We haven't been doing much the last couple days. Yesterday was the anniversary of my wife's father passing. She is back home with her mother and siblings while my daughter and I are still here in Maine. I sat in the gazebo all day just reading. This is the last project he had helped us with.
So my wife had always wanted a gazebo and we only had a couple things planned last summer so when her father came and stayed with us a couple of weeks last June she decided it was a good project for her father and I to work on.
We had been looking at pre built ones but they were around 6000 dollars and there was no way we would have been able to get it in the backyard
so we went and picked up some lumber
we laid out the floor frame and nailed it together
after squaring up the frame we used a post hole digger and dug out the corners
we stood a 4x4 post up and leveled it and screwed it to the frame
after they were all stood and squared we dumped in a bag of cement, the soil is a high clay and held a lot of water so we just put it in dry
we proceeded to wet down the top and used a breaker bar and mixed it right in ground
after letting it set up over night we hung the floor joists in the frame making sure everything was level
I used some blocks and nailed them on the inside of the posts for a nailer
and proceeded to screw down the decking
we had finished up when my father got home from work, perfect timing dad
the next morning we had to make the posts level, so we measured from the level floor deck and found our lowest spot and went and marked all the other posts
after cutting them level we notched out the posts to carry the beams
we then set the beams in place and nailed them down making sure the posts were still level
we nailed a regular 2x over the pt staggering the joints over the corners for extra stabilty
all ready for a roof
at this point I had my buddy come over and frame up the roof for me, it's what he does and he is much faster and better than me, he started by putting in a center rafter
and started cutting and filling the hips
and then started popping in the rafters
I think it took him like two hours and he was done
we put in some collar ties to add stability to the gazebo
and went and marked our rafter tails on each end and snapped a chalk line
we cut them flush
and angled the hip rafters so the fascia board would be straight all the way across
the next morning we finished up the other sides
and nailed down a 2x6 for a fascia board
we were ready to put the roof deck on
the next morning we had to shingle the roof hips
we set up the table saw and started ripping 3 inch wide pieces of cedar so the trim was equal all around
we used some scrap ice and water I had to cover the seam on the hips
and started on the bottom and butted the shakes together working our way up
we stopped short at the peak so I could do it all in one shot
and finished off the rest of the hips
after all were done, I knocked out the top staggering the overlaps to create a weather tight seal
looks almost professional
the next day we decided to add some center posts to help break up the railing
we trimmed and notched the top of the post
and stood it up in place
and leveled it up
and bolted it down
we went and picked up some 2x4's for the railing
and cut some short pieces for corner braces
we nailed down a top and bottom rail
and cut short pieces for spindles
a quick clean up and the gazebo was done
you are dearly missed
we cut some osb to fill in the rafters, this was kind of a pain with all the angles
only one corner left to fill
and it was sheathed
I went and picked some drip edge
and threw it upon the roof, nailing it all around the bottom
we decided to cedar shingle the roof, so we nailed down a starter course and went over it a second time, we then measured out a 5.5 inch reveal, snapped a chalk line
and started knocking it out
it went quick on the straight runs until you had to cut the angles
it made me nervous with him on the scaffolding
thanks guys, I still have some guilt from it, he offered to pay half to just buy one, I told him no, I couldn't have him do that, we could build it for a fraction of the cost, that man was tighter with his money than anyone I've ever known, I should have known something was up when he offered, I think he knew something was wrong and that he shouldn't be doing the physical exertion of it. We found a a note in his car after he passed with some medication names written on it that he should have been taking for his condition. I've never verbalized it to my wife, but it still tears me up inside.
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