Today we managed to get all of the columns sanded and fastened together.  The sanding proved to take much longer than expected but the end result was worth the effort.

We were pretty excited about how straight we could get them considered the individuals sticks were not so straight to begin with.

The group also managed to finish the floor for the shading structure.  Picking up from yesterday, the pairs of “inner” floors were sheathed with 1/2″ OSB and joined together separated by 2×6 members.  The pairs were flipped upside down (OSB face down) and the 2×6’s were attached.  The OSB needs to be flush with the top edge of the 2×6, so the photo below shows the bottom side of the floor.

In order to relieve some of the loads on the suspended 2×4 ‘s, we attached some shims from our scrap pile that would increase the depth of the OSB and 2×4 and bring it exactly to that of a 2×6.