Kevin Standlee (kevin_standlee) wrote,
Kevin Standlee
kevin_standlee

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Building the Carport, Part 9

With the base secured, and after giving the concrete a while to cure, it was time to put the skeleton of the carport together and get it erected.

Framework

Here we have assembled the first of seven vertical frames. Each frame consists of two long hollow vertical steel posts attached to the triangular roof frame.

Framework

These frames take up a lot of space. Stacking them the way you see here was almost the only way we could store them until we were ready to erect them.

Level Lines

As I've mentioned, the concrete pad is neither level nor square. However, we want the roof to be as close to level as possible. Consequently, we needed to rule a level line across the posts that make up the base rail. To show you how much the carport is off level, the line is very nearly at the base of the post on the north end of the base rail, but was this far above it at the post on the south end.

Doing Our Level Best

We used this large level to make sure the vertical posts were level before Lisa drilled the six screws at the bottom of each vertical frame. I had to hold the frame at the correct level while she did the drilling, which is a bit tricky.

Frameing the Carport

On June 1, we started pushing the vertical frames into place and Lisa screwed them in while I held them up.

3 Frames Up

Two people can push a frame into place, but it takes a lot of area. We worked from north to south (from the house toward the street), and here's what it looked like with three frames in place.

Blocking the Street

You may have noticed that the travel trailer was pulled out of the carport. In order to have enough room to push the seventh and final frame into place, Lisa needed to pull the trailer out so far the that the Big Orange Van partially blocked First Street, which fortunately isn't a very busy street. I pulled the Astro around to serve as a warning/barrier with the flashers going and we pushed the final frame into place.

It's a Frame-Up!

This view isn't likely to be ever repeated, so I quickly shot a photo of the frame in place, without the roof, and before Lisa backed the trailer back into place.

It's a Frame-Up!

As good luck would have it, nobody came by during the relatively short time the street was blocked.

It's a Frame-Up!

Lisa eased the travel trailer back under the frame and reconnected the utilities.

So the heaviest pieces (the vertical frames) were done. But now things started to get much trickier, because the remaining parts of the job require going up high to assemble the horizontal roof members and to attach the roof panels themselves.
Tags: carport
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