test in the shop, and make up my mind from there.
Jeff
A Quick Update: All of the electrical wiring is done now. Insulation install is next weekend. We will be buying fiberglass batts and stuffing the wall cavities in preparation for drywall.
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Now a quick tool review. I've been reading about Harbor Freight's new Vulcan welding cabinet. Great reviews, so I bought one. This is a solid, very nice cabinet. Surprising quality. Not to be a tool snob, I shop at Harbor Freight alot, but they do have some not so great tools and some that are decent. This cabinet rises to a new level for them I believe. Pictures below:
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Also picked up a Craigslist score for the farm. A John Deere finish mower. 72 inch model for $500. New they are $2600. It's in good condition and should make the pasture look like a golf course!
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Jeff