Building the Octagon Pt.8 Adding posts, joists and braces.

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Monday 15th May. I worked into the evening yesterday putting up extra safety props and adjusting the ladders and uprightness of the first two posts. Then there was the tidying up of all the tools and timber. There was light overnight rain but I had lightweight tarpaulins over the timber.

I now have to move the tall stepladder to provide support for the next post. This is easier and a safer support than trying to use props as the heavy post goes up. The props come later when I have the post nicely upright and the joists/braces fixed.

The image shows the third post upright and safely lashed to the ladder which has been moved. Getting the ladder in the right place is the most difficult part of the operation due to the lack of space.

Two horizontal  2"x 4" braces back to the shed's rafters have also been added, via nailing plates, to anchor the two buildings together.  The first two posts are now rock solid.

I am now sawing beveled joists to length. This is to save having to stop and make them as required. Fiddling with the DeWalt material stops is still irritatingly sloppy. At least I have found a way to support long work using a stepladder. Now I can handle long timbers in the workshop. Without having to carry the heavy, compound miter saw outdoors every time I need it.

BTW: The extension cables to the site have been wrapped in split garden hose and lifted safely out of the way on a suspension cord.  I thought this more sensible than leaving them trailing on the ground to be repeatedly run over by heavy wheelbarrows full of sand&gravel.

Now I have five posts upright but it is so warm working in the bright sunshine at 66F that I'm taking a break. Moving the ladders around the site between all the braces is a bit of a struggle. Once the posts are upright and tied to the ladders it is straightforwards enough adding the perimeter joists.

Back to work and then there were six. I left the ground level joist out at the entrance to the site to avoid tripping. There is also more gravel to be barrowed in to the left to improve the banks. The posts don't all look perfectly upright because I was removing temporary braces to be able to move the ladders around. So the posts can still lean inwards slightly unless supported by ground braces. I'm hoping the ring will become more self-supporting once closed with all eight posts and upper joists in place.

Horizontal braces and joists across the center will help to avoid the present clutter of the diagonal ground braces. Access to the outside of the octagon is required to allow me to drive home the 4" screws of the perimeter joists. I can't very well lean a ladder up against the same post which is actually being braced. Until now I have been working from the freestanding stepladder while it is simultaneously holding up the posts. With lots of checking for uprightness and leveling of the joists with the builder's level.

Rain is forecast from about midnight and for all of tomorrow. I had better start tidying up earlier than last night. There is no room for the big step ladders on the left until the bank is slightly widened. So I am unlikely to be able to raise and brace the last two posts tonight.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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