For readers not familiar with American idioms, let me explain the title.
A short cut is doing something with less time or money than normal. It comes from taking a shorter route than the usual route, say cutting through the woods rather than following the road. A short cut now may mean doing something quicker than normal. Like not putting on a hard hat to save time.
Giving short change is not giving all the change due a payee. For example, if you present $20 for something that costs $16.10, the seller may give you only $3.50 in change or $2.90, not $3.90. Short change has now come to mean not getting full value from something.
So, my short cut in building a cabin has cost me more money and time over the years than if I had done it right the first time.
When we built our cabin in Brimson, Minnesota in 1994 or so, we were living in the Twin Cities, a 200-mile, 3-1/2 to 4 hour drive each way. Each time we did a bit of work, we tried to make as much progress as possible.
We built the cabin on six posts stuck in the ground with the floor about 2-1/2 feet above the ground. I should have put insulation between the joists before I put the floor on, but I didn't want the insulation to get wet if I didn't have time to put the floor on. The way to put insulation between the joists is to nail runners along the sides of the joists, drop plywood on the runners, caulk the result, and drop insulation between the joists.
No, Mr. Know-It-All would crawl under the building and put the insulation in from underneath. No big deal for a fifty-something "kid".
Our cabin floor was warm through most winters, but then the squirrels discovered this wonderful nesting material. We would see wads all over our yard. I tried putting plastic screen under the insulation, but the squirrels would rip that off. I talked about putting 1/4-inch screen underneath, but never put more than a few square feet in.
Finally, there was practically no insulation left, and our floor was always cold in winter. This spring and summer, I pulled out what was left. I intended to install new insulation the proper way this fall. I finally started two weeks ago.
I intended to stuff insulation between the joists and then screw 1/4-inch plywood to support it and protect it from squirrels.
I borrowed a trailer from a friend, went to Menard's to buy all the plywood and a couple of packages of insulation. As a clerk helped me put the plywood in the trailer, he asked if I wanted to put the spare tire on top to hold the plywood down. I said no, I have tie-downs. Mistake one!
When I tried putting my tie-downs on, I could not find a good purchase on the side of the trailer, at least within reach of a single tie-down. I didn't think to hook two together. Mistake two!
As I drove the fifty-plus miles to our cabin, I kept looking in the rear-view mirror to be sure the insulation was still there. At not quite 25 miles, the insulation wasn't there. The North Star fire station was just ahead and I used that to turn around. Within a mile of backtracking, I saw the two insulation bundles stacked beside the road. Some kind person had stopped, picked them up off the road, and put them at the side. This time I put the bundles in the back of my SUV. But I didn't count the sheets of plywood; I saw that the top sheet was wedged under one of the back slats of the trailer and that should hold them in place. Mistake three!
When I unloaded everything at the cabin, I discovered I had only five of the six sheets of plywood. Hoo, boy! I drove the twenty-five miles back to where I had lost the insulation, looking carefully on both sides of the road (lots of tall grass, embankments, and such), as the daylight dwindled. As I drove, I pondered that I'm probably spending as much in gas as the missing sheet of plywood cost. I didn't find the sheet.
Tomorrow or soon: Part II - the actual progress of the insulation.
