We're framing a future

Hey Folks,

This week was a framing frenzy. And we kept on working in the sun, hail & of course the 'r' word because Mother Nature was making darn sure we were going to have some balance to the lovely, spring like day in the 60's we experienced the day before. Just like her. :P

Walking on site I could see they made some good progress on Tues & Weds on houses 5 & 6. All the outer walls for the first floor were up & sheathed with a few of the inner walls framed. Our job was to continue work on the interior wall framing. Women Build crew leader RiLen and myself worked with some bright and enthusiastic young women from Pacific University on constructing several walls and tying them together with others already in place. I hadn't taken a drawing and built a wall since October so I'll admit, it took me a bit to get all the synapses firing in 'read and build' mode. It finally all clicked and we were off! This process of course, seems to always include going to Bill, the fellow that designs our houses, and asking some questions. Better to ask than having to redo.

The young women from Pac U caught on quickly, were tenacious and did a great job. Our 2X4 & 2X6 boards were precut for us beforehand to save us time during the framing process. We did learn though, to double check the measurements in case something was off a bit. I've learned the hard way it never hurts to measure again. It's a royal pain to get 16 penny nails out of a 2X4 board. Seriously, no fun. :(

Once our walls were built we followed the measurements of where they should stand in relation to the other walls already in place. Then we checked them for level and made sure they were square before securing them to the subfloor and tying them to the existing walls with our tie plates on the top of the wall. By lunch we'd completed our task and bid farewell to the super volunteer group from Pac U.

After our break, framing continued in house 6 with two of our future homeowners (on the right) putting in some their sweat equity hours (500 total) along with more young volunteers from Tualitan HS and some of our crew leaders.

In house 5 we worked on putting in stairs. My first time. Our stringers (I guess I would call them the outline cutouts of our stairs) were precut for us though I've cut them myself once and learned you have to be very precise for safety reasons. The stairs need to be the correct depth for feet to step on and also need to be level so there isn't an unsafe tilt to them. Two 2X4s are measured to the length of the two outer stingers and cut on the ends to match the angled cuts on each end of the stringers. One is then attached to the angled wall going up the stairs and the other against the wall that divides the two homes. Next the stringers are set into placed and nailed to the landing, 2X4s and the subfloor, with a third going in the center. Time for the risers, which are set into place before the stair treads. Once more we are careful to make sure everything is flush and level to prevent problems with tilt on a stair. While cutting the risers I was able to learn to use a new tool which happened to be a new table saw we've acquired. It was lovely. :)

All in all it was a very good day despite all the weird weather changes and we were, as always, grateful for the wonderful volunteers who hung in there to help out.

Till next time, live your best life, however big or small it may be!

Nanette