February 1, 2004

I began this morning by unloading 20 sheets of 4 X 8 - 1/2" sheetrock. I stacked it in the garage portion of the new shop where I could work with it when it was time to start handing it. Then I went to work on adding a window to the finish room. One goal I had when I started this project was to keep the windows at a minimum to make the building easier to heat and more secure from break-in. But this window did not violate these objectives since it was a window between the shop and the finish room. I started by cutting an opening in the plywood and then removing the sections of studs that were in the opening. A quick job of framing and I installed the new window.

This is a basement slider window with insulated low E glass. It also sports a full screen and both sides of the window slide open. This will make a nice addition to the work bench that will be right in front of it. I plan to use this workbench for small finishing projects and other detail type work. My next project was to start sheetrocking the room. I had several plans for this next step but finally decided on using 8 foot sheets standing up. I will fill in above it to the 9 foot level with a scrap piece, the joint will then be covered with a trip piece. I will also have some sort of trip along the ceiling to trim off the ceiling tile.

The fact that the shop is not built on frost free footings led me to use this method of sheetrocking. There is very little movement between pieces installed this way, whereas there is more movement if the pieces are hung sideways. I wanted to avoid cracks in the tape joints and thought this would work best. I installed a vopor barrier before the sheetrock on the north and east walls.

I didn't get all the sheetrock finished before I ran out of time for the day. But I have enough on to say I have this part of the project on the run. I also completed the installation of the baseboard heater that will heat this room. I raised it a little off the cloor so that I can run the flooring under it without removing it.

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