Saturday, December 29, 2007

Shelf Building Extravaganza Day 4.

Alas, Day 4 was not quite as enjoyable or productive as days 1, 2 & 3. Lessons were learned. The first was, I cut the shelves for inside the house a bit long, because the shelves in the sheds gaped a bit at the edges and I didn't like that. I figured we could sand off the 1/8 of an inch that was left and have a tight fit. It turns out that you can't really do that.

So Chris and I headed to the North Portland Tool Lending Library to see if we could get a table saw. Table saws, apparently are very good at shaving off tiny bits of things. While we were waiting in line, the two people in front of us checked out the two table saws. We ended up with this band saw and we both renewed our love for the band saw which neither I nor Chris had used since Junior High shop class. I got to work shaving tiny bits off of boards and Chris got to work indoors.
Mom (who was feeling better) got to work sanding.
Next problem. Two old chestnuts: 1) Measure twice, cut once. 2) When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me.

I had assumed (even though I knew better) that the 1 inch by 12 inch boards were actually 12 inches. They aren't. Instead, they are 3/4 by 11 1/4 due to cutting. I knew this. It's a famous trivia question from the genus edition. "What are the dimensions of a 2X4?" The answer is 1 1/2" by 3 1/2". Still, I blithely cut side brackets that were 12 inches long.

Because I didn't factor in that missing 3/4, the side supports for the pantry shelf were too long, a fact we only discovered after Chris plopped the board down. We aren't taking the sides off and cutting them to size because it means re-doing the toggle bolts which are a pain. Sigh. I'm going to leave it as a reminder to not assume and to measure twice (or even once) and cut once. I have a plan to make it look cool.
Pantry shelf before. Those are the two shelves that came with the house and inspired this whole project.
Pantry shelf after.
Moving onto the bathroom. Before:
I got started cutting sides down and Chris got to work using toggle/molly bolts to attach the braces to the wall. This area had no studs that I could find. He got two of four shelves up before we ended for the day.
I spent the rest of the day putting things back into the sheds. Bike shed before:
And completed bike shed. Yipee! Look at that storage. There's even a shelf for winter vegetables.
So ends day four.

1 comment:

Sara K. said...

Despite all of the trials and tribulations - the shelves look great! wHAT AN AMAZING ENDEAVOR (dang I can't spell that!) YOU HAVE EMBARKED UPON. aND OH HOW i LOVE THAT THERE IS A TOOL LENDING LIBRARY. Dang, how'd the caps lock get on?!?!?!

And the outside shelf with all of your camping gear and room for root veg - what could be better!!!??! -S