April and its cool wet weather gave way to a glorious warm and dry May. It was time to begin building on top of the recently laid block walls.
My wife and I hired Dave Bollinger to run the job.
I was to be his “gopher/slave.” He was only a couple of years older but had substantial background in construction. Together he and I completed the rest of the building, plumbing, and electrical work.
Our first construction task was to brace the basement walls in preparation for backfilling. It was a rough start. Though I had built a few introductory projects to get my feet wet, so to speak, I had not been in the position of having to cut a piece of wood to length at someone’s command. “97 and 7/8” Dave would call out. What he got, after several minutes of fumbling, was 79 and 7/16”. This went on throughout the entire morning. Even when the proper place on the tape measure was located there was the problem of the line. How big to mark it, leave it, remove it, try to split it… the green pine was coarsely textured, wet and soggy. The line itself, drawn from a dull carpenters pencil, was rather hefty, perhaps 1/16” thick itself.
Then again, there was the handling of the circular saw. All kinds of errors resulted from my untrained manipulation of it while pushing it through the 2 x material. Out of plumb, crooked, you name it, those were the kinds of cuts Dave was getting from this “green” sawyer. I’m sure he had serious doubts right about lunchtime that first day!
The little saw that could, can, and will.
Dave had recommended that I get a good quality saw, a Black and Decker with “Trade” marked on it.
This saw has been running steadily since 1980, never had its brushes replaced or any kind of maintenance done, been dropped and pushed for miles on end. Here it is on a recent project, ripping a beam.
It was not expensive and has worked like a champ. Honestly, by now it could very well have made a hundred thousand cuts and it’s not complaining one bit.
Up and away.
Having taken a good licking on the foundation bracing I was happy to rise above grade.
The building was simple timber framing with 2” x 6” studs 24” on center. There was an endless stream of pieces to saw to length, tenon shoulders and half lap notches.
And then, magic. Pieces of timber went vertical, there were walls and floor joists and a structure stood!
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