Finally. The first phase of laying the new floor joists is complete. We have laid the back half of the sanctuary from the mini support wall to the building wall. At some points it was very slow moving to the point we only got one of two joists done per day. Laying down these new joists within the old joists takes a well laid out game-plan. And just like any other game, even when you have a game-plan the other team (in this case the old joists) will throw you something you didn't expect and force you to rethink your plan. We've done quite a bit of rethinking over these last few days. Enjoy the pictures!

What better way to celebrate Labor Day than by... working!? Today we laid down a good amount of new floor joists. We were able the get the rear half of the middle section done. Looking at the pictures you may think that installing floor joists looks pretty easy. Well, believe me when I say that it's not! You have to be very watchful and do your best to make sure everything is level or you could end up with one sloped floor. Keeping everything level in a building built in the 1890's is a challenge all in itself.

Tomorrow we continue to lay more joists toward the side of the building. We'll get a late start though, because we have to go pick up some lumber.

Today was more of a mental workday than a physical one. We had to figure out how and where we were going to start laying our new floor joists. Since we are laying the new floor joists within the old joists, things got challenging. The original builders of the building did not follow any sort of standard when laying the floor joists. Usually floor joists are set "16 on center" which means they are 16 inches apart from each other. Well, the original joists are no where near that. Some are 16, some are 17, and some are even 18 inches apart. This makes it difficult for us to keep a system going because if we place our joists in the center of the old joists and we keep ours "16 on center"... well eventually our "16 on center" lands directly on an old joist. We are pretty sure we have a plan and hopefully we will get a couple set tomorrow and than really kick in on Monday (Labor Day). Here are some pictures of the first joist we are laying (it's 16 feet). It's not quite complete yet, but it gives you an idea.

Today we were able to lay down the rest of the front floor joists where the old baptistry used to be. We also installed the joist supports. Please note our fancy new shop vac! :) Check out the pictures!

Tomorrow we plan on laying some 16 foot floor joists starting in the center back of the sanctuary.

Yesterday I mentioned that the corner where the "Choir Room" meets the sanctuary had rotted out. Well, today we fixed that problem and got a lot more accomplished. It was an extended work day for us. We were able to get the mini support wall for the floor joists done. We also got the stringer made that will support the the floor joists from the other side. Ideally, we would have been able to have rested the new floor joists on the same beam that the "Choir Room" floor joists sit on (look closely at the pictures and you will see them). That was not to be. As I also mentioned yesterday, clearly the "Choir Room" addition was not put on by professionals. The beam the "Choir Room" joists sit on is a stringer beam made of of three boards and is not put together well. We decided that it would be best to just let the "Choir Room" stand the way it has stood for the past 77 years and not add anymore weight to it. That's why we created the new stringer beam that will support the new floor joists. Tomorrow we put up more new floor joists!

Pictures:

#1 The stringer beam and mini support wall complete

#2 Another angle of the stringer and support wall

#3 Yet another angle

#4 The rotted corner now fixed

Well, we went in today with the intention of laying the rest of the six foot floor joists where the old baptistry used to be. When we began figuring out the strategy to lay them, we found out that one corner of the building was very rotted. As I mentioned in the "Quick Facts" post, the building was built in the late 1890's and then the basement was put underneath it in 1928. In order to dig the basement they had to dig a hole at the back of the building and then started digging in (picture a cave). Once they had the basement dug they decided to leave the hole that they used to get started and build an additional room above it off of the back of the sanctuary. While the folks that put the basement in were obviously professionals, we get the feeling that the back room was built by the Saturday church volunteer team. When connecting the "addition" to the building they didn't do it right and water seeped in the corner over the years leaving a rather nice mushy mess for us to fix. There are many more problems with the "Choir Room" as well... some we will be able to fix (by the end of the project it will basically get all new outside walls) and some of the problems we will just have to deal with.

The good news is we have a plan, the bad news is that by the time we got it the lumber company was closed for the day. So we spent the rest of our day getting the other area where the floor joists will sit ready. We cleared out the bottom of the arch so the new floor joists will be able to sit on the beam. We also pulled up some flooring that was in the way and laid down the base plate of the new mini support wall.

Pictures:

#1 The rotted corner

#2 The bottom of the arch is clean and clear, ready for floor joists

#3 The brown board on the beam is the base plate of the next mini support wall

Today we laid our first new floor joists. We laid new six foot joists back across what used to be the altar area. First we had to place a cleat board on the wall and then we secured the first seven joists. You'll notice in the pictures that the level is spanning the new joist and the support wall for the loft (both of which the new floor will be sitting on). And everything is perfectly level... so far so good!

Tomorrow we have to build more mini support walls over in the old baptistry area as we prepare to lay more six foot joists there.