[Lynn]

Joe is just a prince of a guy. He works full time as an OKC Police officer. I believe he is on 8 days straight and then off 6 (don't hold me to that... but seems about right). He used to do a ton of masonry work, but has tailed off. Much easier just doing private security detail these days. He isn't as old as me, but is starting to feel the results of manual labor. But, he definitely isn't a millenial either (Millenials think manual labor was a Spanish war hero).

We were in a rush to get this done before my door got here and before my surgery. The weather would not cooperate. We got half done, but he had no more days off. The next Sunday we were expecting above freezing temps again, and Joe, great guy that he is, took off work a half day to finish the job. Then he got mad at me for paying him too much. Deal with it buddy.

Anyway, I got the wall rebuilt. There was no way to install proper anchors in that brick wall, as we only tore off the top 3 or 4 courses, down to where it was solid. So, when I put the pressure treated sill plate on, I just screwed tapcons through the sill plate and into the brick, at least one screw between each set of studs, and sometimes two. I was a little nervous when the City inspector came out to inspect my framing. He liked my 3/4 inch anchors in the NEW stem wall, and then asked about anchors in the old. I told him the building was built in 1922, there was no requirement for anchors at the time, and because I wasn't doing new construction, I did not have to comply with modern building code. Fortunately, he agreed. he gave me a few things to do on the "honor" system before I covered up around the doof frame with OSB. Good thing, as it was the 21st. Surgery was scheduled for the 23rd. I still had to go pick up the door at the truck terminal.