Trusses Completed and Up!

A few more days of cutting and nailing and I had the full set of trusses finished. Time to call for help.

My friend Chuck is an Erection Specialist and with his expert knowledge and untiring help, we soon had the first one up in the air. Before the day was over, we had three trusses up, leveled, plumbed, and braced!

The next morning, I went to the top of the hill and gathered blueberries for my Cheerios. While picking, I heard a rustling and looked up to see a grey fox about 30 feet away. Too bad my phone battery was too weak for a snapshot. After a hearty breakfast, I began to raise the remaining trusses.

 

Everything went well on number four but when I got to the last one (isn't is always the LAST one?) I ran into a snag. The post was a little twisted and the come-along was too difficult to use on a ladder. So, I switched over to a slower, more forceful approach. I finally got the fifth truss up around dusk and had to fire up a flood light in order to see well enough to get it x-braced.

The rain started some time in the night and continued all day Sunday. The forecast was for two more days of  rainy weather so I high-tailed it for the ATL where a long hot shower was waiting for me.

Next to do:

• Bolt the last truss to the posts
• Formalize the bracing
• Add purlins
• Put on the steel roofing

Decking and Truss Building

Well, it has been a couple of weeks of no progress on the workshop but I did a fine job of taking care of Carolyn following her surgery. As soon as she convinced me she was well enough to take care of herself, I headed back up.  I grabbed a trailer-load of T&G decking and started laying it out.

The next morning, Chuck showed up and in no time we were half done. He is a man that knows what he is doing and is always "on the clock".

By afternoon, we were done! Well almost. There were four nails in each piece and everything was in place. I finished the recommended nailing schedule and applied Thompson's water seal on all the joints and nail holes.

The next day I got started on Truss # 1. These are double trusses with a "U" channel horizontal member built around the 6x6 support posts.

Vertical supports are nestled in the U-channel and trapped between the pairs of rafters. The whole thing weighs somewhere around 700 pounds if the lumber tables (and my calculations) are accurate.

Some additional blocks were nailed to the rafter ends of the uprights to provide extra nailing surface.

The first one took me several days counting time off for the funeral of a friend's mother. This last one took me just a day. I expect the next three will be a little faster - weather permitting.

Floor Framing Wrap-up

One last thing to do before the decking is to add supplemental joists down each side for support of wall framing. But before I can get in to work, I have to clear the road. One of a pair of dead Red Oaks finally came crashing down. Oh well, this will warm my bones come cold weather.

The additional joists just took a couple of hours (including a lengthy conversation with Seargent Robinson)

The next day, I had a hearty breakfast and started mowing the woods around the cabin and other structures. It had been at least a year since the last mowing and I aim to keep a good fire break around the important stuff. Besides, it just plain looks nice.
 

 

Naturally, I spotted a thing or two I had not noticed before.... This tiny blooming weed, left. I don't know what it is yet but I am guessing Amber will have identified it before I do. Also, the recent wetness has given resurrection to a number of patches of fluffy moss trapped on the mesas of large rocks.