Once the foundation was beginning to cure, it was time to think about reframing the walls. We do not kid. Probably about half the timber in the south wall had to be replaced.
Our contractors (Marc & Jacob Salmon) came up with a clever idea to use the taller timbers from the back corner of the house and cut them down to use in the front corner where the downstairs wall is shorter because the foundation comes up higher. That still left us in need of longer timbers for the back half of the wall.
At this point we were very happy to have discovered the Reusable Lumber Company. They have a whole yard full of salvaged lumber that they will deliver. Prices are excellent to fair depending on supply and dude (Adam) drives a bio-diesel truck. We also purchased some old 2x6 rafters from Building Resources. Between the two, we were able to fulfill 80% or more of our lumber requirements (thats just a guess). Only the 3x6 studs and 3x6 PT mud sill were new. We even managed to salvage some 2x12 for the plate between the first and second floor. We used the back patio as a staging area for all our recycled lumber.
Here is a picture of our south wall stripped down to the studs. It was scary to see how much wood had been eaten away by termites and rot. The plywood we salvaged from the dumpster for forming the foundation now became part of the scaffolding.
Another thing that was becoming really important is job site organization. Its not so important when you have new materials and everything that isnt new is automatically trash. Here we have piles of drain rock, stucco, rubble from the foundation. We also have a pile for clean scrap wood that can be put into the green bin and painted/treated timber that needs to be disposed of. There is a pile for scraps, 2x4, 2x6, 2x12s etc.
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