WOOHOO! Good weather = time to build
#16
Gary...is this building solely dedicated to trains? If so, you are a lucky man indeed! Thumbsup
How big is the building?

GOOD LUCK! Hope the weather holds out for you Wink
Steve
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#17
"You're a better man than I am...." Great workmanship!! I'd offer to help, but I'm restricted to nothing over 5 lbs. A rule which I break continually!! Eek
I only know what I know, and I don't understand very much of it, either.
Member: AEA, American Legion, Lions Club International
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#18
Steve Wrote:Gary...is this building solely dedicated to trains? If so, you are a lucky man indeed! Thumbsup
How big is the building?

GOOD LUCK! Hope the weather holds out for you Wink

So far, the weather has been fantastic. Bright blue skys and shorts and t-shirt, then once the sun goes down, a light jacket goes on. And honestly, I think my face is getting sunburned! Or maybe it is just really dry. We've been in a high pressure area lately.

Yep, the building is solely for trains. Inside dimensions are 20 feet x 37 feet.
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#19
cnw1961 Wrote:I like that spooky night shot Misngth . Looks like you made some good progress ... so we can expect to see pics of your layout soon Wink .

Soon? Confusedhock:

Progress is slower than hoped for. But I should be back to the layout in a couple months maybe? Right now my big push is to get everything on the outside sealed up before it starts raining again.
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#20
sgtcarl1 Wrote:"You're a better man than I am...." Great workmanship!! I'd offer to help, but I'm restricted to nothing over 5 lbs. A rule which I break continually!! Eek

Thanks for the compliment. And thanks for the offer of help. You could help me mark boards and do layout and such. And of course, armchair carpenters are always welcome! Errr... maybe not! :o But wouldn't you have a rather long way to travel to get here?
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#21
Another day, and feeling beat again. But the spirit is willing and I will be back at it tomorrow. Weather forecast looks promising. Clear on monday, 30% chance of rain on tuesday, 20% chance on wednesday, then thursday and friday are clear. I really want to get at least the tarpaper down on the roof before it rains.

This is from around 11am today. Those are 4x6 posts supporting the center beam. I'm not sure whether the center wall is going to be full height or not, so that is one reason I am building the post/beam down the center.

   

Here are my wife and daughter shuttling boards.

   

Yours truly putting in some screws. So far, there is not a single nail in the entire thing. Everything is screwed together with various lengths of sheetrock or deck screws. Dang, I look kinda chubby!

   

Am I a beautiful specimen, or what? The building construction is a little different than what is normally done. I'm probably going a little overkill, but I have to make sure this thing will withstand a hurricane, considering the proximity to the Gulf Coast. Plus, I wanted to use only boards of lengths that I could carry in a pick-up and install by myself. And don't even mention the OSHA rule about not standing on the top of a ladder.

   

My wife and daughter. Wife is marking the top plates for the ceiling joists. Daughter looks like she is clowning around?

   

Another view of the center beam under construction:

   

Overall view. The pic makes it look like the thing is leaning. It isn't! Smile

   

Ceiling joists. About half of them are in. I am pleasantly surprised how straight and level everything is.

   

And one last shot. Still have to complete the ridge board at the top. 2x12s leftover from the form for the foundation. Heavy, and they have to go all the way up to the top. You can see one of them already installed on the left top.

   

There ya go. I'll be back at it first thing in the morning.
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#22
Looking really good! Keep up the great work! Thanks for letting us see the building, it is fun watching it go up!
Scott
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#23
What? You're not done yet? (ducks and runs for cover....) Misngth

For carrying the plywood, I've used a heavy duty appliance dolly. Load a few sheets on it and you can either push or pull it, the later allows you to see where you are going. Sure beats carrying them. They might slide off on the wheelbarrow unless you have a way of strapping them down. Be careful, and remember to lift with your knees and not your back. I'm sure we would all hate to hear that you injured yourself while trying to get this done.

Otherwise, glad to see you finally got a break in the weather. Your photos take me back to the days when I did house framing during the summers when I was still in high school.
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#24
Tetters reply reminded me that you can strap the plywood on the wheelbarrow with one or two of the inexpensive "motor cycle" tie down straps available at Lowes, Home Depot, or Harbor Freight.
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#25
(sighs) Yeah, I guess it wold be a bit far to drive!! But, don't be surprized that everything is square and level!! It looks to me like you know what you're doing!! And, I'm glad you aren't using nails! It takes 10 nails to equal the holdiing power of one screw!!! Eek
I only know what I know, and I don't understand very much of it, either.
Member: AEA, American Legion, Lions Club International
Motto: "Essayons"
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#26
One thing about screws is you are better off to use deck screws rather than drywall screws. Drywall screws are so brittle that sometimes the head breaks off just putting them into a hard piece of wood. I wouldn't trust drywall screws for structure.
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#27
Jesso: Thanks for the comments. I'm more than happy to post my progress for everyone. Every now and then I get a "hankering" to build something. I figured I would build a building!

Tetters: No, not done yet!! Eek When I started on Friday, my calculations were that I would be putting plywood and tarpaper on the roof today. I missed a bit. There is an outside shot that I could be doing it tomorrow, but probably not until wednesday.

The problem with a dolly or anything with small wheels is that the yard is muddy, soggy, and bumpy. Even with plywood on the ground, I think it may still be an issue. I was thinking I could strap the plywood to the wheelbarrow as was mentioned. Either that, or my wife, daughter, and myself will just carry it all a sheet at a time. 65 sheets total Sad .

As for injuries, yeah, I thought about that today. wouldn't it be terrible if I fell off the ladder or something and was laid up for awhile?

sgtcarl: Well, I spoke too soon! Today I found that I didn't keep the end walls plumb. The corners are plumb but in the center of the wall, the top is leaning in about 1/2". Darn it. There will be a wall intersecting right there, so no big deal... nobody will ever know but me. Well, I guess yall know now too. Still, I could just smack myself for not rechecking that with a string line before I started tieing things together. I checked the long walls with a string and got them straight, but didn't do the short end walls. 35 (need a smiley that is whacking itself on the head but ISN'T smiling!

Russ: I am mostly using 3" deck screws for structural and 1 5/8" for attaching the plywood. These are the gray ones. I am also using some 3" sheetrock screws... these are the same diameter as the deck screws, just not coated. I did have some small diameter 2" sheetrock screws that were laying around, and I used some of them. You are right, I did break the heads off of several. I switched back to deck screws, but there are still some of them in easy to get to places. I may go back and change them out.

Thanks everyone for the interest in my project. I'll post some more photos shortly...

Gary
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#28
Here are picsfrom today:

Me and daughter.

   

Getting ready to put up some rafters.

   

Here's the inside of the building.

   

The beam down the middle which supports the rafters.

   

Got about 1/3 of the rafters up.

   

And here is the contemplated layout arrangement.

The red is existing layout that I am moving from the garage. Shelves are essentially 24" wide. Will have quite a bit of shelving to build, and alot more track. Still haven't exactly designed what is going on the new shelves.

   

Back at it tomorrow...
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#29
tetters Wrote:Your photos take me back to the days when I did house framing during the summers when I was still in high school.

So why aren't you down here helping me?!! 357
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#30
Gary S Wrote:
tetters Wrote:Your photos take me back to the days when I did house framing during the summers when I was still in high school.

So why aren't you down here helping me?!! 357

That was like almost (ahem) 20 years ago (cough, ahem).

It looks good, they really start to take shape once the roof starts to go on. Looks like a really solid structure you got there.
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