Design/Build, Fast!

We finished building our model. It is possibly the best model I have ever made.

(Or, mostly finished.) The back three trusses gained some posts on the front end of the building to provide extra support and create a nook for the people at the table. We decided to square off the building for decking's sake.

When we make changes to the plans, a little masking tape holds the new onto the old. It creates a little flip book of sorts. I am amused by this.

Most of the students in my class are in or have completed grad school with an architecture degree. Therefore, when it's time to draw something, I'm not generally the most qualified. However, I have been helping with the revisions. I've never used a drafting table before - pretty helpful, really. (I am, however, one of the go-to folks on the work site, at times.)

After adding the new supports to the trusses, we raised them.


Before doing so, we had to level and build the deck. We built it on skids, but we don't plan on the skids being used for pulling. The ground is too soft at the site for a vehicle to drive on it, so we've had to design the building in pieces. The joists have been placed, but only with a few bolts (and no screws.)

We got all the trusses up.

This fellow and I worked together to design and build the benches. This was the first support completed. We used sandwiching techniques similar to those that we used on the trusses, as well as the only vertical supports in the structure. The benches are attached to the floor joists only, so we can take the trusses off for transportation.

After installing supports to each truss, we had to build similar supports for the truss-less floor joists. These intermediate joists each got the seat, back rest and upper shelf. The light support on the left is one of these structures. (We painted the structure with a very watered down black paint - it's enough to disguise wood discoloration/inconsistencies, but still show wood grain.)

I spent this afternoon and evening working with three other ladies from my class to build the table for the structure. We used 1 by 5 cedar, the same that is being used for decking.

In this picture, we were testing out the sizing of the table compared with the benches. The far side rests on a beam that I installed on the farthest truss, while the front of the table is supported by a leg. I didn't get an adequate photo of the bottom of the table to show all the supports that we installed to keep that leg firm. While we used dozens of screws on the bottom, we managed to keep the top hardware free. We were very proud.

We even signed our names.

While we were building our table, decking was set.

As we were putting finishing touches on, the structure was disassembled. Tomorrow morning, we get to move the pieces out to the site.

Some unmentioned thoughts and highlights from the last several days:
- Jim, Bill and I had to measure the bridge between here and our site. There is no clearance sign, for some odd reason. The bridge is very narrow, so the rush of running out to the lowest point, climbing high enough to get the tape measure to the top and reading numbers was quite extreme. Lots of fun and giggling afterwords. Had the bridge been a little lower, there would not be giggling.
- My arm looks like it has some sort of skin disease because of all the thin black paint that has made its way onto me instead of the structure.
- Every morning, Steve leads the class in a clap - starting slow and getting faster until there are enthusiastic whoops and lots of smiles. For some reason, this works for making us energetic.
- We have been working every evening after dinner. Thursday evening and Sunday were the only times we've had off before dark since the class started. I am amazingly tired, but in such a wonderful way. Building this structure is mentally and physically exhausting, but very rewarding. It changes so quickly. I am amazed at how much we have done in such a short amount of time.
- The instructors are great. They are full of encouragement and good ideas. At times, their non-stop ideas can be frustrating - significant changes were still being made in the late stages of design. Sometimes, when someone has just figured out all the details of their next move, prepared and possible even started, one or three of the instructors will swoop in with entirely different suggestions. The timing is not always the best, but they have great suggestions.

I am heading home a week from today.