Here's my first attempt at getting some pictures into the forum. Will it work? First stage, no, second stage. The first stage was putting the posts in. Second stage, almost complete here, was putting in the deck. Next stage, getting the roof frame on. I built the fancy curved rafters. [/img] Another shot of the roof frame stage, taken so that you can just pick out Nimbin Rocks in the background, if you use a magnifying glass: The latest stage, most of the roofing material is on. Here's hoping, Peter The picture quality drops a bit on the third one, but otherwise it was miraculously successful.
Sweet! Looks great! Just curious...what kind of wood did you use? Your beautiful curved rafters remind me of some of the work being done at my neighborhood shinto shrine here in Tokyo...they're rebuilding it with hand-tools, and carving things out on the spot. Wish you could see it. I don't have their patience...I'd be ripping into it with some black-n-decker stuff, makin' monkey noises the whole time...they've been on this thing for months...slowly making everything fit just right with hand chisels.
Peter, What a gorgeous pavillion! I like its realtionship to the water. How long did it take to build? Scott, LOL about the black and decker. Me too!
Yeah, really nice Peter. Did you cut the curved rafters with a jigsaw or ??? And, what are those trees with the pinnate leaves in the foreground of the last shot? Red cedar?
1. I adore the pavillion 2... Scott had me giggling away. What my minds eye can envisage - is a long way from what me 'n' Black&Decker would finish with. Peter... wonderful stuff. What is the roofing material?? Congratulations, floot
pavillion Hiya Peter - Can breathe the serenity from here...... last time I over-enthused here about someone's chook shed I got taken to task about being too materialistic.... but yeah, I now have pavillion-envy as well as chook-shed envy... I also want to know what timber you used and how did you treat it to prevent rot?
To answer the questions: - the pavilion has taken months to build because our builder works only part time. It's worth the wait, because he is both highly skilled and patient with my less orthodox demands. I thought I would help him hurry it along by proposing to build the rafters, but they took me 3 weeks and in the end slowed things down. - yes, I'm the B & D type woodworker, none of this incredible hand worked stuff I'm afraid. I still love doing wood work, although I didn’t undertake building the entire pavilion because it would have taken me years – alongside getting the garden and food forest going, getting some rainforest regen happening, bringing the house up to scratch and generally managing the property. The rafters were made up from 2.4 m X 1.2 M sheets of 17 mm plywood. (8' X 4' X 3/4"), cut into shape with a jigsaw, then glued and screwed into double thickness lengths of 3.4 m and 4.4 m for the sides and the corners. Then it was painted to give a consistent finish. - the timbers used were: tallow wood for all the posts – it’s a local native eucalypt which is excellent for in-ground and in-water durability, and the termites hate it. The posts were also set in crushed granite rock, called cracker dust in these parts, which apparently makes termite attack impossible. The deck itself is in balian. I’m sure to get flack for that, it’s one of the supposedly “approved” Indonesian timbers, approved meaning it is certified through a legitimate procedure for being sustainably harvested. That’s a major dilemma, since the timberyard people here say the approval is to be taken with a big pinch of salt, but the only alternative is an Australian plantation hardwood, which is still of debatable sustainability, but costs at least 50% more – and the balian as one of the cheapest already cost $1600 (yes, for the decking alone). I plead guilty and I promise not to do it again your honour. - The roofing material is coloured steel, colorbond in Oz. Again, price stopped me from trying to get hold of some fancy Chinese type tiles, but also tiles would have made it all a bit grandiose for our little nook. We aren’t trying to develop a showpiece. - The tree with the pinnate leaves, Richard, is a pencil cedar. One of those be-e-e-e-autiful rainforest trees, which goes up and up until it has a canopy like a beach umbrella on top of a long long pole. As one of my plans for managing the heat that this house cops in summer, I have planted a few on the western side of the house, so that they can grow up and give us shade from the pounding afternoon sun, while leaving us the view across the valley, with their tall, bare trunks. - Finally I will be adding some decorative finishing details, such as some sort of Chinese style corner decorations in the angles between the posts and the lintel beams or whatever they should be called, and maybe some of those little Chinese animal figures at the bottom end of the corner ridges, to protect against evil spirits, fire etc. I’ll post a final picture when I get there, but don’t hold your breath for it this week. Cheers, Peter
Peter, I think Chinese rod holders are beautifully carved from wood or ivory. If wood, they are laquered and covered in paintings of beautiful scenery. They hold devices meant to cull and control your fish population, while providing you with a source of food, using time honoured techniques. They hold fishing rods..... C
peter, beautiful pavillion. I love the way the roofing fits it so nicely, and the color blends very naturally. Lovely. How did you get those posts into the water?
Sweetpea, WE got them in when the excavator was here to enlarge the dam. The builder came in, we worked out exactly where they should be put, then hung them from the scoop of the excavator. The builder stood there in the water and held the pole in place while the excavator pushed it down into the clay. It was rather hair raising, I had terrible visions of something going wrong and our dear builder getting pushed under ... Anyway, everyone went slowly and carefully and there were no accidents. That's where our pavilion started. Now it's finished and we are getting some timor black bamboos and other beautiful tropical plants in around it. The latest pictures: and [/img] Still lots of work, but it's really exciting how it's coming on. Today I took two deck chairs down there and we had our afternoon coffee on the deck. Bliss. Cheers Peter PS In the second pic you can see how I am protecting my young trees against the frost this year - some stakes and then waxed cardboard boxes.
Ha! I know how those moments are in the middle of a project when it all could go wrong! Glad it worked out so well. What is better in life than enjoying where you live and the work you do there
Looks silent and peaceful! I like it very much. I would like to go something like this place and have a rest for some days!
Great work. I'm thinking of trying a pavillion using rammed earth posts as a possible first rammed earth project. Gnoll110