Mid-19th Century Building continued

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If you missed the first installment,
http://smith-wessonforum.com/lounge/315277-mid-19th-century-joinery.html

A few thoughts . . . .
This is not a Historical Reconstruction/Restoration. It is an attempt to make a usable space out of an old building that was pretty well on its last legs. In fact, it is humorously called my "man cave," reloading shack, and refuge. It only faintly resembles the original structure. The roof system, except of course for the tin, is almost 100% original. It was in excellent shape. The foundation pillars are all original. Three of the four sills (large timbers the rest of the building sits on) are original. Probably 20% of the wall framing is original. Everything else is new; siding, floor framing, subfloor, finish floor, wall framing, windows, etc.

I am not a builder. I do have a little common sense, and can usually visualize what I want a finished product to look like, whether it be a garden, a fence, or in this case, a building. Much basic building is a matter of common sense, of being able to take correct measurements, and cut and join the various pieces in a way they will be stable and secure.

I had two excellent helpers. I did very little actual work. I supervised Wes and Howard. Wes is a college grad, who worked for NRA a couple of years until he couldn't stand the N. VA winters. He is currently going to tech school to become a certified radiologist. Howard has helped me on the farm and with various projects for several years. He has a lot of skill, but has trouble visualizing things. When he understands what I want, it's like a light coming on.

I paid both my helpers well in excess of minimum wage, so hired labor was by far my major expense. Before back surgery and shoulder surgery I could have gotten by with one helper.

Enough rambling . . .

The building was leaning badly. Before much of anything could be done, it had to be straightened. I decided to use two heavy nylon tie-down straps to pull it back straight, or plumb. I was afraid of actually sliding the building off the foundation pillars. I took one tractor and butted the front-loadet firmly against the front sill and locked the brakes and placed blocks under the wheel. I took my pickup and hooked the end of one strap to it. Did the same with another tractor, so I pulled from two points simultaneously. It worked! You should have heard the creaking and groaning. It took a lot of ft. lb of pressure to move all that mass. Even though it is a small building, it uses some heavy timbers.

Wes and Howard looping nylon straps over top-plate opposite pull point.


Tractor loader butted against front sill.


Somehow I didn't get any real good pictures of the process. Here you can see the tension on the straps as they hold the building in an upright, plumb position. Look close and you can see the far strap.


Once plumb, or nearly so, the building had to be secured in that state until we could get some wall framing and braces in place. We used a couple of long cedar boards that would later be siding, and they worked famously. Nailed to top plate, bottom sill, and somewhere in the middle to prevent bowing, they held the building straight. Once they were in place, we could ease the tension off and get the vehicles out of the way. One on each wall.
 
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Early on I decided to replace the original floor. The boards were in good shape, but there was really no way to get all the framing work done with it like it was. It was originally done sort of awkwardly. In one of the pictures above you can see that the floor joists were set on top of the sills. I decided to drop the joists down flush with the top of the sills, using modern joist hangers and treated lumber for the new joists. This would result in a little higher ceiling when the building was completed. Also, one of the sills had a lot of rot and termite damage. At some time in the past 100 or so years, someone saw the need to shore up that sill with a block of heart pine wood. This provided a conduit for termites. In 100 or so years, they had worked about half way through the heart pine timbers. I had an extra sill that came from another building on the farm, torn down sometime in the long past. All we had to do was cut the new sill to length, jack up the corners, remove the old sill, and slide the new one in:D It actually went very smoothly. Everything stayed in place, mainly because we still had those big cedar braces in place. Also, it is amazing what a few whacks with a 20 lb hammer will do to get that extra one-eighth inch of movement you need.

Old damaged sill. Although it looks bad, it probably would have held the building up another 100 years.


Building jacked up on the corners for removal of old sill. We put in some temporary support for that part of the roof framing while we did this. Probably unnecessary, but made me feel better.
The old sill is actually out in these pictures.



"New" replacement sill

After cutting to length, new sill put in place and notched and shimmed to get floor back to level.


With the new sill in place, we started in with the new floor frame.
As you see, we put in a plywood subfloor.
 
In my opinion, you really have to have a talent to be as resourceful as you have been with this project.

I am very much amazed at your work.
 
Really a great project. I built (with help!) a small cabin on the side of a mountain in N.E. Georgia 30 years ago with my Wife. It was truly an adventure that I still reminisce about on a regular basis. Well done!!
 
After we got the subfloor in, which was a fairly tedious process, we started with walls. The building was/is level, but it isn't square by a long shot. (Actually, by three inches or so) The walls were very slow work. I kept having to go buy more treated 2x4s, which we mostly doubled to effectively make 4x4s. I made my worst mistake at the very beginning by not getting a part of a wall plumb. It was the result of inexperience. It won't happen again;), but by the time I realized it, it was just not worth it to go in and tear out a day's work. Actually, no one notices it now until I point it out. Oh well.

I decided to put windows in, and had to frame for them. We also had to get lots of diagonal bracing in to keep things on the upright. The wall framing was very time consuming, and at times frustrating. Much more difficult, for me at least, than new construction. We left the big cedar braces on until we got that bracing in the wall.

This shot is from the opposite side where we replaced the sill. As you can see, most of the wall framing on the near side of the picture had to be replaced. Only the corners and maybe one other upright were in good contact with the sill after straightening. We have completed the framing and set in a window on the other end. Cedar braces still holding things straight.


This iPhone picture is distorted. That top beam doesn't really have a bend in it. You can see how massive that piece is, though. Probably at least 5"x10". Wes is making effective use of the big hammer.


Shot of a window set in place. Note the inletted diagonal bracing. We had to replace the entire corner. That front wall, around the corner from the window, is the one I screwed up.


Framing in another diagonal brace.
 
Once all the windows were set and all wall framing was complete, we started with window trim and siding.

We wrapped the wall in old fashioned "tar paper."


I knew I didn't have enough of the cedar to go all the way 'round the building. I decided to put the cedar up on the two sides that most people will see, the front and the side facing the house and driveway.


We only had one ladder long enough to reach the high point of the gables, so we improvised and used the front loader as scaffolding.


Here is what a person driving up to the building sees.


"Off" end of building with some of the old flooring re-used as siding.


The building had a shed off the back originally, so we built one on. You can see that we also used the old flooring as siding there, too.


We replaced the old tin with new. The building had cedar shingles on it originally. Old pictures of the outbuildings indicate that most of them were covered with tin around 1957. They must have had a good cotton crop that year.


 
Nice work, red.
Looks like you lost a corner post as well as a sill.

So, where is the jacuzzi gonna be? :D
 
So, where is the jacuzzi gonna be? :D

No jacuzzi, but as you can see, it is only a few steps to the pool!:)



Something very interesting . . . . as you can see in some of the previous pictures, the ground was pretty much bare all the way around the building. On the South side, there had been some old equipment, an old cotton duster, a big piece of clay pipe, an old tractor-powered cut-off saw, etc. The ground had been covered for years, with a few small patches showing that grew up in weeds. Well, look what popped up this spring with all the rain we had! These are petunias according to Mrs. redlevel. We did not plant them. They haven't grown there in years. Apparently, there were dormant seed in the ground just waiting for a chance. Mother nature works in wonderful ways, doesn't she? Another, better, way to say that is "God is Good." I take the appearance of these flowers as a sign that Somebody is pleased with my efforts.:D Silly me.



(I believe the fact that these flowers were planted by somebody at some time as further evidence that this was originally a dwelling. There were probably no windows with glass, but shutters that could be opened in warm weather. Some wife and mama somewhere in the past tried to add a touch of beauty.)
 
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