The Room Project Continues: Ledgers and Joists, Heating and Ducts

This will be a post of many photos.

After the many weeks of digging and digging and digging, and pouring concrete and building forms and doing all that stuff, an amazing thing happened. We were ready to start building the floor. First step? Putting our minivan to the test once again. Troy treated us to a little slice of heaven by purchasing engineered lumber for the ledgers. This means that they were very straight and level. What a treat! But they were very long - 12 feet. No prob for el minivan! (Okay, it was a little problem. The first one fit fine but the second one needed a few inches trimmed off the end so we could close the back door.) I always feel cool driving around with a load of lumber that goes from the back hatch to the front windshield.

 

The ledger boards were actually such a pain to install - it will be almost impossible to explain why succinctly, but with the basement "hallway" running under the first couple feet of the bedroom, the ledger had to span the open space and get support at the base of the basement stairs. Oh and figuring out where they could be bolted in on the brick foundation - such a pain. And nerve-wracking too. Basically, nothing on this project is ever simple or straightforward. There may have been some cursing involved with getting these placed. Getting things level is just not the easiest task anyway, not to mention when not a single surface in our house is level or plumb.

 

These were my favorite finds while moving dirt around in the basement:

One is just an old wooden clothespin. I don't know why I love it but I do. The other item is a small metal handle that was actually nailed to the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Both Troy and I were quite surprised that we had never noticed it there before. We are going to put it to use somehow, but don't know just where yet. 

Finally it was time to remove the last little bit of the floor by the doorway - we had been lucky to have support under this little platform and could leave it there while working all this time. But...the time had come. Bring out the Sawzall!

Before we could install the joists, we (meaning Troy, 100%) had to figure out a couple of tricky things - heating ducts and vents, and some wiring. I know these issues really weighed on his mind and we were both dreading the time we finally had to face these issues. They don't seem like a big deal but they actually are. There is so much figuring to do, especially when you're working with less than ideal environments, like a crumbling dirt basement. But I'll say this. Toys is amazing. He goes into the room all the time when we weren't working on it, and just looks and thinks and thinks and ideas come. He figured out frames for both of the heating ducts that were affected, as well as the wiring. I'm so grateful for him and all that he knows, all that he figures out, and all that he does.

We framed up the vent for the duct just outside the bedroom door first.

 

Next came the actual joists - how heavenly. Actually, there was a bit of a downside. I was surprised by the slight feelings of sadness that showed up as we began to cover up the cement footings and foundations we had worked so hard on. Don't get me wrong, I was delighted that it was finally time to start getting up and out of the dirt. But the joists and then the floorboards were just going to cover up all we had done! No one would come see the construction now and say oh wow there's a floor there. For most rooms that's a given. But not us! Still, it was worth it. I wouldn't trade.

Installing joists meant picking up more lumber - more engineered lumber. This time LSLs (Laminated Strand Lumber) instead of LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber). Also not quite as long. It's so fun to pick up lumber from the lumberyard in a minivan. The guys doing the loading just give you the strangest looks, and are very skeptical. But aren't they surprised when we just fit it all in and roll away! Will I ever get sick of taking selfies in the car with loads of lumber? Unlikely.

 

 

When the joists were about halfway done, we had to install the heating vent and duct that were actually in the room. These things were one of main reasons we really wanted to tear into the room in the first place. Before our work, the vent was set right next to the doorway, and since the single air return is at the front of the house the warm air just got sucked immediately back out of the room. That room was so cold! And wet too. How satisfying to get the vent placed in an effective place. 

 

Troy ordered the heating duct and when the box arrived I was a little surprised at how small it seemed. Then he opened the box and I was even more surprised at the volume of the duct inside. It was like a giant snake emerging from a den. We immediately started calling it Shai Hullud, after the massive sand worms in the Dune stories. We found the name to be so appropriate that we referred to it as such for the rest of the installation process. "Hey, could you pass me Shai Hullud?" "Shai Hullud is slipping, could you hold it up for a second?"

 

Last of all - I had to include this photo. Troy was removing some wood from the walls to make sure nothing was blocking where the joists needed to go. He uncovered what I feel like is a perfect example of what we end up dealing with. Check out this tangle of nails, going every which way, sticking in and out of one piece of wood. What on earth was that for? Heaven only knows.