California, always in perpetual drought according to the politicians who “control” the water resources, has had significant amounts of rainfall and snowfall this year with storms coming in off the Pacific one after another. The next weather system (meteorological term for storm) is supposed to come through over the weekend.
Last Saturday the son and I started a project on his home … a patio cover off the back of the house. I’ve built a lot of things, but never built a patio cover. I’ve damaged them … we had a fiberglass covered patio in Long Beach that seemed to attract baseballs and golf balls. Once fiberglass has been in the sun a few years, it becomes very brittle. As a result, I’ve repaired patio covers, but never built them.
I do know Step One is to secure something to side of the house on which the patio cover will attach. That “something” also has to be secured into the studs of the frame of the house, using lag bolts of significant size.
I also know that the two electronic stud finders I have couldn’t locate a stud if I were to duct tape them to opposite sides of a stud! It just so happened that a friend of ours was doing some work that morning across the street … a friend who was, at one time, a certified home inspector. He gave us very good information on one or two questions I had, having never built a patio cover before. (Did I already mention that?)
So we started about 10:00 Saturday morning. An hour later we still had not found the first stud! I’d drilled a couple of holes in the wall where I thought there was a stud … where, by measuring on 16″ centers, there should have been a stud. I asked our friend and he said builders don’t always place studs on 16″ centers. He also said he had a stud finder that would find a stud through stucco. Not only would it find the stud, it would give me the exact center of the stud … very important as you don’t want to run a 3/8″ lag bolt into the edge of a stud.
We drove to his house and borrowed one of the more amazing tools I’ve ever used. By Sunday night, I had my own amazing stud finder. It also will locate metal (plumbing) pipes and electrical wires inside a wall. Last year I put a receptacle on our back porch and cut dangerously close to the electrical wiring inside the wall. But I digress . . .
By the time I had to leave on Saturday afternoon, we had the 2×6′s secured to the back wall of the house. Not much accomplished for that many hours of work. But the sun was HOT on Saturday and it literally drained this old man of much of his former strength and stamina, not to mention time wasted trying to locate studs along a 24 foot section of the house. Too, there were three grandchildren who required an occasional hug from Grindaddy.
Sunday we got the 4×4 uprights secured to the patio slab. Redhead Anchors are another fascinating invention of mankind. They are used to secure objects to concrete slabs and do an amazing job. Many of the homes in our area are built on concrete slabs that have a warning written on the slab: DO NOT DRILL OR CUT. Apparently these slabs have stressed reinforcements rods in them and drilling or cutting may significantly reduce the structural integrity of the house. Sure takes a lot of potential fun out of weekend projects in the garage. And again, I digress . . .
Having the uprights secured, we then started tying it all together. By Sunday evening, we had a few of the rafters in place. By Monday night, we had all but five rafters in place. We ran out of sunlight and I ran out of desire.
Hopefully, we will have this thing dried in by Saturday since another storm is supposed to come through over the weekend. It will also provide much needed shade since the back of the house is in the sun almost all day.
Here is the project in progress … we actually have all but five rafters in place and are ready to start laying the plywood sub-roofing. The final phase (after roofing) will be to run some electrical circuits so they can have lights and a ceiling fan.
Greg, I am amazed at what you guys accomplished! Looks like you did a decent job, also!
Looks good, bro. We’re freezing in Florida. Most nights in the 30′s ever since I’ve lived here. But days still turn out pretty nice. Somebody’s going to make a killing on selling plants since so many have died with the freezes we’ve had. Keep your hands out of the live electricity!
Peace.
All I can say is it is good that I married a capable builder dude…as he is the only stud I can find……(not that I would look for a “stud”, but those building things…I could not find those)
Nice job!
The project is looking great and will be much appreciated to help keep the sun from directly hitting the back of the house. I see many pluses to this story; father and son spending time together, saving money on home improvements, learning about some new tools (you are probably wondering how you didn’t know about that fancy smanchy stud finder
My favorite part was the grandkids needing hugs from grindaddy. 
One last thing, I really hope you got all of your tools, measurements and material correct for one certain “Dee”.
(Love you Dee!)
Does the stud finder drill the holes, install the lag bolts and build the deck for you? I thought not. That’s why I hire some kid to do that sort of thing for me. Sure, it costs a fortune and takes forever, but when it’s all done and six months later when the roof leaks and the electrical wiring starts to short out, I can blame HIM and then smugly call some other kid to fix the problem. Hey, it’s good for the economy.
Janice – (Starting with a digression here, Greg)
You will note (in re-reading Greg’s post above – I’ll wait) that Greg very carefully left out both the words “horizontal/horizontally” and “vertical/vertically” in his detailed description of their building of the home patio cover project. He did that for two reasons.
(1) He still is a bit confused about which is which, and
(2) He knew better than to throw out that challenge to me again. Me who is so precise and questions most everything.
The rest of his tools, studs, lumber, lag bolts, etc, measurements, etc, all sounded accurate to me. Although, if I had been there (you can ask Tom), I’m sure I would have offered great advice on how they might have been more successful and quick in doing their work. Janice is obviously falling down a bit in her part as the project builder’s wife.
But, I must stop here on this. As with Greg, I digress . . .
Oh, Greg. Hi!
I’m impressed!! Can’t believe you & Josh got so much done with so many set backs. Isn’t it all terribly aggravating?! It is when we’re (Tom) is trying to do such work. Nothing is ever exactly where it’s supposed to be in walls, etc.
I’m concerned about the flat roof, though. We had one on our patio in Slidell like that that rotted out terribly. Of course, then, we get about 60″ of rain a year around here, too, so guess THAT won’t happen there. ha!
But, the upside should be a tremendous help with sun coming in the house all day long. (Here’s the trick question for you Greg – now think hard and study over your answer. Which direction does the back of their house face? You’ve had trouble with directions before that I’ve “caught” you on, let’s see if you’ve been studying your directions and have improved in your finding of them and recognizing them.
Hint: The SUN rises in the EAST. It sets in the WEST. The NORTH side of houses (trees, etc) don’t get any direct sun. The SOUTH side of houses get sun most of the day, but always at an angle.
Second Hint: There are ONLY FOUR directions. You have a one in four chance of being correct.
Third Hint: Most houses (although certainly not all, and none of us would expect California to follow the norm in ANYTHING) are built on a north/south, east/west line. That, again, should help you out. I mean – have you ever been in their home in the morning? Which side/window(s) does the sun come in? Late afternoon – from which side/window(s) do you see the sun set directly or most close to “directly.”)
I guess that’s it. For now. All the trick questions I can think of after only 1 1/2 cups of coffee. (I got a late start this morning.)
Oh . . . one last thing. Our house faces east, so the back of it with the walls of windows faces west. We built a deeper than the house plan built in back porch that is WONDERFUL in so many ways, but a big reason is because (being in the hot south) it keeps the direct hot afternoon sun (as in California) out until late afternoon. In the winter, I spend part of each day in our bedroom sitting in front of our big south window, where I always have sun coming in angling across the sky. It’s really neat to see how the arc of the sun changes with the seasons from more north to more south.
Cheers! And many blessings to you all today!! Dee
Trying to keep up with all that kinda made me remember the headache I’ve had for 3 days that is lurking right beneath the surface!
I’m amazed at anybody who actually knows how to begin a prject like this, much less finish it. Looks great to me, and I hope you do beat the rain! Hey, you and Josh want to make a side trip to Memphis and find the leak in my roof that nobody else has been ablet to find???
Pardon the probing question, but isn’t that fire pit a bit close to that upright in the picture at the bottom? And under the cover as well? I really think that you guys did a GREAT job, judging from the pics, but it would sadden me to read a blog article a few months down the road about this structure burning down.
Sadly, you lost me as soon as you mentioned how hot it was. For some reason, I became bitter at that point…