Subject: Re: [Homestead] Photos of the new ramada and flagstone
Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2005 16:48:28 -0700
Great job. I lost track of how you got the beam posts up.
I pounded a piece of half-inch rebar into the ground at each corner point.
For forms I used fifteen-gallon plastic nursery pots with the bottoms cut
out. That provides the taper. Dug holes, set the pots uside down over the
rebar and filled with concrete. I drilled half-inch holes in the middle of
the bottom of each post eight inches deep. After the concrete was hard I
was able to lift each post myself and set it onto the rebar.
The project was a good learning experience. I don't recommend it, but one
guy can lift the beams by himself, slowly. One guy and a wife makes it lots
easier cause she can move the ladder with each lift onto the next step. Two
guys make it far more than twice as easy. Three guys is luxury.
Back home at Heartwood I would have used a tripod of pine poles and a
couple pulleys. In the future I plan to have a backhoe for such tasks.