The steel connectors we had fabricated by an old friend of Ellen and Wade's. He used steel plate recovered from a mine in Rico. The steel still bears the marking of corrosive chemicals used in the mining process. Unfortunately the geometry of the steel brackets was highly irregular. In addition to the timber being rough milled and not square, the bolt holes did not align. This made it very difficult to get the 3/4" through bolts to work. It also made the process of recessing the metal connector to the timber very difficult. We had the metal connectors sand blasted and powder coated at a local shop and they did a good job. It turns out they also do metal fabrication. I will have them bid on the connectors for the upper timber framing. If it works out I will use them for the metal exterior stair.
The first beam and column section we prefabricated and it went up easily. The second set we had to cut the beam length after we raised the two corresponding columns. This meant we had to carve and drill the beam end to fit while the crane operator waited. It was stressful to work while someones meter was running.
With the last beam in place it was time to load the S.I.P.s roof panels up onto the existing roof. We will put them onto the tops of the new beams in the future.
Wish I was there!
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