In early 2023 I got the idea into my head of building a permanent awning over the front deck area of the house. At first the idea was prompted by the desire to have more solar panels (more electricity) but as I considered the idea, I realized that there may be a lot more benefits, like less sun on the house (less heat), more usable deck space, more protection for the dorms area, etc. etc. So the idea continued to grow on me and I asked my architect friend David Lilleholm to draw up plans for me. Since it would be attaching to my house I wanted to make sure that I did everything to code in case I needed to get a permit for it one day. Once his design was complete I started designing the actual structure in a free 2D CAD program called LibreCAD. I had never used a CAD program before for any of my projects (how did I build so much without it??) but for this project it seemed essential. Here were the CAD drawings I created. First is the profile of the tie-ins to the house:
Then the front view:
Then the top-down view:
Using the CAD program allowed me to have exact measurements for each of the cuts, and I was able to measure the dimensions of my house to make sure it was all accurate to the real-world scenario. Because the structure would be to code, the size of the lumber was going to be VERY big, to handle potential snow load. The rafters were going to be 4×8’s and the posts 4×6’s and the beam was going to be a massive 6×8. I used my Model Y with the trailer to haul the big lumber pieces up from Home Depot:
It took several trips to get all of the big pieces, and I went to Escondido to get the beams from a craigslist ad. Since it was winter time I decided to create my workspace up on the deck where we would be building it. I moved all the tools up there and put some tables too:
The first step of actual construction was pouring the footings. There were going to be seven of them and each one needed to have rebar and 600lbs of concrete, so pretty huge! Here’s the hole for footing #2:
And here’s the poured footing #6 before filling in with dirt:
Once the footings were ready we focused on cutting, sanding and painting the heavy framing elements. This was done up on the deck:
On the left are the 4×8 rafters and on the right you can see the posts. Next I prepared the beams. These were beautiful old growth cedar timber with no blemishes at all whatsoever. Truly the most amazing pieces of wood I’ve ever worked with. They didn’t even look like real wood they were so perfect! I routered the ends for aesthetics and I notched them where the rafters would sit. I used a brand new 2″ chisel and managed to do an amazing job:
After tung oiling, we put up the posts and the beams:
I wrapped the beams in plastic to protect them from the impending snow storms. I knew that because of the storm I would have a narrow window in which to finish the project before my Vipassana courses that were coming up. So we aimed to do whatever we could prior to the storm, which included putting up the rafters that were face-mounted to the house facade but not the ones that required the old roof to be removed.
My friend Romi can be seen in this photo, helping me get these heavy framing elements up. At this point all the tools and materials were put under tarps and we hunkered down for the storm. It turned out to be the biggest since 1938, and it dumped 55″ of snow over the course of the week! Here’s a photo of the project on the day after the storm when I had to clear off the roof:
After clearing off the snow the roof dried out surprisingly quickly and I was able to start work in earnest on finishing the project. We had eight days before I left for meditation and I used every single hour of daylight. For the first couple days my friend Kevin Turner joined me. The first task was to remove the old roof awning:
I cut it off using a circular saw, which was pretty intense but it went well despite there only being two of us. After this we removed the old roof up to the necessary spot and started mounting the new rafters:
These are the tie-ins to the old roof. The piece of wood in the center that runs perpendicular to the rafters is called the “block” that allows the weight to be carried by the studs of the house. Next we climbed up on top of the rafters to bring up the fiberboard and plywood underlayment:
For this bit of work I needed help, so Noah, Greg and Daane came over to assist. It didn’t take us too long to get the decking on:
The grey area to the right is the concrete fiberboard and the plywood went on top of that. Once the decking was on, the next step was to add the tar paper and asphalt shingles. Josh and a hired hand helped with this section and as time was getting limited, I started working into the nights. My partner Kate showed up with two days to spare to help me finish and her assistance was absolutely essential:
It was pretty cold in the mornings and as I worked at night it was below freezing as well. Connecting the new roof to the old roof properly was quite challenging but nonetheless I managed to complete the project on schedule, which is really amazing. Here’s a shot of the completed roof from above:
And here’s the porch area with the new roof above:
The following morning we left for Kate’s first vipassana course, which was a huge success!
Later on in the year I built a rainbow ladder for reaching the rooftop area (which has a great view!):
And here’s a view of the new space after lighting and additional elements were added:
