Well…we’re on to framing out the pole barn. The roof trusses are already on order and should be coming in this next week, so, we had to finish out the rough framing. We’ll get back to the gravel and concrete once the framing is completed. We continued removing the old wood attached to the posts and then leveling/straightening the original posts before attaching the new wood.
To straighten the posts we connected a 1500 lb. ratcheting strap between an upper point on each post and the tractor. After that we kept ratcheting until each post was level and then nailed in the new boards. Nailing one nail toward the top of the post you’re pulling on keeps the strap from falling down.
More of the old wood to remove.
After nailing the boards that wrapped the posts to form the initial structure we added 2″x6″ boards with the ends cut at about 40 degrees. We then nailed these boards in diagonally for bracing at each corner post and to the 2″x6″ boards that lay horizontally wrapping the posts. A little extra work but very important.
Because the diagonal bracing boards were slightly wider than the width of the posts, we cut the boards lengthwise to match the width of the posts. This makes it a lot easier for nailing interior panels later.
Isaac got bored and so started surfing on some of the scrap wood. Matt seems to let Isaac take moments to play during work but Christian is not so lucky; of course, Christian doesn’t seem to mind since he’s more like his dad in wanting to finish the task at hand before relaxing.
Our ferocious, killer dog (complete sarcasm) is hard at work as usual. Only raising his head for the occasional rabbit or bird siting.
The end of another work day. The boards wrapping the posts are up along with all of the corner bracing, and only a few pieces of the old wood remain. Next steps will be nailing in the upper 2″x12″ boards that the roof trusses will sit on, and then finish packing the gravel before the next couple of loads are dropped off to fill in what is left of the floor before concrete. More to come…
