517

It wasn’t just the strength of the overhanging trusses that was put to the test today, it was my whole credibility as a constructor.

It took me less time than expected to scramble up there. Oh man, that self timer seemed to take forever.

I felt gross all morning then started feeling better in the afternoon and had a fine afternoon at it. I loved it and felt like I wanted to work forever. Evening plans beckoned though.

I put the dreaded spirit level to the frame, with predictably disappointing results. Then I wedged some bits of wood into place with much force to push the structure closer to vertical. That improved things.

I put all the dwangs in, and about 1 and a half sides of diagonal bracing.

Bill Dowle reckoned that having massive great eves would be quite a hazard when the Canterbury winds rip through, so maybe I’ll abandon that idea of having metres of overhang. He also talked about some silicone spray stuff to water seal the bricks. I’m sure that will be expensive but it might be needed.

I was really pleased to find a use for all of the nails I have bent and discarded. By drilling the holes for the dwangs I was able to whack them in bend or no bend.

Fun fun today.

517

Right well the wooden part of the roof is done now. An interesting day for me, I felt gross for a lot of the early part of it, slept twice, then felt really good from about 4 onwards.

I became a bit puzzled at the end of the day when I slung a couple of sheets of roofing iron on. I have the right number of iron pieces, but they are too long. I was going to cut them back to an appropriate length, but I started wondering about leaving them long.

It made a really cool overhang, and would protect the bricks really well. I could dig some pillars into the ground to support this extra overhang. I’m annoyed because it is going to take me a while to work out what I’m going to do here. I don’t want to think I just want to build tomorrow.

I found some metal stuff that I can use as a diagonal brace. It will tighten things up nicely. Maybe I need to put braces on the roof and on the walls. The whole thing looks really big to me now.

I had some good times banging on the structure with the sledgehammer. It was really satisfying feeling the nails go in fast courtesy of the big mass, and knocking the structure into shape.

517

I got a bit done today. For unknown reasons I got into a heated state of annoyance out there today. I think someone might have slipped a pack of RubberNails™ in there. Paul? I was belting those things with less success than more. Oh yeah, I managed to accidentally break the screen of my camera too, not really in the heat of my anger, but I was still probably in a bit of a reckless uncoordinated state.

The final truss now sits, but it is not fully braced yet. I bought the black paper I need and a box of brick ties. Bunnings tried to shaft me on price this time, but I was onto them. Luke has managed to source me 4 bales of batts offcuts – awesome!

517

Truss off. I’m sick of you weasels.

A pretty good day. I didn’t feel at full speed but I managed to make some good progress today. I made a truss, fitted some purlons, and attached a truss. Maybe I completed the bracing between the other trusses too, but I can’t remember if that was today or earlier.

It shouldn’t be too difficult to finish the whole wooden component of the roof in about 2 hours tomorrow morning. Maybe then I’ll tack some of the iron on just to see what it looks like. Yeah, that would make sense, tack the iron on or rip it to length now. I need to buy some paper stuff to put under the iron, I’ll do that on a trip to Chch tomorrow evening.

I’m going to get a bit revolutionary and set some local time targets:

29 December - roof on
30 December – floor down (first night in shack?)
1 January – first bricks laid

Hmm. It is likely to take a day or 2 slower than that actually, there are some fun people around just now.

Nathan Jones stopped by today. Are you going to get a motorbike? Yeah.

517

So I did go a bit hard. I’ve done a little bit over the last 3 days, but no more than and hour and a half total. I’ve been feeling a lot better towards the end of today though so hopefully I can hit it again tomorrow.

I finished up today after sunset today in a light warm rain, it was just beautiful to be a part of.

517

My hands are covered in cuts, scrapes, and splinters. The surface feels sore. Does this mean that I have office hands and I just need to get hard?

I got the remaining trusses up pretty easily. The next task was to put bracing between the trusses, what the corrugated iron will nail onto. But before I could do that I needed to know exactly where they would sit. I headed to Justin’s house to pick up the roof cap he had. Due to the length of the shack I needed 2 more so I bought them from the Auction Rooms for $12 a pop. My car/ute fatted them in there easily. I also bought some roofing nails.

Paul, Simon, and others stopped by for a while to teach Simon’s sister to drive a manual out in the paddock. Paul and I laboured away in the beautiful still Canterbury heat, enviously viewing the fun paddock racing. Not really enviously, my enjoyment of working on this project remains. I did hanker for a spot of paddock racing though.

I sunscreened up today, but I still got burned. My legs are showing the worst of it, but I don’t think it is so severe as to impede sleep. I’ll need to be more careful tomorrow.

MC Hammer provided some background support today.

We got one section braced up, and I proceeded to cut all the bits for the remaining sections. This was a good achievement, I normally get bored with cutting and want to do some nailing, but those lads suggested they might return, and nailing was a good easy job when done with more than 1 person.

I was leaving the 2 overhanging trusses till last because I was still working out how I was going to do them. Because I am going to have about 1m overhang, and non-traditional purlons, I decided that I do need trusses out there. I think I can reason that out with you, Justin. I managed to finish 1 of the 2 trusses, so tomorrow’s tasks in order are: build the other truss; brace all the trusses; fit the purlons that will hold the overhanging trusses; fit and brace the 2 overhanging trusses; and fit a perimeter board. I’ll then be ready to put the iron on the roof, but I may need to rip that to length.

I had hopes of getting the roof on today, but I was unrealistic about how long things would take and didn’t get there.

I started about 8 this morning and finished about 6 this evening. There were breaks – I didn’t work right through, but I was really done when I stopped. I pushed the limits of my capabilities today.

I don't know how long the Post date and time has been out, annoying. I manually changed this one.

517

So a 3 o’clock lights out it was. And I have dominated today. I’m on such a hot health streak right now, it makes me think maybe I’m back. I’ve thought that before though so I have to just pace myself.

In a revolutionary move I placed a portable stereo out on the worksite today. This was rather than have the stereo blaring from out of the garage, on windless days possibly entertaining the whole Sefton / Mt Grey Downs area. Well. Maybe just the neighbours. I don’t know if they can hear it, maybe they can in which case it would be annoying, music you are aware of but can’t hear well is not pleasant. Ray Charles and Huey Lewis and the News provided the entertainment. Ray was awesome. Huey, not so much. Is it really hip to be square? Probably a good building motto. Not one I’ve cared too much about. Hip to be close enough.

I finished the 5 trusses for the inside of the shack. Paul and Simon Bisseker turned up at a good time. What? They were just in time to put the trusses onto the roof. Say that again? Before we could do that though we needed to pull the walls into alignment with each other. The bent wood meant that they were pretty stubbornly separated.

We wound the snot out of the clamp which pulled them into shape. Until I used the saw blade to brace it, the clamp was just chewing a hole into the wood. It was really satisfying to see the walls come flush.

We then had some pretty serious dramas with the Cyclone straps, thanks for recommending them Justin, thanks a lot. The way I had thought they were supposed to fold was wrong. We learned this after we’d folded all of them. I still didn’t know how they were supposed to fit, so on each application I’d ask which way they were supposed to fit.



The first truss was pretty straight I think, but the top plate wasn’t. Getting someone to hang on the end of the truss bent it nicely. Hang that way.



With some seriously ugly nailing we managed to get 2 of the trusses to grip pretty well.

Thanks for coming out today guys, it was a big help.

517

I completed the most part of 3 trusses today. With a combination of gangs and regular nails, these things are strong, holding together nicely. But they are man ugly. I only realised late in the piece that some of them are going to be visible from inside the shack. I’ve just haphazardly cut the bracing pieces at whatever angles I please. They are like bad teeth. I do love bad teeth though.

I bought some more gangs and some cyclone straps at Mitre 10 in Rangers. Not my best shopping experience ever. So slow.

I’m on track for a 2.30 a.m. go to bed here today, after some very enjoyable cards. This means I’m likely to be out of action though for a couple of days. I think I can still have the roof on this week though.

517

Thwarted by the rain again. I would have done some more work on my first truss but it's cold and wet outside. Tomorrow.

517

I did some more measuring of the iron today, I’m going to have plenty. I need to do some trig to work out what lengths I need to rip the iron to and how long I need to make my trusses.

I bought some gang nails but they are so small they should be called ga nails or just g nails. They were only $0.36 each though so that was good deals.

Many members of the wider Ferris family stopped by to take a look at things. We made a few bricks. We then had a game of tennis which was so fun, but that emptied my tank, and that was my day.

513

I got back on the brick making horse today. I finished off the last of the leftover concrete mix and made 19 bricks. I couldn't remember what my ratios were supposed to be so I won't be surprised if these bricks aren't very good.

I suppose I was crassing a bit because the next step, the trusses, is a bit tricky. For the last while, with the exception of the door and the window fitting, I felt like I've known what I had to do, and didn't need to think much about it. But these trusses are tricky. Justin took a look at my plans and made some useful comments. I spent a good length of time sitting in the ceiling of the garage just looking at the trusses there to see how they are done. I need 40 tough nails for a gang.

Dave Hodgkinson stopped by and enjoyed the progress I've made. He carved an inscription into a brick too. How was that, eh!!

My first task tomorrow will be to finish measuring up Rupert Fingiron to see where I have to put the nails and what my useable lengths are. For reasons unknown my recent high levels of excitement with shack building and life in general have departed me. I hope they come back tomorrow.

494

I’m blaming it on bent timbers. My tools were fine.

Today was so good I didn’t want to stop. It was getting dark though and I was at a natural conclusion. This right now is as high as I’ve been about this project, genuinely loved it today.



The shack has structure! Awesome. The timber frame walls are up, and tacked together. There were some pretty serious discrepancies in terms of corner alignment, but the wood really was bent. I managed to brutus it back into some kind of line. I don’t think it matters.



I did manage to work out how I was going to do the door, and I spent a good length of time looking at a working door to make sure I’ve got things sorted.

The window seems higher than I’d anticipated.

Steve Jourdain tagged in to help me lift the walls into position. I would have struggled by myself for sure. I took the best time lapse of us putting the walls up which I'd like to put on here, but with my dialup just registering a new pb of 3 bytes per day, there's no way I'm going to get it on from here.

Blimmin anything could happen tomorrow. Next tasks: horizontally brace the walls, I’ll see if I need diagonal ones too; lay the floor, with all that that entails; build the trusses for the roof; assemble the roof. Maybe I need to do the roof before I do the floor. I really don’t want the floor getting wet.

I love summer.

494

Another really solid day. Things didn’t really go to plan as I appreciated I probably needed to put the walls up before I could put the floor down. I rigged up the thing that will hold the window, I think it will work.

I then turned my attention to the door, and this really confused me. I’m not sure whether I should align the door with the frame or with the layer of bricks. I puzzled on this for a while and couldn’t come up with a clear answer so I’ll sleep on it and hopefully come up with something tomorrow.

I got some of the concrete bricks out and lined them up so that I could see where the door should go. Didn’t help.

The powers held strong again today, then I went and romped around at tennis as if there was nothing wrong with me, and loved it. Boy I hope my body doesn’t punish me for this, I’m on a hot streak.

Window holding device. I'm pretty sure it is squarer than it looks. Note potato plants in background.

494

What a dominating day of shack building, maybe the best I’ve done. I put all of the studs into 2 of the walls, prepared the joist reinforcing, then cut the flooring timbers to length.

If it is fine tomorrow I’ll get the floor down I reckon. The tarps that I’ve been using to cover the flooring timbers aren’t very good, no matter how well I seem to cover the wood, rain gets in. This is a bit of a concern because once I get that floor down I don’t want rain getting at it and through it, and it will be some time before I get the roof on to cover it. I may need to rig up something using the corrugated iron.

I had the cricket blazing which was just a good sideline piece of interest while I worked. (Day 5 NZ v Pakistan 3rd test at McLean Park, ending in a rained-out draw)

494

My powers remain fickle. Hence the dirty great storm which has rocked up during a time of great productivity was not appreciated for the break it caused. It was appreciated for its stormness though.

The last 4 days have seen 2 days of bad weather and 2 days of feeling gross so I haven’t got much done. I’ve got all of my flooring timbers sorted, but I’m yet to cut them to length.

I got very excited about the application of some MSCI techniques to minimise the wastage caused by cutting the flooring timbers to length, and also to find where I should place my joists. I think I could have used some kind of cutting stock algorithm but in the end I settled for a heuristic technique which is pretty good. I was spending too much time thinking about it, and I’m sure I could have got closer to some sort of optimal solution but it was time to take action.

494

Shack on!

Some kind of life this one. A brief summary of my year – I battled at my job in Wellington due to ongoing illness until the end of May. I took some time out to relax and get well, I’ve been saying it was about 4 months but I’m not really sure. During this time, to the best of my powers, I worked on the shack. While I didn’t get well during this time, I think I did get a bit better.

I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with myself in the near future and was scared I wouldn’t have the capability to be employed again, due to the sickness. I wasn’t really looking for a job, but spotted one that looked ok, and it was only for about 6 or 7 weeks. I was pretty sure that if I really looked after myself I’d be able to last in this job, given the short duration. It was kind of a testing time, to see what capabilities I really had – I wasn’t sure.

And I handled it fine! In fact I really liked it. I’m back there next year too. So I am on a Christmas break now that lasts for near on 2 months. My some kind of life line was an expression of the puzzling nature of things, given the year I’ve had, I don’t really need 2 months holiday just now.

I’ve contemplated getting another job for this time. But I really need to get this shack finished, and this is my window. I haven’t done much work on the shack during this work time as I’ve been trying to look after myself.

So, today is the first day of my break and it has been one well used. Paul came out and provided some great help and motivation to get at it. We made the outlines of the walls, threw some axes, and invented a cool new dice game.

Due to skateboarding commitments Paul made his exit. I managed to cut out most of the rest of the vertical wall members, and even sourced some floor wood! This is really happening now.

I’ve got people coming for dinner tomorrow. The house is a mess. Eliminating the mess is going to take up to an hour tomorrow, and that is unfortunate. If things went really well, I think that there is a chance of getting the floor down tomorrow. The grooming of the floor is going to be fun too – planing it then sanding it and oiling it. I had a bit of a practice on one of the floor woods to make sure it wasn’t rimu and it came up nicely.

Some of the alignment of the walls is pretty sloppy. I don’t even care. I’ve got buckled wood as my excuse. And I know once it is all bound together it will be real solid.

So much enthusiasm for this project right now. I can’t wait until tomorrow. I’ve got to be finished by February 3. I shall consider this a goal.