UPDATE!

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck) 03/16/2020 at 08:29 • Filed to: None

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Yes, my friends, we have a roof!

My weekend wasn’t all curb cleaning and sunburns. I wrapped up the roof and got started on the doors. My wife is waffling on the siding, so we took a trip to the big box lumber yard to peruse some options. I was looking forward to the quick-and-easy vinyl to match the back of the house, but now she’s thinking board and batten. I’m not opposed to that if I can get her to consider the cheap-and-easy-to-hang vinyl version.

The real-deal wood version is expensive.

I’m thinking if you can’t tell the difference from 10 feet, what does it matter? I doubt we’ll stay in this house another five years and people down here are happy with vinyl. If it isn’t our “forever” home, why spend the money and deal with the added maintenance of real wood siding?

We have some time to make that decision. I’ll get the doors done in the meantime to finish drying-in the structure.

Speaking of doors, the instructions in the kit suggest using pocket screws to join together 2x4s to make the frame. I’m not too happy with that option, especially on a moving part which is subject to some abuse. Since I have the space to work, I set up my table saw and started cutting half-lap joints. I don’t have a fancy dado blade, so it’s taking a bit longer, but the practice joints fit together perfectly.

The top and bottom of the first door were easy since they were only 3 feet long. The next challenge is cutting the half-lap on the sides. Those will be over 7 feet long, so supporting the far end while I make the cuts is going to be tricky.

As I watch videos like these, I definitely feel some hardware envy. I’m working with an old Ryobi 10" saw similar to this :

Mine doesn’t even have the extendable table like this one. Because the tolerances are a bit loose, it’s easy to get the fence misaligned and not parallel to the blade. That’s dangerous because it can cause binding and kickback. The miter gauge doesn’t have a snug fit, so it’s easy to make a cut that isn’t perfectly square (or whatever angle you’re trying to cut).

Those shortcomings led me to a whole bunch of videos on improving your table saw with things like an improved fence and a cross-cut sled. Of course, you can just buy those upgrades, but why buy when you can build them? I can see that this is one deep rabbit hole I’ve fallen into.

66P1800inpieces > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/16/2020 at 08:46

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I had a similar saw but bought a new semi decent one $500 USD for upcoming projects. This includes the need to trim around a couple of windows and I expect a couple of modifications to Ikea cabinets when I start my kitchen remodel. Wow, what a difference. The new saw is so much smoother, dust collection better, the fence moves on gears so it is is always aligned. Even the safety protection is better and easier to work with. If you have a lot of work do do you may want to pick one up.

Also, for siding, have you looked at the newer version of engineered wood siding.  Looks decent, lasts a long time (supposedly) same weight as real wood but much cheaper.   

ttyymmnn > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/16/2020 at 08:48

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I’m not opposed to that if I can get her to consider the cheap-and-easy-to-hang vinyl version.

This isn’t going to be a She Shed, is it?

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > 66P1800inpieces 03/16/2020 at 08:58

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I recently helped my dad build some doors using an inherited table saw from the 1950s, and man does that thing have some looseness in everything. We had to fix it about 2x per day, but it still works.

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 03/16/2020 at 09:02

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Nope. It’s a combination workshop and storage. Primarily storage. Most of the workshop functions will move back into the garage when we start remodeling the house later this year. Right now I’m working on getting it dried-in. After that will come a window at the back and insulation on the west wall to minimize the heat load. Then I’ll start putting in shelves . Once the shelves are in, we’ll start rearranging. The garage will become a temporary workshop while I work on the remodel. Once that’s done, we’ll rearrange again and the storage building will become storage and a small workshop.

TheRealBicycleBuck > 66P1800inpieces 03/16/2020 at 09:07

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I’ll have to look into the engineered wood siding. Got any references?

A new saw probably isn’t in the cards for me. This year is going to be an expensive one. We have one child going to college, another in need of a vehicle, a need for a new a/c unit, and a planned remodel. I have to work with what I have. Fortunately, the saw is in good condition, it just needs some minor modifications to make it more precise.

66P1800inpieces > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/16/2020 at 09:34

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In the US we have LP Smart siding. 20 or so years ago there were issues with the original Boise-Cascade Hardboard Siding and I think there were recalls but the glues and manufacturing process have really improved and I don’t think it is an issue anymore. That type of siding is generally compared to the cement board siding except it is I think cheaper, lighter, easier to work with and cut, and lasts about the same. Thinking about it, back in the day the issue with cement siding is that it used asbestos. Obviously that is no longer an issue.

Damn, you have a lot of projects going on!

shop-teacher > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/16/2020 at 09:35

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Oh sweet irony!

So, the wall sheathing you have is cedar, right? That’s meant to be outside, it can be the siding. What’s ironic, is that T-111 pattern is meant to simulate board and batten siding. Which, admittedly, it does a terrible job of.

TheRealBicycleBuck > shop-teacher 03/16/2020 at 10:19

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:)

It may look like cedar from afar, but it’s all southern pine. It came as the only siding with the kit. I thought I’d be hanging vinyl on it, so I wasn’t concerned about color-matching the pieces. If this ends up being the exterior, I’ll have to paint it.

TheRealBicycleBuck > 66P1800inpieces 03/16/2020 at 10:31

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I looked into Hardiboard as an option, but I decided against it after seeing some concerns about fragility during installation. I’m a one-man band here and if there’s a chance I’ll break it, I will.

Larger panels have been ruled out. It’s what I already have and my wife hates it. That’s why it’s now considered the underlayment for whatever comes next.

LP does make a product appropriate for vertical board-and-batten installation. Even better is that it comes in colors. I’ll show my wife and see what she thinks.

66P1800inpieces > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/16/2020 at 10:43

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Cool. They do make some tools to make Hardi easier to install. It comes in colors as well, but still needs to be repainted every number of years. Might be the same for the LP board. Vinyl is probably more forgiving and you never need to paint it. My neighbor is currently installing Hardi on his house which is basically a mirror of my house and it looks fantastic but maybe a little plain . I am quite envious, but that is because it is brand new and shiny.

TheRealBicycleBuck > 66P1800inpieces 03/16/2020 at 10:50

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I hung all new vinyl on the back of our house when it was destroyed by a tornado several years ago. My wife wants to switch from vinyl to “something else” and after looking at options, she’s leaning heavily toward something oriented vertically instead of horizontally.

shop-teacher > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/16/2020 at 11:33

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Id you think you’ll probably move in 5ish years, then I’d slap a coat of paint on it and call it a day. I definitely wouldn’t spend the money on true board and batten, that’d be a crazy waste of money, as you’ll get zero extra value for that. I’m not a big fan of vinyl siding, but this is a good application for it, if you don’t want to deal with painting it.

TheRealBicycleBuck > shop-teacher 03/16/2020 at 12:58

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What I would do and what she would do are very different things. She’s trained as an architect, so the acceptable thing and the “right” thing are two different things. She has a hard time accepting what I find acceptable, even if there’s money involved. Her original remodel plan would have used up all the equity in our house and then some. We finally had to have a heart-to-heart talk about return on investment. She didn’t like the new limited budget - the one that will keep us from losing equity as long as housing prices stay stable and the proposed improvements really do get us the expected return.

The turning point was when I said we would be better off selling this house and buying our forever home with the equity. Since we have to stay here for at least two more years, I asked her, “ where in Baton Rouge would you like to live forever ?”

We do have to make the building functional, so dealing with the heat load from the west sun is required. We just don’t need to go with the most expensive siding option. I’m hoping that once she sees the price for board and batten , she’ll reconsider.

shop-teacher > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/16/2020 at 17:52

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Having gone through architecture school, and dealt with enough architects, I can’t say that surprises me.  Part of why I realized I could never be a great architect, is I’m just too practical to think that about what would be the best/best looking all the time.

TheRealBicycleBuck > shop-teacher 03/16/2020 at 18:00

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I’ve learned that architects come from a variety of perspectives, from design-focused to business-focused. Mine leans more toward the former, not the latter.

The road from where you began to where you are now must be fascinating. 

shop-teacher > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/16/2020 at 22:22

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Well, I’ll give you the short version, if you like.

My dad was a residential contractor/carpenter (he still kind of is, but is mostly retired). I started working for him during school breaks when I was about 13. I fully intended to follow him into the business, and had no plans to go to college at all.

My grandmother was upset that I was not going to go to college, so she threw some money on the table. She offered to give me $10k a year for four years, if I went straight from high school and into a university, and maintained grades in good standing. At the time I had a wonderful S hop/D rafting/A rchitecture teacher, who encouraged me to take the money and give it a shot.

So I decided to go to Architecture school, with the goal of expanding my dad’s business into a design/b uild firm. Cut to Christmas break of my junior year in Architecture school, I drove past my high school to check out the additions they were adding onto the building. I was surprised to see my Shop/Drafting teacher’s truck in the parking lot, as school was out for break and he was the only on there. S o, I headed in to say hello.

He was there printing some stuff up on the school’s plotter , and we chatted while the plotter was working away. I don’t remember how the subject came up, but he mentioned that there was a shortage of tech teachers. I had always thought that would be a cool job, but I also assumed they were hard jobs to come by, so I had never seriously considered it. Once I knew that wasn’t the case, I decided to become a teacher instead.

As I was almost done with the Architecture degree, it made sense to finish that, and then go to grad school to be a teacher. That got me out of school faster and cheaper than trying to transfer. It also got me some teaching experience, as I taught the lab sections of the college’s Into to AutoCAD class while I was there.

It’s funny the turns that life takes. I went from having no interest in college, to having a Master’s degree and being a teacher, all in the span of seven or eight years.

TheRealBicycleBuck > shop-teacher 03/16/2020 at 23:09

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Nice story. My wife was waylaid by a job too. She got a job as an architectural intern after college, making about the same wages as working at McDonalds. After a couple of years, she went back for a master’s in land development and met me. She hung around for another year while I was working on my Ph.D. and wrapped up a second master’s in construction. When our first was born, she stopped everything to stay at home. She then had a chance encounter with the right person and ended up building schools.

In some ways, your path and mine are parallel. I was nearly finished with my bachelor’s in marine biology when I realized I didn’t want to do that for the rest of my life. I finished the degree, then took a job in medicine while I was looking for the next step. An introduction to a professor by a mutual friend led to grad school. I taught for a few years both as a grad student and as an assistant professor before leaving academia to do work in disaster recovery.

I expect to return to teaching someday. I have to get my kids through college first.

shop-teacher > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/16/2020 at 23:31

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Yeah, that’s a fairly parallel path.

I am fortunate to teach in an area and for a school district that pays a decent salary. For the last 2+ years I have been our only income , and we’ve got at least a year and a half to go. Still, we have everything we need, and some things we want. I am so happy to have an income that won't be affected by our current madness in the world.

TheRealBicycleBuck > shop-teacher 03/17/2020 at 09:12

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I’m the sole wage-earner until my wife finishes her testing. We have a long way to go before retirement, if we get to retire at all.

One of our challenges is figuring out where we want to live. We are doing well here in Louisiana, but we really want to get back to Texas where we have more family . The trick is finding gainful employment for both of us. I thought this last job was going to open some doors long-term, and maybe it has, but for now, the work opportunity over there has closed. It was just in time for the COVID lockdown, so perhaps that’s why things went a little sideways in the job when it did.

shop-teacher > TheRealBicycleBuck 03/17/2020 at 10:12

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Retirement is an open question for us too. If the pension I'm promised is actually there, we'll be fine. If not ... Well, I for see working at a hardware store until my last day.