Day 24 - Sheeting Second- Storey Floor

When I start to think about it for any length of time, I find it weird that I am building a house.  I mean, I am a stay-at-home mom of 5 kids who has absolutely no construction training or experience.  Oh, sure, I love power tools and I love to build things.  But building a house?   A fairly large house?  Really?  Who am I kidding?  I am sure every tradesman that shows up to either deliver supplies or pump concrete or crane supplies is secretly laughing at the woman in the pink tool belt who hangs around the house pretending to work.  That is, until they see me actually AT work.  Then they come to realize I know what I am doing - at least most of the time.  Really, what they think doesn't really matter.  First of all, I am extremely proud of myself at the amount of time and energy and skills I have contributed to the job.  We are where we are at because I have been there as much as I have.  Secondly, my hubby is extremely proud of me and acknowledges the "manpower" I have provided.  Thirdly, Mr.W is so encouraging and makes me feel like I am part of the team and a valuable asset.  I think I may have surprised him at what I have been able to do.  So, yes, I may be a stay-at-home mom of 5 kids but I am building a house.  No matter how weird that may be!

Once again, it rained all morning.  Jay and Mr.B were able to get a few more pieces of sheeting up before the rain forced them into the basement to do some work down there.  Since it continued to rain, Mr.B got sent home at lunch.  After lunch, the rain stopped so Jay and I got to work and continued to lay down sheeting for the remainder of the afternoon.  It was cloudy most of the day but not cold so it was quite comfortable temperature-wise.  And since the kids spent the afternoon at Grandma & Grandpa's house, we were uninterrupted (well, at least not by the kids.  The interrupting phone calls, on the other hand, were epic today!).  We were able to get most of the sheeting done, with a little left to finish over the dining room, entrance and school room.

When Jay and I work together without anyone else with us, it always gets a little interesting.  Sometimes we have different opinions on how to do things and neither one of us is afraid to express those opinions.  If we run into a snag and we are by ourselves, we need to figure it out ourselves.  That can get heated or entertaining or comical, depending on how you look at it.  If we run into a snag and we are with Mr.W, he tells us how to fix it and away we go.  Despite the snags and the opinions, we love to work together.  We love to spend the time together.  We jest and tease a lot.  We laugh at each other and with each other.  Jay smiles much more now than before (or perhaps I am just around to see that smile more).  We spend many hours together and, no, they are not always magical or romantic but they are good.  We love coming home together and we love going back to work the next day.  I always look forward to seeing him when I arrive on site.  Though we hit some bumps along the way, I think this house-building process will be good for our relationship.  I can see the benefits already!  Mostly, I am extremely proud of Jay and of what we have been able to accomplish, together!

Finally, I learned a new thing today.  Construction adhesive is a vital part of the sheeting process.  It is the glue part of the "glued and screwed" floor.  Well, construction adhesive comes in large cardboard tubes.  I am sure you know what happens to cardboard when it gets wet.  Turns out that when construction adhesive tubes get wet, they pretty much fall apart.  There is no way you will be able to squeeze the glue out the nozzle.  Instead, glue comes out the sides or any other place the cardboard has disintegrated.  So, Jay spent some time "painting" on the glue and I hand squeezed a tube!  The rest of the containers have dried fairly well and have now been duct-taped to help provide extra stability.  We will see how that works tomorrow.  In the meantime, I have to figure out how to remove the dried-on construction adhesive that is decorating my hands.   I am sure I have some Goo-Gone around here somewhere . . .