Building the Front Entry: Part 2

A few weeks ago we framed the base for the entry (see Part 1 of Building the Front Entry).

Then stuff happened. Arron had to finish a window install job in Whistler. Jimmy tore up his shoulder mountain biking. Rick started work on another job just down the hill. Nobody here to do any construction except me. I worked on dressing the lumber (planing and sanding the rest of the cedar, and on some interior things that needed to get done (framing rough openings for doors etc.).

We also used this time to get the concrete floor placed … but other than that things were going pretty slowly until this week, when Arron became available again.

Here are some annotated photos of the framing of rafters and purlins for the front entry.

In the first photo (above right) you can see the purlins horizontal cross members that are sticking out away from the house). These will support the rafters. We played around with various detail cuts for the ends that are sticking out – but it just looked best (to us) with simple beveled ends). You may also notice the plywood templates for rafters that are temporarily screwed into place. These were to determine the best angles and heights for the rafters.

In this photo half the rafters are in place and lagged to the ridge beam. You can also see the notched which are cut into the outermost purlins to accept the rafters.

Rafters in place. They all need to be trimmed to length – they won’t stick out this far permanently!

Vertical support struts are installed. You can see them sticking down between the center purlins.
Sorry about the finger tip in the photo! I hit it (the finger) with a hammer and it don’t bend so well right now!

Final view – from above.

Next steps are to put on the roof (2×5 t&g like we used on the back deck). There will be some fiddling around to tie it (the roof) into the house. Then it is on the the pergola and front deck.

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