Eli really likes redwood, and redwood beams and boards are not only light, but they’re also readily available at home improvement stores, so both our ledger boards and our 4×4 loft beams are redwood. It is a really pretty wood and we found some good ones for our beams.
We actually got our loft beams quite awhile ago and began prepping them back in January! But, we didn’t put the final coats on until recently just before we were installing the beams. More sanding and applying polyurethane. (In the first photo below, note our neighbor’s live redwood trees in the background lamenting their fallen brethren on our workbench – we thanked them for their brothers’ sacrifice. 🙂 )
Once finished, we went about deciding which beauty to put where. Some of the boards really had some lovely nuances in the grains and colors. We really liked how the boards were a combination of light wood and reddish-tinged wood. So, we put them in place, switching and flipping them around until we had the prettiest beams and most handsome board faces in the most prominent spots that we’d see the most.
Interestingly, although most 4×4 inch posts are really only 3.5 x 3.5 inches, these boards were even more short-changed on that “4×4” making them narrower still – some even up to 3/16 inch narrower! So, they didn’t fit perfectly into the hangers. Ah well, can’t expect too much from Lowe’s and Home Depot. At least it shaves off just a little bit more weight, and we’re not complaining about that.
Once we had our placement perfected, we screwed them in place on the hangers with black screws to match the black hangers.
And so the loft takes form. Not bad, eh? 🙂
Beautiful!!! 🙂 Looks like I might have to duck to get under the loft. (Quack, Quack)
Thanks! The bottom of the 4×4 beams is 6’6″, so you’d just barely fit, right?!
I am really excited every time I read your post and look at the pictures. What a wonderful way of documenting the progress.
Looking forward to seeing you at Christmas.
Olga
Makes me happy to hear someone is enjoying reading about how things go as we build and to follow our progress! I’m glad I’m documenting our progress for us to have something to look back over and reminisce when it’s finished, but it’s also nice to be able to share the adventure with others as we go!