Span this

As you can see from the photo above, we've been working on the pergola area out the back of the house. The spans just defy the imagination - span from left to right is almost 9 metres, the height is about six metres and the width is about 6 metres! This section of the house has been quite a challenge. It's hard to tell by the photo, but essentially all that is holding those beams up is pressure - and that's about it. Gravity is pushing the side rafters against each other and they in turn are holding up the middle beam. While putting up the third set of rafters, we discovered that the scaffolding was in the way so we had to move it. When we did this, one of the rafters collapsed (remembering that all that was holding it up was pressure) which caused the middle beam and one of the opposing rafters to shift and twist - disaster!! Took us about two hours to fix and reposition everything during which time the stress and scariness of it all decided to pour out of Tracey's eyes. But with a lot of patience from James and a lot of sniffles and snot from Tracey, we managed to get it fixed again.