Floor Box - Day 3

(2 hrs)

Today we finished installing the floor joists, and I mashed a finger and discovered that I am not quite as good at counting as I had always imagined myself to be. So, a mixed day, but in the end, success!

...Yeah, we ran out of lumber and joist hangers with two pieces left to install. I don't know how I managed to match the number of joist hangers to the quantity of lumber, and yet miscount the number of joists... oh well. Dad made a run back down to the local building supply store for a 8' stick of 2x6 and four more joist hangers while I installed the last couple that we had on hand. No harm done or time lost.

Speaking of harm, though, we had to shift one of the center rails because we noticed one end was misaligned, and while I was prying out the nails, the cat's paw pry bar slipped and smashed my left pinkie. Ow. I think it's just a bruise, which would be fortunate.

Stop... owie time! (Better joke if I'd mashed it with a hammer.)

A couple more lessons learned today (aside from basic counting and body/spatial awareness):

Lesson 7: There are (at least) two kinds of joist hangers. With the kind we used for most of the joists, you can hammer the nails straight into the joist, then position the joist and attach it by hammering nails straight into the rail/beam. The building supply place had run out of them today, though, so the kind we used for the last two joists were different: labeled "heavy duty," and to install them we had to position the joist, then slip the hanger over it, and then the nails that went into the joist went in at an angle toward the rail/beam. For some reason, they also took one fewer nail on each side. We liked the the heavy duty ones better; nailing at an angle was easy because the nail holes had a little channel to guide the nail in at the correct angle.

Most of our joist hangers are this kind...

...But the four we bought today were this kind.

Lesson 8: If you don't have a big, flat, level surface to work on and are using the trailer frame, like we are, then it's really helpful to position as many of the joists as possible on top of the trailer ribs. They will be the surface on which the joist will rest while you're installing it. A few of the joists hang in thin air and were harder to install because we had to steady them vertically as well as horizontally while we hammered.

However, later it will be inconvenient not to have the joists nicely spaced on 24" centers; we'll have to measure and locate each one separately to screw the plywood on.

Lesson 9: It's really okay to just work for a couple hours a day at first. Despite my grandpa (who has high standards) griping about how he thought I was going to be working full time on my house, it's really better to build up to that level of endurance. Call it a day when you get cold, tired, and start making mistakes--or better yet, just before you start making mistakes.

Other news: I got the call today from Lowe's that my rock wool floor insulation has arrived. We still have a few more days before we're ready for it--we need to locate and block around the future drains, cut and install the undercarriage plywood, give it couple of coats of paint, let it dry, and flip it over--but we'll probably grab it this weekend.

And finally, something of which I'm a bit proud: I did a pretty good job of figuring out how to minimize wasted lumber! This picture is all the spare 2x6 ends. We only wasted a few inches of each one, and some of those pieces will be put to use as blocking around the kitchen sink and bathtub drains.

Wastage so far. Pretty small, I think!