We Do It Right...

'Cause We Do It Twice.

 

 

I laughed the first time I heard it. A co-worker of mine was joking that it should be the slogan for the company we worked for. These days, it sounds like a good motto for Chris and me, although for us, it could take three or four tries before we get things right.

 

Most of the time, after discovering some little goof, one of us will quote our motto, and we laugh and fix the problem. But when the inspector comes out and points out a major mistake in the framing that both we and another inspector missed- well, it doesn't seem funny at all. Just appropriate.

 

Turns out the lumber we used for our ceiling joists was a little too small. The 2x10s we installed were spanning nearly 18 feet across the living room and kitchen, when they should span only 15 feet. We should have used 2x12s. Oops.

 

The inspector told us not to lose sleep over it. All we needed to do was sister another 2x10 joist to every other joist. I glanced up at the ceiling:

All those electrical lines and light fixtures, the blocking nailed in to stiffen things up, it all needed to come out. All that work...

 

Instead of letting it get us down too much, we took the bull by the horns. Yesterday, I picked up the lumber we needed, and today, we threw ourselves at the task of fixing our mistake. We started off carefully prying up the staples holding the electrical lines down, taking out wires, and hammering out the blocking. (There's nothing better than getting frustration out with a big hammer and some demolition work.) Then, we started in on the joists.

 

First, we would bevel one corner of the board so that it wouldn't catch too much when we flipped the board up into place. When the board was ready, I would apply construction adhesive to the existing joist, then Chris would lift one end of the new joist up onto one wall, then go back for the other end. With each of us on ladders at the ends, we would next flip the board up almost into place, then, using hammers and clamps, force them into place. Clamps every five feet or so ensured that the boards were tight to each other while Chris nailed them together.

 

I have to admit, it went more smoothly than I expected. We got ten joists done today, and have five or six more to do tomorrow. Maybe, just maybe, we'll have the electrical rough-in done by October, like I was hoping, and be ready for insulation. Maybe...