Framing the Final Form

November 18, 2019

The Moundville Community Pavilion team has been mastering the art of sawing and lifting some hefty beams to turn the overall form into a rectangle with four flat planes. Before edge framing could be done, X bracing and “shove it” joists alone the edge were installed to literally “shove” the trusses as needed to create perfectly parallel bays.

Once all of the trusses were pulled and shoved to be parallel to one another, the team began to turn the diamond shape of the diagonal truss lines into a rectangle. String lines on the ground were plumbed and projected onto the trusses to put up edge beams between trusses, creating a rectangular edge. Strings were then pulled to find the correct angles of the sloped and skewed cuts.

The form is beginning to take shape with the long side beams up!

For the beams along the short end, connecting at the corners, the cut had to be a 60 degree angle. This had to be cut on the face with a circular saw and then finished with the reciprocating saw to get through the entire width of the board.
For the long edge beams spliced together and the ridge beam, an extra layer was added by needing to cut through two pieces of wood to ensure the right dimensions.

Then came time for the much-feared corners, that surprisingly went up without many complications using the ground strings, existing lines formed by the edge beams, and a brace to secure it won’t sag until joists can be installed.

Putting up the cantilevered corners connecting to trusses 1 and 5.
The team used a string line and ledgers attached to receiving joists in order to lift and correctly place two 20 foot beams composed of 2 attached 2x12s. This will form the ridge for the roof and create two flat planes for the joists to frame.

October was also a busy month of work and celebration with the Park’s 31st annual Native American Festival occurring from the 9th to the 12th. The team had the privilege of taking a break from construction and volunteering for the festival, while meeting and talking to vendors, visitors, and the Native American community that had a lot of positive feedback and excitement for the pavilion!

And before everyone knew, it was Halloween! With all the excitement of the Native American festival and the headaches of turning a diamond parabola into a rectangle with four triangular planes, costumes were (admittedly) scrambled together last minute. However, we still think the team and personalities were accurately portrayed!

Check back in soon as we begin roof joists this week!