The Occidental Gazebo

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Allow one night to cure both the concrete and you. The next day, plumb and brace each post, using at least two long (14-foot 2 x 4s angled outward and joined to the top of the post with form nails. Then affix the post to the clip with lag bolts.

Next, use your transit to find the height of the bottom perimeter joists, which should be about a foot above the bottoms of the posts. Cut a V-notch on the insides of each post and nail on the encircling joists. The center post, which can also be clipped to its concrete base, should be the same height as the bottom edge of the perimeter joists.

Now nail joist hangers (made of 1/16 " steel) over the center lines of the V-notches, where the perimeter joists meet (bending the flanges). Next, place the eight radial joists; they converge over the center deck support post and rest level upon it. They can have flat ends—forming a small octagon where they meet—or you can cut a 22- 1 / 2 ° angle on both sides of each center end, so they meet snugly. Cut and install the internal headers and the jack joists.

At this point, the hard work is halfway done. Now lay the decking of the gazebo, using 2 x 6 boards and cut ing carefully around the posts. Treated wood works well here (check with your dealer for toxicity); so does redwood, although the concept of logging redwood trees oozes bad karma. If you use clear fir, paint or seal all sides. You can make the center octagonal piece from wide stock, such as a 2 x 12.

Top the posts with 4 x 6 boards (fir is fine) for cap plates, attaching them with counterbored (flush) lag bolts into the end grain of the post, and perhaps using a friend or two to help you place them. Where the cap plates meet, cover them with steel plates (3/16" thick) to strengthen the joints. After this, you can remove a few of the more inconvenient temporary post bracers. Leave the majority intact, however.

>> It's best to leave the hub ends flat; you can easily fasten on premeds top and bottom finial (ornamental) balls after construction.

For the next sequence, tent a 12-foot aluminum scaffold walls, the wide kind with a no-slip surface, and set it across the top of the structure. (A wooden plank is too narrow and bends too much — and don't even think about using your aluminum extension ladder as a plank, unless you're curious about the dressing and debridement of compound fractures. It's 10 feet down if you fall.)

Cut all eight rafters, after first measuring the distance from the outside of one post to the outside of the post opposite it in the octagon. The run of each rafter will be half this distance. In the example shown, the roofs pitch is 9:12. Here, however, the octagon has a surprise for you, called "the rule of 13."For each foot of run of a common rafter from top plate to ridge, an octagon rafter has i3". Move the gauges on your flaming square to 13 on the tongue and 9 on the blade, the reverse of the usual rise-on-tongue/run-on-blade method.

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