Well, it's been a week since the last post. The lag in coverage has most assuredly not been due to a lack in progress on the studio. Truth be told, we've been working so much on the studio that most nights, I haven't come inside until after 8:00; after eating dinner, taking a shower, etc., I've been too worn out to update the blog. But, tonight that will not be the case. We knocked off a little early this evening since we had a proofing at 7:00, and dinner along with Jack's bedtime pretty much filled up our schedule until 9:00 or so. There are a lot of pictures in this post to get you caught up with all that we've done the last few days, so enjoy.

After the sill plate went down as shown in the last post, I started framing up the floor. I decided to go with 2x8's throughout the floor in an attempt to simplify the construction process. In the early stages of planning, I had 2x10 beams with 2x8 floor joists, but later it seemed to make since to have double 2x8 beams with single 2x8 joists. The floor framing overhangs the foundation walls by 4" on all sides to accomodate 4" of rock work that will run along the bottom of the studio, coming out flush with the exterior walls of the completed building.


After spending so much time on the foundation, making sure it was perfectly square and level, it was incredible to pull stringlines from the corners of the floor and find that they were absolutely perfect! I'm here to tell you, that will make the rest of the construction process much easier.



A few months ago, the highway department called us and told us that we had to remove our sign from the mailbox. Apparently, after two years of having it hanging on the mailbox, they decided to enforce some rule that states that you can't have a business sign on your mailbox. Now, you can have a sign with your name and address, just not your business...makes no sense. So, April has been itching to get some new signs up. Since our other sign has been down, we've actually had people ask us if we were still in business. April designed our new signage, and we called a sign shop in Conway and had them made. I built some frames and we put them in the ground yesterday.


Here I am working on the new sign frames.


This is my dad (pappy) painting one of the sign frames.


The new Ruple Photography signs in all their splendor.

Lee came down on Monday and he and dad and Spencer and Seth all helped make a ton of progress. First, we put down the floor decking, which is 3/4" tongue and groove plywood. This was quite a job, but having all the hands really made it go by quickly. Seth's favorite part was getting into the crawlspace and pretending to be a troll.


There is the troll boy now.


Spencer and Seth (mostly Spencer) helped by screwing down the decking. It was quite a job. An unfinished job, I might add.




Lee and I laying down the decking.


Doesn't a nice level subfloor just warm your heart? I thought so.

After completing the subfloor, the next step was laying out the top and bottom plates for the wall and marking where each stud, window, and door were going to be located. After consulting the plans, Lee laid out the first wall. I decided on 9' walls instead of the typical 8' walls, since we often take portraits of tall guys, and we don't want the ceiling to be showing up in the pictures. You wouldn't think one extra foot of height would make that much difference in the way the walls look, but these boogers looked huge once we started standing them up. It sure will be nice to have that extra height once the studio is done.


As Lee measures out the wall plates, I check his work...he was pretty accurate.


Up goes the first wall. Now that's progress!




Look at that hunk. You might want to keep one of those 2x4's to beat the girls away.


My cousin Mason showed up at the worksite just in time for lunch. He left right after dinner...go figure.

Framing is without a doubt my favorite stage of construction. The foundation work is so laborious and it always looks the same at the end of the day as it did at the beginning. But with framing, you can really see a change in the building as the hours go by. Plus, your rooms start to take shape. You can stand out in the yard and really start visualizing what this new structure is going to look like when finished. It really is exciting. And gratifying.


Within the course of a day, all four walls were standing. Another day, and all the interior walls were done. I love this stuff.


The sun sets on another good day of progress.

First Framing: the floor

Last week, April and I, along with Lee and Andrea, directed a session of church camp at Camp Caudle. The week is called 'Servant Week'. Basically, a few kids come up to clean the cabins, paint, weed-eat, and just get camp ready for a full summer. This year, we decided to take it a step further and actually plan some projects that the kids could build. We rebuilt a waterfall/baptistry, built an observation deck next to the waterfall, repaired the dock at the swimming hole, built some steps down to the river, organized the shed, installed the water trampoline, hung up curtains in all the cabins, and got everything cleaned and ready for the summer. The kids had a blast, as did I. It was a lot of hard work, but when you look back and see all the progress that was made, it makes it all worth while.

After we got back, work on the studio resumed. The lumber was delivered a couple of Fridays ago as expected, and the first wood to be used was for the sill plate. First, I laid down a layer of plastic over the outside of the foundation wall to keep moisture from migrating in through the blocks during the wet season. This may be unnecessary as the inside elevation of the crawlspace is basically the same as the outside grade, but I figured it was a small price to pay for a little extra insurance.

Next, a band of aluminum flashing was run along the top of the foundation wall which should help keep termites from being able to ever reach the wood in the building. This was a step that I noticed was included in a lot of foundation details on the internet. A lot of construction details can be found at finehomebuilding.com. I got a month's subscription to their archived articles, and downloaded every one that I thought might be relevant at some point in this construction process. They have really turned out to be helpful.

After the termite shield was down, treated 2x8's were drilled to fit over the sill bolts that were mortared into the foundation wall, and then they were torqued down with nuts and washers. I really enjoyed getting to this step, because the foundation now took on a nice completed look. Perfectly level, clean, and ready to be built upon.


Here is the foundation after the placement of the sill plate.


Detail shot of how the sill plate was connected to the foundation wall (notice the plastic lining over the blocks)

Last night, I stayed up until about midnight putting together the double-2x8 beams, and nailing the joist hangers in place along their length. Today, Dad came over and we placed the beams across the foundation wall and the piers in the middle of the crawlspace. Next, all the floor joists were cut to length (for some reason, they are all about 1/2" too long) and placed in the joist hangers. Everything fit together like a puzzle. Now, there is a nice level floor frame, with plastic sheeting covering the ground in the crawlspace. Today was the first day when real fast progress was made. And that is how it goes...the foundation work is slooooow, the framing is fast, and the detail work at the end is sloooow. Luckily, right now I'm in the fast part.