Birth of a shop

[Marty Walsh]

I hate plastic too. When I was building my shop, I did buy some plastic soffits and fascia; but, after fooling around with it for about half a day, I removed what I had installed and tossed it away, returned the unused stuff to the store, then built everything out of the same rough sawn pine that I was using for the board and batten siding.

Well Frank,

The problem I have with tossing the plastic and vinyl coil is more about the coil than the soffit. Since I had the roofers put on a drip edge, and I told them I was using vinyl coil, they put it snug up against the subfascia. If I wanted to change over to a Cypress fascia, I'd have issues with no drip edge, since the Cypress would cover it. That's not an option.

Like I said in an earlier post, I wish I had known more about this plastic and vinyl coil stuff. If I had done some better research, and looked at a few installs, I'd have known I wouldn't have been happy with it and gone with Cypress all around. But then again, that would have meant I would have had to have the Cypress on-hand before the roofers started so I could have it installed on the fascia. And worse still, I would have had to man-handle something WAY heavier than the existing vinyl coil up the ladder. (If there's anything positive to say about vinyl coil, it sure is light!)

Oh well...live and learn...
- Marty -

[Frank Pellow]

I hate plastic too. When I was building my shop, I did buy some plastic soffits and fascia; but, after fooling around with it for about half a day, I removed what I had installed and tossed it away, returned the unused stuff to the store, then built everything out of the same rough sawn pine that I was using for the board and batten siding.

Correction: I only made the fascia from the pine. I made my soffits out of plywood -with aluminum vents. Here is a photo:

Fascia and soffits on my shop -small.JPG

[Marty Walsh]

The "Art" of color matching...

Well, I lost the better part of two days trying to procure the stain for the shop. And I mean "trying", since I still haven't purchased it.

When we first bought the house, the previous owners told us the name of the stain that was used on the house, and even where they bought it. It's "Mountain Ash" from Sherwin Williams. Armed with this information, Denise picked up a few gallons of the stain from Sherwin and had them mix the color shortly after I built the deck for our spa. The plan was to let the ACQ age/dry for a few months, and then stain it to match the house.

Well, since we already had the 'right' stain, I figured I'd stain a small chunk of Cypress to see if it would match ok. Boy was I in for a surprise when I opened the can. It turns out that "Mountain Ash" is actually a light beige color. Here's a chunk of Cypress with Mountain Ash applied to the right side of the board:

Attachment 48026

The picture really doesn't do the color difference justice. The picture actually gives the stained section of the board a gray tint, when in fact there's NONE WHATSOEVER! The stained Cypress is beige!

So, off to Sherwin Williams I went yesterday to find out what was going on. I thought the previous owners might have given us the wrong color name, or something. After a little digging Sherwin Williams was able to verify that the original color was indeed Mt. Ash, although they agreed that what was in the can didn't even come close to matching what was on the house. They claimed that 4-5 years of Georgia sun turned the beige color to the gray you can see in the picture above. They claimed that I could apply the beige stain to the Cypress on the shop and that in 4-5 years, it would match the house. I don't think I'd like to wait for 5 years for this to happen. I want it to match now. And as I mentioned above, Denise plans to stain the ACQ on the deck to make it match the house. Beige isn't going to do a thing to help ACQ match a gay house!!!

Late yesterday afternoon, here's what Sherwin Williams was able to come up with by adding a "little of this and a little of that" to the three cans of Mt Ash I brought them:

Attachment 48027

I think they did a passable job, especially for use on the ACQ.

Denise will be returning from her prolonged business trip this weekend. In addition to the samples you see in the picture, I picked up 30 color chips from the borg, 15 for Olympic stain, and 15 for Cabot stain, all in shades of gray. I'll let DENISE decide what color goes on the shop...I'm not stupid...

It helps that I have enough to keep me busy until her return...

- Marty -

[Jim O'Dell]

I think they did a pretty good job of getting it to match, too. But what will this stain "turn into" in 4 or 5 years? Will it be anything close to what the house will be then?
Tough decision to make. I don't envy you and Denise on this one. Jim.

[Marty Walsh]

Attic Floor finished...

In addition to running for supplies yesterday, I met with the HVAC vendor I've chosen to do the work on the shop.

I got estimates from four companies, each one proposing to cool the shop differently, either with different equipment and/or different approaches to ducting. The one I chose made the most sense in both of his approaches. He also just happened to be local, and surprisingly the cheapest...

Anyway, when we were going through the shop yesterday, confirming details on what he was proposing, we went up into the attic to decide on the exact placement of things. When he (and one of his workers) got up there, his first comment was about how spongy the floor was. For those of you that have followed this for a while, you'll remember that the trusses are on 24" centers, and that I put down 5/8" plywood on the floor. You might also remember from pictures that I didn't complete the floor. I only laid the 16 full sheets of ply...leaving 2'x'8' gaps running up both sides.

I explanied all this to the HVAC guy and said I'd have the gaps filled and a second layer of flooring done before he comes back on Tuesday to start his install. Needing a break from soffit anf fascia, and not wanting to get involved and forget the floor come Tuesday, I chose to get it all done today:

Attachment 48028

I had the "pleasure" of hauling up 4 more sheets of 5/8" ply, followed by 20 sheets of 1/2 OSB, up through the haymow door using a rop eand c-clamp. At least it's done, the floor is nice and solid, and the HVAC guy can have at it on Tuesday.

Oh, and while we were discussing where ducts and the air handler were to go, I asked if there was any way he could put the air handler 'out in the webbing' of the trusses. I said it was to help keep the unit safe from me banging into it, but really I just didn't want to give up that much storage space...

He agreed to putting it 'out in the trusses' if I would build him a platform to set it on. That's exactly what I did after I got the two layers of flooring finished. Well, I got the platform framed:

Attachment 48029 Attachment 48030

It's kind of hard to see it in these pictures, since it was almost dark when I finally called it quits tonight. I'll shoot more tomorrow after I get the two layers of 5/8" ply attached to it.

Tomorrow I get to finish the platform, then try to skin the haymow doors with OSB and Tyvek. I'm not sure I'll be able to do it alone, so it might have to wait until I have Denise's help. We'll see...

Thanks for following...
- Marty -

[Marty Walsh]

I think they did a pretty good job of getting it to match, too. But what will this stain "turn into" in 4 or 5 years? Will it be anything close to what the house will be then?
Tough decision to make. I don't envy you and Denise on this one. Jim.

Jim,

that's actually one the questions I posed to them...in addition to "what would happen if we applied a fresh coat of Mt Ash to the house".

Their response to both questions was "Hmmm, good question..."

Good thing Denise is making this decision...
- Marty -

[Denise Bussineau]

Their response to both questions was "Hmmm, good question..."

Good thing Denise is making this decision...
- Marty -

I'm glad I get all the easy decisions in this job...

Can't wait to come home to help!!

See ya soon!!

- Denise -

[Jim Becker]

Gee...I thought it was neat that Dr. SWMBO and I IM each other between floors in the house. Marty and Denise use a public forum! Kewel!

[Marty Walsh]

Gee...I thought it was neat that Dr. SWMBO and I IM each other between floors in the house. Marty and Denise use a public forum! Kewel!

Jim,

Except that in our case, Denise is several hundred miles from home...

- Marty -

[Vaughn McMillan]

I'm glad I get all the easy decisions in this job... ...

You should choose pink, just to get even.

Eh, but then you'd have to look at it every day. Scratch that idea.

[Norman Hitt]

Boy, that Stain and/or Paint matching can sure be a "Chore", even with all the High Tech gizmos they have to analyze it. We recently took an almost empty can of some wild (light pea green I'd call it) paint to the paint section at our best building center and they put a sample in their machine and shortly, it spit out a mixing formula, but what came out of that mix didn't even come close to the sample we gave them. Long story short, 7 different people incl the store mgr tried their hand trying to get a match and after an hour and a half they were most apologetic, but we all gave up. Even if they had got a match you still don't know that it will dry out to match. I am a firm believer that there is some Voodoo involved with color matching, (or maybe I should say blending/mixing).

One other thing, Marty, is that since that is a stain instead of a full covering paint there may be a difference when it is all aged because of the difference in the natural coloring of the two different woods used on the siding of the house and the shop, (unless the house is cypress also, but I don't think you said that it was).

Good Luck, and I certainly don't envy the two of you with that selection job.

[Luther Oswalt]

Marty,
I tried some staining on the pump house here (Northern Florida near Gainesville) and on one very small storage building but I did not like the way Mildew took over ... so I am now "snake-bit" on outside staining in this climate. That does not seem to be a problem in your area. Everything else, the House and Shop, have an Sherwin-Williams Latex and are doing great. I'm no expert on painting or staining but I have gotten good answers and guidance from SW by getting their "Industrial" guy involved.
Leo

[Marty Walsh]

Marty,
I tried some staining on the pump house here (Northern Florida near Gainesville) and on one very small storage building but I did not like the way Mildew took over ... so I am now "snake-bit" on outside staining in this climate. That does not seem to be a problem in your area. Everything else, the House and Shop, have an Sherwin-Williams Latex and are doing great. I'm no expert on painting or staining but I have gotten good answers and guidance from SW by getting their "Industrial" guy involved.
Leo

Luther,

I don't know what sort of stain you used, or why you had mildew issues. Every stain I've looked at has ingredients specifically added to keep mildew at bay. I don't see any mildew at all on our house, so I'm hoping I'll be okay with stain on the shop.

And in case you haven't followed this thread recently, I'm not going with SW stain. It's now down to either Olympic or Cabot...depending on what Denise decides...

- Marty -

[Marty Walsh]

HVAC 'platform' and Haymow Doors...

Well, I was at it at first light today, trying to get done up in the attic before the heat of the day hit. I was able to finish the platform that the HVAC air handler will sit on. I took a few shots that hopefully show it in better detail than last nights attempts:

Attachment 48074 Attachment 48075

I put two layers of 5/8" ply on top of the 2x6 frame that I built. But since I had to get the ply out into the truss webbing, I had to cut it down. (I was two inches short of sliding an entire sheet out there... ) So, the first sheet was actually three 16" pieces nailed to the frame. Then I cut the second sheet in half and nailed it to the first sheet and on into the frame. With the seams staggered like that, this platform is STOUT!!! Even me, with my fear of heights, had no problem jumping up and down on the platform once I got the two layers nailed down....

Ok, on to the haymow doors...

After hauiling more OSB up into the attic on my rope and c-clamp, I got one door skinned and Tyvek'ed. Self-drilling screws and a pneumatic driver saved me loads of time attaching the OSB to the metal tubing!

That's the good news...

The bad news is that I simply can't get the skinned door back into the hinges. Here it is dangling helplessly from my rope:

Attachment 48076

I'm guessing, but I think the skinned door weighs in at around 200 pounds. I'm not a weak guy, but there doesn't seem to be any way I can lean out the attic and lift it into place and get the hinge pins set. There's not much to grab hold of once I attached the OSB, so I used my c-clamp as a handle:

Attachment 48077

I can lift it up and move it around, but there's no way I can be accurate in my movement. This is one of those rare cases when I second set of hands is just about mandatory. With Denise guiding it as I lift and move it, we should be able to set it in a matter of a minute or two. I could probably build a platform or rig up something using ladders, but why when Denise can help when she gets home this weekend...?

Frustrated and Sore...
- Marty -

[Marty Walsh]

Back to Soffit and Fascia...

With my failed attempt at setting the skinned door back on the hinges, I needed to keep moving, but I didn't want to skin the other door until the first was set in place.

I decided to move back to the soffit and fascia, since that still needs to be finished before I can start the siding. And let me tell you, I'm sure ready for siding!!!

I finished the fascia on the porch, on both the side and the little bird box where the main roof and the porch roof sort of meet:

Attachment 48078 Attachment 48079

All that's left now to be able to call it done is a small section on the front of the main roof (to the left of the porch), and the gable end. Oh, and I still need to build two more bird boxes on either side of the gable end once it's done. I'll see if I can get that done tomorrow. Oh joy...more really high ladder work...

- Marty -