We were dealt a perfect morning to work on the cabin — unseasonably cool for Ozarkansas this time of year, bright sunshine and a light breeze that found its way through the windows at the north end of the structure. On tap for today was installing a fire-resistant barrier on the floor (a base for the hearth) and on the wall behind where we’ll place the woodstove.
The material we chose is called, generically, “cement board.” Each sheet is three feet by five feet, a half-inch thick. It’d have to be cut with a circular saw to fit our layout, something best done outdoors.
It is, to put it plainly, nasty shit. Cutting it produces clouds of cement dust and flings out bits of the fiberglass mat that reinforces the material. Deb and I both chose to wear eye protection and respirator-type masks.
Three sheets and four cuts took care of covering the section of floor we’d marked out. I fastened it down with decking screws, careful to catch the floor joists beneath.
Before hanging cement board on the wall, we put insulation between the studs. The vertical void that includes the flue-chimney thimble, directly behind the woodstove, got fire-resistant Rockwool Safe’n’Sound batting. The voids on either side were insulated with conventional faced pink fiberglass (R13).
The first piece of cement board, the one nearest the floor, required one pass with the circular saw and went up easily. After that, however, things would get a little tricky — I’d have to navigate the thimble.
Fortunately, I’d saved the cardboard pattern I used last month to cut the hole in the exterior wall. It was a simple matter of laying both sheets of cement board on the floor, tracing around the disk, and cutting it with a jigsaw.
When Deb and I lifted them up to the wall, they fit like a glove.
I secured the sheets with screws and fitted the interior half of the thimble, then stood back and admired the result. For a brief moment, it actually looked like I knew what I was doing.
And I guess I did.
That’s where we stopped. I still have to pick up some heat resistant putty (for where the chimney tee passes through the thimble) and construction adhesive (to set the hearth bricks). I decided that I didn’t have enough leftover cement board to do the ceiling over the flue, so I’d need another sheet of that, too.
What I did do before retiring to the camper was try my hand at cutting bricks with hammer and chisel. The first turned out okay, so I cut the other five the hearth requires. Unhappy with one particular effort, I did another, for a total of seven halved bricks.
Later, after going over our cement-board shortfall in my head, I hatched an idea. I went back out to the cabin and measured my scraps — the two largest pieces could be secured to the cross-ties and give us an overhead barrier 30 inches wide and extending 44 inches out from the wall. It’d cover both the flue and the woodstove.
I ran my plan by Deb. She liked it and held up the scraps while I screwed them to the framing. A few more batts of Rockwool finished the job.
It feels good to have all that out of the way. I’ll see if I can get to the hearth this week, and then (with Deb’s help) place the woodstove and hook everything up.
And then it’ll be on to a million-and-one other things.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB