Bathroom Closet Construction (Begins)

1/14/19:

Summary: Today I measured, cut boards for, and began constructing the bathroom closet-space.

Full description: Today I went down to Jacobhouse and started off by collecting the measurements for all that I needed. First, there were the three pieces of 2×6 that needed to be of identical lengths to the 2x4s making up wall #3’s frame (94.75″ for the vertical boards and 33.5″ for the top). I fetched the 2x6s that I pulled from the woodpile yesterday and drew lines accordingly. This was followed by my collecting all the > 9″ pieces of scrap 2x4s that I had laying around. The reason why I say “greater than 9-inch pieces” is because I needed a whole slew of 9-inchers to fasten the 2x6s to the already present 2×4 frame – 9 inches being the exact length of 2×4 and 2×6 put together.

Now that I’ve referred to the length of 9″ enough, I can carry on with the proceedings at Jacobhouse. The next thing I did was take all of my measuring and cutting equipment outside and begin the process of cutting the three 2x6s and the many 2x4s. The 2x6s were easy because the table that Madre (my mother) got me held them in place with ease. The 2x4s, on the other hand were too short for the table to hold them, so I used three of the orange-tipped duck clamps I had laying around. Two of three did not make it. One’s handle jammed and could not be returned to a normal position and one refused to tighten. It figures that the only one that worked was the least fancy-looking one that Padre and I had to repair with a bolt through the top. I’ve found that’s the way of tools, though. The more battered or unattractive that they are, the better they work – likely on account of their having been used many times more than the ‘pretty’ and subsequently ineffective tools.

Either way, I ended up cutting the three pieces of 2×6 (testing each to see if they fit and modifying them accordingly if they sat too high… two of them did, but both are fixed now), and I also cut ten 9″ pieces of 2×4. I next proceeded to set the two vertical 2x6s in place, and then the horizontal 2×6 on top. Padre came in around that time to see how I was doing, and I showed him. Amidst my showing, I believe he poked around the vertical 2x6s no less than three times, joggling the top 2×6 each time and causing me slight amounts of distress at fear of having it come down on his head. Fortunately, everything stayed upright because it was all fit snugly in place; that, and Padre’s mischief was fairly gentle.* 

This was followed by my taking down the top 2×6 to prevent it from falling on me as I worked and then by my beginning to attach the vertical 2×6 boards to the 2×4 frame. I began with the right side. To start, I used a woodclamp to pull the 2×6 flush with the vertical support to which it was going to be attached. Then, I used a square and pencil to draw a line from the shelves beside it to the inside of closet-space. This was to keep the supports at equal levels with wall #4’s and to make everything look nice and neat at the same time. Once the line was drawn, I put a 2×4 up, positioned it and held it in place with the ugly-duckclamp (the useful one!), and put in one screw. I then used the level to get it nice and even from front to back. It was only after this that I put in a second screw below the one I had already put in. From there, it was simple. I put one more screw into the 2×4 side of the 9-incher, and then three more in a similar pattern on the 2×6 side.

I repeated this process once more for a 9-incher 12″ below the one I had already put up, and then I cut a 2×6 just the right size to extend between the tops of the 9-inchers I had fastened and the other side of the closet. Using this 2×6 and a level, I determined where the opposite side’s 9-inchers were to go in order to create evenly aligned and level shelves. I used this method to place and fasten two of those 9-inchers before Padre returned with news that he and Wag were going to go tag a calf and then check beefers (beef cows). I was ready for my morningly beverage, so I told him I’d be there soon. I just first had to find the piece of 2×6 that I had earlier taken down for safety’s sake. After a brief search, I came to the realization that the 33.5″ board was the very one I had cut to make the faux shelf for leveling the 9-inchers across from each other. Fortunately, there was a long enough piece in the back of Jacobhouse that I did not have to pull out a whole other 12-footer. I quickly cut that piece to the correct size, put it on top, found that it fit perfectly, and then departed for the morning.

I expect tomorrow morning will be a continuation of today’s activities.

*It was around this time that I needed to go aid Padre and Wag with some cow moo’ving. I helped escort a couple beasts across the farmyard, and then I set up the electric fence around Jacobhouse due to the fact of somewhere upward of thirty large steers joining me in the ‘close-up lot’ (the place where Jacobhouse currently rests).