The Entry Way....

This week at the bat cave...

This week started by finishing up the roof decking on the side porch with the 2x6 tongue and groove that Cristi has been staining endlessly.  After that was complete, Ron got to work laying out the logs and timbers on the ground for the Entry Way roof, piers and girders.  After confirming that the 2 main logs being used for piers were just too mismatched to use, I went down to Everhart Lumber and they traded me out for a very sweet specimen.  While I was in Tellico at the sawmill, Ron got started on the fascia and soffit.

Before it was debarked

starting the soffit

Wednesday, we chainsawed and measured, and remeasured, and measured again lining everything up on the ground.  There is no way this super structure of an entry could be built 30' in the air.  All of the holes for the log bolts were drilled and lined up. Then, the custom log king truss was built by Ron while I tended to my business today.

 

Thursday, we stained the 6 logs and set one in place. Then, we cut and prepared all the timber girders and rafters.  This doesn't sound like much work but it took 12 hours to complete.

Friday, we lifted the 2 main pier logs into place and marked out were the wrap around porch 8x8 girders intersected with them.  Once they were marked, we chainsawed out the cedar so the girders would rest inside the logs 5".  This was both fun and iffy (we have never attempted anything like this before).  One wrong move with the chainsaw and the log would have been ruined.

Saturday, Cristi stained like a maniac again trying to keep pace with our entry roof framing.  Ron finished laying out the roof where it ties into the main house.  We stained the timbers after we installed them as rafters.  This was dumb as staining from planks 25' above the porch deck was nerve racking!  But, it got done safely. As soon as the entry roof rafters were done, we started decking the roof with the 2x6 tongue and groove.  Yes, we spent 5 days on the entry roof, but when you have only 2 guys and a man lift, it takes time.  That Entry had to be laid out perfectly for it to work and it did.  Ron was amazing this week as always.  The Entry Way is pretty amazing, too!