Deck Framing



Dear Bob and Patty

Barak and Jenn and Baeden stayed in a motel in Pownal, next town to the West. We tandem drove after a ferry crossing together with my niece Sara and her husband Steve who had visited Peconic from California. We arrived early enough friday to set up for 2nd floor East windows. Barak solved the second floor window installation methodology for the second window, while I nailed off the first, less planned, and the more difficult of the two. Smart is good.

Built the porch deck on Saturday after moving four wheelbarrow loads of rock into the drainage trench. Barak came by and helped lift the girders. They went to a wedding further up into Vermont. Sunday we got out the plans and built the double cantilever 8'x12' 7" to specs. Tecos are not always pretty.

Sara and Steve called from Dunkin Donuts as we were getting in the loaded truck to leave, so we stayed to show them the camp and water spigot. As we were leaving we found a couple of local inhabitants already celebrating the porch deck with a party of two. The butterflies. The natural life up there is a treat.

Back to work tomorrow....love to all, BSB

Posted by Bennett at 8:17 AM EDT

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The Architect's Accomplishment


The architect has completed both form and structure. Even with a tiny and simple appearing form, the load paths are indirect when the structure cantilevers in two directions, utilizing a pre-set foundation loction. I am immensely happy with the end product, and am honored to have been part of the process that generates this elegance of form and scale. Thanks Bob

Love to all BSB

Posted by Bennett at 9:54 AM EDT

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Storage Silo. Father's Day


Hi Everyone.

The architect has been at his desk, sissors and pencils and scales and copiers at the ready. Are we ready. The storage silo, a place to store your guests. Same footprint as the shed/privy approved by the town.

Oh yes, we stopped by Centerbrook, Bob is Centerbrook. I joined him for a single malt, Louise was designated, Discussed the balance of the double ended cantilever and the structural hardpoints.

We arrived at the mountain at the witching hour exactly. If the true forms of prayer are blessing and thanksgiving, I fell asleep in sacred space.

Sixteen hours on the mountain got the three east windows in. The natural light in the kitchen is awesome. We decided ice and snow membrane should be an olympic sport, for some HGTV reality contest. We are not contestants. We are the winners. Well, maybe, sorta. The ISM doesnt stick to the powdery surface of the concrete tank, but it hangs like an apron over the edge of the tank top by 3"-6".

It is my fathers day awareness that the inclusion of a second, tiny, perfectly scaled, private space is the finest gift that could be made to this project. A gift to my children and family and friends. I know my father, who's will empowers this project approves the use of his estate . As the witchs would say....."blessed be"....BSB

Posted by Bennett at 5:48 PM EDT

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Pondeering Screwups


Dear Bob and Patty

We got back from the Opening of the (rather mediocre) Mather Hospital Sculpture Exhibit friday night to a message that the excavator wouldnt be showing up on Saturday......I guess its good we don't have a Vermont contractor as well. Stopped at a new Home Despot in Greeenfield Mass. for a second shovel and one of those back braces. Arrived at the mountain before noon and I went at the dirt detail. The septic tank (aka foundation for the end of the porch/shed/ privy) wasnt as deep as I remembered.... 6" at the downhill side and just under two feet at the top of the slope. The back brace reminds one to bend at the knees rather than the back, which saved my back, but had me waking up all night with screaming upper leg cramps. Got the septic tank uncovered, sustained by the image of the porch extending all the way to the shed/privy structure built on a frame suppoerted by the inground tank. We were also sustained by the fantasy of including a sleeping loft in the top of the shed somehow, as a place for our kids to have some privacy during an overnight visit. When I checked the drawings later, this seems undoable given the present plan....not enough headroom between the collar ties and the rafters.

The powernailer worked pretty well, and we got the sills installed with smoo before dark, and the stud placement laid out. Next morning I measured each stud length with the WatrLevel which has a four foot scale that can be set to a base point (the highest of the porch support brackets) and then gives an offset reading for any placement within the 4' scale. The top of the tank was crowned, so this was great for generating the cutting list. Louise cut and I nailed. Our lumber delivery was short (were we robbed?) so I didnt have enough ply to finish or any Ice and Snow Membrane to seal the whole thing from ground water.

It wasn't until I got out the camera that I discovered the screwups made a year and a half ago in that bleak October when we froze in tents doing the foundation work. I laid the tank placement out expecting a 4x4x8 foot tank. What we got was 5x10(+ a little) in plan, and I didn't center the longer dimension on the porch girder supports. When I took pictures I saw that the uphill (west) end of the tank lined up with the Simpson brackets at the two foot stud on the tank structure, while the east end of the tank is about three inchs inside the girder placement. These alignments can be seen in the photos. The roof over the shed, as drawn, only extends 1'6" past the girders, so we have a six inch opportunity for architectural improvisation....Do you have the billable hour meter running as you read this...I hope! I thought maybe the south elevation of the shed should go assymetric, with a western extension that would cover the support wall and extend over a firewood storage area framed by the diagional support brackets that define all the house roof overhangs.. Maybe the roof could be rethought to allow a sleeping loft. In my shoveling fantasies I had thought the space under the porch cross gable would be pleasant to sleep in also, it it were insulated, and vented at the gable and with a sky light. But alas there is less than three feet to the inside of the rafter peak.....

We also got a pipe installed for emptying the chemical toilet into the tank by hand. I was amazed to discover that the tank was 2/3 full from ground water infiltration. The excavator had forewarned me of this, but it was still suprising. I have no idea at all about how to run the sewer lines and evetually hook up the low water consumption toilet in the privy, but the time to adress that problem seems fairly far off right now, however, there is the virtue of that pre-planning thing.....

I am sure the architecture gods are either punishing me, or prompting me to tap into your brilliant problem solving abilities to reconfigure a superior but still simple and cost effective solution ......I leave for Jersey after dinner tonight for a couple of days of poolside carribean fantasy set construction..... I enjoyed chatting with Patty when we discovered that we can now get a cell signal on the mountain, right at the camp! Hope you enjoyed Sears in the Catskills...love to all.... BSB

Posted by Bennett at 9:31 AM EDT

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The 2004 Season




Dear Bob, Patty et al,

Eight windows (out of 21) and one door were waiting for us and we got 'em all in with a three day assist from son Christopher. It took almost all day thursday to figure out how to load the kitchen and tools on the truck, and we rode most of the way bouncing on the rubber blocks that keep the axle from hitting the frame when the springs are reversed. Kept stroking the dashboard, saying "Good truck, Nice truck."

Had a mountaintop gourmet vegetarian curry feast on Sunday night, looking up the hill through the west windows, feeling the enclosure of shelter.....SHELTER! with a kitchen no less.

Replaced the tar paper on the kitchen roof with Ice and Snow Membrane, and did the tyvek as demanded to install windows. Invented some new (to me ) thoughts on tyvek and trim coil flashing pans.

Had the pleasure of a ferry trip over with our daughter-in-law Jenn and grandson Baeden, and drove back via Nork City to drop Chris off back at NYU. The pleasure of youthful companionship both directions.

Louise wants to get the windows and tyvek in and then build the porch this summer so there is a sheltered place to work as the interior and exterior get finished. With the eave blocking done this weekend as well, we could move in next visit with a caloric boost from a kerosene heater (nightime in the 40's this past visit ). I understand the not living in sawdust mind set, so I'm thinking about the virtues of feminine wisdom.....

I enjoyed the Archibald cottage project, and have to get my ass in high gear on the Jersey cabinets, so I can go make things happen in Vermont with a clear conscience........best to all BSB

Posted by Bennett at 9:10 AM EDT

Updated: Monday, 20 June 2005 6:03 PM EDT

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Lulu's Kitchen


Dear Bob and Patty,

Don't you think its interesting how the non-electric kitchen of the future manifests itself in the context of pandemic electric woodworking machines. "Honey....would you cut a square hole in the lid of this can with the hollow chisel mortiser? The generator's in the back of the truck."

I hope the pictures are worth paragraphs. I've had fun. I think this will be sufficient for our needs. I hope my design and execution are worthy of the architect's vision of the structure in which this will dwell. Thanks for the collaboration. Powerful stuff...... collaboration.

Love to all who read this ......BSB

Posted by Bennett at 3:06 PM EST

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Dear Bob Patty and Others,

It's has been just a bit over a week since my last Report, and the completion of the carcase for the camp kitchen seems a good place to take a break and update. I won't bore you with secrets of the joiner's art, but a hollow chisel mortiser for under $250 is a wonderful investment. Having two table saws set up, one for the tenoning jig, the other for the shoulder cuts of the tenons increases efficiency, and having five routers, each set up for a different operation doesn't hurt. Do I tread dangerously close to bragging?

The metal drawers are a stock size for industrial first-aid kits, and I was able to have them custom fabricated without internal shelves and with the handle moved to the latch side by the Merriam Manufacturing Company (www.merriammfg.com)) of Middletown, Ct. for under $20 each. They and the tin plated steel Emu boxes from Ikea should provide sufficient mouse-proof food storage. The slides for the metal drawers, utensil drawers, and ice chest are all full extension 100 pound test. The framing was constructed of kiln-dried 2x4 spruce, joined and planed, and the plywood is 9-ply half inch Baltic birch. Biscuit joinery was used on all the plywood carcase work, assembled with 1 5/8 inch stainless steel screws to eliminate the need for clamping while the glue dried.

In this age of compulsive gentrification, when waterfront camps of a bygone era are torn down to build McMansions, it tickles me to be building the anachronism of a non-electric camp. This kitchen-on-casters makes me smile. Its an amusing combination of compact design, accurate craftsmanship and funky materials. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeha! Hope all are well......love BSB

Posted by Bennett at 3:44 PM EST

Updated: Thursday, 25 March 2004 7:39 PM EST

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Camp Kitchen


Dear Bob, Patty, and every one else,

My winter project to get the camp kitchen built is under way. For those who havent seen the sketch, the idea is to build a unit on casters so we can have it when the building season resumes in the spring, and can move it around as we finish off the floors, walls etc. Eventually the sink will be hooked up to the septic tank, but to get started it will drain into a 5 gallon spackle bucket. Hot water for washing and rinsing dishs will be generated by a propane shower unit, and will be stored in insulated Coleman jugs over the sink. Drinking water will be in its own 10 gallon container over the food prep area. We will accomodate a 24 inch range when we get permanent propane hookup, in the mean time, we will use a Coleman propane two burner stove unit. Storage will all be in metal boxes, with three 22x 15x 5 1/2 inch pull out drawers with lids, and smaller Ikea storage boxes in cubbies. There is a 50 quart ice chest with a five day duration, also on full extention glides.

This description is not really for the architect who has reviewed the shop drawings, but for others who profess interest in my spam. I started the frame to which the casters attach and which holds together the three units that disassemble for transport and getting through the door. This was interrupteed by a trip to Connecticut to visit my son Barak, his wife Jenn and their new born son Baeden Samuel Blackburn. If any of you havent herard the news of Louise and my attaining grandparenthood..... there you go. Pictures and news updates of the baby and his family can be had by visiting Barak's blog: http://brocktoon.tripod.com/news/
If your computer doesnt read this as a link, you could always copy and paste.

I'll probably send a few more reports before this joinery project is finished. When we are traveling each weekend to build, the interval for Reports to the Architect was set.....this is a bit more arbitrarily divided, since I can work on it everyday.....yahoooo! But I do miss the old income and the making of woodchips. All in due time....love to all BSB

Posted by Bennett at 1:54 PM EST

Updated: Tuesday, 16 March 2004 6:21 PM EST

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Report to the Architect


Dear Bob Patty, et al,

Just to let you know the camp is still there, unmolested; unless one considers a "Kilroy was here" note from Fred and Norma Reker a molestation. They visited the week after we closed for the winter and had been there for the first floor platform framing.

We were able to drive as far as our driveway. The story we got from a nieghbor who was up on Klondike Rd was the town has been sending the road grader down the mountain after each snow storm to plow the half mile up to Wally Dolle's farm from Mass., because it saves on the chains, which wear out on the blacktop if they send the grader around through Clartksburg Mass to do the same half mile. Fine with us.

We snow shoed through 2 inch breakable crust covering soft powder. A lot of work for the thighs, but we made it to the top of the powerline cut. The weather was in the 40's and beautifully sunny. Saw an excellant concert of Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer at MASS MoCA on Saturday night and stopped at the Worcester Art Museum for another look at the Antioch Roman moasics on the way to visit our almost here grandson and his almost parents on Sunday.

I am working on the dimensioned drawings for the camp kitchen. I'll send you gray prints when I'm done. Spring and the resuming of Mountain Labor seems pretty close....love BSB

This entry was originally sent 10/5/03

Dear Bob, Patty, et al,

Thanks Bob for the phone consult on closing the project for the season. Vented tent camping in the frosty season is fine as a character building exercise for the Boy Scouts (or Marine boot camp), but it feels like a full season of building for the two of us. We managed to get a cabin at the Wig Wam, and for those who have never seen it I enclose a shot of the night view of North Adams from our porch there. For those who dont know the story, we found the property in Vermont by looking on the map for the area pointed to by a green meteor we saw from a porch of a cabin at the Wig Wam. We have a sentimental attachment to the place....not to mention that its cheap, and dry, and heated, and has hot showers, and an electrical outlet to plug the coffee maker into. Unfortunately they close at heavy frost as the water lines to the cabins are on the surface.

Breakfast at Linda's Cafe, the closest thing North Adams has to a diner, and we were on the mountain by 8:00 am Saturday. We got the kitchen roof watertight with 30 pound felt paper and the aluminun disks that can increase the holding surface area of roofing nails against wind. It started to rain just as we got to running the felt paper up the south wall as flashing for the tar paper. A blessing on your two foot overhangs, which sheltered us for this phase.The idea of carrying plywood up a 22 foot ladder in windy 40 degree rain was utterly without appeal, so we closed the south second story windows from the outside since the scaffolding was in place for the tarpaper, and we opted for keeping the blown snow out by nailing the 1/4 inch luan ply from the inside on the second floor. A bit of a compromise from what you had suggested on the phone, but Louise put tar paper on the window sills against snow build up. I thought of putting angled blocking extending over the sills and under the interior installed ply, but decided the framing could stand another six months of being wet, and I didnt want to withstand another six hours of being wet. The first floor we closed with the 5/8 ply that will eventually redefine the kitchen to porch cross gable transition. We used square drive screws as a precaution against interlopers.

Got back to the WigWam for hot showers , the start of the Cubs /Braves Game (anybody know who won?.....did I mention that the Wig Wam gets five statioins of poor quality color tv?) dinner at the Golden Eagle Restaurant on the Famous Hair Pin Turn and a World Music Funk concert with Atlas Soul out of Boston at Mass MoCA. Nice to have an excellent cultural center in the middle of a post industrial opportunity for gentrification like North Adams, Mass!!!!! I was even seen out on the dance floor shaking my lower back scoliosis, but I was unable to duplicate the moves of the Morroccan belly dancer who started the concert out with instruction on The Moves. Scarey that thought , huh?

Seep again at the Wigwam and home by 2:00 pm Sunday. By the way, the Wig Wam is for sale if any of you venture capitalists out there are looking for an opportunity to participate in the gentrification of North Adams. $495,000 gets you a gift shop (but not the inventory) a inhabitable family house, five cabins, and 32 acres with an incredible view. Handiman special (you are forewarned).

I will close this years final installment of our Adventures in building a Work of Architecture, with a thanks to all who visited and or helped with the building and building of our spirits.........Waring, Audrey, Fred, Norma, Ken, Espe, Fons, Ellen, Barak, Jenn, Chris, Eric, Daina, Bob,Claire, Madeleine, Harry, The Architect in Person, Martin, Shirley, Katherine, Bill, Anne, Mary Jane and the lone Quad rider who we hope gets scraped off a tree somewhere else. We have appreciated the positive feedback that has come from many of you in response to these spam installments. I am looking foward to resuming my sculpture after this sabbattical of six months, and to six months of chiropractic adjustments so I'll be ready in the spring again....love to all....BSB


ps nice to see the architectural lines without all the scaffolding , Huh????