I didn’t run the dehumidifier last night and when I went into the loft this morning there was condensation along the metal frame and some dampness at the seam. I’m definitely not closing anything off until I get more Eternabond on the exterior! I hope the tape arrives today. We’re heading into a longish sub-zero stretch, so I wouldn’t be able to apply it. We’re hovering at zero today, which is really too cold, but with a hair dryer I’d be fine.

Even with that bit of condensation I felt okay with going ahead with some reinforcing of that corner and then I started to put in insulation. I had quite a bit left of the blue styrofoam-type from a 2008 purchase and which I’ve been telling myself for two years I should throw out. It’ll be more than enough for this project! That’s a yay for my packrat tendencies!

I’ll probably go buy the paneling and plywood tomorrow. I checked out the Home Hardware here in Osoyoos and have decided not to buy from them. They are the pits! I have sung the praises of Home Hardware across the country, but this store is just terrible. For example, they sell scraps of plywood that are priced as per their amount compared to a full sheet. So, a square that’s an eighth of a full sheet would cost an eighth of a full sheet. They didn’t have any scraps of paneling, only 8’x4′ sheets that are much too huge. I asked if it would be possible to buy a quarter of it. They said no, but that they’d be happy to cut the sheet down to a quarter and keep the other three quarters to sell as scraps. In case that’s not clear, they would make me pay full price for a sheet and then sell the other three quarters for three quarters of the price of a full sheet. That sounds like stealing to me. It’s not the money that irks me, a sheet is just $10, but the money-grubbing principle. I’ll go check out the lumber store in Oliver and see how they are. Oh, and the guy at Home Hardware who wanted to do me a favour by cutting the paneling had no idea what a straight flat, 1″, reinforcement bracket is. He took me to an aisle and showed me corner braces, saying that’s all they had. I dug around and, of course, found a bunch of flat brackets, including straight, L, and T ones. Sheesh!

As an FYI, for anyone who thinks that a handsaw is a safe tool, guess again. *Owwwwwww* 😀