RV PORT

Throughout this whole process our goal has been to design a homestead that fulfills our needs and dreams for the future. One of our big dreams is to have a small travel van and use it on some amazing adventures. So with that in mind, we designed our garage to have an attached RV port.

The large metal poles that will support the northern side of the roof were erected back when we poured the concrete for the garage foundation. It reminded me of Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima except no one was wearing a helmet and the pole was much thicker and heavier.

The first step was getting the posts cut to the correct height which was done with an angle grider. The next step was welding a plate to the top of the post (which is hollow) in order to provide a stable platform on which to set and weld the cross beams.

Getting ready to weld the caps to the top of the posts

Welding the plate to the top of the post

The cross beams are hollow, made of steel and very heavy. Dwayne and his crew had their job cut out for them when it came to lifting the beams into place. It was an all hands on deck operation.

Stage one of the lifting process

Stage two of the lifting process

Close up of the western cross beam

After the cross beams were welded into place they had to weld brackets onto the cross beams to which the C-channel rafters would be welded.

Welding the brackets to the cross beam

Once the brackets were all welded into place the C-channel rafters, which were almost 29 ft long, were lifted into place and welded to the brackets on the cross beams.