Building Our Own Small Home: Day 6

Bre cut out the window openings with a flush trim bit on the router.

It’s a funny thing, writing these posts about our build.  Next to my word processor I have a list in my sticky notes that reflects my daily jottings of the progress we made.  On it, I can see Day 5,6,7, etc.  All the way up to Day 87 (as of today).  Yet, when writing about what we accomplished, I can honestly relive it.  And it seems like just yesterday that we were putting down the subfloor in the loft.

I was lucky again to have Bre out to help me – and it certainly made things quicker.  We were able to finish up placing and securing all of the loft i-joists.  This also included the rim joists on the terminated ends of the joists.

Moving on, we were able to work as a team in putting down the loft subfloor.  I would hoist a sheet up to her, and she’d nail it in place.  Then she’d give me measurements for the next one, and we’d continue as such.  Sidebar: Bre is incredible at doing many things.  Nailing in a straight line is not one of them.  If I had a nickel for every nail that missed the joist, I’d have about $20 (sorry hun!)

I jest, but really having her there saved me a ton of work.  And that’s one thing that I’ve learned since.  Having to do the work of two people, especially when using a ladder, is really time consuming.  So I am thankful that she was able to help.

Bre cut out the window openings with a flush trim bit on the router.We got to sit and enjoy our new loft floor
Unfortunately, we ran out of nails for the nail gun and were unable to finish the subfloor on this day.  We did end up running a flush trim bit in the router around all the window and door openings to trim the OSB flush to the framed openings.  I know that traditionally, framers would just use a reciprocating saw or a circular saw for this task, but I found this to be much more accurate.

As the sun started to fade Bre and I enjoyed a stiff drink sitting on our new loft floor, imagining our future homestead.

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