Ed Gets A New Forklift

   With the larger trusses up, Ed started on completing the porch structure so he would have a platform to work on to install the porch trusses. I call it "dominoes in reverse construction". Stuff has to happen in sequence. It's a good thing Ed is the one thinking of all the steps, because I don't have a clue.

 The steps coming off the front porch mimic the eyebrow dormer, so the header board has to curve around the porch joists.
   "How does one get a 2"x12" to flex?" one might ask. The answer..."Very carefully." Ed made shallow cuts on either side of the board, depending on the direction of the curve.

Once the cuts were made, Ed and Rick muscled the board into place and nailed it in.I stood by with my camera in one hand, chewing my fingernails on the other. I had visions of the board giving way and smacking one of them like a flyswatter in Texas.









  It worked like a dream. They look pretty pleased with themselves, don't they?












 Now that the porch joists were secure, Ed could throw down some plywood and have a stable surface for the ladders while putting up the porch trusses.  The sun was shining, which made everything a whole lot more fun, and the front porch trusses went up without incident.

When the front was finished, they moved to the back and started again. Columns had to be boxed in, which was a little tricky around the pressure-treated support beams.

  The back porch pretty much went in like the front, minus the curved stairs off the porch. Because the slope drops off in the back, we've decided to put stairs at the east and west ends of the porch instead of down the center.

The back also has an upstairs balcony that runs the length of the house. They put up the porch trusses at either end and built the stem wall for the balcony.










 Washington has had wettest May and June for years, and it has been a constant frustration for Ed.
In spite of that, he got the east and west upstairs walls framed in. And of course, there is always so much work that doesn't show well in a photo. He braced up the trusses, moved staging, cleaned up the jobsite, made a dump run..all the behind-the-scenes stuff that requires a lot of time.

 And because Ed works so hard, and deserves only the best, I thought it would be nice if I got him a nice new forklift.  In truth, it is a beautifully crafted wooden forklift, donated and raffled at our Dollars For Scholars Rod and Reel fundraiser this year. And I won!