Prony Brake Storage Building

Clayton,

I know you have a large yard and a long driveway. Isn't that amount of equipment a bit of over kill to keep Jane's yard cleaned up?

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
Believe me Jerry, when we get to stop using these things I will be very happy. OH and if I ever had to use this in my drive way I think I would consider moving to Australia.
 
We are going back go the Prony Brake Shed and back in time. These pictures fit in between posts 1 and 2.

The ready mix truck is backing into position. I like the date stamp on the picture.

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Below Seth is watching to be sure nothing goes wrong.
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Meanwhile, the crew is getting organized and getting equipment ready.

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I had to include the picture below. I didn't take the picture, so you can see that I actually can hold a tool.

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I am on the left with the red handled shovel. Dave S is behind me, the next two I can't see well enough to tell for sure. Don T is looking at the white pickup, Seth is watching Doyle run the cement.

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About one-half done. Notice the jackets and caps. This was not a warm, sunny day.

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Nearly done with the power screed.

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All the mud is in the form and the ready mix truck is packing up.

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As you can see, hard work doesn't scare us. We all stood around and watched Doyle work. Often times when someone that knows what they are doing are on the job, it is best to stand back, let them work and don't screw things up.

No new pictures of the bull float in action. As mentioned earlier, the weather looked bad and we built a 'tent' over the slab. We don't have any pictures of the tent in place.

More later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
Back with more pictures. These pictures fit in at the end of post two. The walls were built and stored in Earl's Mill.
We came back to the slab and peeled the 'tent' back and the master went to work.

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The blue tarp in the fore ground is the 'tent'. Doyle is on the slab running the trowel.

Doyle let me take a turn on the trowel. With good coaching I managed not to screw any thing up.

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Seth H is on the far side, Bryce is on Doyle's right side while Doyle is showing me what to do. Dave S wisely stood off to the side and watched.

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The master finished the job.

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Before we left the ground, we covered the slab with tarps using rebar and 2X4's to weigh them down.

More later,

Jerry Christiansen
 
More pictures of the project last fall. These pictures fit in with post #5, 6 October 2018.

A dreary looking day.
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The slab is still covered with plastic. Jim's car is parked by the bleachers.

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Peter K's trailer is in the fore ground with the steel. If you look close in the first picture you can see the steel. Don's trailer in the back ground has the walls and rafters. From the number of vehicles, you can tell more crew arrived. The jackets tell how warm is was.

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The saw shed is being constructed.

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Meanwhile, bottom plates have been tied down. One wall is partially slid off the trailer.

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Then we got busy for a while and didn't take pictures. Two walls are up and squared.

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This picture is a bit later. The walls are up, rafters are on but I don't see any purlins on the rafters. This was getting real close to noon.

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In an earlier post, I said the boys were cleaning up form boards. Sid got a picture of them at their work station. After the boards got cleaned up, we used them in the building.

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The purlins on the east side are just about done around 2:30.


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5:20pm, a little over half of the west roof is covered.

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6:20pm, the west side is done. About 1/3 of the east side is done. We had one crew on the roof and another crew started on the east wall.

That is all the pictures that can fit in this post.
More coming,
Jerry Christiansen




 
More pictures

This the last picture taken on 6 October 2019.

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A shot of both crews working. By the time we finished that day, the roof was covered with ridge cap in place, the east wall was done and the full length pieces on the south wall were in place. It was getting fairly dark when we wrapped up. This picture was taken about 6:40pm.

Now we move ahead a week.
The picture below was taken about 8:45 am. I don't have to tell the date on this one.
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We are getting ready to skin the north side. Getting the trim pieces in place sure seems to take a lot of time.

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10:30 and a little over 1/2 of the north wall is done. I think that is me standing by the tailgate of the pickup, then Bryce H and Seth H.

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Except for the cantilever part, the north wall is done. One door is installed.

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Dan K is cutting soffit pieces.

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I don't remember who was installing the soffit, I think we had a crew working on that as the north wall was going up.

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Cutting a piece to go around one of the doors.

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Just about done for the day. Both doors are in, most of the west wall is done. Soffit is done on the east wall (earlier picture) and east side of the south roof.

Last picture of the day.
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As noted in Post #8, we were short one piece of J-trim and couldn't finish the west wall. If you look close, you can see the gap in the siding above the door.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
More pictures showing order of progress on the building.


These pictures go along with Post #11. You are right, the picture below doesn't show the new building. This was taken a couple minutes before 8am 20 October 2019 while standing next to the new building.
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Soon we will be able to be on the grounds enjoying views like the one above.

A look at the north side before we started.
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The siding on the cantilever part of the roof isn't done on either side. If you zoom in, you can see that the soffit isn't done on the north side and there is no blocking in the cantilever roof to hold the soffit up. If you remember from Post #8, we needed one piece of J-trim before we could put the last piece of siding on the west wall. You can't see it here, but that needs to be taken care of, too.

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The soffit on the north side is finished, the blocking is pretty well done in the cantilever, the J-trim and steel is finished up on the south door. The cantilever siding still needs to be finished. Sid set up his saw to make the work station shown.

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Sid actually caught me working. The steel for the cantilever siding is being cut. A few weeks ago I wondered about the time spent building the saw shed. I can tell you that being out of the wind and in the sun felt very good.

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The time is about 2:30. The cantilever is sided, the doors are secured and the work station is put away.

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Proof that the south side is finished, too. The work station in the saw shed is cleaned up, too.

The crew today was Sid and me. We both had places we needed to be, so we quit early today. We had a lot of good help on this project. I suppose I missed naming some folks that helped. I apologize if I missed your name. Thanks to everyone that helped, hope to see you soon when we finish this project.

As noted in Post #11:
Items left include: 1) soffit on the overhang, 2) corner trim on all four corners, 3) facia all the way around, 4) replace temporary diagonal supports inside with permanent ones, 5) install two window on the east side, 6) wire the building, 7) build the divider wall inside, 8) run electric line to the building and 9) remove the existing power pole.


The Spring Meeting is next Saturday (See the Sign of Spring 2019 thread). Part of our conversation at the Prony Brake meeting will be picking work weekends to finish the building and get our supplies stored.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
Hi all,
Jane and I took the Blue Brake back to the Hill today. It had been at Jane's house since Steam Up last week. We stopped by the building site to inspect the damage to the Saw Shed. Karl reported damage that you can see in Post #16 at this thread.
I took some pictures that we can send to the structural analysis people to get some answers about the failure Karl reported.

Karl's picture showed a lot of snow. I am happy to report that most of the snow is gone.
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The next two pictures are a bit closer.

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From the inside looking out.
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The only failure on the structure was the front header. We still have a functional Saw Shed. We will be able to set up equipment and stay out of the elements.

A view from the east.
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All the walls are in fine shape, the roof is still water proof.

A view from the corner.
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What is going on with the brace on the far side?

A close up of the brace.
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A shot of the brace from a bit farther back.
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Karl didn't report this damage in the previous post. Perhaps this occurred in the time between the pictures.
We plan to meet at the site next Saturday, 27 April, to work on the new storage building. We will make repairs to the Saw Shed at that time.



We saw a few others on the grounds. Gary M and someone else (I think it was Kelly) were in the maintenance building.
Klinger was working on the roads.

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Later,
Jerry Christiansen

 

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The way I see this failure is the said broken 2x4 was install incorrectly :eek:... I believe the knot should of been placed facing up and thus the stress would of been forced together instead of pulling it apart.:duh: Maybe one of your structural engineers can shed some light on this, or there could be a meeting to discuss:gathering:
 
Some church groups go out to storm ravaged areas and help rebuild structures that have been ravaged by the weather. I have seen (in some of the brochures they hand out) buildings just like this that are straightened out and look like new in short order! They even sometimes put new tarps on them...

Given the way we work with church groups on the show grounds, perhaps there is a young person mission group that would be willing to take on the task of rebuilding this "saw shed"?

I will await an announcement from the pulpit at our church about a fund raiser to send a group to Rollag to look after this.
 
The rest of the lumber industry makes and sells dimensional lumber. If I understand correctly, our sawmills are now making directional lumber. This must be an industry leading trend. I am surprised that the directional lumber does not have arrows on it to be certain the lumber is installed in the correct direction.

Lumber designed to be used for studs are installed vertically. These can be called 'verts'. Lumber cut to be used as floor joists, headers and the bottom chord of rafters are examples of lumber used in a horizontal mode. These can be called 'horz'. What about the lumber used for the top chord of rafters? Will they be called 'diags'?

The board needs to set aside a large fund to build additional storage at all sawmills on the grounds so the various directions of lumber can be sorted and stored.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
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Oh yee of little faith. The design of this temporary structure was thoroughly thought out by apprentice engineer, Brekke Koenig and the old guy Sid Fossan during the coarse of the construction phase. We assessed the possible need for failing points just like the auto industry. Just like in an auto drivetrain, you don't want your transmission or rear end to be the weak point, you want the U-joints to be that area. Why, because they are easier to get to and cheaper to replace. This was our thought process in the design of the beam. This and the fact, we didn't have any other material at hand and I was to lazy to go look for more. :rolleyes:

So after much deliberation ( 2 seconds max) we decided to install this 2x4 with the knot in this direction because we determined that any snow load would cause some kind of desired effect that would lead to proper drainage from the sorry roof material we had to work with and that any further discussion meant that we would not finish before it was time to eat.

As you can see, our plan worked to perfection. The snow caused the 2x4 beam to break exactly where we planned and the pitiful roof material is still functioning to provide shelter for those smart individuals who choose to use this brilliantly designed and constructed temporary structure. ;) So there.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it. :)

See you on the grounds, Sid
 
It's truly amazing how this one lone 2x4 held the might of the snow from the "upper" deck of the Prony Brake shed.
I kid you not, the forces involved with holding back the amount of snow on the flimsy tarp involved is a magnificent mystic show of what can happen in dire straits of winter.
My God men, do you realize the strength incurred to handle the forces at hand so as not to crumple and fail under the massive weight?
Simply amazing!
I believe it can and will be rebuilt with utmost care for this is now the season it can become brittle and not being able to carry the weight of the Sun beating down upon the structure let alone the actual weather hitting the sad, sad material which is called a "tarp roof."
I truly hope for better days....
 
Hi all,

What a beautiful day we had Saturday. The weather forecast earlier in the week called for 70% to 90% chance of showers. We worked with blue sky and sunshine all day.

Seth H and Dan K removed couple pieces of steel from the south end of the east wall so they could install a window.
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The pieces are on the ground near Jane's black pickup.


Sid F took a bit of time and helped get the horizontal 2X4's in for the bottom and top of the window.

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While those three worked on that, Brekke K was busy cleaning up some of the mess around the site.
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Sid and Brekke focused on installing the permanent, diagonal braces inside the building.
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They held the permanent brace in place and marked the 2X4's so they could notch them. This will allow the brace to be flush on inside.

Meanwhile, Dan and Seth cut the steel siding to fit around the window. The J-trim was installed prior to cutting the steel.
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I was working on getting the soffit installed on the overhang. I got Brekke to cut some of the metal for me.

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Yes, we used the saw shed again. The design features worked perfectly and the shed survived the winter.

Early in the morning I noticed this on the west wall of the shed.

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Look carefully at the printing on the bottom of the tarp and pay attention to where the grass is. We didn't discuss the reason for that design feature.
That will be conversation at a future date.

Tom H came by and removed the fancy door lock system we had installed.
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By the time he left, our building had proper latches and can be locked

My soffit project was moving along.

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This part of the job was truly a pain in the neck and back. We need to find folks with less arthritis for this type work.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
More progress

After they got the south east corner buttoned up, Dan and Seth moved to the north east corner to install the other window.
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As you can see, the window is in. If you zoom in, it looks like the J-trim is around three sides.

Sid and Brekke could have gotten more done on the diagonals if I hadn't interrupted them so often.
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Putting up those long pieces of soffit was a two person job. I had been on the other side of the ladder holding the piece in place until Sid got the first nail in. Then I got down and got a picture of Sid action.

We wrapped up around 5pm.
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The door knobs are installed and the long pieces of soffit are done.

From the angle below you can see the F-trim has been installed on the outer end of the soffit.
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That task was another pain in the back and neck.

The windows on the east side are complete.
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Don't let the glare fool you and make you think the roof is white.

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A last picture of the crew discussing next Saturday's projects on the building.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
Hi all,
Last weekend, 4 May, we let Sid play by himself on the Prony Brake building. He seems to do ok without us. When I looked inside, I found evidence of this work.
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It isn't easy to take pictures inside a small building. The first thing I noticed is Sid did a bunch of cleaning and straightening inside. The divider wall is framed up, the studs are in the foreground.

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The 2X4 across the bottom chord of the rafters got installed along with a diagonal support to the top of the end rafter.

Jane and I took a quick tour of the grounds and found this fellow wandering around.
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If you look through the back window of his vehicle, you can see a pile of concrete.

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After Louie pulled away, I could see the pile of concrete is all that is left of the West Gate. He claimed he was innocent of any vandalism.

After a bit of coffee and planning we got to work on the building.
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Al S showed up with some electrical supplies for the building. Here he is studying the blue prints that he has on his phone.

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Josh O worked with Al on the electrical inside the building. They got most of the electrical roughed in. Josh said he plans to be back next weekend to continue working on the wiring.

Sid and Seth got the sheeting cut and fit for the divider wall.
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Then we turned Seth loose with the staple gun to finish the job.

The last time I was here, we got the long pieces of soffit installed in the overhang. We only had the soffit supported on the ends. Sid and I spent more 'pain in the neck' time and we finished nailing the soffit in place.
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We stretched the strings to keep us on the straight and narrow.

My last picture of the day.
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The soffit is nearly complete. We have a couple little pieces to finish that are going to take a bit of time, then the facia can go on. The corner trim on the wall and roof need to be installed. Josh has more electrical to do inside and outside the building. The electrical needs to be buried to the building and the existing pole and yard light need to be removed. We have flower boxes and landscaping planed.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen

 
Hey Jerry, nice photos, but the photos don't show the wind on Saturday. Still a very productive and fun day. Can't be their next Saturday, but I'm assured capable hands and minds will do just fine. I hope you will have fun and the weather will be nice. Looking forward to the finished product.

Later, Sid
 
Hi all,
This post has two weekends of work to show.

On 11 May, Josh and I made up the entire crew. Josh got more of the electrical done. I didn't get any action pictures that weekend.

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Josh got the locations of all the outside lights figured out and marked. He got the one on north wall installed. These are dusk to dawn LED lights. There will be one on each wall. They are on a switch so we can turn them off for Spark Shows.

Josh got a lot of the inside work done.
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Here you can see the outlets in the south room. The light switches are all installed. I think there is one or two outlets inside left to be installed. There will be one outlet on the outside of the building. That isn't installed yet.

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The lights look like fluorescent fixtures, these are LED. The north room is bigger, so it got two fixtures. The south room has one fixture. I installed the 2X4's for mounting the lights while Josh ran wires.


Jane and I got to Rollag about 8:30pm Saturday, 25 May. Sunday Jane worked on cleaning up flower beds and I worked on the building. I finished up the last bit of soffit on two corners and got the facia installed.

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The east side is done.
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The west side is done.
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This looks a lot like the first picture in this post. Notice the facia is installed. I was lucky that Clint A and Gary N stopped by at the correct time. They used a 1X4 to help hold the pieces in place while I climbed the ladder and nailed the pieces in place. The facia is on the south side, too. There are still metal pieces that need to be installed that wrap around from the top and will cover a fair bit of the soffit on the gable ends.

We have electrical to finish up, The corner trim needs to be installed, the yard light and pole need to be removed, landscaping has to be done and storage (shelves) need to be provided inside.

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This is the steel to do the walls on the Prony Brake roof. The trim pieces are not shown here, they are on another area of the bleachers. That will be a project for another weekend.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
Well done Jerry!

Looks great. We are going to have one nice building and observation area. We are on the down hill slide now.

Later, Sid
 
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