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).