With my dad back from his fishing trip, I had an extra set of hands to help bend the last piece of sheathing around the silo wall, to close it off over the walkway roofline I built last weekend. This last piece proved to be the toughest, since we were working from a difficult spot. Using an assortment of clamps, screws and stubbornness, we go in place. We also put on the last of the foamboard insulation, and finished the overhang of the barn roof where it meets the silo. We now have a watertight silo (except for the gaping holes where the windows will eventually go!).

With the silo up and the barn roof trusses in place, it was time to connect the two structures with a walkway on the second floor. I've been thinking about this part of the job for months- I hate to admit how many hours have passed by as I stared at a blank piece of graph paper, unable to put the pieces together. I wanted to make the short roof of the walkway in the same shape as the barn roof, which means I'd be building a scaled-down arched roof connected to the round silo wall on one end and projecting through the arched barn roof on the other end. How do you connect two curves with a curve? When working as an engineer, I could plop down in front of the CAD system and generate a 3-dimension model of what I wanted. A few keystrokes later, the printer would be spewing out drawings of all the component parts, dimensioned to the nearest thousandth-of-an-inch. Those were the days! Now there is no cheating. IBM is not here to bail me out- I've got a pile of tools, a larger pile of lumber, and a mushy brain. The silo stands less than two feet from the barn roof. Two feet! How hard can this be? I've had a year to figure this out and hadn't made an inch. My last resort strategy of "staring at it" finally paid off and I came up with a brilliant idea- take away one of the curves (without it showing, of course). So I started by building a mini-truss using 2X6 segments sandwiched between two pieces of plywood (I scaled down the dimensions of the barn roof trusses when cutting the plywood so that the walkway roof would have the same shape as the barn). My mini-truss would define the curved profile of the walkway roof and give me a flat surface to attach the other framing members to. Next, I mounted my mini-truss on top of the barn wall, placing it in just the right spot so that the remaining silo wall studs could be rested on top of it (This will conceal the flat truss once all the remaining framing is installed). With that done, I was able to complete the walkway roof framing by spanning the gap with 2x4s laid out to follow my arched truss profile. On the barn roof side, these short 'rafters' were attached to various nailers that I put in the opening of the walkway.

Next, I covered my handiwork with 2 layers of 1/4 inch plywood that had been soaked overnight to facilitate the extreme bending required. I glued the second layer to the first, and secured them with screws to the roof. Finally, I fininished the overhead studs of the curved silo wall by notching them out to fit over the walkway roof. That wasn't so bad, after all. To think I lost so much sleep over it!

What a great coffee shop

We just added a new link - if you are ever in the area this is a must stop. Big Timber is in Virginia, they have been here for just over a year and they have been our "office" since they opened. Drinks are great, the people are terrific, they have wireless internet and they are doing their part to encourage sustainable retailing (how many coffee shops compost their coffee grounds?). "Thanks" Big Timber for housing us! Lisa and Shawn

Taking shape.

Details, details, details. Over the past several days, we dressed the barn and silo with a skin of rigid foamboard to block any thermal bridging through the framing studs during the cold Minnesota winters. Once we get the roof done, the interior will be sprayed with expanding foam insulation. We also installed the overhanging roof 'kickers', leaving the rafter tails exposed to give it a barn look. Everything is being scaled from the dimensions of the old barn we deconstructed as well as the other barn that still stands nearby. With my dad leaving for a fishing trip, I have the next several days to figure out how to frame the 2nd story entryway that connects the barn roof to the silo....

What's happening here?

Its getting cooler. I haven't put on shorts in days. Green is becoming red, yellow and orange. The daylight is fading and so is my tan. And the barn doesn't have a roof yet, so we work on!

Capping it off...barely.

Glen had a 6 foot extension welded onto his boom to get the reach we needed for this lift. It wasn't enough. So he added another few feet onto the end, and we all hoped it would do the trick. After securing the dome to the boom with tie straps, up it went. and up... ...and up ...and up! We barely had enough reach to set it place. But barely is good enough. Once it was on top of the wall, we pulled out the timbers with pry bars then moved it into center and lag-screwed the roof ring to the wall ring. Thank you, Glen- you are the master!

Over the course of a day (and it would've taken 3 or 4, if even possible without Glen!), we lifted each truss into position... ...and braced them... ...working our way across the roof... ...until the last one was in place.

While I was playing with the silo dome, my dad was here preparing the trusses. All of the intersections along the segmented truss needed to be rounded over with the planer to create a nice, smooth curve. Glen came over early and we got the first couple of trusses set onto the barn Friday night.

After what we went through to build the silo walls, I was convinced that installing the domed roof while working 26 feet off the ground would be nearly impossible. So Glen (our sawmill buddy) agreed to hire out as a crane operator this weekend, to lift the trusses onto the barn and set the silo roof into position. All I needed to do ahead of time was assemble the silo roof on the ground. First, I built another 'ring' using leftover scraps of plywood and OSB, then bolted the sections of steel angle to it to form the base of the roof. I temporarily screwed the base ring assembly on a framework of old barn timbers to get a level work surface. The timbers will give us something to attach the hoist straps to when it is time to lift the roof off the ground. Lisa helped assemble the roof panels and they were bolted into position to form the dome shape. While all of this looks fairly straightforward, I ran into various 'issues' that spread the project across 3 days (and nights!). In the end, I was scrambling to finish before Glen showed up with the crane.

Well, that went quick.

By the end of the holiday weekend, we finished framing and sheathing the 2nd story of the silo (soon-to-be master bathroom). It looks so easy now that it's finished!

Goodbye, terra firma.

Having done as much as we could do from the ground, it was time to take the project to the next level. My parents came over for the labor day weekend and we spent almost an entire day getting scaffolding set up and braced for the task ahead. The top of the silo wall will be 21 feet off the ground, and once the roof is added it will be even taller than the barn. All of this looked really nice on the drafting table, but now the reality of what's required to build it starts to develop. Working on the scaffolding makes everything more difficult and SLOW. Fortunately we had two sets (thank you, Keith!) and my mom would be here to play 'gopher' and bring up supplies as needed.

The Manion Truss Company crew pulled into the field at the crack of dawn this morning with the replacement set of trusses. They added a temporary 2X4 cross tie at the bottom of each one to hold the width constant. This time they are the correct size, or at least close enough that we can make them fit. Apparently, it was a difficult job- the driver told me it took 3 guys 6 hours to fabricate the set (normally they crank out a job like this in 20-30 minutes)! I didn't ask if they would do it again....

If I knew she could operate a nail gun...

...I would've asked her to marry me a lot sooner! After the brief rain delay, we started sheathing the framed walls while we waited for the next batch of trusses to arrive.

Rain delay.

After weeks(?) of near-ideal rain-free weather, a brief monsoon was in the forecast. My parents were thrilled, since that meant a couple days of much needed and greatly deserved rest. We braced the walls for potentially nasty weather and hermetically sealed the mini-trusses with poly, since they won't be put to use for a couple of decades at best. The folks went home and I put in a couple of hours until the rain became steady. Time to sleep. Eat. Sleep again.

I've got good news, and bad news, and good news.

The good news is that the trusses were delivered today. After working hard to come up with an arched-roof truss design, I was excited to see the truck finally crawling across the field. Thank you, Manion Truss Company, for being willing to do something your competitors said was impossible. The photo below shows the segmented truss, which forms a fairly nice arch as it is. I will touch-up the joint locations with a planer to round the corner smoother and get a nice curved shape before they are put up.

After the whole stack was unloaded, my dad had the brilliant idea of measuring the span with his tape measure. That brought the bad news that they were all too small by an inch or so. If they had been too wide, we might be able to compensate, but since we don't have a barn-shrinking tool, we are stuck! After conversations with the crew and phone calls to the company, they decided to make a new set (at their expense, since it was their mistake). They also decided to leave the originals laying in the field, since it was not worth their time to tear them apart for scrap. So now I have a full set of arched trusses for the next barn project. Good news!

Today, we put in the 2X10 floor joist in the silo, then covered it with a plywood subfloor. Eventually, it will be covered with reclaimed tile, but for now this will do. Next, we screwed another 10-foot 'ring' on top and started framing the 2nd story. We also wrapped the lower portion with 3/8" plywood to stiffen everything up before moving up. The sheathing made the curve with no problem. The project will slow down (more!) from here on, as working on scaffolding always takes at least twice as long.

Big Timber

Just as we started sheathing the silo, Glen came over with his boom and a trailer FULL of beams for the floor joists of the barn. They were freshly milled and very heavy (300 lbs each, until they dry out), so thankfully he stuck around for a few hours to set them in place with the crane. The 4X10 beams look great, and are about as 'sustainable' as you can get- they were all milled from locally-harvested blowdowns. No trees were killed for this project! Glen also left me with a pile of thick slabs that will be used to make tables, benches, countertops, etc. Okay, back to the silo..

My dad came over again and we framed in the first story of the silo. Figuring out the window openings was a bit tricky, but the rest of it was straightforward (no pun intended). So far, so good!

Perfect Circles.

Yesterday was spent fabricating 4 more circles for the silo to be built next. Since this was going to take awhile, I started by making a jig on the ground with some sheets of OSB and scrap blocks of framing lumber. After tracing and cutting the plywood arcs, I just laid the pieces down in the jig then glued and screwed them together. This worked quite well, and the finished discs are all within 1/4 inch in roundness. Tomorrow, we start erecting the silo.

The main barn structure is all framed, as well as the shed-roofed "milkhouse" off the back. Note the temporary cardboard window that i tacked into place (to be sure I had the correct window height and roof overhang). It's symbolic of all the sleepless nights I now endure as I lay awake obsessing about details, details, and more details. This project has every chance of removing 10 years off my life, and probably 5 lbs off my already too-small frame...but still worth it!

Uh, dad...

...did we nail these rafters up backwards??

Have you noticed almost every construction photo shows clear blue skies? I think it has only rained once in the past month! In our continued drought, we framed the windows along the south-facing wall.