P.S.

Yes, the weather was every bit as lovely as my wife suggests.
Yes, I did not get my assigned homework completed, and no, the dog didn't eat it.
By plywood, Christina of course means drywall. Easy mixup, and I actually debated for quite some time about using plywood for the inside walls, instead of the more conventional drywall. It would be stronger, and you could hang anything on it anywhere by just driving a screw in and you're done.

But, the wall is already super duper overbuilt strong, and drywall offers significantly better fire resistance. Since I do no end of things that could potentially blow up or spontaneously catch on fire, I like that little extra insurance. Happily, 5/8" fire rated drywall costs the same at Lowes as the regular 5/8" product. They don't even stock the non-fire rated product. I'm not sure how it's different, though I would guess they incorporate some sort of chemical fire retardant in the paper facing. The gypsum itself isn't flammable a bit, though it could be damaged by the heat of a nice house/shop fire. I suppose I could google that and find out. If I had to guess, I'd say it was treated with borate or boric acid or one of its other sisters.

In defense of my failed assigned homework, I did get biodiesel made, and I did do a very necessary car repair so I don't go out in the morning and find a pile of rust where my car used to be. I may do a blog post in future about the ridiculous and unnecessary obsolescence of most automobiles. I'll just have to build my own and show them how it's done. Soooo frustrating when people just keep doing it wrong.

Also, I finished my heavy wooden beam for hoisting whatever heavy objects I desire. It's (4) 2x 10's, five feet long, all glued and clamped and nailed into one massive 6" x 10" x 5' beam. This sits on the bottom chord of the three "heavy" tripled up roof trusses. The trusses are in turn supported by extra studs in the wall. All very hefty and strong. Aircraft grade galvanized steel cable will loop around said hefty beam to give a place to attach the hoist or come-a-long or skyhook or what-have-you. The cable by itself is rated for a load of 3,900 pounds. Typically, it will have a breaking strength of twice that or more. I will have six loops or 12 "individual" cables to transfer the weight and stress of whatever heavy object I'm lifting up to the beam. So the cables should be capable of 12 x 3,900 pounds, or 46,800 pounds.

Of course, the wooden framing would never support that, and I'll stick to a very conservative 2-3 tons maximum. I don't have any way to move or transport anything heavier than that anyway, so it all works out fine.

Finest regards,

troy