The erector set

Brand new butterfly....

The erection continues.

Now I know what you are thinking, after slowly hoisting the ridge beam into place, the rest fell into place.

No real drama except for the fraying ropes on the ageless block and tackle. I reinforced the start of a break with some nylon mason's line--very stout stuff and capable of passing through the blocks. We muscled the red iron rafters into place off of scaffolding. The ridge rafters were the only bears coming in at about 200 pounds. Mind you that doesn't sound like much for two people, one at each end, but ultimately you only have one arm and shoulder holding it in place. The other hand is using a "bullpin" to line up the holds so you can get a bolt in real quick.Once the red iron post and beam was completed the rest is pretty straight forward. Figure out a layout for the 16 gauge galvanized rafters while hopping around the red iron rafters and changing directions at the hips. Sixteen on center only goes so far. I won't bore you with the details but there is a difference between lumber and C shaped steel rafters/studs. It can get kinky first time around but as this inspirational video will show, it's worth it!



The daily routine was set. Fasten brackets to the red iron, cut and attach the rafters. Special hex head screws from Grabber penetrate the iron. The naysayers said it could not be done. Admittedly, with some heavy duty drills and significant effort. Ask Ryan! But they do work. I didn't believe until I drove my first one. Myself, I kept busy using the heavy duty Dewalt shears that can cut 14 gauge steel. A minor drawback to be expected-the working end snaps with no warning under the massive stress. Parts are expensive. I always have back ups or the work would cease.

Most shears only cut to 18 gauge.

The chop saw I brought with me, which works so well with the light gauge steel, had no chance with the 16 gauge rafters. Each piece would have taken forever. I gave up after ten minutes with both the grinding wheel and the rafter glowing red.

If anyone needs one, I have a brand new Makita with five blades for 50% off!

The shears, with a grinder as back up, made haste of the work. Now the only question, did I calculate my steel needs accurately? There's always something to reach for the Tums in the middle of the night.


Laying in the rafters...


For excitement purposes nature threw in a little thrill. The first named storm of the season.


from Wikipedia:

On the afternoon of August 15, the Government of the Netherland Antilles issued a tropical storm watch for St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius. Later that day, the watch area was expanded to include the islands of Antigua, Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla and the United States Virgin Islands. Early on August 17, the watch was further extended to include Puerto Rico. Later that day, Dominica was also placed under the tropical storm watch. Shortly after, the islands of Guadeloupe, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy were placed under the watch. By the afternoon, areas in the eastern Dominican Republic between Cabo Engaño and Cabo Beata were placed under the watch. Shortly after Ana weakened to a depression, the tropical storm watch for Dominica was discontinued. Early on August 17, the watch was also discontinued for Antigua and Barbuda. By the late morning hours, only Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the U.S. Virgin Islands remained under tropical storm watches as Ana entered the eastern Caribbean Sea. During the early afternoon, the watch for the Dominican Republic was extended for the northern portion of the country to the Haitian border. Several hours later, all of the watches were discontinued as the circulation of Ana dissipated.[1]


Nothing like the thoughts of flying steel rafters to keep you up at night.

In this photo the brackets/clips, to screw the rafters to, are clearly shown. These are also 14 gauge or as they say, "weldable steel". This stuff is way beyond standard hurricane clips/joist hangers.


With all the rafters in we capped it all with the 14 gauge flashing you see in the picture below.


I had it bent in Florida with a hydraulic press/brake. Push a button, done. Unfortunately the shop didn't get the pitch right for a 6/12 roof. On the bright side they didn't bend it enough which worked out in the long run. However, the bad news, no one on St John had a break that could handle this heavy stuff. After the standard amount of panicking I found an old manual heavy duty brake on St Thomas. Imagine this sitting in a backyard.



Who knows how old it was but it worked. It did take three of us to re bend 15 pieces. I transcribed the roof angles onto a piece of plywood that the owner then made into templates from some light gauge flashing to use as a guide in the brake. As we swung the press over and back multiple times he eyeballed the bend as we shaped it. Virtually all the pieces ended up spot on when we put them on the house. He got me for $10 a piece. Later on he would get me for a whole lot more when he realized he was the only game in town!


Why all this trouble and expense? I wanted these caps for a screw edge and another layer of strength. Think of them as gi-normous Simpson ties connecting all the rafters and studs together. Over built to be sure. As it is, every rafter is connected to the red iron with massive brackets. In addition all the rafters are sitting inside the flanges of the red iron I-beams. As my engineer stated, it's probably tornado proof. Hopefully I never have to find that out.

Another bad accident, this time a DUI. His fiancee died in the mishap.

3 am, he never made the turn, straight over the edge and down 100 feet. There used to be trees going down that steep slope. He's in jail.

My old shade tarps that I encapsulated apartment buildings with in San Francisco find new life. They knock down 70% of the direct sun. Nurseries use them all the time. It really helped when we started putting up the studs.

You know that little vein that crosses over your shin bone? Well this is what it looks like when you really nick it!


I thought it would never stop.

A tourist three point turn around. Guard rail, what guard rail?



Night time at the shack.