We have a wall!

Yep, that's right -- we have a wall. You may have just heard me breathe a sigh of relief. We got it up none too soon. It went up last night and today was primed. About eight hours later, it rained.

This wall have given us all of the cliched blood, sweat, and tears imaginable. Those panels are HEAVY, so heavy in fact, that it was even hard for my Charles to support the wall while I tacked nails into the studs. We actually traded off supporting panels. We would hang them, and they'd be a little too low. We'd take them down and do it again. And again. And again. I held panels up so long, my muscles spasmed. Finally, they were in the correct position, up high enough, butting up against the other panels with enough of an overlap, and square. We knew we had to get it right last night because of the threat of rain, so we tried and tried until finally, they were a thing of beauty. We had a wall.

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How did we finally get to this glorious point? Well, I'll tell ya. First, we made sure that the door frame would fit into the frame my Charles had built. Success! With that warm glow of satisfaction, we took the aluminum frame back out and started on a-preppin'. First, I painted the foundation and a bit of the frame with that bitchy-thing prep goop. It was S-T-I-C-K-Y! Really, incredibly sticky. I don't like being sticky, but soon my hands were, and so was the foundation and that bit of the frame.

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This was after freeing the wires.

Whilst I was slathering stuff with uber sticky white gunk, my Charles was uncovering a hot mess. He discovered another 2x4 that was pock marked and dry rotted. Unfortunately, it was the support beam that also had the outlet strung through it. After turning off the power, my Charles took apart the outlet to discover a mess that suggested a novice had wired it. I guess it was a good thing that we discovered it. Yes, it was a good thing that we discovered it. We wouldn't have wanted that hot mess to become a hot fire, but our spirits fell as we realized that we would either have to call in an electrician to rewire the outlet, or wait until my brother comes through this way again. (Since he lives in Arizona, this doesn't happen too often.)

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Then we waited for the sticky to set. The instructions said that it took about an hour. Well, that ended up being just about perfect since my Charles had to run into town to get a few more supplies, and we live far enough out of town, a round trip takes about an hour. We couldn't have planned that better.

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Once my Charles returned, we put up the bitchy-thing. If I thought the prep goop was sticky, I soon learned that it was just the beginning. The smell of tar stung our noses as the weather-proof membrane was placed. It felt like a wet suit with a side coated in Krazy glue. Peeling the paper was a bit of a challenge, but it went up pretty smoothly. The instructions said to make sure to limit sheet length to eight feet, so we did some trimming with a utility blade. It also suggested that we use a roller to flatten it, but not having one, I used the heel of my hand and the pressure of my weight to set it. Once it was in, we put up paper for a vapor barrier, and then, we did the wall install dance.

And that was that. Our next step is cutting out the doorway, reinstalling the aluminum door frame, and praying to the home improvement gods that the frame hasn't warped at all and that the sliding glass door will go in smoothly and still function. Maybe I should start making offerings now. And then, and then, we can put in insulation, put up sheet rock, and paint. Oh the dreams I have of painting my office -- and then putting in the floor -- and then using it!

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