First, let me say. Be picky about the lumber you get for tongue and groove. We went through it pretty good and still ended up with a couple of pieces that I wasn't sure were going to work out. Even a slight bow in the wood makes the task MUCH harder. We got through about 20 pieces of the 45 we bought but some of them were work. The other challenge is that you're working over your head. I'm not sure which is worse, holding your arms upright over your head for 3-4 hours at a time or climbing up and down a ladder several hundred times. I'm really hoping we finish the other boards this coming weekend but if we don't, it's OK. We'll work at it as we can. Don't plan on completing any significant work per day without some major aches and pains. :)
That said, I think it's really turning out nice. We had every intention of white washing it when done but now that we've seen it installed, I think we're leaning towards just oiling and sealing it. I love the honey color of pine and the oils will just pull out the depth of the grain.
Here were some pics after a batch of boards went up.
We both agreed after seeing a significant section up and installed that it's making the ceiling seem shorter. I'm glad we're leaving it light colored. I can't imagine what it would do to perspective if it were dark. :)
I'm using a Porter Cable brad nailer that I picked up this weekend. I've been very happy with it so far. It's light weight but solid. Holds about 100 nails per clip. Reloads easily and shoots as expected, every time. Since we didn't have purlins to nail to, we went ahead and ran a bead of Liquid Nails down each board before it went up. By the next morning, it was set up nicely and very solid.
Slept in on Sunday through the rain. We got another inch or so through the weekend. Add that to the really wet March we just got through and we've already hit about 12" so far this year. Off to a good start. Last year was a bit shy at just under 30" compared to the 44" average. To give some perspective. Just on our 12 acres, the 12" we've received so far this year means that we've taken about 4,000,000 gallons of water weighing about 32,000,000 pounds.
1 acre = 43, 560 square feet x 12 acres = 522,720 square feet x 12" of rain = 522,720 cubic feet
522,720 cubic feet = 3,910,217 gallons x 8.33 lbs per gallon = 32,572,108 lbs of water
Our yearly average of 44" of rain will produce over 14,000,000 gallons of water, just on our land. For drinking, bathing and washing (dishes & clothes), Kim and I will use about 1000 gallons per month. I don't need to catch much to be set. We've got our cistern on the way, 1,500 gallon. Our roof size is 414 square feet. With our annual average, that's about 11,000 gallons per year plus the million+ gallon creek that fills up behind the cabin 2-3 times per year. The roof on the storage building will add another 5K gallons for the year. I think we'll be set.
Eventually, I'd like to add a 2nd cistern in the 5K gallon range to use for irrigation. We'd fill it from the creek and use it primarily for gardening. As my wife can testify, I'm really not much into the yard thing these days. You can spend 30K-50K gallons per year encouraging it to grow so that you can spend your weekends mowing it. :( I would really like to put up a "Nature Preserve" sign in our Arlington yard and not have to touch it again but the city and our neighbors tend to frown on that kind of behavior. If they're going to spend money and time, everyone else should have to also. I understand that. It's one of the reasons I love having property in the country. No HOAs, no city codes. Everyone does what they want to do and leaves everyone else alone. Besides, the only people who see my property are friends and relatives and they show up for the BBQ, cold beer and witty conversation. :)
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