The following day was the end of the Feast of Trumpets, so we took our sukkah down. We really loved it. It was also windy, so capturing the fabric to fold it was a challenge.
We took took the boards apart for storage and to be reassembled for the next time.
Then we got back to work on the porch. We had already dug out the holes some weeks before. The ground was so hard to dig that we sometimes just dug a few holes a day. But one they were done, we laid sand in the bottoms to give a flat place to set the pavers that would support the posts.
Here you can see where we changed the plan on the fly. It was going to be so hard to affix the ledger board to a wall that was falling apart anyhow, I just wanted the whole thing to be freestanding. You see, when the crew laid the foundation, they didn't bother to do it according to the frost line. So as the ground freezes and thaws, the wall cracks and breaks apart. It's just decorative, but it looks awful and is not going to get any better. Sadly, this is a common problem in this part of the country. Many construction crews are not the best.
We leveled the gravel and put large stones under each post near the house. Ideally, I would have buried those posts as well, but I have a french drain directly underneath them, so that was not going to work out.
Here we are setting the perimeter posts, getting the whole thing square and level. You just keep moving them up and down, back and forth, until it's right. It can be tedious, but anyone can do it. Level is easier for me than making it square. I've always been less than adept at getting building frames square and I get peeved over it sometimes. LOL But to level, just affix the end that is the correct height to the post with only one screw. Then you can raise or lower the far end until your level reads correctly with the bubble between the two center lines.
It's late, but we got the joists up and level! Well, with one caveat... We actually put a slight slope downward as the porch goes away from the house wall. You can't notice it really, but it's enough that rain will run away from the house.
Beautiful!
And then we had to lay some boards across the top to pretend we could walk out of the house and use a porch for the first time in 4 years!
Another great day of fun, and getting goals accomplished!
Faith
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