more walls
more walls went up this week. i've been really busy with work though, so i haven't really had a chance to update stuff here. i'm gonna get some more pictures up tomorrow.
west wall is all done now and i'm working on the south walls, which are the last ones to do. west wall was a little tricky because it runs through where the fireplace used to be, and that area essentially has no joists, so there's nothing to attach the frame to. plus it's right by the main support beam for the house and the furnace and all that, so it's a bit tricky working with the ceiling in that space. disco came over on thursday to help me run a 2x4 where a joist would have been. i would've liked to have done a 2x6 or 2x8, but there's cabling and stuff running through that space which precluded this. only part of the frame runs through this space anyway, and i'm using double top plates to brace to adjoining frames, so it's all pretty sturdy. i also had to be careful with the bottom plate in this space, since both the footing for the old fireplace and the french drain run under the frame. since the topmost concrete layer is so thin above the footing, i was hesitant to use the ramset to drive nails for fear of cracking. i decided instead to drill and run tapcon screws. i was smart this time and got shorter screws. although i was a little too smart and got them just a wee bit too short. i'm sort of annoyed by their sizes. i really wish they made 2 1/2" screws, but they only have 2 1/4" and 2 3/4". i got the 2 1/4" but i'm worried that they're not quite anchoring deep enough into the concrete. i picked up a box of 2 3/4" today to replace them.
house settling is so annoying to deal with. working on the south wall, i've noticed things like one of the joists having twisted a bit over time and being almost 1/2" higher than all the other joists. for a couple of the frames i've been doing, i've had to take individual measurements for each stud and test fit before assembling the frame. fortunately i'm on the home stretch now so there isn't much more of this to endure.
one of my biggest problems as of late has been doing wedge studs for the weird-angle corners. these are used when you don't have a 90 degree corner, so when the frames meet up there's a bit of a stud gap that needs to be filled in with a wedged stud to secure the corner and/or provide an adequate drywall-attaching surface at the corner. most of my attempts to do beveled rip cuts on 2x4s with my table saw have ended in failure. much of this is due to the fact that many of the angles i need to cut at come close to the diagonal through the 2x4, so instead of having to cut 3.5", i might have to cut like 4" and some change. all of my saws bottom out right around 3.5".
i spent way too much time today running around to various stores trying to find something that can cut deep enough for my needs. no one has table saws > 10" or circ saws > 7 1/4" in stock, and even if they did, they're quite pricey. my plan now is to get a band saw that can bevel and use that to do my rip cuts. i picked up a 9" band saw this evening, but it's really underpowered and could just barely accommodate the 12 degree rip i was trying to do. about 3 inches into a test cut, the blade got stuck in the wood and eventually snapped. so i need to go back tomorrow, slap down some more cash, and get a band saw that's at least 10". i'm tempted to just bite the bullet and get one of the 14" ridgids they carry at home depot. i've had really good experiences with their stuff thusfar.