Building Concepts II Course CMCC- Beginnings of an 8' x 12' Post and Beam Shed Week 9

This week we started the very beginning stages of our timber frame sheds. We will be constructing and 8' wide by 12' long post and beam shed building out of 6" x 6" timbers, as well as 4" x 4" and some 2" x 6" pieces also. In these series of photos what I am in the process of constructing is a knee brace like the ones we will be constructing for each corner post that will join to their connecting girders. We begin with practice pieces so we can understand the very delicate measurements necessary for an "effective" timber frame. If areas on the frame, like knee braces for example, are not exact and secure then the effect and strength of that area on the timber frame is somewhat lost. Patience and precision with a sharp chisel is what will give this project a good result.

Here you can see four holes we pre-drilled to help keep inside our soon to be mortise which is outlined in lead on the timber.

 Now I am chiseling out the 45 degree angle into the timber needed for the 45 degree tenon we cut on the knee brace.

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Building Concepts II Course CMCC- 12' x 24' Gable Shed Truss Construction and Building Assembly Week 8

 This weeks in-class time was devoted toward building two gable end trusses to have soffit and fascia material attached to it. A Soffit is something that forms a ceiling along the eve or ridge of something. A Fascia is any material used as a band or frieze running horizontally around a whole building roof system typically. Decks can also have fascia boards. Typically the widest edge of any fascia material is sitting upright. The things in the photo to the left that look like ladders are the fly rafter frames. Fly-rafters are members of a roof system that run parallel with the rake toward the top of the wall but they do not ever touch the wall plates because they are completing the overhang on the gable ends where the roof will stick out beyond the building.

This material being nailed is a plywood soffit.

The material being pocket screwed is the fascia boards.

Here I am utilizing my speed square to keep my nails in alignment while I am fastening the fascia to the ladder fly-rafter that was constructed.  

ASSEMBLY of our 12' x 24' Storage Shed

 

We volunteered our time on Friday the 14th of November to help assemble the 12' x 24' shed building we constructed that was then picked and driven to Readfeild ME where it was to be a shed for the Maranacook High School track team. We had several students from the first year BCT program commute to help erect this shed. As you can tell we got some snow that morning, but in the photo above we are laying our first platform section on a gravel pad. 

Here you can see it begin to take its shape the same as it did when it was at CMCC in the building shop.

Here we have one gable end truss on and several other trusses installed. 

Here is about as far as we could get before we had to pack up and call it a day. Both gable end trusses were installed and all of the middle trusses. We only had a day to try and complete it but with only a handful of students and not the whole class we had to just do what we could with the time we had. Later in the week Maranacook High School is having a community day where anyone can work on it to complete it. But we got a good majority of it up and assemble in just one day.

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Hollingsworth Exterior Door and Deadbolt Install

This couple, Dan and Kathy, were referred to me by a Hammond Lumber associate with a couple different jobs in mind. One was installing an exterior door they had chosen ahead of time and the other was to have installed a deadbolt lock into a different exterior door. Both jobs went very well and the couple was pleased enough with the results to ask for my business cards to handout.

Here is the door supplied by Hammond Lumber. It is a 2/8 6/8, half glass panel, left hand in-swing, frame saver exterior door. 

The screws go behind the weatherstrip!

In this video I am showing how I installed the door maybe a 32nd or two high on the high corner end opposite to the hinge. I did this because door slabs inevitably sag over time and if you can install it with that in mind making it higher in that corner, perhaps it will reduce rubbing in the distant future.

The red lines in the above right photo represent the coil stock aluminum pieces that I bent around the brick molding that cased the new door.

Along with installing one exterior door, I was asked to install a deadbolt lock mechanism into this couple's other exterior door. I picked up a Dewalt brand lock-jig that made the install of the deadbolt a breeze. Just to be sure I read the lock for the specs on the call out of the hole and distance from the door edge it needed to be. In this case the distance needed to be 2-3/8" inches and that was found on the striker mechanism which is seen below. 

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