Below 265 SQ/FT TwoBytes Stuff

[drivesitfar]

TB: your Pergola is going to be STEEL FRAMED? even cooler and best of luck getting all the measurements correct.

you might want to re check the Zen book cause the one i've checked out for 2 weeks 2 times so far is 13 CD's and I think i'm on Disk #9 and back on the waiting list. i'm pretty sure it's longer than you said or maybe it only seems longer cause i keep having to rewind and figure out what the reader just said. a lot of PHILOSOPHY that is for certain along with a nice bike ride, hiking and a little motorcycle maintenance. the reader is ok and i've learned more than a few new words and almost need my laptop to know for sure what Chataqua and a few other words mean, but i think i sort of figured them out eventually.

anyway you might want to check your audio book out and tell me and Denwood and a few others what you think.

good luck with the PERGOLA and yours makes mine look tiny that i just redid a couple months ago.

cheers

 

[TwoBytes]

Thanks Drives, I haven't bought the shorter version of the audio book yet, so I might try to find the longer one.

Your pergola looks great. Mine is not huge, but it will be solid!

Pics of today's progress are on their way.

 

[TwoBytes]

Beams welded to trusses then hoisted into place with a duct lifter and bolted to the existing fascia...
View media item 65769
Posts getting welded on...
View media item 65770
Pics of the holes for the building inspector before we fill them with concrete tomorrow...
View media item 65771
View media item 65772
So far so good, everything is square and level...
View media item 65774
My grandfather, who was a builder, had a tradition that when a building he was putting up reached it's highest point, they'd put a tree on top (well, a branch anyway) and have a "tree party".

So I clamped a "tree" on top this evening and shared a beer with my uncle...
View media item 65775

 

[dlcwent]

Coming along nicely Mat. But welding with shorts and no shirt???? Someone must be a little brave or crazy or both. The tree thing is still done in these parts also. I never did get why you're supposed to do it. I'm sure someone here will clarify that for me.

 

[Sunbimmer]

Wow man that is some seriously nice stuff you got going on there, can't wait to see it finished

Have to ask, is the fence staying that way?

 

[TwoBytes]

Cheers Dan,

Interesting to hear that the tree thing is widespread. Would be good to know it's origin.

The welder (it's not me) does actually have a shirt on, just picked a bad colour I guess! It was over 33 degrees (92F) here today, so shorts were a good idea, but welding probably wasn't!

Thanks sunbimmer... umm, yeah... haha... I know, the fence is terrible. That's next on the list (after the kid's cubby house anyway)

 

[drivesitfar]

TB: LOOKING GOOD SO FAR. can you take and post a few pictures of how you attached the pergola to your house? looks like bolts? did you caulk (silicone) the top edge and steel to your house or do tell how you plan on keeping water and debris out of that area? or maybe the roof will cover that spot and i'm worrying about nothing.

love the picture of your assistant (or maybe your 5 year old is the supervisor) hanging around!! nice to remember tradition and tip a beer to your gramps. is your uncle helping or did he just happen to stop by?

one thing i'm learning with all these SAFETY 101 posts and other threads is welding can be very dangerous. several guys say to wear ear plugs or muffs so you don't get piece of slag pop into your ear and burn through your ear drum. many have mentioned taping pant legs to keep slag out of your shoes. i know your welder probably knows the issues, but if you are close or your assistant is BEE CAREFUL.

that is going up quick now and looking great. also i know your fence doesn't look as good as the rest of your STUFF, but maybe pressure washing to clean off the aging (grey color) and maybe restaining might give you a few more years before you need to replace it.

here's a before picture of my Pergola before i re sanded and re stained it that is 4.5 years old now. i had to take it down and do some repairs like cutting the bases to keep them off the ground and remove a huge ant family that moved into it probably because it was touching the ground.

good luck with your Pergola build and like i mentioned it's looking great so far.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Mat, top job..

Regards

 

[Terrick down Under]

so, can you clock the welds??? All the beads running in the same direction!

 

[ajohno]

Great job Mat

 

[oldironfarmer]

Coming along nicely Mat. But welding with shorts and no shirt???? Someone must be a little brave or crazy or both. The tree thing is still done in these parts also. I never did get why you're supposed to do it. I'm sure someone here will clarify that for me.

Dan: Don't you know Oz will do everything in shorts? This about proves it.

Tradition in the States is an evergreen tree and it is very widespread among ironworkers upon topping out.

Wikipedia says it is of Scandinavian origin to appease the trees gods displaced by the construction. Interesting article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topping_out

 

[TwoBytes]

Thanks Steve and Aaron

And Terrick, of course the welds are clocked

TB: LOOKING GOOD SO FAR. can you take and post a few pictures of how you attached the pergola to your house? looks like bolts? did you caulk (silicone) the top edge and steel to your house or do tell how you plan on keeping water and debris out of that area? or maybe the roof will cover that spot and i'm worrying about nothing.

Thanks Drives,

The roof has been reinforced behind the fascia. There was a gap between the steel fascia and the end of the trusses which has been filled with some pieces of 2x6, and the whole lot reinforced with steel brackets.

The pergola truss that's sitting against the fascia has been bolted all the way through the existing steel fascia and the new 2x6 on the other side with big high tensile bolts.

I'll see what pics I've got, but I didn't get the camera out too much when I was up on the roof.

As far as waterproofing goes, there will be a piece of colourbond steel flashing that goes all the way from the roof tiles, over the gap, out to the pergola roofing. I'll get some pics when it goes up.

love the picture of your assistant (or maybe your 5 year old is the supervisor) hanging around!! nice to remember tradition and tip a beer to your gramps. is your uncle helping or did he just happen to stop by?

My uncle is a builder, and he is helping (a lot actually)

My uncle has been calling my son "the project manager", but when we told him he could supervise, he said "sure, I'll be the super boss". So I've been calling him Super Boss

one thing i'm learning with all these SAFETY 101 posts and other threads is welding can be very dangerous. several guys say to wear ear plugs or muffs so you don't get piece of slag pop into your ear and burn through your ear drum. many have mentioned taping pant legs to keep slag out of your shoes. i know your welder probably knows the issues, but if you are close or your assistant is BEE CAREFUL.

Super Boss wasn't around when the welding was going on thankfully. The welder seemed to know what he was doing, but didn't seem to take as many precautions as I do when I'm welding. I guess you get a bit relaxed when you do something all day every day.

that is going up quick now and looking great. also i know your fence doesn't look as good as the rest of your STUFF, but maybe pressure washing to clean off the aging (grey color) and maybe restaining might give you a few more years before you need to replace it.

here's a before picture of my Pergola before i re sanded and re stained it that is 4.5 years old now. i had to take it down and do some repairs like cutting the bases to keep them off the ground and remove a huge ant family that moved into it probably because it was touching the ground.

good luck with your Pergola build and like i mentioned it's looking great so far.

I'd like to replace the fence with a nice new timber one, or a colourbond steel one to match the colour of the pergola at some stage, but a pressure wash and some paint might be a quicker cheaper fix in the short term.

The fence is pretty rough, and it's over 13 years old, so I don't expect it will come up as nice as your pergola, but I'm sure I can improve it in the short term before I get around to replacing it.

 

[TwoBytes]

Dan: Don't you know Oz will do everything in shorts? This about proves it.

Tradition in the States is an evergreen tree and it is very widespread among ironworkers upon topping out.

Wikipedia says it is of Scandinavian origin to appease the trees gods displaced by the construction. Interesting article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topping_out

Thanks for the link Andy, that's great!

And yep, shorts in summer are pretty standard here... but I work in an office, so I draw the line at wearing them to work... or riding the motorbike. Apart from that, it's shorts shorts all the way!

And thongs too, although I think that means something different over your way...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flops

 

[TwoBytes]

Concrete...
View media item 65800
View media item 65801
View media item 65802
Paint...
View media item 65803
Test fit for the first two roof panels...
View media item 65804
View media item 65805
Roof panel fit detail...
View media item 65806

 

[dlcwent]

Andy, thanks as Mat said. I knew you'd be the one to set us straight on that one. Now we know.

Mat, thongs were equal to sandals when I was a kid. We all wore them in the summer especially when at the beach. Now thongs are something that only attractive women should be allowed to wear.

What material was used on the house roof? It appears to be tile? And why the transition from that to the metal roofing? Just curious.

 

[Grumblebum]

Looking good you'll be just in time for the hot Canberra summer. Is that a little Lincoln 180C mig ?

GB.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Mat, top job.

The insulated panel should work well to keep the heat out..


Regards

 

[TwoBytes]

Andy, thanks as Mat said. I knew you'd be the one to set us straight on that one. Now we know.

Mat, thongs were equal to sandals when I was a kid. We all wore them in the summer especially when at the beach. Now thongs are something that only attractive women should be allowed to wear.

What material was used on the house roof? It appears to be tile? And why the transition from that to the metal roofing? Just curious.

Hey Dan, yep, the house roof is concrete tile, like these...
http://monier.com.au/Products/Concrete-Tiles/Atura

Funny, I hadn't even considered putting a tiled roof on the pergola. I'd planned to use steel roofing from day 1.

Colorbond pergolas are a pretty standard house addition here, even for tile roof houses...
http://colorbond.com/products/patios-and-pergolas
https://www.stratco.com.au/our-products/home-improvement/outback-patios/
http://www.lysaghtlivingcollection.com.au/

A tile roof on the pergola would need a much more substantial frame, and additional framing for insulation and a ceiling, where the steel panels have integrated insulation and a flat ceiling panel already.

Tiles work out to about 50kg/m2, the panels I'm using are only 9.5kg/m2, and that includes the ceiling and the insulation. These are the panels I'm using...
http://versiclad.com.au/roofing/spacemaker/

And they only need to be supported at each end, as they can do an unsupported span of over 6 metres (my span is ony 2.8m, the thicker ones can do unsupported spans of 11m!)

Looking good you'll be just in time for the hot Canberra summer. Is that a little Lincoln 180C mig ?

GB.

Thanks GB, I think it was a Lincoln, it's not mine unfortunately. The welder did a fantastic job. Very impressive.

Mat, top job.
The insulated panel should work well to keep the heat out..

Thanks Steve. The pergola faces west, so we get the full afternoon sun there. I'm hoping the insulated panels and a fan will do the job.

 

[drivesitfar]

TB: looking good and i'm enjoying the build immensely. i'll sit back and just hope you (or maybe SUPER BOSS) has time to take pictures to post.

speaking of which is SB old enough to respect a camera or cell phone cause might be interesting to see what he takes pictures of?

GOOD LUCK and looks like it should go quick now. are you planning on any lighting or any other things other than just providing shade?

 

[TwoBytes]

Thanks Drives!

I have tried giving Super Boss a camera before, but he was a bit rough with it, so it didn't last long. I think he'd be OK now though, so that's a great idea. I'd love to see what he comes up with.

I've got some of my old smartphones lying around doing nothing. One of those would worry me less than any of my real cameras. I might give him a quick photography lesson and let him loose!

There will be a ceiling fan in the middle, and a couple of LED downlights either side of it.

Made some progress yesterday, got the gutters up and the first two roof panels are fixed in place. And some fiddly little things like figuring out how to mount the fan.

Had some issues getting the roofing screws into the frame. They are self drilling screws, and they went through the panels OK, but the frame is 3mm steel, and they didn't like self drilling into that. Pre-drilling seems to be the way to go!
http://actionfasteners.com.au/products/storm-tite/storm-tite-long

I'm heading home from work at lunchtime, and I'm hoping to get it mostly done today. It's pouring rain here at the moment though, so that might slow things down a bit.

More pics tonight with a bit of luck.

 

[drivesitfar]

TB: i know i will be curious to see what SUPER BOSS takes pictures of too and i bet the others with kids might have wished we had done so with ours when they were growing up.

I still remember my daughter's home movies she'd make with that old Panasonic video camera that was about as big as she was. speaking of which we probably should have those VHS tapes recorded to some sort of hard drive or disk before they are lost.

i'm hoping your weather changes for the better and best of luck getting things up and fitting and going together nicely.

cheers

 

[TwoBytes]

Thanks Drives,

Lots of rain on Friday arvo, so work continued well into Saturday. Just a little bit of paint and tidying up still to do, but it's basically done.

Timber block installed to support the ceiling fan...
View media item 65908
First two roof sheets attached...
View media item 65909
and 6 more...
View media item 65910
Inside view...
View media item 65912
Flashing done...
View media item 65913
Inside view part 2...
View media item 65914
Still need some paint on those posts, but it's usable.

 

[metalhead140]

Looks great, well done!

 

[ajohno]

Great job Mat.

 

[HOTFR8]

Looks to me like it will not be long before you sit back under that with a nice cold one. Looking good.

 

[Lyndon]

Mat

Looks great. I like the roof sheeting, with the insulation. Should be a great place to sit and chill with the chosen beverage and some appropriate friends (I'd like to have some of those, but most of mine are in-appropriate . . . ).

Just in time for summer too (if the weather ever makes up it's mind as to what it wants to do . . .

Lyndon
One of the in-appropriates ?

 

[1/2 Cup]

Mat, just awesome..

 

[Terrick down Under]

TB, you'll enjoy it tomorrow...supposed to be 30C

 

[dlcwent]

That looks fantastic Mat. I especially like the underside (as Lyndon the in-appropriate said). What a great addition for you to enjoy for years to come.

And I'm getting around to each of you with a very Merry Christmas wish. I hope you and your family have a truly wonderful holiday.

 

[drivesitfar]

TB: looks like you hired the right welder that is for certain. did you hire anybody else or did you do all the finish work? looks AWESOME and you even extended the gutter to catch water from the one side of the new roof or did you put gutters on both sides of new roof?

WELL DONE!!!

BTW did Super Boss take any pictures or was he off playing with his friends while you were working all weekend? also are you happy about the way it attached to the house and confident it won't leak?

one other thing you might do is to run a wire along the new steel frame and maybe put an outdoor outlet at the base of each post for who knows what in the future (lighting, power tools,...) and maybe do that after the permit is signed off.

 

[oldironfarmer]

Really looks good! Nice space to enjoy.

That extended beam, to get past the wall... any chance you'll put a trolley and chainfall on that for lawn mower maintenance? Is my redneck showing?

 

[TwoBytes]

Thanks metalhead, Aaron , HOTFR8 and Steve.

Lyndon, I'm not sure that I have many appropriate friends either, but I sure have plenty of inappropriate ones! Guess they'll have to do.



Cheers Terrick, so far it seems to do a great job of keeping the heat out, and I'm sure I'll get a good chance to test it out it the next couple of months.

TB: looks like you hired the right welder that is for certain. did you hire anybody else or did you do all the finish work? looks AWESOME and you even extended the gutter to catch water from the one side of the new roof or did you put gutters on both sides of new roof?

WELL DONE!!!

BTW did Super Boss take any pictures or was he off playing with his friends while you were working all weekend? also are you happy about the way it attached to the house and confident it won't leak?

one other thing you might do is to run a wire along the new steel frame and maybe put an outdoor outlet at the base of each post for who knows what in the future (lighting, power tools,...) and maybe do that after the permit is signed off.

Thanks Drives, in addition to the welder, my uncle (who is a builder) was a big help with the build. He's in a lot of the photos actually (because I'm behind the camera). Dad helped out a bit too when we needed more hands (like getting the roof panels up). And Super Boss of course.

There's gutters on both sides of the new roof, joined up with the existing house gutter. The colour of the original steel on the house isn't available anymore, so we actually replaced the long gutter on the house that you can see on the left so it would match.

I'm very happy with how it's attached to the house, and pretty confident it won't leak. I'll get some better photos of the flashings, but all the joins are well covered.

I did give Super Boss my old smartphone, as you suggested, and he's been running around taking photos all week. I haven't had a good look yet, but I'll get the photos off the phone soon and see what he's come up with. I took most of last week off work to get it done, so he was in childcare for most of the time, which is why I was able to make such good progress!

He actually asked me yesterday "can we get Uncle John to help with the cubby house, so it can get done". I didn't have the heart to tell him that he's the reason progress on the cubby has been so slow!

Really looks good! Nice space to enjoy.
That extended beam, to get past the wall... any chance you'll put a trolley and chainfall on that for lawn mower maintenance? Is my redneck showing?

Thanks Andy, I hadn't thought of putting a block and tackle on there, but that's a great idea. The current plan is to hang some swings on there for the kids, and maybe some straps for chinups and the like (like these https://www.trxtraining.com/)

That looks fantastic Mat. I especially like the underside (as Lyndon the in-appropriate said). What a great addition for you to enjoy for years to come.

And I'm getting around to each of you with a very Merry Christmas wish. I hope you and your family have a truly wonderful holiday.

Thanks Dan, Merry Christmas to you too mate, and to all of the rest of you too.

Thanks for taking the time to follow my various projects this year.

 

[Lyndon]

OK, so it's the Tuesday before Christmas (I hear that's cause for a holiday somewhere ). And the sun is long gone, so a few drinks have been had.

So to my friend Mat - I wish you, and yours, a whole heartedly fantastic and prosperous Christmas.

Heavens knows I'm eternally grateful for your friendship through this site.

I cannot describe (in manly words) what this site means to me. More power to You and yours.

Have a great Christmas, and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Lyndon
Nearly Fatherly Christmas . . . .

 

[TwoBytes]

Cheers Lyndon!

Merry Christmas to you too mate.

I've really enjoyed following your well written, very entertaining adventures this year, and I'm very grateful for you coming past here to follow mine.

Here's to many more adventures.

 

[drivesitfar]

TB: keep hanging out with your son and let him keep thinking Uncle is better if that's what he thinks. i'm guessing he just said that cause the addition went up in a week and his playhouse is still in pieces. just a parenting tip from raising 3 boys and a couple girls is that DAD doesn't know much until the kids are in their late 20's and 30's at least in my case. i get SMARTER every year. i didn't have a lot of extra time to do projects with or spend with the kids when they were little cause i was the only income. we decided instead of having both of us work that my bride would stay home and raise them hence the fact MOM KNOWS EVERYTHING for years until the kids started buying homes and getting married.

now if you do a car project with your son that could move up the time where you are seen as SMART or doing the playhouse is another good thing cause he will see you have skills. teaching him some is the hard part and i'm looking forward to seeing what pictures he thinks are worth taking.

keep up the great work and again WELL DONE on getting the new project completed before the SUN really starts cooking in your part of the world.

cheers and HAPPY HOLIDAYS

 

[TwoBytes]

Thanks Drives,

That's good advice mate. I am looking forward to doing a car project with him when he gets a bit older, and I think he's come around to the idea that taking our time to build the cubby house together will be better than getting somebody else to build it.

Happy Holidays to you and your family too

 

[TwoBytes]

As Lyndon mentioned on his thread, I turned 40 on Monday (Boxing Day).



Had a great day, but I think my son had a better day. It was more like his birthday.

We were in Pretty Beach near Gosford for Christmas, which was magic.

This was the view from our balcony...
View media item 66351
And this was a 5 minute walk away...
View media item 66352
I've heard of driftwood, but I've never seen one of these washed up before...
View media item 66353


We went for a walk on the morning of morning of my birthday to get coffee, and my son spotted a garbage truck on the side of the road. My son is a MASSIVE garbage truck fan. This can't be understated. This is part of his collection...

View media item 66354
Birthdays, Christmas, he doesn't want anything else, just more garbage trucks.

So we walk over to this garbage truck and the driver is standing beside it. My son eagerly tells him that he got a garbage truck for Christmas, and the driver says "well you'd better go and get it, because this one is broken down and going nowhere".

Then he says, "it's unlocked, jump up and have a look if you want"...
View media item 66357
View media item 66358
I think this might be the best thing that has ever happened to him in his short life.

Then we hired a little boat in the arvo and went out for a cruise, and I taught him how to steer an outboard...
View media item 66356
Like I said, not sure who's birthday it was!! He had a great day.



Seeing him so happy was about the best present I could get

 

[dlcwent]

Happy belated birthday Mat. It sure sounds like your son had the best birthday ever. I think that is just awesome that he got to climb up into a real garbage truck. I must say that he's the first one I've heard of that has such a passion for those. That's a unique piece of driftwood you snapped a photo of. Living on the coast, I've seen engine blocks used for mooring weights before. Back before the 80's it was pretty common for the fishermen to use blocks instead of rocks for moorings. Thanks for sharing, Pretty Beach looks like it's a real nice place to be at.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Mat, Happy Birthday..

Gosford is a nice part of the country..

http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/central-coast/gosford-area/gosford

Our youngest is at Umina Beach.

You would have been In the same traffic snarl on the M5 as she was..

Regards

 

[-Brent-]

I love this thread. Above all, the pics of your little guy getting into (or onto) everything is the best. He'll have quite the collection of adventure pics by the time he's an adult.