Yesterday we did the frame and start of the rafters. Today we finished up the rafters, did the edge board, and nailed down plywood to the roof. That doesn't sound like much, but it was a ton of work. My wrist and muscles are sore from hammering. Oh, and the best part of it was that it was stormy... lots of wind and rain. The neighbors were having fun watching us I think. At one point we were putting up a piece of plywood and before we could nail it down the wind caught it and threw it across the yard, with my mom having to dodge it. I just enjoyed being a monkey and climbing all around the structure.
We didn't make it to shingles today, but at least the roof is up so the hot tub can be delivered on the 20th. Oh, damn.... I was going to be in Seattle then. Lisa, guess I'll come up Friday? But damn... shingles next weekend. Maybe need to do shingles one of these days... but that'd mean doing it during the day, since it gets dark so early now.
The top's really strong, but it wobbles on its four legs. My parents are pushing for a diagonal to strengthen the four posts with the four beams sitting in a square on top. I'm pushing for eight big cast iron "L" braces like an inch thick with rounded corners with big bolts. Diagonals are so common. Plus, we're gonna put fake rock up around the posts (like 4 feet up), and I think the cast iron braces combined with the rock would be totally cool. I just can't find any braces like that online. I could have them custom-made by a metal worker, I suppose, but I can't believe they're not out there already, somewhere. Know any good cast iron and/or brace websites? :-)