This blog post was authored by Pachie Ackerman, a member of the Tivnu 7 cohort from San Mateo, CA. He enjoys adventuring, climbing trees, and doing everything barefoot. He interns at Outgrowing Hunger and Tivnu construction.
One of my favorite parts of construction is imagining something in my head and watching it become reality. When I was asked to build a new burnable wood waste shed for our jobsite, I was excited to flex my newly acquired building muscles. So excited, in fact, that I wanted to document the process. Below are pictures of the steps we took during our construction experience.
It doesn’t look like much now, but don’t worry. The new wood waste shed will need a strong foundation. Believe it or not, this type of frame is under pretty much every small building you see.
Once plywood is on the frame, it starts to take shape. Fun fact: this process is called skinning, which I personally find very disturbing.
The rear wall. Similar to the bottom platform, just sideways.
One side wall completed. Sophie takes the opportunity to practice her calisthenics.
Assembly of the second side wall. These side walls were a new challenge for me because they were angled. A practical application for SOH CAH TOA? Inconceivable!
Adding the front support beam and the rafters. We have to use a special cut called a bird’s mouth to get the rafters to sit right. Lev can also get a little extra with the decoration sometimes.
Now we have a plywood roof! The only thing left is a waterproof roofing membrane to keep everything dry.
Lev showing off his work on the roof. Nice work Lev!
All done and loaded with wood! All of this wood was generated from our work at Tivnu, and all of it is going to houseless communities in need.
With luck, our friends in the camps and on the streets will share the warmth we felt while working on this project. It was so wonderful to see an idea come to life.
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