Cause for Delay

As you may be able to tell, we don’t seem to be making much progress. We scramble to get the deck mostly done, and then spend a few days cleaning up the site in preparation for our 7-year-old’s birthday party. The party is a success, so now it’s back to work.

The windows are delivered, but sit uninstalled while I figure out weatherproofing. We have Tyvec installed, but it is tacked up with plain staples which make me a little concerned for the long term. I worry that they’ll rust and fall out, leaving the Tyvek unsupported and full of little holes. I investigate applied bituminous coatings and peel-and-stick coatings, only to conclude that the Tyvek is probably sufficient for our needs. I need to tape over the staples and use proper nails or screws to hold the sheeting on, but we don’t need to go buy and apply something entirely new.

The weatherproofing is a concern because we are using corrugated metal siding. Robert refers us to MBCI, which seems to be the hip place to get metal siding of any sort. Our sales guy there, Josh Dandy, is very helpful and patient with us, helping us understand how the parts go together, how to figure out what we need to order, and helping us get the best price. I leave there pretty stressed out because it feels like a big, expensive project that I had absolutely no prior experience with and which has very little tolerance for error. (Order it too short and you can’t use it. Order it too long and you’re out there with tin snips trying to cut across 12 feet of sheet metal.)

I come home, read through the catalog a few times, and look at the photos we’ve taken of other buildings that have siding treatments we like. I end up making a little cardboard model of the parts that seem most promising and figure out that what we’re doing is relatively simple. (Note that I don’t say “easy.” Or “cheap.”) Now I feel comfortable enough that once we get doors and windows installed and Tyvek all taped up, we can place an order.

(The best part is the metal cutting tool I need — a “pneumatic nibbler” I can’t wait to tell someone I’ve got to go get my nibbler.)