What did you do today?

[Tpt life]

4 minutes ago, drzaius said:

Even with drywall? I did not know that. The 1/2" lightweight drywall that's so common today is hardly stronger than cardboard.

Orientation and fastening schedule matter. It’s the whole compression vs tension. Take bare studs and sheet one side with even the 1/4” drywall and things will stiffen some. Honestly I think the paper is the majority of the strength, but I know gypsum board matters. This county used to approve ply at the corners and blue foam every where else on the exterior. With vinyl siding offering almost nothing, a good deal of shear stress was transferred to drywall as corner sheets only do so much. 

[Chestnut]

Got 14 of 22 sheets up yesterday going to finish today..  Then start on the walls.

[Tom King]

Looks like you have a good percentage of the hard part done.  I would rent a Pod, or something like that, and clear everything out of there until I got the walls finished.  I've found on my current job, that just one piece of furniture in the room is a real PIA, even if it's on a moving dolly.

Pam told me yesterday, that since it was Thanksgiving, that I should only work a half day.  I had just cleared out another bedroom the day before, and done the patching of holes in the wall.  I had the walls sanded, edges of casing painted (I like to cut in the walls to the casing, and don't worry about cutting the casing in to the walls at this point), and had the primer cut in by 9:30.  The twin double hung windows got their first coat of paint, and the walls rolled with primer, and the ceiling cut in with the first coat of paint when I quit for lunch.

I told her I needed to finish what I was doing, so went back, put the final, second coat on the windows, and put the second coat on the ceiling cut-in, so I could get the little stages out of the room, and rolled on the first coat on the walls.  I quit for the day a little before 2.  

This is my first time using Emerald interior wall paint, and Emerald Urethane trim paint.  My favorite ever now.

I could probably finish that room today, but it's going to be a pretty day, so I'm going to work outside.

[Chestnut]

Anything that is in my garage at this point will be thrown outside when i get to taping and mud. Right now most of what is still inside is helping me hang the drywall with a couple exceptions. It's not cold enough to move the freezer outside so I'll be moving that around as it gets in my way. That is the single worst thing but there isn't anywhere else it can be really.

[Chestnut]

Got 95%of the rock up. Today resulted in a lot of 4 letter words directed at the person that framed the walls. 16" OC seemed like it was more a suggestion to them. A suggestion they didn't follow now and then for some random reason.

[pkinneb]

34 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

Got 95%of the rock up. 

Nice!

[Tom King]

What are you going to work off of to tape the ceiling?   As much scaffolding, and as many ladders as I have, sometimes I still need to build stages that are just the right height for a ceiling.  I'll see if I can find a picture.

The one in this picture was made for working on the ceiling in this hallway.  The hall was an inch, or so, shorter in width than 7', so regular scaffolding wouldn't fit in there.  I made these so we could slide them down the hall was I worked on the plaster ceiling.  They're just stuck together out of 2x4's, and 1x braces.  Sometimes I make the tops out of plywood, and sometimes OSB, depending on which is cheaper at the time.  After the job is over, they're broken down, and the parts used for something else.

I build them to have 1-1/2" clearance over my head when standing on it.  The more overhead clearance you have, the more tiring it is.

The tops are typically 4' wide, with a couple of 2x4 joists.  They're light enough to drag along the floor.  Casters make one unstable.  These are plenty stable.

I usually build several, so I can step from one to the other, while my helpers move them. You can see there of three of these in the picture.  We used them for the whole downstairs, that had 11' ceilings, in this house.

http://historic-house-restoration.com/images/april182013_012.JPG

 

 

[Chestnut]

13 hours ago, pkinneb said:

Nice!

The last 5% is taking for ever though.

5 hours ago, Tom King said:

What are you going to work off of to tape the ceiling?

A home made platform 56.5" off the ground so the top of my head is 1" from the ceiling at the lowest point. Towards the garage doors it'll be a bit more but I don't want to have to duck at all that's worse. Thank you for posting the above. I was laying in bed this morning agonizing over how tall to build the platform.  I would have built it too short had i not read your post.

[pkinneb]

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

The last 5% is taking for ever though.

A home made platform 56.5" off the ground so the top of my head is 1" from the ceiling at the lowest point. Towards the garage doors it'll be a bit more but I don't want to have to duck at all that's worse. Thank you for posting the above. I was laying in bed this morning agonizing over how tall to build the platform.  I would have built it too short had i not read your post.

Drew if you are interested I have both a little giant and a small roll around scaffold you are more then welcome to use. Here is a pick of the mini scaffold thing

[Tpt life]

I’ve always taped and mudded ceilings of that height on stilts. 

[Coop]

Nut, how did you hang the sheetrock? I don’t see a lift. 

[JohnG]

Today was a busy day for me. I cut up a big pine that recently fell, stacked the logs, and cleaned up the brushy stuff. Split and stacked about 2/3 cord of oak. Half was recently cut down in a neighbor’s yard and the other half was on the property when we bought it. Probably still another 2-3 cords of wood to be split between those two stacks (a couple more stacks of oak and dogwood, probably a dozen stacks of pine). I also split some of the oak tree I cut up in another neighbor’s yard a couple weeks ago (separate stack). Also installed a new bathroom sink faucet on my wife’s sink and a few other small house projects. I had hoped to get more done but with a 1yo and 3yo there are only so many usable hours in the day.

[Chestnut]

17 hours ago, pkinneb said:

Drew if you are interested I have both a little giant and a small roll around scaffold you are more then welcome to use. Here is a pick of the mini scaffold thing

Much appreciated though I already have the big one made and it's going to work really well. Pretty stable and puts me at the perfect height.

11 hours ago, Coop said:

Nut, how did you hang the sheetrock? I don’t see a lift. 

Yellow thing in the picture. I only used it for the ceiling. I hang the walls vertically because with 10.5 foot ceilings there are WAY more joints to tape hanging horizontal. Not to mention now i don't have a single wall butt joint.

I also bought this quite a while ago.

It was on sale with 2 batteries and a charger for $200. I figured I could sell the bare tool and get a deal on the batteries but decided to keep it just in case i ended up sheetrocking my garage.

[Mark J]

Good thinking on the screw gun, Chestnut.

JohnG, I had to go back to bed after reading your post.  I was exhausted.

[JohnG]

I’m quite sore today. Anyone have thoughts about powered log splitters?

[wtnhighlander]

Powered splitters don't get tired, but still have to be loaded. I would consider one that can work in vertical mode, so larger rounds can be rolled into position without the need to lift.

IMO, they won't gain you much in speed over a good splitting axe, unless you split a lot of difficult species.

[Tom King]

Google "firewood processor video".   Here's a small one:

Here's a big'un: 

 

[Bmac]

I love to split by hand, cheaper than a gym membership, and cheaper than a log splitter.

[JohnG]

1 hour ago, Tom King said:

Google "firewood processor video".

Yeah, not at all interested in going that route. Cool machines, but I have zero desire to own one.

33 minutes ago, Bmac said:

I love to split by hand, cheaper than a gym membership, and cheaper than a log splitter.

I do enjoy splitting, and have been holding myself back from buying a nice Gransfors or two. I keep telling myself that once I'm in good shape again, then I can buy a splitter. But then I argue with myself that at that point I won't need one. It's probably just something I'll look at occasionally after hours of splitting, but there are plenty of things I'd rather spend the money on.

[Chestnut]

11 hours ago, JohnG said:

I do enjoy splitting, and have been holding myself back from buying a nice Gransfors or two.

I get wanting a nice ax but i feel like a splitting axe is something I'd want to have an inexpensive durable version. I"m not sure if you've used one of the fiskars splitting ax but they work remarkably well compared to some other designs and the handles are very very durable. I'd save the fancy axes for other ax work.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fiskars-Forged-Steel-Splitting-Axe-with-31-5-in-Composite-Handle/50226309

[legenddc]

Apparently the HOA is taking the tree behind our house down. They got one that should have come down 4 years ago and they asked to move some stuff on our deck to get the other. Last I heard they were going to leave it up but I know when to keep my mouth shut. Now we'll get to go argue with the HOA to grind the stumps and plant new trees but one battle at a time.

Did something to my lower back yesterday and didn't sleep at all last night I was in so much pain. Wish it wasn't happening right now so I could have them leave a bunch of wood so I could make some bowl blanks but such is life. Last thing I need right now is another project.

[Tom King]

I like the Collins 4.5 pound "Fast splitting axe", or some name similar to that.  It's like a maul, but the front tapers are curved on each side.  I bought one from Walmart when we went to a job one morning that had a 10" Hickory tree blow down the night before.  We bucked it up in short lengths, and the guys split it.  They both had me stop at Walmart, on our way back home, so they could each buy one.  I decided to keep that one.

I was something less than $30.  It has a fiberglass handle.  I'm sure they still make them.  It's light enough that you can get a fast swing with it, and it will send each half of a piece flying in opposite directions.  If it does get stuck, the fiberglass handle won't break when you work it back out, and it leaves a good starting slot for a wedge.

[wtnhighlander]

I like to use a maul for most woods. Red Oak is about the only one that splits easily with a standard felling ax. But I vastly prefer a hickory handle over composite. Even though it is more easily damaged, it seems to have a bit of 'spring' that reduces fatigue, and most definitely produces fewer blisters during a long day of splitting with no gloves.

As for the durability, well...strike what you aim at, then durability isn't a problem! 

[Chestnut]

1 hour ago, wtnhighlander said:

As for the durability, well...strike what you aim at, then durability isn't a problem! 

More an issue when i strike where i mean to but the log splits oddly and a piece catches the handle. I'm not perfect i still miss from time to time. Also don't knock the splitting axes till you try it they are most defiantly NOT a felling axe. The head geometry is hallow ground so as the wedge enters it progressively gets wider and gives a really good splitting action. I've shot halves of logs a good 10 feet. They probably come with wood handles as well.

I should eat my own words there are so many designs on these types of tools I'm not sure that the one you have isn't designed similar to the one that i have.

This is a maul from my experience

splitting axe

[Bmac]

18 minutes ago, Chestnut said:

This is a maul from my experience

 

Have one of those and used one for years. They are hard on the back, very unforgiving. Upgraded 2 years ago to this Fiskar, absolute joy to use compared to that other maul;

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fiskars-IsoCore-8-lb-Forged-Steel-Wood-Splitter/1001039380?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-sol-_-google-_-lia-_-106-_-lawnandgardentools-_-1001039380-_-0&placeholder=null&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrLiq4smt7QIVFI_ICh15hgRLEAQYASABEgJPCvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Haven't tried a splitting axe yet.