Friday Night 8pm:

I couldn’t start. It was almost dark, and I didn’t have any tools out, Damn.

I ate quick a quick supper and ran down to my buddy’s house to help him run some wire, then hit they hay.

The next morning I wanted to start bright and early, but somewhere in between going to sleep and waking up, that changed. Lying in bed at 6am, I could feel a very strong “meh” attitude creeping around. So strong that I didn’t even start.

My buddy “had” to get his house in order this particular weekend and I thought he could use my help, so I got in my car and went down there to help. He already had one of his employees there and I did some stuff, but I was being used at about 7% of my capacity. Cut styrofoam, wait. Cut styrofoam wait. I was also, frustrated with the process in which the styrofoam was being installed. It was a 9-step method to a one-step problem. Get tape measure, make mark. Other end, get tape measure, make mark. Unwind chalk line, snap line. Wind up chalk line. Cut strapping, align to line, nail strapping, nail strapping, nail strapping, Then insert styrofoam, then nail other strapping. I don’t deal well sitting on my hands, or working like that. (I’m a terrible “worker bee”) I politely made a suggestion to eliminate 8 steps, and was quickly shot down. Which I was fine with, and then just cranked out work at 7%. Well after that 10 minute job was done after an hour and a half. We were moving on to the next room to do the same. But first it was time to have a short break (which I felt we just had), at which point I was feeling very 3rd wheel and unnecessary anyway and so said goodbye and headed home.

I pulled in the door yard (I love this term, “door yard”), and leaped out of my car almost before it was shut off and stopped moving. Hurriedly set up a camera, grabbed my other one, and started tearing open bundles of lumber. I was in a great mental spot. I was SO ready to actually get something done. But I had released any “hopes” “desires” “expectations” of getting ANYTHING done when I decided to go to my buddies house.

So it was great, I was fully motivated, focussed, and clear headed, and happy. I was so happy to have started, and to be working on a clean slate. I just began.

One board, and one tool at a time.

Oh, I need my saw – I’d run to go get it.
Oh, I need a level – Run to go get it.
K, need another 8 footer.

So on, for 8 hours. I’d stop to eat something, and keep on trucking. The end of that first day, I had all of the walls for the first floor done. They didn’t have sheathing, nor did they have the posts that would be contained in them, but they were there for the most part. They did have the rim’s for the floor, and that’s where I started the next morning.

Sunday 6:30am.
I was pumped. Charged by the progress I’d made the day before. I could feel the expectations creeping in.

Oh, I bet I can get all these joists up.

I bet I can also get the flooring done.

Wonder if I could also get the radiant tubes installed.

That is how it starts.  My brain, starts setting these types of goals and then any little thing that slows me down, starts to eat at me.  So I released them.  (heh, sort of)  I say that because deep down, I knew I hadn’t really released them.  I kept them, because I also knew that’s what’s been driving me.  Those expectations drive me to completion.  But I needed to remove them from surface level thoughts.  Tier 1.

So I happily started in marking my floor rims, and hanging joist hangers (for the first time).  At first I could quite figure out what the little ears were for.  They stuck out awkwardly, waiting to be used, but it took a few hangers before I realized for what.  If you bang the ears in, it holds the hanger, so you can nail it.  Hrm, simple enough.  So on I went marking away.  (woah…i just realized…I measure from the wrong side of the building)  This shouldn’t have any consequence, but a pretty major discovery.

So I got the joist hangers installed, and started pulling the joists down cutting them and installing them.  Pretty basic, pretty simple.  Hanging 2x12x16′s is a heavy job, but not impossible.  It sure must seem impossible when you pick up one of those boards.  But one end at a time, one board at a time, and they get done.

Sunday Noon.  It’s HOT, like desert HOT.  Too hot to be directly in the sun, so I stopped.  Chelsea and I then piled in the car and went off to the river and floated down lazily for 3 hours on inner tubes.  The only good thing to do when it’s HOT is go tubing.

Sunday 4pm:

Get back to it, this time with some help from Chelsea, and we hung the remaining floor joists.  Wrong.

yeah, it was a pretty disheartening discovery, but in a desperate attempt to remember to offset the joists by 3/4″ to line up with sheet material, I offest them all 1 1/2″.  I had to remove 6 nails per joist, then remove the joist, then, remove 6 nails in each hanger and move the hanger over an 1 1/2″.  It was TERRIBLE.  The nails didn’t want to come out, and the hangers were bending.  Uggh.  But had to be done, and it was over in 45 minutes or so and back on track.

So the end of that day, the joists were all hung, the rims all done, the studs all in place.  Floor One.  Complete-ish. (needs sheathing and flooring)  I didn’t even start until noon Saturday.  And took off for 4 hours tubing on Sunday.  Sheesh, this garage building business isn’t that hard! :)