Tight Spaces

The last "body" part of the siding is in the corner by the new staircase.

For reasons that are not totally clear to me but probably come down to miscommunication, the stairs were built a few inches too far to the left, so they don't line up with the wall but left a little notch. That little notch was a total pain to side, because the nailer didn't fit in there, and a hammer doesn't fit in there, and ugh.

As with all pieces of siding, the key was to get everything level at the bottom so there was a good base to work from. The laser level pretty much wouldn't fit, but the smallest level in the house worked OK.

Noel took advantage of the open side of the stairs to install the boards on the two other walls. That gave him room to use the nail gun or the palm nailer as needed.

When the siding was installed high enough, he put in the first piece of plywood on the stair sidewall.

Here's a test Noel did on using the palm nailer on the tongues of the boards. It kind of made a hash of the board, so that was rejected.

So for the boards where the only way to attach them was the palm nailer, Noel face-nailed. When we get around to painting, we will fill these holes and you'll never see them.

Eventually he was able to finish installing the plywood.

And the building paper.

This shot gives you an idea of just how narrow that slot really is.

So that was yesterday. Today Noel finished up the rest of the siding on the sidewall.

There was just one little gap remaining.

This gap was filled with three boards nailed together outside the slot, then nailed in to place on one end. The trim pieces on the tiny bit of the side of the porch there will hold the other end in place.

Fortunately, this isn't really a heavy-wear kind of place.

And done.

Tonight is wiring, then tomorrow drain lines towards the sewer lateral. It's supposed to rain tomorrow morning (actually, it's getting started now), so we figured getting more siding work done would not happen.

When it's dry, I need to get out there and seal those various openings in the walls.

posted by ayse on 11/12/14