Bar Joists LOCKED IN: The Roundhouse Roof Structure Is Finally Coming Together

You could literally park a semi-truck on this roof. One of the purlins just got welded into the wrong place. I've been dreading doing this ever since we started. You guys sleeping in the job? This is the last big step before Ashley's parents head out. We want this to go smoothly. In the last few videos, we started the massive job of building the roof on our hyper adobe roundhouse. With the help of Ashley's dad and his twin brother, we've cut and fabricated 17 50-year-old bar joists, lifted them into place on our concrete ring beam, and had just set the last two in place, but the day wasn't over yet. It's been a long day. We set the last two bar joists. Dick and Fred are over there welding that vertical post where it connects to the actual bar joists. And then those two will be officially sort of locked in. But that doesn't mean that these are done, of course. There's still a lot of steps to go. Here on my end, I'm putting in our last anchor bolts. And so, see, we've already drilled the holes here. We have a really long concrete anchor hammered down in and then impacted down to hold it tight. The next step is going to be to plumb all of these. So they're going to pull them, plumb, weld in diagonal supports from one to the other. But then we have to do the same thing out here because these bar joists are so far away from each other, they're going to do a diagonal brace down to the concrete. And I'm going to have to do more concrete anchors to hold those in place. Guys, this is a crazy roof. You could literally park a semi truck on this roof. We have the telehandler. We should like set our F-250 up. No, I'm just kidding. That would be, that would be a bad idea. Make a really good thumbnail though. Okay, I got four more anchors. I mean, I am done with the anchor bolts until they're ready for them. Do you need anything else from the lava building? Grab, grab another nine sixteenths bit. I didn't know we was going to get into all this, but I need to go back over there. We need two lulls. We're going to put this one in, right? Yes. Okay. Fact, Fred, I could get up there and get the dimension from there because there's a scaffold just on the inside. Why don't you go over there and just hand the tools down to her and send them over here and then just leave me right here so we can get this in the end. Okay. How many waves could I tell you? I asked Ashley to bring over some of those folding chairs so we'd have someplace to sit down. Ashley, I got some tools to hand down to you that you can take over to Fred. I'm not really throwing these, am I? Get it up here to me. Just get it up over the deal. I know. Just throw it right at my face. Yeah, I can't. I can't do that. Oh, you can't get it up high enough. We're going to get this messed up. I'm going to go get a different cutting wheel. You want to get a measurement while we're waiting? Yeah, except I've got all the tools on the scaffolds now and I got to crawl underneath. You can throw those up. Just throw them up before you change the blade. I'll try that. 18, 7 and 3 8. All right, guys. It's been a pretty crazy day today. We did not have a lot of time to film. Today was Fred's last day here, and so everyone was just sort of rushing to get as much done as we could before he leaves. So we went back and forth on this whole area. We had initially planned on putting another support in because of the distance from that bar joist over to this one, but we went back. We talked to a few more people. We looked at the load calcs, and this distance is totally fine for a 6 inch T perlin. So we're like, shoot, we're just going to simplify our lives and just run these. So they went ahead and did four of them here just for extra support because this beam is just kind of floating out in space here, right? So we want to make sure we got that really nice and locked in. And then we just kept going around. And so what we're trying to do now is to hit the outer two all the way around the building because this area is kind of inaccessible. By the time you add in the 4 foot overhang, we already didn't have a lot of space around the building anyway to put a scaffolding up. Impossible with a 4 foot overhang. So we're using that lift and a ladder to try to get this done. That's sort of our next milestone is to get the two outer C perlins done all the way around the building so that we can get that telehandler back to our friend because they need it for another job. So we want to wrap this up quickly. But one thing that is really cool that we've been doing is the C perlins that go on the very end. We've been cutting them at a little bit of an angle on these so they actually fit perfectly together. They weld together. You get a nice end on it. So you can kind of start to see the shape of the roof taking form. We got five pies out of 18, 17. So yeah, and with Fred gone tomorrow, that means the whole process is going to have to change. Ashley and I are going to have to learn some new skills and figure some stuff out. But you know what? It's been a long day. We're going to go out to eat tonight. We're going to hang out and have fun and celebrate all that we've gotten done. And just as a big thank you to Fred and to Dick and to Tammy for the time that they spent here. Yeah, it's been... We could not have... Understatement. We could not have done this without them, obviously. But we are learning so much. And we are definitely going to have to carry this torch and to keep working on this project after they leave. So we're going to learn as much as we can while they're here. That's it. I'm out. Good night. See you in the morning. Good morning, friends. We are back out. We took a couple of days off. We needed a few days. Fred had to head back home, sadly. And yeah, like I said, we just... We needed a little break because we've been going for like two and a half weeks solid. We are back out this morning. We are ready to go. The goal before Dick and Tammy leave is to finish two sea permalins on the outer edge while we have the lift. And then at least one on the inner circle. We want to use the lift while we got it. So that is the goal for the next few days. Lots of cutting and welding and grinding and cleaning and measuring and learning how to do this because once they're gone, we're on our own. Wish us luck. Do what you feel. Take the wheel, baby. Take the wheel and ride. Today's video is sponsored by the Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus. Which is perfect because we used the heck out of this thing to actually weld the sea perlins on the roundhouse. While the structural welds on the bar joists needed that big stick welder during fabrication, once we moved to this thinner metal of the sea perlins, we were able to start using our 20 amp flux core wire welder. And let me tell you, going from that deafening exhaust making generator to the completely silent 5000 Plus was a revelation. Even the 75 year olds were impressed. It was so much easier to roll around to each section of the roundhouse and the silence was beautiful. We could actually talk to each other without yelling which was so much better for communication. There are very few portable solar generators on the market that can actually run a welder. And the 5000 Plus can do this because of its 7200 watt inverter, its 5 kilowatt hours of LFP storage, and these individualized 20 amp circuits. That's the trick. And of course, the fact that you can just tip it over and roll it wherever you want it, even over, I mean, this is some pretty rough ground. Roll this, no problem. A generator like this is incredibly practical for off-grid builds. Not only did we run the welder, we actually charged our tool batteries. We ran that big hammer drill and we were able to charge our cameras all without using any gas. For those times when we had to recharge the 5000 Plus off of our big solar power system, we were super annoyed because we had to go back to the gas generator and it was so loud. We could not hear each other. We were all yelling at each other. It was miserable. And while we love the portable form factor, you can actually add quite a bit of storage to the Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus for more permanent setups. Up to 30 kilowatt hours total for one unit or join two together for 60 kilowatt hours and 14,400 watts of 240 volt surge power. Dang. As always, you can charge via AC power, low voltage solar panels, or even build your own larger array and connect to the high voltage MC4 inputs. And you can combine all of those inputs to charge even faster. So if you would like to get your hands on your own Jackery Solar Generator 5000 Plus, they're running a big sale right now. Use the link in our description or just search the internet for Jackery and go get yourself one. Cool? Now, they need it because we're welding. So let's get back to it. Hand them up. I'll set them off to the far side. At least they'll be up here. Give me the flat one first. Okay. Oh, you still got them up. Yeah, I can throw you mine. All right. Okay, I cleaned this out first. Okay, can you go over on that other wall? I'm gonna walk around because there's too much stuff in the way over there. You want to be somewhere right around in here. I'm gonna take that and you're gonna touch the edge of the wall with it. This side? Yep. Okay. Okay, that's 118 and three quarter. Now, move it back and forth. 118 and three quarter right there. Keep going. Okay, that's starting to get bigger. Go back. Back. Go back a little more. Come back this way. Right about there. Put a mark. That's good right there. You see, we got a big hump right there in the middle. Yep. I can do that. Yeah, do you want a hammer? You want the grinder? Let's do the concrete grinder. You get the hump off of it, then I'll hand you the plate and we'll stick a level on it and you'll get it to where it's as level as possible. The only thing that grinds is the very outside edge. We decided where we wanted it over here. We just kept it back. What? Six, eight inches from the end. I like that quarter after underfoot. Do you have enough cord? Give a second. Let me get you some more. It's about time for a new blade on that, I think. Need it out there next. I'm going to get down here and make these wells just a little bit bigger. Then we need to look at getting a post set up over there. I've been dreading doing this ever since we started this one. It isn't going anywhere. Try and get it up above that. It doesn't go. You can hold your end. I'll try and actually just barely stick mine there and clamp it. Looks to me like I need to swing out further. Right about there. Okay. Don't go too close. All right. Will it kind of support itself? Let me see if I can get this. Better get the handle closer to me. There you go. Now clamp it down. Like that? Yep. You're not quite. There you go. That should give us something to go to over there. That side. That looks real good where we cut it, Jonathan. Right here. Oh yeah. Somebody knew what they're doing. Somebody gets lucky every once in a while. I tell you what. Why don't we mark it right now and we'll just take it down to cut it. Be a whole lot easier. I'm going to get a tack back on this side because that's the high side. Steady it up here with your hand and push it that way just a little bit on this corner until this is level. I'm tickled to get this done. This thing. We'll get this done before lunch tomorrow. Yeah, I don't know about that. We've got to put all braces on all that too. That's one of my better. Stacking dimes. Too bad it's going to be. We need to get a good picture of that. Any close up of that one? Is what's going to go this way going to hit that? Going to hit what? Sit on the post? It's going to sit on top of it. It looks like it's over to this side. I haven't welded any of those on that side yet either. If we can just get this up there, I'll buy that. How about you, Jonathan? We get this up there in place and then we call it. Too many things to weld. Are you going to be able to slide that over the fence? We'll find out. Hurrying up, Jonathan. Coming in towards each other. So they're actually less than two feet. All right, you want me to get you down? Yes, please. Good morning, friends. Yesterday was a really long day, but it was a good day. We got a whole lot done, even without Fred here. And yeah, we got pretty much all the two outside pieces all the way around on the bedroom side. And then we got to this area. This area is complicated because we have bar joists every 20 degrees, but the end of this wall near the front door doesn't come out to 20 degrees. It's about, I don't know, maybe eight degrees. It doesn't really matter. Basically, we needed to have a way for the roof not to stop here because we wanted this whole area covered. So we took some of that steel tube that we used to support the other one. We put our plates in. We anchored them in. And then we welded two C purlins together to give us a box. And so this isn't finished yet. We still got to weld this all together and get it all lined up because it needs to stick out the same amount to follow the radius of the building. Now, the goal is that all these C purlins are going to match, which was definitely a little tricky because we're going from short 28 and a half foot bar joists to 39 foot bar joists. And this is, I don't even know what length this is. It doesn't really matter. But we have to figure out a way for all these to match up as we can continue to go around. So that's the goal the rest of the day. We have six more bar joists. We got to finish this complicated area. And then we'll see where we go from there. So we've made a little bit of a mistake today already. One of the C purlins is flipped the opposite way. It's kind of confusing the way we're having to deal with this little section that's over the entryway. And one of the purlins just got welded into the wrong place based on where our mark is. It can be fixed. So dad's right now grinding it down and we're just gonna have to take it off and weld it in a different place. Luckily we caught it before we went much further. It's a little setback but we'll make it work and we'll fix it. It's all fixable. So while dad and Jonathan are up there installing the next brace, mom and dad need some water for their RV. So I'm multitasking. Hopefully I can get it filled up before I need to move dad over to the next truss. Otherwise he's just gonna have to wait on me. Are you guys sleeping on the job? Claude? Are you sleeping? Go back to sleep. All right another early morning and this should be the last day of working with my parents here. So our goal is to finish up the two little pie sections on the kitchen living room wall and then move to the inner courtyard. And those should be a little bit faster and easier because they're already braced. They're already plumb and they're all really close together. So we can get a couple at a time without having to move the rig. So wish us luck. All right it is time for the last two pieces on the outside. Crazy. Like this has actually gone a lot faster than I thought. We have decided we're going to let this hang over about 16 inches to give this wall a little more protection and just so that we're not ending it directly with the bar joists. I think it'll look a little better if it hangs over and we're going to do that near the front door as well. Anyway that whole stuff is going to be really complicated. I don't want to think about it right now. So what I'm going to think about is that we're almost done with the two pieces on the outside of the door because that's good. It's just it's just from piece to piece right? Yeah. Shouldn't be that hard. It's just real critical that your cuts be real square on that vertical on the long back portion. The others you're just going to cut back so they well you don't even have to cut them back you can just square cut them. Hey I like that. Yeah yeah. Maybe we should have done this. When you said that we removed the center point I thought you meant that. No. You just meant the purlin. When did we start setting the the joist? I don't know. I think it was last Wednesday. So we were still working on the joist Monday and Tuesday? I think so. I'll have to look back but I'm pretty sure it was Wednesday. We had almost all of them set in two days. And we just did those last two. Yeah. On the third day. A week and a day. I've never been so tired in my life. This is real exhausting. Sore. Need a massage after this. The inside of my thighs are all bruised from climbing over those things like 400 times Yeah. It really got bad when you had those purlins on. Well the purlins you can you can lift yourself up and just jump over. Then it's easier but it's like when there's nothing to grab onto you just got to straddle it. And it's hot. Yeah. In the middle of the day it got real hot yeah. So do we want to just start right there with that first little one? Yeah. Do we need to start on an end? Or does it matter? Yeah that is an end. Let's cut one piece or two pieces and see how they go together. And then we'll decide how we go from there. But let's get rid of stuff we don't need. Somehow on that last one when we came back that welder got turned clear down to zero. I was wondering. I remember looking at it and I'm like maybe his knob's messed up or something. I imagine we pulled the hose or something across it. Because it got turned clear down to zero and I couldn't do anything. How on earth? Outside is done. We are moving to the inner circle. We're hoping this is going to be way easier because we don't have to brace anything. They already braced it. We don't have to put anchors in. We don't have to do a bunch of weird angled cuts because they should just butt up right next to each other. And these distances are so short. I'm pretty sure that one person can be up there measuring and then one person be cutting. We're going back and forth. Anyway I'm crossing my fingers. I'm hoping this is going to go a lot faster. I hope so. This is the last big step before Ashley's parents head out. We want this to go smoothly and quickly. I don't know if that's going to slide or not. I got it. I'm just going to wait because I don't want that thing running while you're doing that. Ada go way up with your side. Oh no you're already in. You're already in. Now slide it back. Towards the bottom. There you go. I wonder if it does make sense to close that end off. Like a box it in. Because it's going to be like hardly anything left there. But if we just made it a continuous circle and that last piece is just boxed in. You're saying come from here to that point over there. Yeah box it. We can add a piece in after we get done to do that. But this has to be here to hold the corner of the roof. You are going to go from the center of this truss to the center of that truss. But you can't take this out because that holds your roof. Okay are we okay to proceed? I think so. Okay start up the welder. Yes sir. Will do. It's 73 16. I was going to make a make it this long and then feather the back out to nothing from from nothing here to two inches wherever it comes to. If you want to cut it we can put it up here. But then I'm going to have to give you measurements of how bad how much you have to cut off the back side. We might as well cut it and we'll look at it and if it looks weird we'll throw it away. Hold it on your line. Let it come down to the tires there. Measure it and duplicate it on both sides. Well I didn't wear the appropriate attire for grinding as you can see. Whoops. Those breathable desert fabrics are not good welding attire. Now they're extra breathable. Same way you did before. It's the same length. I'm just going to put two little packs on it. The light was glaring off and I couldn't see. I was confused on where you were. I thought I was in the way. You can always tell when you're in the way. Get out of my light! Let me look at it from the back. Let's do it. You need me for anything or do you want me to move this stuff over? I need you for everything. You're going to block his sunk. Jax if you want to wait I could you could come down on the lift when he comes. You want to do that? That's fine. Do you need a shadow? I don't know what I need yet. That last weld looks really good. All right there it is. Looks so good. Good choice. Yeah. I like it. Would you like me to bring it down? The rest of the tools. Put all the tools on it? Yeah. I was gonna say I feel like it's not 6 30. Look at us. You like that piece in there? Yeah. I like it. You guys see any other tools that need to be taken back? Strong enough to stay and fight. A man enough to do what's right. His blood is in my own. The good and the bad. I know ain't to see. My family. Mama has a heart of gold. The sweetest soul you could ever know. I know it's plain to see. My family. Ain't to see. My family.