I was framed I tell ya…
Now that I have the ceiling framed out and the roof weather tight, it is time to start framing out the interior walls. The general idea is to put 2x4’s (Actually 1.5”x3.5”) in the corners and 2x2 (Actually 1.5”x1.5”) studs, or verticals, on the inside of the FRP on 16” centers. I won’t bore you with every detail (any more than I already have) but even such a simple idea has its challenges.
For one thing, it means building a square cornered box inside of a sometimes round cornered or otherwise irregular box. I have done a lot of “carving” with my skill saw. That’s where you drag the blade sideways across the surface of the wood chewing it down to whatever shape you need. Pretty much every stick goes back and forth between the back of the truck and the garage 3 to 10 times being carved and fitted to just the right shape. I have spent an entire evening after work on one piece of wood more than once.
Everything is screwed and glued. I honestly don’t know how well “Liquid Nails” will stick to FRP, but all the studs have a solid bead of glue along with sheet rock screws every 12” or so holding them up. The FRP on the outer walls is roughly 5/8” thick so I am using 2” long sheet rock screws with a fine thread of the sort that are often used to punch into sheet metal studs. Clearance holes are pre drilled and countersunk into the studs to make sure they are pulled firmly to the outer wall.
I use a cordless electric drill with a screwdriver bit to punch in the sheet rock screws very carefully. Too much torque and they will either strip out the hole in the FRP, or worse yet, pull the head into the soft stud and punch through to the outside. I really don’t want to break the outer skin of the FRP and encourage delamination due to moisture incursion.
The exact placement of the studs varies due to feature locations, but every seam for the 4’x8’ plywood inner walls has to be supported. The plan is to use ½” smooth finish plywood and just paint it with latex paint. I know that’s not very fancy, but it’s functional. Joints will be caulked and then possibly brought to level with a little non-shrink spackle. I don’t plan to do much with moldings unless it is just convenient to cover up a gap or a crack of some sort. I don’t see much point in doing more because almost every inner wall is going to be covered with storage cabinets or shelves of some sort.
The floor plan is still slightly in flux, but I decided in general not to try to position the studs in exact locations to support features or cabinets. The ½” plywood inner walls should be strong enough to support whatever is necessary, especially if everything is designed to be supported from the floor up. In other words, overhead cabinets won’t be just hung on the wall. They will have at least partial sides, like a bookcase, that help to provide support from the floor to the ceiling.
In order to nail the floor plan down to the last inch, I need to lay hands on all of the major appliances. That means toilet, range, refrigerator, etc. This is where thousands of dollars will be spent. It’s also where I will most likely make my most costly mistakes.
Up until this point I have been writing mostly about what I already did. Now I am starting to get into what I am planning to do, which means I will have to tell you about changes in plans as they occur. I am also reaching a point where I have to start thinking much farther ahead. I can easily paint myself into a corner and cause myself a lot of grief at this point. Progress is slowing way down while I try to imagine everything that needs to go into the walls before they are closed up. That is driving a lot of design issues with the electrical system, propane system, air conditioning and circulation and filtration system, etc. It’s like I need to know exactly how all this is going to turn out, and I guarantee you, I am not that smart.
On the other hand, this is also where it gets interesting. There are sooo many design tradeoff’s to consider. Every piece of this puzzle affects every other piece, and the more efficient everything has to be, the less room there is for overkill.
To be continued…
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