Building Our Sangha Shed
Framing the Walls
For a week, I was just sitting and waiting for the rain to let up. It came in short squalls of 30 to 45 minutes then let up for an hour or so. The promise was for the same through most of the next week according to weather.com. I was going crazy!
Cornelia gave us four 18 inch high by 48 inch wide windows from her trailer home which she no longer needed. I figured I could 'sandwich' two of them together with silicone caulk between them to get an 'insulating effect'. I figured I could use them for the front windows of the shed. At least thinking about this was helping me pass the time.
The forecast was for "spot showers" all weekend and into next week. I had to work whenever I could get a couple hours to do anything. It meant working in the wet, but I had done that before and would wear my hat to help. I had extra dry clothes to switch into and I could do laundry at night to dry them out.
Walls had to 'go up' and paneling had to go on outside so I reasoned I could get the shed under cover by Saturday night. But, the weather lady had been saying for days that the next period of sun MIGHT be TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY.
I almost got the car stuck in mud at the beginning of the driveway each time I went over to the shed. I decided to take some of the gravel down and put it in the holes at the beginning of the driveway. That helped.
On October 28th at 1130 PM as I was readying for bed, I checked the weather forecast. Clouds and rain covered the map of California from Oregon to San Francisco. It was to be RAIN on Friday, less chance on Saturday and then more rain for Sunday. The first sun was not until next Tuesday - maybe.
I went to bed and meditated on moving the clouds away - at least for the weekend.
I awoke from a sound sleep at 0400 on October 29th to the sound of a voice in my head saying, "Get up! Get to work! NOW!", it commanded. I knew I must check the weather once again. The map showed that the clouds of rain had moved south and east - totally out of our area by at least 50 miles.
I got dressed and went in the dark to the shed pad. I used the car lights to be able to work from 0430 until 0630. I pulled the tarp from the floor deck and tossed it over the ground behind the shed. Maybe it would dry, I reasoned. In that two hours I cut 2x4s to the proper lengths for studs and plates using only a hand saw to avoid noise. I marked the plates for the stud positions. At 0700 I pounded the first nail for the north wall. By 0830 the north wall was framed. I lifted it into a vertical position and leveled it.
As dawn lit the sky, I could see ominous clouds to the south and west. Was I going to be 'skunked' again? I raised my arms to the sky in a silent lamentation and yelled, "Hell NO! Go Away! You cannot rain on me today. Maybe tonite, but certainly not now!" I was obsessed with getting the shed done before I was due to leave for Russia in a month.
By 0900 on October 29th, I had the north wall framed, lifted it into position and levelled it.
By 1130, the north half of the side walls were framed for the door and window. That was when I forgot to take more pictures. I was so driven to get things done, that I just forgot to photograph, eat or drink.
By 1300 I had the clerestory header section built and lifted into place. It weighed about 150 pounds and was quite a challenge to lift over my head, one end at a time, and sliding it down on that sliver of OSB at each end. The slot in the beam was tight.
By 1630 I had the front wall framed and erected. By 1700 I had the 'special stuff' that is under the blue tarp in the photos moved into the back portion of the shed. And by 1800 I had the tarp pulled up and stapled over the entire frame for the night. There was a prediction for heavy rains that night and scattered sun/rain on the 30th. And so, dodging raindrops would be the norm - again!
October 30th 0800: Ten minutes after pulling the tarp back this morning I got hit with 50 mph winds. The tarp was blown off to the rear. It took two hours of struggle to get it back over the shed. By 1100 AM I was ready to do something, so I decided to try to do the sides of the walls, put up the clerestory frame and put the rafters for the roof on the lower section in front. I had to work under the tarp which really hampered me. I got the ten rafters cut and installed which took probably twice as long since I had to do the cutting outside, fit each rafter in place and then nail it solid.
By 2 PM it was clear the wind would not stop. I took inventory of the wood on hand and found I would be short some critical stuff. So, off to the lumber yard and got back at 7 PM.
Links to Other Photo Essays About the Sangha Shed
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