Week 27: May 1 - 7

Week 27. These are some photos from my work on vinyl siding. There are various components to vinyl siding, allowing the different pieces to interlock together.

Here I have installed corner boards.

Checking to make sure they are plumb.

Starting the first row of vinyl. It is cut to the necessary size and lines are snapped across the building to ensure the panel is installed on the level.

J-Channel around the window. This will allow the vinyl siding to snap in snugly around the window.

Vinyl siding moving up the wall. Each piece of siding is nailed off with roofing galvanized roofing nails. The nails are nailed only so tight. We want the vinyl to be able to slide and move, due to it's capacity to shrink and grow in cold and warm weather.

Week 26: April 24 - 30

Week 26 I am working on shingle siding. In the picture above is a ledger board, which is nailed in place before the course of shingles are placed. It allows for better referencing of where the bottom of all the shingles in each course, should rest. Keeps things level and visually appealing.

Shingles are nailed with 5d galvanized nails, usually 2 per shingle, but sometimes 3 depending on how wide the shingle is. I paused here to install another drip cap, which is again pinned in place.

Shingled all the way up.

And this is the third siding we have been working with. LP siding, or Louisiana Pacific siding.

Week 25: April 17 - 23

Week 25 I'm working on installing the bevel siding on the 10'x12' shed. The first piece of clapboard has been cut to length and installed with a 7d ring shank nail through the siding, into each of the furring strips.

Making pretty good progress up the side of the building. All pieces are cut to length and installed with a consistent reveal.

Had to pause once I had almost reached the top of the window. A drip cap, to shed water away from the building, needed to be bent up and installed over the top of the window. This needs to be done, before the rest of the siding could be put into place.

The brake, for bending the coil stock.

Mock up installation of a drip cap over the window. 

My own drip cap, cut to the appropriate size, with a 1/4" overhang over the edges of the window. 

The drip cap must extend 4" up the side of the building, from where the window trim meets the wall. Here my drip cap is pinned in place with galvanized roofing nails.

And finally, the bevel siding is complete! We're just missing some frieze boards over the top part, where the pads and top of clapboard meet.

Week 24: April 10 - 16

Week 24 I'm back to working on the dormer shed. I have the window RO and wall framing for the dormer in place.

And here I have the wall braced off now and have installed the ridgeboard. It connects from the main ridgeboard to the dormer frame and creates the peak of the dormer.

Securely braced the ridgeboard where it is attached to the dormer frame. As it is not meeting up against another ridge and there is not a lot of material coming into contact with this ridge to keep it in place, it was very important to securely anchor it with a steel plate and screws.

Where the secondary ridge intersects with the main ridgeboard.

Starting to put sheathing in place.

Ledgers underneath the top most sheathing, helps to keep the sheathing from falling into the dormer opening.

Sheathing is in place and helping to hold the dormer frame secure. Starting to install the side walls of the dormer. Cutting angled wall plates, for the top and bottom.

Front most stud is in place.

The remaining studs installed, all bottoms were cut at an angle, in agreement with the pitch of the roof.

Week 23 April 3 - 9

Week 23 is a very photo intensive week. Here we're applying caulking after flashing the bottom and sides of the door rough opening. The flashing and caulking will prevent water from seeping it's way into the shed.

Here I am squaring the jamb of the door with the pads on the outside of the shed. This will help us bring the door into alignment with the exterior siding and trim.

Here the door is almost finished being hung. Firstly, this door was a prehung door, which means it comes in it's own casement with jambs and all. The entire door assembly is put into the door rough opening. One screw is removed from one of the door hinges and a 3" screw is driven into the door rough opening through the door assembly. This pins the door in place and allows us to twist and move the door as we need (to get it plumb and square) without it falling on us. The jambs are shimmed out, depending on how much the door needs to be pushed, and in what direction.

Hung door.

Here we've installed a kickboard. This helps minimize wear and tear, and also helps with water shedding.

Side trim is going in place over the kickboard.

Next I began work on the door hardware. The lock is put in place first and then the door knobs are attached from either side. These are then screwed in place on the door and the whole thing is assembled, except for the striker plate in the door jamb.

Finished hung door, with hardware installed and a header.

Week 22 March 27 - April 2

Week 22 and we're working on installing windows and making window trim.

The above picture is of the window trim and it is assembled so that the bottom and sides are glued and kreg jigged together, the trim is then put in place and the top piece is added last (glued and screwed.) This makes installation of the window trim, easy, sliding the bottom assembly in place and then adding the top piece last will keep it locked snugly around the window.

Here the window is waiting to receive trim.

Window has trim installed. Before installation of the trim, it is given a coat of paint and allowed to dry.

And the last part of this week I moved onto squaring the jamb for the doors that were about to be built. This allows the door to hang correctly in the frame, preventing sagging, dragging or rubbing. In the picture above I had secured pads, which would later be used for flushing of the doors with the exterior trim and siding.

In these two pictures you can see a little more clearly how the jamb is being shimmed out in some places, attempting to bring the head jamb and side jambs into plumb and level alignment.

Next I worked on some furring strips. These strips will allow our bevel siding to have ventilation and a water drainage plane behind the siding. The furring strips are installed on every stud and along all corner boards, window and door openings. This will also give us something to fasten the clapboards to.