When Framing Becomes Walls

Today we put plywood sheathing on the walls. This is a pretty easy, straightforward task. It took three of us a few hours. The hardest part is getting the first piece of plywood up. It was important that this one was perfectly straight, otherwise the pieces would have kept getting more and more crooked as we went.

Holding each sheet of plywood up at the right height while someone else puts in a couple of screws, is kind of awkward. Once we get the hang of it though, it went pretty fast.













We put subfloor adhesive where the edges of each sheet would land and then secured the plywood with screws. Most people who have built these things recommend some kind of adhesive and screws. Screws are a lot harder to pull out than nails (as you probably know) which is good thing when you are driving down the highway.  ;)

The windows were cut out last with the sawsall.

I love the way I can get a sense of how the house feels inside once the plywood is up. I even moved a camp chair into the living room-to-be and hung out for a while, imaging where things will go when I'm done. Before it was time to head in, I spent a few minutes leaning on the windowsill enjoying the sunset.