Mr. Beam

76 degrees with sun.  Some mosquitoes but I put on a heavy layer of Deet.

I took a little time off from work yesterday and today to get more done on the playhouse before the rains come on Wednesday.  I completed the knee walls, which required house wrap and sheathing and then nailed on the top board that runs along the upper part of the knee wall to allow the roof rafters to attach to the side of the building.  These boards also extend out to support the two outer rafters.

Upper board will carry the two outer rafters.  I still need to double them up.

Last night I decided to end my search on the Internet for the appropriate decorative detail on the ends of the large ridge beam and design it myself instead.  I think it is best to keep it a little simple and also include an upside down finial similar to the actual Pointed House in Germany.

Hand sketch of beam detail and finial.

Back in the garage I created a template for the router to follow over the ends of the beam.  This will give me a consistent cut on both ends and should be fast once I get the template built.  I used some extra plywood that has bead board on the other side.  This actually worked very well because the router did not get hung up on the surface of the template.  Maybe Rockler can sell template material (actually bead board, don't tell).

Weapon of choice.

The template and beam after cutting the first end.  It took several passes to go through that much material.

One finished end; all sanded too.

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Routing one side at a time.  I then flip the beam and cut the other side with a router bit with the bearing on the bottom.

I then looked over my shoulder and saw my neighbor drive home.  He came right over and helped me install the beam.  I could not have done this without him.  We used the hoist to pick up one end of the beam and applied muscle to get it through one window and up to the top openings of the end walls.  The total span of this beam is eighteen feet and seven inches.

Up and through this window opening.

Sun light hitting the end wall.

Looks pretty good.

I can't tell you how happy I am to have that up there.  I then put a tarp over a rope that I strung between the end walls and tacked it to the outside of the knee walls.  This should keep most of the water out when it rains tomorrow.  The weather guy said 100% chance of rain and this was the last day with temperatures approaching 80 degrees.  Should be much cooler from now until April.