I am back on the job after celebrating my wife’s 75th birthday yesterday. We are now slightly over 150 years old combined. We have learned a lot over our lifetimes, but much of it is outdated and we are too tired to use the rest. That’s life.

Today’s work
I drilled all the screw holes for the boards (I’ll call them stretchers) that connect the two sides. I used a bit that drills the hole, countersinks it and leaves a hole for a wood plug. You probably have these or have at least seen them. Combined with plug cutters they are very useful. I am plugging the holes to prevent the screws from rusting in our wet climate. You can see all the stuff including the cut plugs (photo below)

I went to our local building suppliers to buy the panelling this morning. They only had the treated kind and it is always stored outdoors (no cover). It was soaking wet as it was raining hard today. I had to cut it up with a handsaw to get it into the car.

It is the worst quality panelling I’ve ever seen. Of course they always use the worst quality wood to treat, as the punky fast growing wood allows the pressure applied chemicals to penetrate further into the wood. Also tons of knots, but it will be painted and so it shouldn’t look too bad. Here I am cutting it to length on my miter saw (photo below)

Here I am nailing on the panels. I left about an inch or so on both sides of the uprights so I can put put thin wooden strips there the same thickness as the panelling to cover the cut edges of the panels.

The seams between the panel cut edges and the wooden strips will be covered with trim boards. The advantage is that it will look better from the front when the door is opened and it prevents the front and back cut panel edges from drying out unevenly.

I marked the location of the panels to correspond with the height of the panels on the house. Each panel requires only 1 nail on each end as it holds the next panel in place in the open groove and so on. One nail also allows the panel board to swell and shrink without cracking. (Photo below)

First side complete. (Photo below)

Inside view of the first side. (Photo below)

And lastly and outside view of the completed 2nd side (Photo below)

That’s it for today. I’m thinking fast, but working slow. I’m thinking about how I want to do the top now.

Thanks for looking in.