Gazeboblog - Episode 8: Rock, Cupola and Bling

In the past two weeks we have been able to complete nearly all of the work on the gazebo, including addition of the cupola and completion of the rock work. We even added lighting today using 300 LED lights.








As discussed earlier, the cupola adds style and is supposed to be a vent for fire pit smoke. In reality, 99.99% of the smoke drifts sideways 99.99% of the time, so my vent idea was unnecessary. Oh well, we still like the cupola. The spindle in the center of the cupola is made on my lathe from a 4" round hunk of tamarack log, similar to cedar.

Deb, the master stone mason, tirelessly finished the rock work today, having slathered and shoved mortar and stone onto the 6th and final pillar. Now we just need to apply a bit of mortar in between each rock and we'll be be done.

Gazeboblog - Episode 7 ... A Roof

Our goal was to have the roof winter-ready ... before winter ... and we did that. The main part of the roof is completed, and now I am working on the cupola, which will not only give the gazebo some snazz, but will also serve as a covered vent for campfire smoke.

Since my last post, I added more logs as supports to the roof structure, so that the span for the roof deck is no more than 4'. I used 2x6 fir for the roof deck, pre-staining everything before putting them up.

The roofing is Owens Corning Oakridge which has a "lifetime limited" warranty. We'll see how well it lasts. It should last through mine and Deb's lifetimes, afterwhich it will be Ben and Jason's to worry about.

As you can see, Deb is making great progress on the rock work, now having completed 4 of the 6 pillars. Although we have enough now, we continue to make more river rock so she has more shapes and colors to choose from (see episode #4 for rock making).

Gazeboblog - Episode 6 ... Traftors

Hey, man ... it's like hovering in mid air or something, man....far out!  Today I set up the log rafters ... or trusses...or traftors. I'm not sure what they are called, but I put them up anyway. The rafters are 6"x6" D-logs like the ones we used to build the shop. I first had to plane off the tongues and grooves one every frigging 11' log. That "king post" in the middle is hexagon-shaped and is 11" thick. The whole mess is screwed together using 8' log screws. 

I will be adding some additional log rafters to fit in between these, so that my span will not exceed 48". The roof decking will be 2x6's. I am also going to have openings at the peak, so campfire smoke can escape. There will be a cupola covering the openings. 

Deb is doing her usually superb job rocking the pillars. As you may recall, these "river rocks" are the ones we are making using the rubber molds and concrete and coloring powder. It is quite an art form trying to make rocks look like rocks. We're getting better... and the price is right!

Gazeboblog Episode 5 - Taking Shape

 Taking time away from golf, fishing and camping trips, we took some time to make more progress on the gazebo. After mortaring down the caps, I notched the tops of each post and set them on top of the pillars.

The header beams were then notched to fit the posts and then delicately set on the posts using the tractor. I then made the knee braces and attached them using log screws.

We have also made good progress making our river rock to cover the concrete pillars. It is interesting experimenting with the various colors. I am intentionally not showing you the "reject" pile for a good reason :)

Camping the California Loop

Collier State Park, Chiloquin, OR

We just returned from a grand 3-week trip exploring the backroads (i.e., avoiding the freeways) through Oregon and California. The highlight of the trip was seeing Uncle Burton and Aunt Helen for their 70th wedding anniversary in Palm Desert... or perhaps it was visiting brother/sis in law Dan and Diane at their mountain retreat in Sky Forest, CA ... or perhaps it was Disneyland. Nevertheless, is was a great and trouble-free trip in the Nashinator. 


After a stopover in Monroe to check out the house, we headed south and cut over to I-97 through Oregon, stopping at Collier State Park, in Chiloquin, OR and visited Crater Lake. Most of the loop road was still closed due to snow, but we did see the gorgeous lake and visitor center. Collier was an excellent campground with miles of hiking trails and a cool logging museum. 

Crater Lake

Crater Lake Lodge

Heading further south into California, we stopped at Eagle Lake and camped with good friends Wayne and Nan Miller. We had a good opportunity to test the soalr panel as the site was dry camping and it managed to keep up with demand just fine. Unfortunately, Wayne scared off the fish when they saw his legs in the water, but otherwise we had a great 4-night stay.

Logging Museum Collier SP, Chiloquin, OR

Logging Museum Collier SP, Chiloquin, OR

We headed on down 395 stopping overnight in Bishop before landing at D&D's place at Lake Arrowhead. As usual, we had a great time there, including attending Burt and Helen's 70th wedding anniversary. It was cool seeing our cousins Craig, Larry and Ron for the first time in at least 20+ years. We also visited Disneyland and it was as magical as ever. 

Dan, Dana and Kyle at Dland

Magical Disneyland

Camp site at Eagle Lake

Disneyland

Camping Eagle Lk

Camping Eagle Lk

Beach Eagle Lk

70th anniversary - Cousin Craig Reed on Left

70th anniversary - Dan with cousin Larry 

Empire Mine Site

Empire Mine Site

Empire Mine Blacksmithy

Empire Mine shaft

Empire Mine shaft

Park at Empire Mine SP

We had originally planned on heading home via Zion NP and Salt Lake, but upon Dan and Diane's suggestion, decided to go home though the California gold country...Hwy 49. It was a fun and worthwhile trip even though D&D failed to tell us about the hills and switchbacks in a couple of areas. It is also a much more interesting route than I-5 or even 99 through most of California.

As we headed north, we first visited the historic towns of Jamestown and visitied the living museum town of Columbia State Historic Park. En route we stopped at the Marshall Gold Discovery SHP, the site of Sutters Mill. Northeast of Sacramento, we stopped near Grass Valley and walked the town oif Nevada City. We also saw the Empire Mine State Park, which is a tour of an old hard rock gold mine. I highly recommend seeing this place. 

Columbia State Historic Park

Columbia State Historic Park

Columbia State Historic Park

49er Campground Columbia, CA

Sutters Mill

We then headed north and scooted up Oregon 97 to Washington 395, then home.

Gazeboblog - Episode 4 - Logs, Caps and Rocks

"Getting ready" to actually build the gazebo is apparently taking way more time than I think erecting the building will be. These past couple of weeks have been spent downing trees, cutting them up, hauling them and peeling off the bark. We learned we really like peeling logs in the spring because it comes off really easy, with a little effort using the spud. We now have all of 12 large logs ready for the post and the headers that will go around the circumference supporting the rafters. We will need to do a little touch up peeling with the draw knife to remove darkened areas once they are drier.

At the same time, I have experimented making the pillar caps. At first, you may recall that the form was sloped to a 12" square spot for the log .... well that attempt failed because we couldn't get the cap out of the form without busting it. So I ended up with plain 22" square x 2 1/2"h caps. I also added a wire screen on the inside to add strength. I used some brownish concrete coloring and did my version of exposed aggregate, which didn't turn out exactly like exposed aggregate, but more of a gnarly brownish rock look, which I think might be better anyway. So far 3 are done, and I made a fourth today. Need to make 2 more.

































We also did our first trial with the river rock "cultured stone" molds. They are a latex material which were made using real rocks as molds. I first sprayed the inside with water, then "painted" on various iron oxide powdered pigment colors on the inside of each mold. We bought light, med and dark shades of brown, tans, black, and we have a bit of green. Most of this color is supposed to wash off, leaving a light coloring on the rock. (we'll see!) Each form makes 2 sq ft and we need to make about 100 sf, to we need to make about 12 sets of four molds.

Gazeboblog - Episode 3 (Stonehenge West)

Today I finished the six pillars for the gazebo. So each pillar is made up of (12) 8"x16"x8" "CMU's" (Concrete Masonry Unit).  They are sitting on 5" thick 2' square footings which were buried 2' under ground. The pillars extend 3' above the ground. In addition to being mortared together, two of the four holes are filled with concrete and rebar. These puppies are stout. 

I also built a form for the pillar caps and did my first test cap. I looked into buying these caps at a masonry company, but they wanted $70 each for them. The caps are 22" square and have a 12" square spot for the log to sit on, and then they slope down slightly to drain off rain. I added a bit of brown color and plan to make them exposed aggregate style (more on this later). We'll see how it goes later tonight when I remove the form.