Tag Archives: SurePly underlayment by Patriot Lumber

2015/11/06 (F) MEF3

Rain was forecast for overnight with the highest probability between 4 and 7 AM. I think we had some light rain starting a little after midnight but around 6:45 AM a front moved through with intense thunderstorms. The heavy rain lasted at most 15 minutes, but while it was coming down I could not see past the railing on our deck. The winds were also very intense judging by the sound and movement of the Crimson King Maple Tree next to the deck.

When we finally got up Linda checked the weather. The storm front had already pushed into Ontario, Canada and it looked like we were done with the rain. Temperatures will drop during the day and we have some below freezing lows coming up the next few nights, but it’s November so we can’t claim to be surprised and have no basis to complain.

Linda left around 9:45 AM to go to the supermarket. While she was gone I worked on my iPad finishing my posts from Wednesday and yesterday. I made a few phone calls and sent several e-mails before getting to work on the bus.

One call was to SLOAN’s in Linden to see about having the lawn tractor repaired. The service tech said the normal turnaround this time of year is about two weeks depending what is needed and whether they have the parts on hand. He said that if I brought it in soon and they did not get it finished before Thanksgiving they would store it for us until spring. Given the limited space in our garage and the need to get Linda’s car in there for the winter having them store it would be a real bonus but would require the better part of day to borrow Mike’s trailer, haul the lawn tractor up there, and return the trailer to Mike.

The second call was to A-1 Upholstery in Elkhart, Indiana. Terry said the fabric was sewn for our spacer cushion and she was expecting the foam today or Monday. Once the foam was stuffed into the fabric she would have to stitch the seam closed. She figured it should be ready by Wednesday.

My last call was to Pat Lintner from our FMCA Great Lakes Converted Coaches (GLCC) chapter. He and Vickie live just outside of Elkhart, Indiana and found several pieces for an old Nutone kitchen counter mounted multi-function appliance. We have a Nutone power base in our bus that works and got a few accessories from Pat and Vickie at the GLCC Surplus and Salvage Rally back in September. They subsequently found more, and were going to bring them to Florida, but I let them know I would very likely be passing through Elkhart late next week and could pick them up. Pat offered me the use of the guest room, as he always does, and I may take him up on it this time. Given the number of places I have to stop it will likely be a very long day.

One of my e-mails was to our cabinet maker, Jarel Beatty, to update him on when I might be coming to Logansport and to see if he could/would get a 60″x60″ sheet of Baltic Birch plywood and cut it into four 30″x 30″ pieces for me. I then e-mailed Bill Tharpe to let him know I would be in his part of Indiana late next week and would drop off the antique SUN Distributor Tester at his place in Mexico, Indiana.

Bus floor under the driver’s seat. Black tray to rear (upper left) has been sprayed with rubber undercoating. Seat mounting rails (center) are visible. Open area is the bay below the driver’s seat.

Linda got back around 11 AM and we finally got to work on bus-related projects at 11:15. The POR-15 and black spray-on rubberized undercoating paint seemed to have dried adequately overnight but the wood I treated with Thompson’s Water Seal was still tacky. The directions said it took 48 hours to dry but we don’t have that kind of time to wait.

We removed all of the painter’s plastic and painter’s tape from the cockpit of the bus and put it in a trash bag. I then drilled a 1/4″ drain hole in the bottom of each tray area where water had accumulated. The one under the passenger seat opened into a dark space but I was fairly certain it was outside the body behind the plastic wheel well trim. I could see the driveway gravel through the driver side hole so I knew it was outside the body.

The next task was putting spray foam insulation in a few critical spots. We did not need much for the bus so I sealed two holes in the floor of the bedroom in our house (under a couple of the baseboard radiators) and then added some around the back door frame of the garage. Once I start using a can of this spray foam insulation I find it best to use it up.

Cutting and fitting the new plywood to patch the area under the driver’s seat in the bus.

Patching the floor under the passenger seat involved three pieces of wood. The tray area under the plywood floor between the seat mounting channels is slightly raised along the inside edges of the channels. I had cut a piece of 3/16″ SurePly to fit between the raised edges and slide under the existing floor towards the center of the bus. I set it in place and slid it under the old floor while Linda and I help it up slightly with pry bars. Because of the geometry of the situation I had to cut about six inches off of the end of this piece towards the outside of the bus. I had notched this piece to fit around the drain line for the front AC evaporator, so it slipped in behind the first piece just right. The third part of the patch was a piece of recycled 3/4″ plywood that I had cut yesterday to just fit between the mounting channels. With that in place I screwed through the old wood into SurePly and screwed through the 3/4″ plywood into the SurePly and pulled it up tight.

By this time it was 1:15 PM and I was ready for lunch. Linda made hummus and onion sandwiches and served them with tangerine halves. A simple but delicious mid-day meal.

After lunch we worked on the driver side floor patch. The driver side was trickier because the patch has to rest on and span structural members. As with the passenger side I am trying to replace 1″ thick plywood without having access to material of that thickness. The plywood sold as 3/4″ actually measures from 0.707″ to 0.717 inches in thickness. As it turned out the combination of so-called 3/4″ plywood with the SurePly underlayment plywood was just thick enough to match the old 1″ stuff.

Yet another layer of plywood to fill in and even up the floor under the driver’s seat in the bus.

I had to trim the piece of SurePly several times and drill holes for the seat mounting bolts. The holes were not quite in the right place but I was able to trim it to my satisfaction and it was generally a good fit. We then used it as a template for laying out the same shape on a piece of 3/4″ oak veneered plywood.

Hardwood veneered plywood is more expensive than regular fir plywood but it has more layers and is dimensionally more stable. I had a piece that was flat and big enough to cut out the part we needed so I used it. After some minor trimming it fit properly and lined up with the SurePly layer. I turned them upside down, aligned them carefully, and screwed the SurePly to the underside of the 3/4″ piece. I then installed them back into the open area.

We now needed another piece of SurePly, but it needed to be larger and a different shape. It would be one of two pieces that would replace the 1/2″ thick top layer of plywood. I removed the old piece from the bus after feeding two wires back through a hole. We used the old piece as a template to outline the new piece and mark the four holes for the mounting bolts and the one for the wires. I cut out the new piece and drilled the holes and then put it in place. I was surprised by how much it was off. It needed to be wider and longer and the holes were not as well aligned with the holes in the plywood below it as they needed to be.

All of the patch pieces in place in the driver’s compartment. The four holes are for the mounting bolts for the seat pedestal base.

SurePly is not expensive but it’s not free either. It is relatively easy to work with, however, so making a second piece was not a big deal. What was a big deal was the cloud cover, dropping temperature, wind, and diminishing light, all of which were making outside work more difficult and less enjoyable with each passing minute. But we took our time and got it cut, and after some minor trimming it fit very nicely. I did not, however, secure it, or the 1″ plywood sandwich under it, as I needed the top piece to use as a template for the final piece. This last piece will not only cover the area under the driver’s seat, it will extend out towards the door and cover the landing. Once I have that cut correctly I will secure the bottom sandwich and then use floor leveling compound to fill in gaps. I will then install the last two layers of SurePly. At that point I will need to go to Lowe’s for another sheet of SurePly to finish the passenger seat platform and will probably get two sheets just to make sure I have enough. As much as I like going to Lowe’s and The Home Depot, each trip takes time away from actually working on the bus.

We quit working at 4:30 PM to get the tools put away before Brendan and Madeline arrived. They got here at 5:15 PM and she was very excited to see us and be at our house. Linda and Brendan got all of Ms. M’s stuff from the car to the house and Brendan transferred the car seat to Linda’s car. Brendan entertained Madeline while Linda got the inflatable toddler bed set up. Madeline went immediately for the cabinet under the sink in the hall bathroom where we keep the bandages and found one to put on. She likes cartoon character bandages.

Brendan hung around until 6 PM and left just as Linda put dinner on the table. He and Shawna are headed to Ajo, Arizona this weekend for a wedding. Their flight to Phoenix leaves tomorrow morning so Madeline will be with us until Monday afternoon when Linda takes her back to her house in Ann Arbor. Her parents’ flight is due in at 7 PM so Linda won’t be home before 9 PM that evening.

For dinner Linda made roasted potatoes and mock chicken tenders. She and Ms. M had broccoli and peas but she was kind enough to only serve me broccoli. I don’t think I will ever develop a taste for green peas.

By the time we finished dinner Madeline was a little tired and had a brief crying episode when I told her she could not use our bed as a trampoline. Linda offered to let her watch an episode of Daniel Stripped Tiger and that seemed to ease her distress at having been told ‘no’ which is a very traumatic experience for her at this age. She wanted to put on her pajamas and brush her teeth first, so Linda helped her with that. The two of them climbed into our bed and watched the video on Shawna’s iPad while I stayed in the living room and wrote this blog post.

When the video was over Madeline wished me ‘good night’ and went quietly off to bed. Linda and I lingered in the living room and I texted Chuck to inquire about their travels yesterday and today. I then went to my office for a while where I updated our WordPress site, off-loaded photos from today’s work, logged in to RVillage and checked the forums of various groups, and dealt with a few e-mails. I came back upstairs at 9:45 PM and we were in bed by 10 PM where I finished the draft of this post.

2015/10/17 (S) First Snow

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Last night we removed the dining table from the back of my car and put it on the bed in the bus. We then removed the two rear seats and put them in the garage. We wanted the back of the Honda Element empty when we got up this morning as we do not usually have time to spare in the morning before driving to South Lyon for breakfast with the South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club.

It’s always good to see our fellow hams and today was no exception. We arrived just before 8 AM and stayed for over an hour. We left around 9:15 and drove to Chuck’s shop in Novi to get the box with the two remaining lower windshields for our bus. Chuck was already there and helped us load the box into the car. The box was sized to hold five windshields but only had two in it so it was light enough for us to move by hand. I knew it would fit in my car as we had measured it on a previous visit and I had checked the dimensions against the car. We set one end on the tailgate, lifted the other end, and slid it in. We chatted for a while, and looked at a project Chuck is working in for new front window shades, before heading home.

Phil was not at our house when we got home but he had obviously been there. All of the concrete, and many of the rocks and boulders, were gone from the driveway extension area so I presumed he had loaded them in his truck and hauled them away.

The Converted Coach Owners (CCO) Halloween Rally was going on this weekend and today was the main day for activities. We had intended/hoped to go to the rally but the progress on our bus remodeling has slowed over the last couple of weeks for various reasons, all legitimate, and it was not in a condition to travel or be used. It’s not that things are not getting done; they are, just not as fast as we would like or need them to. Among other things I have not yet secured the refrigerator and pantry. We thought about driving over in the car but it was over two hours one way and we needed to spend what time we had available working on the bus and could not justify being gone. Thanksgiving does not look/feel that far away anymore. It also seemed ill-advised to be gone while Phil is here digging up the yard.

My main bus focus for today was completing the installation of the built-in sofa. We had already set the plywood seat board on a blanket on the bus kitchen floor so I had access to the inside of the base/storage box. I did not need Linda’s assistance for a while so she worked on her counted cross-stitch project. Before starting on the sofa, however, I took care of a few other minor things.

First I replaced the alkaline batteries in the TempMinder thermometers with Lithium ones. I then reset the minimum and maximum temperatures for the two remote sensors. Sensor #1 monitors the freezer and sensor #2 monitors the fresh food compartment of the bus refrigerator. The directions for the TempMinder suggest using Lithium batteries if the remote sensors will be in cold environments.

Next I got a piece of scrap SurePly underlayment to see how it would fit in the rabbited wood trim on the lower outside wall of the hallway. I inserted it fully into a corner and marked the edges with a pencil. It is approximately 3/16″ thick and fit nicely without being too tight. With a layer of veneer it should be just right. When I removed it the depth of the rabbits appeared to be 5/16″ to 3/8″. I think the underlayment will make a nice base for hardwood veneer. I will cut the panels 1/2″ wider (22-1/2″) and 1/2″ longer (28″) than the 22″ X 27-1/2″ dimensions of the framed opening and allow them to “float” just like a frame and panel door.

My last mini-task was locating the 1/4″ walnut veneered plywood we removed from the old refrigerator and measuring it to see if we had pieces big enough to panel the damaged area on the wall by the co-pilot seat. I was pleased to find that the remaining pieces are large enough for this application.

By now it was 12:30 PM and my phone reminded me that we had an RVillage Ambassadors webinar/meeting at 1 PM. Linda heated up some Amy’s Vegetable Bean Soup and made hot lentil loaf sandwiches with ketchup. Yum. We got our first snow flurries of the 2015-16 winter season during lunch and they continued off and on through the afternoon. We moved to Michigan in May 1976. It snowed on October 15th that year and we had snow on the ground every day until early April 1977. While that has not held up over the years as a “typical” southeast Michigan winter it was very different from what we grew up with in Missouri and formed our first and most lasting impression of our adopted state.

I retrieved the link for the Go To Meeting from the RVillage website and put it in my web browser. 1 PM came and went with no meeting. The meeting notice said “Saturday, October 17 at 10 AM PST” but they had clarified that was actually 10 AM PDT, which is 1 PM EDT. We decided that perhaps they really meant PST, which would be 2 PM our time. We tried again an hour later, but no meeting ever commenced.

When I finally got to work in the bus on the sofa I removed six screws, three each from two angle brackets, and pulled the entire base assembly out from the wall, giving me complete access to the HVAC duct and wiring chase. Much of the final installation of the sofa involved this duct.

Powered and manual sheet metal nibblers with the opening Bruce just cut in the OTR HVAC duct and the piece of sheet metal that was removed.

The ends of the plywood seat rest on two boxes with open ends that also serve as plenums for air from the OTR HVAC system ducts. I needed to cut out rectangular openings in the vertical face of the duct to allow air into the back end of these boxes. I used a 1/2″ drill to create starter holes at the corners of the openings and then used a manual sheet metal nibbler and a drill-powered reciprocating nibbler, both of which I borrowed from Chuck a few weeks ago, to cut out the sheet metal. The two tools work differently but they both worked well and I was glad I had both of them for this task. The powered nibbler created a lot of small metal debris so I vacuumed the whole work area very thoroughly when I was done nibbling.

The right (forward) end of the duct also had an extra hole in it where I did not need or want one. I removed an old sheet metal patch plate and cut a new one to cover the area I needed to close off. I ended up having to pre-drill holes as I spun the heads off two of my cheap sheet metal screws. I had a heck of a time getting the shafts out, but I got it done. This was just one more example of why seemingly simple projects always take longer than they should.

Phil returned while I was working on the sofa and continued trenching in the French drain. I stopped to chat with him briefly and Linda came out to let me know she was headed to the grocery store. I then got back to my own tasks and let Phil get back to his.

The left support/plenum box with the circular register hole cut in the face plate.

The open fronts of the two plenum boxes are attached to the inside of the vertical front support, which is 3/4″ walnut veneered plywood. To get the air out of the boxes and into the coach my design called for brown plastic 4″ round louvered diffusers. They are considered “four inch” because the two inch long cylindrical pipe on the back will just fit through a 4″ diameter circular hole. (A 4″ flexible duct, like dryer duct, will also just fit over the pipe.) The visible part of the diffuser is actually 5-1/2″ in diameter.

The inside width of the plenum boxes is 4-1/4″ by design. I needed to center a 4″ hole within that space so I had to locate the center point for my 4″ hole saw very accurately side-to-side. I also wanted the hole centered vertically. Using my small square I marked the vertical midpoint on the edge of the front plywood at each end. I then measured in 2-13/16″ from the midpoint mark and used my spring-loaded center punch to mark the center of the hole. [The 2-13/16″ dimension came from half the inside width, or 2-1/8″, plus the thickness of the plywood used to make the plenums, or 11/16″.]

A close up view of the nylon mesh screen material used to cover the opening in the HVAC duct to keep critters that might get into the duct from getting into the support/plenum box.

I stood the boxes on their back ends so the front board was horizontal. I straddled the front board with my legs to hold it and drilled starter holes with a #6 countersink bit. I then drilled the 4″ holes with a 4″ hole saw using my 1/2″ Craftsman corded drill, being careful to have the pilot bit in the starter holes and drill perpendicular to the face of the plywood. I have had this drill for 37 years. It is very powerful and has several ways it can be gripped quite securely. It is large, heavy, and lacks the convenience of a cordless drill but when I need to use a bit with a 1/2″ shaft and/or need the torque, this is still the drill for the job. The hole saw created some sawdust so I vacuumed the whole area thoroughly when I was done drilling.

I was just finishing this work when Linda got back from the grocery store. She put the groceries away and came out to see if I needed any assistance. I already had the roll of plastic screen in the bus and she got the Gorilla Tape from the garage. I cut pieces of the screen large enough to cover the two rectangular openings in the HVAC duct and used lengths of Gorilla Tape to secure them. We then slid the base/storage assembly back into position, pushed it tight to the HVAC duct, and reattached it to the wood wire chase on top of the duct. The two support boxes and the return air box have foam weather stripping on the back edges to seal against the duct.

We picked the plywood seat up off of the kitchen floor and set it back in place but did not secure it. We left it out several inches from its original position and got a seat and back cushion from the bedroom. We experimented with different spacings and finally agreed that we need to have the seat out 4-3/4″ farther than originally designed. The current hinge board is 11/16″ plywood, 2-3/4″ wide by just under 78″ long. This board is screwed to the top of the wiring chase and to one side of the 72″ piano hinge. I will replace it with a piece that is 7-1/2″ wide by the same length. I will also have to provide some additional support for the seat side of the piano hinge as in the original design had both sides of the hinge resting on top of the wiring chase on top of the HVAC duct.

The Tulip Tree behind our house in its full fall glory. This is the first photo to be posted in this blog taken with the new Sony a99v DSLT camera.

That was the end of the interior bus work for today. By the time we were done Phil had driven his front-loader onto his flat-bed trailer and secured it so it appeared he was wrapping up for the day. I chatted with him about the project for 30 minutes before he left. Earlier in the afternoon I had found my site plan drawings for the bus barn and agreed to stake out the driveway tomorrow so we could review it first thing Monday morning.

Linda had invited Meghan and Chris for brunch tomorrow but it was not a good weekend for them as the Michigan vs Michigan State football game was taking place in Ann Arbor. Chris manages the Pizza House restaurant, and being away on football Saturday is not an option. They will come next Sunday (31st) instead.

For dinner Linda made a nice salad of mixed greens with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, and diced onions dressed with raspberry vinaigrette. The main course was pan-fried polenta with vegan puttanesca sauce. It held its heat to the last bite and was very satisfying on a cold evening. I opened a bottle of Cupcake Black Forest red wine. We have had it before and, although drier than I prefer, it went well with the meal.

After dinner I got my flashlight and checked the bus for axle/hub seal leaks by looking under the bus from the opposite side to see the inside of the wheels. I did not see anything to suggest a problem on any of the six positions and will text that information to Joe tomorrow for planning purposes as he would require a second day to work on the seals if that was needed.

We spent the last couple of hours of the day in the living room, with the fireplace turned on, reading, writing, and playing games while enjoying some red grapes for dessert. Linda got a text from her sister-in-law, Mary, with a photo of her and Ron “standing on ‘the’ corner in Winslow, Arizona.” Ron has been retired for many years but Mary only recently retired and they are on their first extended camping trip in their A-liner trailer and their first trip to the southwest U.S.

We went to bed around 10 PM. Linda fell asleep quickly while I divided my attention between cooking shows on the Detroit PBS Create channel, a concert by Eric Clapton on PBS, and working on this post.

2015/08/29 (S) Up and Down

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When we arrived at the South Lyon Senate Coney Island just before 8 AM there were only five other SLAARC members there but we had 16 by the time the last two people showed up. Linda (K8LMF) got to sit next to Linda (NF8C) for the first time in quite a while and they had a long chat. All but one person stayed until 9:45 when we got up to leave and everyone else followed suit.

We were back home by 10:15 AM, changed into our work clothes, and got back to work on the bus remodeling project. It was a very overcast and cloudy day with a high probability of rain that was forecast to be an all-day event. That altered our plans a little in that we did not want the pieces of underlayment to get wet and our air-compressor could not be out in the rain as it has an electric motor.

Yesterday we marked and cut the underlayment panels in the driveway, laying them across 2x4s to create space for the circular saw blade. In order to keep the project moving forward we decided to use the temporary “workbench” in the garage for this work. Since the workbench was covered with drawer fronts that had to be moved we decided to take a little time to put the new handles on them and reattach them to the drawer boxes. Sometimes it’s true that “there’s no time like the present” to get something done.

Linda has worked hard on cleaning and waxing the walnut drawer fronts and fixed cabinetry in our motorcoach. The results so far are amazing and we are feeling like all of our work will be worthwhile as the interior of the coach is going to look very nice when we are done with this project.

We had cut the piece of underlayment for part of the hallway last night but needed to trim it to get it to fit correctly. I think we took it out of, and back into, the bus at least four times, each trip requiring us to go up and down the seven steps in the entryway/cockpit plus the stool outside the door. I do not know how many times we went up and down those steps today but it was a quite a few. To add to our enjoyment and bus conversion physical fitness program we were usually carrying something and it was often heavy and/or large.

The next pieces of underlayment to be cut would fill out most of the living room. I had planned to cut them a certain way but changed my mind after talking it through with Linda. We took measurements and I made drawings that were close to scale. We ended up using the full 48″ width of a 4’x8′ sheet and about 86″ of its length for the piece that fills the alcove where the built-in sofa and storage base will go. It had two large corner cutouts, one to make it fit with two other installed pieces and the other to go around the base of the media cabinet that doubles as an end table for the forward end of the sofa. After test fitting it we had to trim a couple inches off of a back corner because of a wire bundle and create a notch for several wires that ran through the floor just in front of the driver’s side HVAC chase. We waited for a lull in the rain and took it back into the coach.

It fit just right but unfortunately there were defects in the subfloor, such as small gouges and depressed screw heads, that needed to be repaired. Since we could not use the air-stapler today I did not have a good excuse for not patching the floor correctly so I worked on that while Linda resumed working on the woodwork. The quart of “ready to use” floor patch was not as ready to use as I would have liked. The directions said to stir thoroughly and when I opened the container there was a half inch of milky white liquid on top of somewhat drier and stiffer material with the consistency of fine wet sand. The directions also said the open (working) time was about 15 minutes.

I set the timer on the microwave for 20 minutes, spent five of those trying to stir and mix the floor patch ingredients, and then tried to patch everything that really needed it in the allotted time. I did not care for this material and wish I had used the Universal Patch and Skimcoat that I used everywhere else. It was gritty and did not feather out or finish as smoothly as I wanted, but there was nothing to do now but wait for it to dry which would take three hours.

Linda decided to work in the house and eventually fix dinner while I worked in the bedroom (of the bus) trying to remove very old masking tape from the subfloor using a 1.25″ putty knife. After an hour I had about half of it off but called it quits as my hands were sore.

For dinner Linda cooked a couple of ears of corn-on-the-cob, heated some vegetarian (vegan) baked beans, and cooked two vegan “burgers” topped with vegan cheese. Mustard, ketchup, pickle relish, and four large leaves of romaine lettuce made for a tasty sandwich. We each had a glass of the Cupcake Black Forest Decadent Red wine with the meal. Dessert was fresh sliced strawberries with non-dairy (vegan) peach mango “yogurt.” It was a tasty summertime meal.

After dinner I tried sanding the floor patches even though the directions said not to sand the dried material. I used a very old piece of 120 grit sandpaper in my orbital sander and went over the entire area. I vacuumed the whole area but I could still feel a residual grit on the floor. I got Linda’s vacuum from the house and tried that. I then got the Revel wet/dry mop and tried wet moping the area, but it was still gritty. I was preparing to go over the entire area with the new 80 grit sandpaper but Linda managed to get it clean using the brush attachment on the house vacuum cleaner.

With the area cleaned up we put the piece of underlayment for the sofa nook in place and it fit very nicely but we did not staple it. We redid our measurements for the passenger side front piece and made some minor adjustments to the dimensions on the drawing. What I have tried to do wherever possible is to keep at least two factory edges with a common vertex (corner) and use that point and those sides as the basis for my measurements.

It looked like heavy rain was going to hit us from the west but must have tracked north of us. We continued to get rain, off and on, but nothing heavy every materialized. Working in the garage we measured and cut the last piece for today. We made extensive use of the circular saw running it along a saw guide. By the time we had the sheet cut there was a lull in the rain so we took it to the bus to test fit it. The fit was close but needed minor trimming in the front outside corner. By now it was 8:30 PM and we did not want to haul the sheet back out of the bus and into the garage to work on it. That will be our first task tomorrow followed by stapling the three pieces that we cut today, weather permitting.

We turned in at 10 PM. There wasn’t anything on TV that interested us, so Linda read for few minutes before falling asleep and I wrote until 11:30.

2015/08/28 (F) Bye Bye Fridge

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The DTE Energy appliance recycling program called yesterday and left a message indicating that they would pick up our old refrigerator between 8 AM and noon today so we got up at 7:30 AM to make sure we were ready if they arrived early. I was cold last night so I put on my sweats when I got up. For breakfast we had our usual granola with fresh blueberries and split a banana, had a little glass of juice to wash down the vitamins, and then had coffee in the living room. I turned on the gas fireplace to chase away the morning chill while I put the finishing touches on yesterday’s post and Linda did her morning check-in with the world beyond our immediate boundaries (and concerns).

The DTE Energy pickup truck called at 9 AM to let us know they would be here around 9:30. We finished our coffee, got dressed, and awaited their arrival. Ever since a delivery truck almost took out the telephone trunk line over our driveway last August I try to be in the driveway anytime a truck is headed our way.

Two guys showed up in an Enterprise truck. Our new refrigerator for the bus was delivered by two guys in an Enterprise truck. It must make more sense than buying one. When they opened the back it already had used appliances in it. The guy handling the paperwork said they usually pick up 30 appliances a day but were scheduled for 32 today. I signed the acknowledgments and releases on his cell phone and they then unplugged it, cut off the power cord, stuck a hand truck under it, rolled it onto their lift, raised it up and rolled it in next to another side-by-side fridge that was very similar to ours. They closed the rear cover and were on their way. I don’t think they were here more than 15 minutes. It’s nice to have it out of the garage and to know that it will be recycled. We will also receive a check for $50 in 4 to 6 weeks which beats having to pay someone to haul it away.

Linda picked up where she left off on Wednesday with the woodwork in the bedroom of the bus while I got the tools and supplies ready that we needed to install the Patriot Lumber SurePly underlayment on the floor. That included getting out the 15 gallon air-compressor, 60 foot air hose, Butch’s Central Pneumatic air stapler/nailer (that I borrowed on our most recent visit to Indiana), and a package of #18 1/4″ crown 3/4″ long staples

Linda finished wiping off the residual Touch of Beeswax from the bedroom woodwork and then helped me get the 4’x8′ sheet of underlayment out of the bus and over to the driveway. We put this sheet in the bus yesterday so I could determine where to make needed cuts. I had marked several places where I needed to make notches or take some material off of part of an edge. I did not want to do the cutting in the bus, however, because we need to keep the floors clean and avoid airborne dust. I made the cuts and then we moved the sheet back into the bus.

Bruce positions the second piece of underlayment.

Per the instructions, we positioned the sheet of underlayment in the corner across from the kitchen sink with the long dimension running fore and aft across the floor joists. It fit nicely so I connected the air hose to the air stapler and inserted a set of 3/4″ staples. The instructions for the pneumatic stapler indicated a working pressure range of 70 – 100 PSI, with the pressure controlling the depth of drive, and suggested adjusting it on some scrap material. It turned out that I had to set the regulator on the air compressor to 100 PSI to get the right depth of drive.

The instructions for the underlayment were very clear about the order in which the sheet should be stapled so that’s what we did. Linda stood on the sheet to keep it flat while I stapled and we both wore proper safety glasses, of course. From the corner I put a staple every two inches along the edge by the HVAC duct. Working out from the same starting corner I then put one every two inches along the short edge. Working out from the same starting corner I stapled it along the diagonal to the opposite corner. Again working from the starting corner I stapled the “field” on either side of the diagonal. The last staples were 2″ apart along the other short edge and up the other long edge.

A week and a half ago we had this same sheet of underlayment in the bus and I screwed it down temporarily with a dozen screws to see how it felt. I counted the number of fasteners needed for one full sheet and I think it was 352. That’s when I decided I would staple them. After installing the first sheet I think it was the right choice.

Bruce staples the second piece of underlayment.

I got a phone call from my sister so we took a break and while I talked to her Linda started preparing lunch. She made grilled cheese, with mock turkey, onions, and greens on rye, all vegan of course. We each had a deliciously ripe fresh pear. Yum.

The next piece of underlayment to go in filled in the space between the first sheet and the base of the kitchen cabinets. But first we had to remove the painter’s tape we had put on the base to protect it. It turned out to be cemented on from the floor leveling compound so I had to chisel it loose. Linda vacuumed up the debris and then I went over the area with 120 grit sandpaper on the oscillating sander. Things like this are what cause project timelines to stretch out; when we put the painter’s tape on we assumed we would be able just peel it off.

This second piece was less than half the width of a full sheet and involved a tricky angle cut and a notch so I measured carefully, made a drawing (not to scale), and rechecked the dimensions with Linda verifying them. We cut the piece outside and brought it in. It was a very good fit so we stapled it down.

A detailed view of the bottom front end of the pantry and refrigerator showing the aluminum angle that keeps the fridge from shifting to the left into the pantry.

The third piece was much more difficult to figure out and will probably prove to be the trickiest piece overall once we are done. It was essentially a big triangle with two corners cut off and complex notches along the hypotenuse. I took a lot of measurements with Linda’s help and made a diagram. When I laid it out on the underlayment things did not quite line up. I figured out and corrected one problem but had to go back in the coach and make two more measurements.

At the point where it was close, but not close enough, I decided to cut along the hypotenuse, trim off the two corners, and take it back in the bus to mark the locations of two notches. With the notches marked we took it back outside and I finished cutting it. We took it back inside and set it in place. It was as good a fit as could have hoped for so we stapled it. Although we had worked for most of the day and only gotten three pieces installed our careful work had paid off and we were very satisfied with what we had accomplished. It was 5 PM, we were tired, and we were getting hungry so we decided to quit while we were ahead.

I took a shower while Linda prepared dinner. She made a very tasty whole grain rotini pasta dish with garlic, onion, olive oil, broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and greens. Now that, Alton Brown, is “good eats.” We had nice big wedges of fresh watermelon for dessert.

After dinner we went to Lowe’s to buy three more sheets of underlayment and some wallpaper stripping spray. By the time we got home it was after 8 PM and we settled into the living room to read and write, much the way our day began, minus the coffee.

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Tag Archives: SurePly underlayment by Patriot Lumber

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