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We finally got some rain and the ground was muddy by the greenhouse I was working on, so I switched my energies to the "fake gas pump island". Sunday I welded up the brackets to hold the posts during rain delays of the Daytona 500 (lousy race) and then Monday I put up the posts, beams and trusses before I went to work at the store at 2:00. For most of this building I try to work on the house from about 8 or 9 in the morning until I have to go to work at the store at 2.
The first thing I did was to bolt the bottom post brackets to the concrete pad using bolts that had been set into the concrete when it was poured.
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Then I cut the posts and beams to length. The posts are a little under 7 feet tall and the beams are 14 feet long. I cut the beams at an angle at the ends to make them look a little better. For the cuts I used a circular saw to make the first cuts all the way around the lumber as deep as it would go and then used a reciprocating saw to finish the cuts (how did I ever live without one of these saws -- I got one for about $45 from Harbor Freight).
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Next I lifted the beams, one at a time, with my jeep hoist into the pockets I had made for them on the front of the building (see the first picture). The beams were slid in until they were flush with the inside wall (6 inches). Then I lifted the posts and put them under the beams. I got both beams so they were the same distance from the building to the ends and plumbed the posts and put in some nails to hold things (later I'll make metal "T" brackets to secure the posts to the beams.
Next I put up the trusses and nailed them into place. This all took about 5 hours.
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Next came the facia boards and the 5/8 inch wafer-board decking. Another 5 hours.
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Well the next 5 days were off and on snow so I didn't get to put on the metal roofing. I just need to get some gas pumps installed so I can put gas in the Desoto and take a vacation, maybe this summer ;-).
I'll get back to this part of the building after the snows leave.
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