Building Our Sangha Shed

We had survived three summers of some fairly dreadful heat. Our only protection from the sun was a chair under the Mother Juniper. In June of 2013 Cornelia gave us some old portable pergolas. I made two 'sorta good ones' from the parts of four units. I set one up on the patio near the shed and one went over the radial arm saw down on the driveway pad. I used strong ropes to tie them down to trees, iron stakes and heavy objects laying nearby, as well as to eye-hooks screwed into the sides of the shed and small trailer.

This photo shows how much the system looks like a poor man's 'rube goldberg' arrangement. I tied a separate tarp between the small trailer and the west side of the shed. This gave some immediate relief and cooled the west window enough that the evenings were more bearable in the shed. The same was true for the pergola over the patio. The cooling effect was immediate.

We had talked about replacing the fixed window that we had on the west side of the shed for three years. Without cross-ventilation the shed became unbearably hot in summer - never cooling down until late at night.

We went to Lowes in Medford and bought one on July 4th. The process was sort of like voicing our desire to be 'independent' of the heat. As we returned home, I noticed something was 'strange' about the pergola over the radial arm saw. I stopped and saw that it was twisted into an aluminum pretzel around the radial arm saw's 'arm'. Moreover, the arm was a bit bent and the saw motor was damaged. A horrendous wind had to have blown through.

We hurried up to the shed and sure enough, the pergola there was even more 'destroyed'. The separate tarp between the small trailer had been pulled so hard by the wind that the trailer had been moved six inches from its position and the tarp had been shredded.

We cleaned up the mess, dumped the pergolas into the trash barrel and I set about replacing the western window. By night fall we had an 'opening' window in the western wall of the shed. And, I had a plan in mind for a permanent pergola over the patio.

I talked with our two 'uphill' neighbors. Both had seen the 'dust devils', mini tornadoes that had hit our place. One had gone down and checked that no other serious damage had been done. He said, "They were the biggest in this area that I've ever seen. Two of 'em at the same time. They came right up the hill from about the halfway point to Greg's place. They 'died' right after they tore up your saw cover."

I am especially glad I told our engineer, Brad Myers, about the high winds and dust devils I had seen back in 2010. He added nine (9) heavy duty hold-downs to the west and south sides of our house plan.

On July 6th we went to Lowes and Home Depot to buy materials to build a wooden pergola. We bought steel hold-down parts and Sakrete mix to ensure holding down the final assembly.

The first pole is already cemented into the ground at the rear of the pergola.

I got the first three poles into the ground in short order. We soon had the 'outline' of the pergola taking shape.

The framework was completed in just over three hours. Phil helped by holding the poles vertical while I levelled them and mixed the concrete.

The view from the southeast shows the complete project. We fastened the two western posts to the cedar board near the shed with metal brackets.

Kate and Phil got busy with the cedar stain. The frame was painted in a litle over two hours. And so were Kate and Phil. They also painted the north wall of the shed before running out of stain.

While Kate and Phil painted, Liza and I moved the table around and got ready to prepare dinner.

Kate and Phil were really 'burned by the sun' while painting the framework with the stain. They had earned their dinner and a night off from further work.

In November we snapped these two photos to show the new 'arrangement' we had settled on for the winter. The two tarps on the pergola are temporary until we can get the wood lattice material next summer. There was not enough at Lowes when we wanted it.

On December 6th and 7th we got an 8 inch snow storm. While it did not last more than a few hours before melting, it was a major test for the tarps. I was surprised and pleased that the tarps did not break under the load. There had been strong winds and the tarps had withstood them also.

Everything on the patio was covered by the snow. It was a major test for the table's marine varnish finishing stain.

When I returned in April 2014 I inspected everything for damages. The tarps endured very well under the winter rains and snows and winds. I reasoned they might last well throughout the summer. But I decided against it after one rain storm that left huge ponds on the tarps that I had to empty.

Even the weaving of the tarps under/over the framework could not deal with the ponding from the rains. It was time to get the lattice installed.

I stripped off Tarp "A".

The edging boards were cut and fastened to the rim boards of the roof. The lattice would be nailed to it.

Tarp "B" came off and was put away for later use.

The lattice was easily installed in its' proper place. I decided to tie it down initially instead of nailing all of the sheets in place. This would allow testing sections on the rear to see how they would hold up to the stresses of winds if nailed or screwed into place. I planned to do the final attachment in spring of 2015.