Garage Band

Spent a day cleaning up the construction debris around the garage reno. Pulling nails. I got to use a weird tool I purchased a couple of months ago. Some of the rafter pulins were six and eight inch peeled logs and when I pulled a couple of pounds of spikes from them I needed to cut them to length for the fireplace. The logs were too big for the radial slide saw so out came the electric chain saw. It worked great. It had a 16 inch bar and doesn't make a lot of noise - and no pull start. Just plug it in and press the button. It takes regular chain oil. Hard to beat for small cutting jobs around the place. No need to haul out the 24 inch Sthil to cut a couple of sticks of firewood. One of these days I am going to invest in a buck saw. Actually it looks like it wouldn't be to hard to make a decent one. Probably just as fast as getting out a chain saw for the little jobs.

We went into Prince George on Sunday to roam around the Home Depot. I love the one in PG. At the Coast, even on a Sunday, you can't get within a quarter mile of the door and the place is packed. Here, hardly anyone in comparisson, and the staff come looking for you to see if you need any help.

We bought 40 litres of Behr solid stain for the Garage and storage shed. Hopefully I will find a couple of days that will be warm enough to paint. It has been going near zero the last couple of days and September is usually the rainy season here. Although it may have started early as it has been raining for the last four days. I will be harvesting the garden in a week or so. Maybe leaving in some turnips for winter.

We also ordered a new energy efficient window for the one in the kitchen that has lost its seal. The new window is rated R7. It has always amazed me that we build R22 insulated homes and stick R2 windows in them. I think every window in the place here will eventually get replaced. We have 10 4X4 windows that I have been trying to keep going with caulk, paint and foam spray, but their days are limited. I think every window in this country needs to have some sort of energy efficient coverings. So far we have been using plastic shrink covering which helps a lot. But the main thing is getting the cracks around the windows well sealed with spray foam - that made a huge difference in the West side windows. The new window won't be here until around "6 to 8 weeks for delivery", so maybe Thanksgiving.

I also bought a 12 inch Rigid compound sliding miter saw, a premium 100 tooth blade for fine cross cuts. and miter saw utility vehicle. Honest, thats what they call a miter saw stand with wheels. What a nifty piece of technology. It all folds up like a transformer. Jo-Ann wants to be the first to use it, and to insure that, has offered to help me put it together. Jo-Ann has a secret strength that comes in handy: reading instructions. She wanted to help with the board cutting but we were using an old rickity slide saw that needed to be propped up with lumber, without a safety guard and a on/off trigger that couldn't be relied on. And we were never able to get it to cut square as the stops were worn out. This new one will be a lot safer. Oh, and did I mention: more power. Woo Hoo.

I just realized that I am going to have to put soffits in or the bird and bats are going to be able to fly right up the insulation stops and into the attic of the garage. Oh well, that will help solve the problem of what to do with the exposed beams on the long side of the garage. When I started this project I sure didn't have a clear idea of how much work it would be. Of course, as we made the renos, the usage changed to shop/garage.

When we were in Prince we did a lot of comparison shopping for insulation and sheet goods. Looks like r22 pink fibre glass and 7/16" OSB are the clear winners. The OSB at $7.60 was half the price of Spruce Plywood, and as it will only be used inside the shop, it will be plenty skookum.