11 August 2018
Shlomo and I headed for Goodro’s first thing
this Saturday morning to pick up a special order of Simpson Strongtie®
twist straps (for holding the hip beams down onto the walls if high winds try
to lift the roof off the barn) and 135° framing angles (an anti-squishing device, i.e.,
they strengthen the joint where each rafter attaches to the hip). Already had five USP® twist straps
left over from the house construction, so ordered three more. The USP® straps are all the same
but the Simpson straps come in a left and a right twist. Of course, it turned out that I needed 2
rights and a left and didn’t know to specify so got the opposite. Took some creative bending and cutting down
in the shop, but eventually got that last strap to switch hit. Cut the 4x4 “flagpole” off so that it won’t
interfere with the barn cupola. Now that
all the lumber at the barn roof peak is in place, carefully measured how much
net free area would be available in the cupola.
After developing all the measurements for a 30″ x 30″ cupola last week,
the size actually needed to provide the correct amount of airflow is 40″ x
40″. Oh, well, back to ye olde drawing
board! Perry stopped by late morning to
take measurements for the barn staircase. He also pointed out that the back of the extra deep electrical boxes I have installed are right up against the outside wall sheathing, through which countless long staples will protrude when I put on the cedar shingles. Ooops! By arm cramp quitting time, had installed all of the twist straps and half
of the framing angles.
