Snow = progress on the building

Yesterday we cancelled all services at church due to the snow. So I had something like a second Saturday to spend on my building.

Saturday I had spent a good deal of time putting up insulation in the walls. I'd finished the back right corner, because I wanted to get the small wood heater installed (it's really COLD in the building with no heat!) With walls a bit over 10 feet high, it takes a full batt of insulation, plus 27" or so additional, to fill each space between the studs.

I had acquired some Hardie-plank soffett boards from the Habitat store, and was planning to use these cement-based boards for wall backing behind both the wood stove and the small propane heater I bought in January. But I also had to build a box with no insulation in it roughly 15"x15" and faced inside and out with Hardie-plank to take the place of a 'thimble' through the wall.

Cutting the outside square of plywood was going to be a big problem, until I remembered my electric chainsaw. That did the job in a couple of minutes. Cutting the round holes for the stovepipe in the Hardie-plank squares was a good bit harder, involving power and hand tools, since I couldn't locate my jigsaw. Then I managed to mis-cut BOTH the wall panels that surrund the place where the pipe went through the wall.

Getting all the stovepipes to work right was a pretty good job, too, as was placing the completed stovepipe atop the outside elbow. I think I'll have to go back later in non-snowy weather and place at least one more 2-ft section onto the pipe outside, to get it well above the roofline.

I was able to burn one of those fireplace logs in the stove, but it didn't do too well. I'll have to see what the problem is--either the log doesn't burn well in the stove, or the stove doesn't allow enough air onto the log.

I managed to get the wall panels up to protect from the heat of the stove, but the firelog never got hot enough to even really heat up the stovepipe! And I got the insulation and paneling up so I could mount the propane stove, too.

Today I plan to get the rest of the wall insulation up, if I can locate some T-50 staples. Using my air nailer doesn't work too well, since it's so powerful it sometimes drives the staple all the way through the paper. I may have to try a trick with a string that a friend showed me, if I can't find the T-50s for my hammer stapler.

Getting the ceiling insulation in place looks to be a two-person job...any volunteers?