Sunday, July 23, 2006
I have a new appreciation for construction workers. There is so much more to their job than meets the eye.
We put the last of the bolts in the shear wall on Saturday. Installing the bolts required that I stand as far up on the ladder as I dared and stretch out my right hand in which I held a long handled ratchet. The ratchet was placed over the head of a hex head bolt higher up on the shear wall. My husband, on the other side of the wall, tightened a nut on the bolt. My only difficulty was in preventing the ratchet from being ripped out of my hand while keeping my balance on the ladder. Glad I’m not afraid of heights.
We put the last of the bolts in the shear wall on Saturday. Installing the bolts required that I stand as far up on the ladder as I dared and stretch out my right hand in which I held a long handled ratchet. The ratchet was placed over the head of a hex head bolt higher up on the shear wall. My husband, on the other side of the wall, tightened a nut on the bolt. My only difficulty was in preventing the ratchet from being ripped out of my hand while keeping my balance on the ladder. Glad I’m not afraid of heights.
I thought the fiberglass panels or the stringers would be the next step. Wrong again.
Instead, we began putting 3” screws through the rafters. The screws hold the two 2”x12”x15’ rafters together so they work together as a single 4”x12”x15’ rafter. I personally drove in more than 40 screws. I have the bruises to prove it too.
I really do think the stringers are next… At least I hope so.
# posted by JacquelineKD @ 8:32 PM 
