Building a Barn Leanto - Part 2

As I worked my way down the side of the barn either from ladder below or by very carefully hanging over the eves from above - it became clear that the goal of being done early in the day was lost somewhere around the exact moment I discovered the fact my assumption about construction practices was incorrect...  if you haven't read part 1 of this - that would have been 15 minutes after I started.

I have always enjoyed a good "deconstruction / demolition" event but the challenge here really is the fact that what I had to do was gently remove the boards in the way while keeping several of the removed pieces of the soffit completely intact so they could be reused.  This is almost the definition of slow going.

Anyhow - with the top 10" of siding and battens removed, I was able to start attaching the joist hangers to the new 2x10 that would become the header for the leanto and position them on the barn for permanent attachment via 4" carriage bolts.  The benefit of placing the hangers on the boards before attaching them to the building was not so obvious when one fourteen footer started to get away from me on the ladder and resulted in two sizable gashes in my chest...  price of playing, I suppose.

Anyhow - as the project sits - as of right now - the header is up and in place with all the hangers attached 24" on center...  and looking down the header for the full 40' - the variation of the hangers is less than 1/8" and perfectly level.

That means the next step is to fire up the tractor with the backhoe and get the holes dug 5' down, dump in 80# of concrete as a post footer and get those hefty 6x6 posts set...  Stay tuned - that might just be in the cards this weekend.

Comments

[Jeph]

Oh this is getting exciting now! Especially with bloodshed. No stitches? Tetanus shots?

Looking forward to seeing the final product. And you look WAY more comfortable up on a ladder than I ever feel!

[Andy]

Battle scars...