Measure Twice, Cut Once

So on Saturday, it rained all day.  Rob was pumping out the garage drain receptacle to keep the water from overflowing onto our lumber pile.  And he was brushing off the pad as well.  Sort of seemed like a losing battle, but the rain let up about 4:00, so we did a few hours of prep work...like measuring more wood and cutting it (yes,measure twice, cut once).

We got up early on Sunday because the weather was nice (and we are under a deadline--need to get the walls up and sheathed by mid Setpebmer for the natural gas installation).  Rob spent the day doing more measuring (!), snapping chalk lines, and laying out lumber. I spent the day continuing to dig out the dirt and major tree roots along the south side, between us and our neighbours, in order for drainage to occur so we don't get the garage flooded with snow melt. Rob was about to start drilling holes in the concrete for the anchor bolts, and then discovered he didn't have the right drill bit.  So of course, that involved a tool run to Canadian Tire. 

And then the drilling began. He did 27 holes and it took all afternoon to drill--concrete takes forever to drill through. My job was to hold the nozzle of the shop vac next to the hole as he drilled, in order to suck up all the concrete dust so he could see where he was drilling--a very vital role, if I say so myself. Then we had to install the anchor bolts.

And this is what it looked like after a full day's work:

So we have the foundation for the walls installed and anchored down.  Then this weekend we will get the walls framed and upright. But first we have to buy the lumber for the walls--Rob calculates about 90 pieces of wood--which means we sort through lumber piles for the wood, then load the wood in the truck, and then unload the wood at the house--oh joy!