Habitat for Humanity, 4200 Kingston Rd.

February 9th
Plates on concrete foundations: Now I know why I learned so much the previous week. I wandered over to the end unit, where I was told Caroline (block super) was working. There were two others there, one young woman and a man. So, I start talking to them to see what was going on during the day. Okay, putting plates (2x6, then 2x4) on the concrete foundations, to create a ledge for the first floor level of SIPs (Structurally Insulated Panels) to sit. I already knew what I was doing there. (watch the magic; this is the first day I was given any ability to be a crew leader!) After discussing the task briefly with Caroline, and telling her that I knew what I was doing as I worked on it the previous week, she announced that I knew what I was doing, and just sort of let me get started. I don’t remember all the details, but that’s approximately what happened to start.

To start us off, Caroline made sure we were measuring things right, and in the process told us about her “you won’t get it right unless you learn what NOT to do from the experience of screwing it up” philosophy. I beat it by listening very carefully the first time around. I’ll be damned if I can remember the exact details of what she told us to do that time, though! All I know is that it was something to do with measuring how far in the plates went, based on the fact that you need to measure back from the line, instead of from the edge of the concrete, as the concrete itself wasn’t even. Now, regardless of the fact that I got her instructions right the first time, and she even approved of everything we had done, we still had to do some fixing in the end.

What happened was that we used a line to make sure that we were putting the plates on perfectly straight, as we needed a straight line to measure from because the edge of the concrete foundation was not straight. However, the line was not completely above the concrete, and no-one had realized this. When Brian (site super) came along at the end of the day to inspect the job he pointed this out to us, and in order to fix this problem, Caroline and I stayed “late” to move the plates over ever so slightly (involving undoing the bolts, chiseling the holes over a little, getting everything aligned perfectly and fastening it back on again).

How to put plates on the concrete foundations (sorry I can’t remember the details, so don’t try following my instructions when building the foundations for your new home!):
1. The foundations have rods embedded in them at intervals. The first step I remember is to measure the distance in from the line to the centre of the rod, and mark that appropriately on the 2x6, indicating the middle of the hole you will drill.
2. Once all the rod locations are marked on the 2x6, drill the holes, then set your piece down over the rods, making sure you are putting it on the right side up, and that it is flush with the line.
3. You then use a washer and bolt to secure the 2x6 to the concrete foundation.
4. To prepare the 2x4, you need to follow the same measuring guidelines, and drill your holes in with enough leeway to accommodate the bolt and rod extending up from the 2x6.
5. To affix the 2x4 onto the 2x6 all you need are two lines of Acoustiseal – a bloody b*tch to work with in negative temperatures!
6. There! Now double check that everything is perfect, get pissed off and fix it when you find out that it’s slightly off, and you’re finished! That wasn’t so hard, was it?
Pretty impressive memory for something I did 3.5 months ago out in the freezing cold! I guess I learn fairly well when I’m interested in the task at hand … !