First Mask

Primitive Cultist Mask - Poplar and Rope

Another first, an experiment in mask making using a poplar plank which had been lying around the basement for a while. Inspiration was the HPL Film Festival. Not a bad first attempt, but there's a way to go before they're ready to give to people.

Painting - Now It's a Shed

Side View

Side and Front

Two gallons of Metro Recycling's "Sweet Corn" yellow paint for two complete coats. Paint is dry enough for a second coat after 1-2 hours.

The hole in the upper left corner in the side view leads to a squirrel cage exhaust fan with 1/16" mesh to keep out insects.

The shed is complete as a shed. The next phase will be turning it into a workshop. There are things like welding and metal casting which Tiel very unfairly refuses to let me do in the house. That will require electricity. It will have to wait until I hire an electrician. I'm sure I could figure out how to run power from the meter to the wiring in the building; it's worth a few bucks to let the pro do that part. My personal definition of manliness does not include electrocution.

Door and Windows

Window and Door With Trim Detail

We were going to use these two Jeld-Wen windows in the basement. Then we ran into code requirements for emergency egress. A little creative framing, caulk and some window tape, and they work nicely with the shed.

Window Security Detail

Rather than buy or build a window guard I used some leftover rebar. I had to hammer it through the holes. It's not going anywhere.

I considered a classic shed door. But we've had a door sitting on the porch for over a year, another casualty of the basement remodel. We gave it two coats of Golden Oak stain and three of Marine Spar Varnish.

Door With Sheathing

Door Framing Detail

Another Door Framing Detail

The 4x4 Strong-Tie fastener is actual 4"x4", not nominal.

A piece of galvanized steel and a hand bender provided a temporary sill.

Siding

Score and Snap

 Hardie plank was the cheapest acceptable alternative. It was also the most fire, rot and insect resistant material we considered. The main disadvantage is that it's difficult to work with. If they're allowed to sag while being carried the planks have a tendency to snap. It's also tricky to hold in place while fastening. There are special jigs which look a bit like roof jacks that hold a unit in place while it's being fastened. We did without. It is definitely a two-person job.

The manufacturer's best practices recommend a variety of fasteners attaching the siding to the sheathing and each stud every 16". Nails simply did not work. Even with the nailer set lower than the recommended pressure it shattered the hardie plank. Screwing into wood studs was fine. Screwing into steel studs, even with a pilot hole for each screw, broke the plank most of the time. A call to the company's technical support desk provided a good solution. Attaching to the sheathing every 12" and bypassing the studs worked well.

Manufacturer literature recommends score-and-snap or cutting with a specially designed $60 circular saw blade. Supposedly when it is done outside there is no need for a dust mask.

Score-and-snap worked, but tended to be a little uneven. We were able to complete the project with one $7 masonry saw blade. The amount of dust was significant. I was covered every time I sawed. A dust mask was not sufficient even outside in a breeze. A respirator really is required. Post-construction experiments with the approved hardie plank cutting blade created just as much dust as the inexpensive alternative.

Recommendation: Save your money. Masonry blades are just fine.

Trim

Trim

Most of the trim was 1x4 fastened with 1 9/16 brad nails, primed and then painted with two coats of Metro Recycling's Forest Green paint. I'm a big fan of Metro. Not only do they let you recycle household paint, hazardous wastes and electronics free they recycle paint and sell it cheap, $6-$9/gallon regular a buck more for Grean Seal Certified Premium.

Roof Trim Detail

The screws holding on the top row of siding must be protected from the weather. I routed out the bottom inch and a half of the back of the roof trim. Worked like a charm.

Roofing

The roof decking was 1/2" CDX plywood. Because the rafters were 2x4 instead of 2x6 and were 16" on center we weren't sure if the decking would support my weight. Tiel did most of the roofing.

Felting

The night after we put on the felt we had a freak windstorm which undid most of the work. We replaced it with two layers and extra staples.

More Felt!

Shur-Way has an excellent deal on shingles. They sell cosmetic second architectural asphalt shingles for about $32 a square. They won't take pre-pays. You don't have much choice for color or style. It can take weeks for them to get in. But if you're willing to wait it brings the price down wonderfully.The reveal only looks like it's tabbed. There's actually a solid layer underneath. Extra rain protection is a good thing in the Northwest.

Shingling

Attaching the Rafters

The rafters were attached to the North and South walls with Simpson hurricane ties.This was much easier, faster and more secure than notching the rafters to rest on the top plates.

Wall Raising

Raising, steadying and attaching the walls single-handed turned out to be impossible. My thanks to Neil Essy, Toby Kohlenberg and of course to Tiel for their help. 

Temporary Bracing

The steel-framed walls were attached to the floor with 1-1/2" Ramset nails and a hammer-operated powder-actuated Ramset driver. #2 powder charges did not drive the nail in far enough. #5 charges over-penetrated and split the flooring in tests. The same #4 charges used to attach channel to concrete worked perfectly.

Fastening Wall to Floor - Detail

Fastening Wall to Floor

The walls were connected to each other in two ways.

1. The sheathing on the North and South walls extends 4-1/2" past the last studs. The plywood is screwed to the end studs on the East and West walls
2. The end studs on the East and West walls were screwed to the end studs on the North and South walls

East, South and West Walls

North Wall - Interior View

North Wall - Exterior View

Connection Between North and East Wall

Wall Layout and Sheathing

Screw joints rotate. A lot of time got wasted rotating, skewing, tilting and re-truing them before sheathing. I temporarily nailed sections of steel stud to the floor to use as guides. The walls were sheathed in 1/2" CDX plywood fastened every 6" along the edges of the sheet and every 8" along interior studs. The plywood extends 3/4" below the bottom plat to protect the edges of the flooring.

Layout Using Steel Channel as a 12 foot Straight Edge

The Scafco sales rep suggested fine galvanized drywall screws to attach sheathing to the studs. 

West Wall With Sheathing

The unfinished South wall can be seen leaning against the fence at the left of the photo.

The East and West walls were built with the end-rafters attached to the front and back studs with hurricane ties and screwed to the sheathing.

Detail of Rafter Fastening

My drill wouldn't drive a specially built self-tapping screw through the structural steel members much less a drywall screw. Each screw had to be pre-drilled. I went through a lot of drill bits. Fortunately, Harbor Freight had a sale on 1/8" nitride-coated drill bits.

Detail - Sheathing Screwed to Stud

Framing the East Wall Window

The window was framed with shorter studs and two pieces of channel. The wide section of the channel was cut out with tin snips to form tabs that were screwed to the studs at each end. 

Steel Wall Framing

The East, South and West walls are framed with 4"x1 1/2" steel studs from Scafco and Rose City Building Supply. Some were new, others were bought in a lot. All are 16 gauge or thicker. The studs were fastened to the channel with purpose-built square head screw.

Having a flat level floor in place made the walls much easier to build.

An 18v cordless drill can drive a screw through channel and non-structural 26 gauge studs. It cannot drive them through structural studs, so each hole had to be pre-drilled with a 1/8" bit. I went through about thirty bits between the framing and sheathing, and it took more than twice as long as it would have with a proper screw gun. 

Lesson learned: Next time buy or rent a proper screw gun.

South Wall Before Fastening

South Wall After Fastening

Better Soda Pop

Most soda is pretty nasty, too sweet, too fizzy and chemical flavored. There are better products out there, the occasional premium run from a big-name manufacturer and old brands like Moxie or Cheerwine. Carbonating commercial syrups doesn't get you much except a little price break. Same crud, your own bottle. If you want better you have to do it yourself.

The best book on the subject is Steve Cresswell's Home Made Root Beer and Soda Pop. It's got good advice and plenty of recipes. The Rich Root Beer and Chinese Ginger Beer are easy to make and delicious. He has a few oddball things like switchels from old "receipt" books, mostly to add a little character.

One recipe which seemed interesting was "Jessamine Syrup".

Syrup of Jessamine. - Simple syrup, pint and a half; spirit of orris-root, one ounce; essence of ber-gamot, two drachms; essence of lemon, one drachm; essence of cinnamon five drops ; slightly warm the syrup, and add the essences.

Jasmine has a wonderful smell. But it's a pain to extract. The moth-pollinated flowers open at night which means collecting them at odd hours. There isn't that much essential oil in each tiny blossom. And worst of all, you can't extract it with distillation. Some of the most fragrant parts break down at fairly low temperatures. Unless you have a supercritcal CO2 extraction setup at home you're pretty much stuck with enfleurage. To say it's time consuming and fiddly is a gross understatement.

A cheaper easier knockoff sounded like a good idea.

The orris root spirit was the only fiddly part. Was this supposed to be a full extraction? A tincture? Orris water from a local Indian market didn't work very well.

I finally tracked down the book the recipe came from, The Manufacture of Liquors, Wines and Cordials Without the Aid of Distillation, Pierre Lacour 1868. All became clear. The recipe right above Jessamine specifies a thirty six hour tincture of powdered orris root in alcohol.

The result? Not bad. It doesn't taste quite like jasmine, but the combination of smells has the same sort of effect.

The oil-based flavors like jessamine and neroli. don't work so well in water. The oils float to the top and leave a noticeable after-burn on the tongue. They are excellent in milk-based products like ice cream, kefir and yogurt.

Back On

The wettest June on record has not been kind to this project.

Neither has a galloping infection to my leg.

It looks like both are on the mend.

Results of this morning's tests:

1. Extra vapor barrier kept the flooring nice and dry.
2. The Green #2 Ram-Set charge wasn't enough to attach steel channel to the decking and joist.
3. The Yellow #4 works fine.

First Sunny Day!

Today was the first sunny day since the last entry. I put down a vapor barrier and 5/8" waferboard for a floor. The tongue on the edge of the flooring did not fit the corresponding groove on the next piece and had to be removed with a circular saw.

Tomorrow I'll do the walls, sheathing and maybe the roof.

Shed Construction Or First Real Carpentry Project

There are things like metal casting and welding which don't belong in the house, and I have to clear stuff out of the basement to make room for finishing it. So it's time to build a shed.

Overview

10' x 12'

skid foundation

2/12 pitch pent roof

1 door

2 2'x3' windows

No utilities yet.

The weather has not been helpful. There have been two or three days which weren't actually raining where I felt comfortable using power tools outside.

Site Preparation

The site was close to level. Dug three 6" wide trenches for the skids and filled them with 3" of pea gravel

Foundation

All wood is pressure treated. Where there are cuts they were treated with recommended sealant. Framing nails are coated. Joist hangers are attached with 9ga hot-dipped galvanized joist nails.

Three 4"x4"x12' skids

Thirteen 2"x6"x10' cut to 9' 9", one foot on center, toe-nailed to the skids

Two 2"x6"x12' end pieces connected to the joists with Simpson joist hangers, flush joist hangers at the ends.

Notes: The framing nailer and mini hand-nailer are my new best friends. This would have been an unbelievable pain without them.

Floor

10x25' Vapor barrier under floor
Floor is 5/8" OSB