Boathouse Cupola

[Tom King]

We did a standing seam roof on a house, and boathouse for a neighbor of ours a few years ago.  A storm blew the top off his boathouse cupola, so he's been after me to rebuild one.  He is a good friend, and gave me a grand for a tip on his roofing job, so I decided to fix him up.

The one that blew off was just a simple pyramid top.  I'm building one with windows, and have a nice copper weathervane for the top.  I told him he'd just have to be patient, because I can only work on it on rainy mornings.

I still had all the routers set up for a reproduction 18th Century sash job about 8 years ago, so I'm just using the same setup for the four 21" square sash.  Overkill for cupola sash, but I already had the setup, and knew the drill.  I'm making them 9 lights, so the pane size is only 5x5 inches.  The wood is from my stash of dry treated Pine.  I'm going to put the molded side out, and not worry about glazing the glass-just bed them in caulking, and shoot some points.

I didn't put all the time in doing any hand fitting to make sure the joints are perfect, like I normally do for the old sash that don't use glue.  I'm going to epoxy these joints, and paint it all around.  edited to add:   they fit good enough that I might not bother with the epoxy, and just peg the corners-probably still last longer than the boathouse.

That particular router setup is for my design of the Muntin to glazing bar tenons-there are six different such router setups, some with big routers.  Notice how clean that router is.

More later.  First real woodworking I've done in a while.  This is where I left it when the fog had lifted this morning, enough to go do other work for the day.  They will probably go together the next time I get a chance to work on it.

 

 

[curlyoak]

 

Nice work Tom. Very impressive. What are the names of the wooden parts in the middle. I think one is Mulliens?

 

Thanks

[Chestnut]

I'm always thankful for letting us look over you shoulder at the interesting projects you do Tom. I look forward to seeing the end result of the cupola.

I should have made one of these for my shed. I suppose there is always time.

[Tom King]

2 hours ago, curlyoak said:

 

Nice work Tom. Very impressive. What are the names of the wooden parts in the middle. I think one is Mulliens?

 

Thanks

The long ones are called "glazing bars", or simply "bars".   The short ones, that go between those, and to the sides, are "muntins".   All the short ones are muntins, and the long ones glazing bars.  In some parts, they are called different things, but these are the most widely used, and oldest names.

A "Mullion" is also a long part, but they are some larger than the Muntins, and divide a window into multiple parts.  If these glazing bars were larger in cross section area than the muntins, they would be mullions.

If you scroll down on the Windows page, on my website, my process of duplicating old sash is more thoroughly covered.  Those sash were made in 2012 for a 1798 house.  I hadn't touched those router setups, or the small mortising machine, since that job, so I'm just using the same setup for these.

http://historic-house-restoration.com/windowwork.html

I'm not dong any handwork of these though.  Since there are not so many parts, I'm just nibbling off the tenons on the Radial Arm Saw, instead of hand cutting, and fitting.

[curlyoak]

Tom, I enjoy your skill. around 50 years ago I was a helper for a very skilled old man. I washed him repair several windows that he called "favors". If you weren't likable then no favors.  I only know enough not to build or repair one. I did make a couple of replacement windows but they were only styles and rails. Single light.

Tom, it is obvious that you have skill levels that are very special. And I am thankful that you are very willing to share. I bet there is an interesting story of how you attained your skills. Previous generation(s), or you did an apprenticeship?

[Tom King]

I never even took shop in school, and my Father built the house I grew up in, but he wasn't a builder by profession.  I learned by what I call the attack method, and most of my book learning on the subject came from tool catalogs, and making mistakes.

I worked on it some more this morning, while the storm was going through.

I have time to get some pictures in here, but will have to comment later.

I cut the outside muntins to length last, so guaranteed a perfect fit. 

Last picture is what's left of the base of the old cupola.  It's made out of Teak, and Mahogany, so was well built at one time.  It never had windows, just a roof.  The owner is in for a surprise.  I told him it would be the best one on the lake.

 

 

[drzaius]

Those are some nice frames. The hairy hands are impressive too

[wtnhighlander]

Tom, I like the DC setup on your router. I believe you've shown that before, but I don't recall the details. Is it top collection only?

[Tom King]

Yes, top only.  Only the smallest clearance around the shank of the bit where it comes through the top.  It gets 100% of the dust.  Notice how clean that router is.

These sash are not nearly so meticulously made, like I normally would do for replacements in an old house, but just slammed together quickly.  All machine setups were just eyeballed close, and gone on with.  I originally thought I'd just epoxy them together, and let the epoxy fill any gaps, but they're actually not too bad.  There was absolutely no hand fitting.

It would have been faster, and simpler to just use cope, and stick, like modern windows, but I didn't have cutters, and had this setup ready to go left over from a previous job.  It only took me a couple of mornings work to slam out these four little sash.  They're 21" square.  Panes are 5x5". 

No glue, and not even clamped tight yet.  I think I'm just going to peg the corner tenons.  Anything else would just be extra work for nothing.

[Tom King]

When looking for the older picture of my truck fender job, I stumbled across more pictures of this job.  There are some more in one of the other cameras, but they will come later.

I call this a combination of woodworking, and carpentry.  I used the Wixey cube, and a carpenters square.  For hip rafters, you use 17 in place of the 12 for the rise, and run of common rafters.  I marked the first one off with a sharp pencil, and set some temporary fences on the sliding miter saw, because the saw wouldn't set to cut an angle that extreme.

The slope of the boathouse roof is only 18 degrees.  I wanted the cupola roof to be some steeper, so I doubled the 18, to 36.

I used an online calculator for building a pyramid, that gives you every angle needed.  The Wixey cube was used to set the table saw tilt to the exact tenth of a degree.  I glued, and pinned the pieces in place, then came back the next day, and ran some screws in.

The roof needs to be strong because there is a solar light inside, and the roof needs to hinge to be able to access the light.

I hated to use the wood with the knots, but it was the last of the thick, really dry treated lumber I had at hand.  The parts are 2-1/4" thick, because I wanted more surface area on the the angled tops of the hip rafters.

When I run across the other pictures, I'll come back, and add them.

 

[Tom King]

This saved me a lot of time, and everything came out just right, first try.

https://www.blocklayer.com/pyramid-calculator.aspx

[Tom King]

People are stopping by our house today, giving me compliments on it.  The 4th of July weekend is always crazy at the lake.  Everyone that has a place is here, along with multiple guests.  I wouldn't live here if it was like this all the time.

If you look closely, you may be able to see the stainless steel hinges.  The roof hinges to access the solar light.

Most cupolas have a copper roof.  The roof turns dark, and it doesn't really stand out.  I thought white would be more showy, and could be see from way up the lake.  This roof is Marine Baltic Birch plywood, with a couple of layers of fiberglass cloth over it, painted with Sherwin Williams Emerald Gloss.

There are many Great Blue Herons on the lake.

 

[gee-dub]

She's a beauty Tom.  The Heron topper really makes it pop.

[wtnhighlander]

Tom, where are the solar collectors for the light? Are they remotely wired?

Very nice job, glassing the roof. Almost impossible to tell it isn't metal.

[Tom King]

The solar cell is built into the top of the light.  It doesn't get direct Sun much, but plenty to make it operate. The light is just hanging in there, and is easy to replace the whole light fixture.

There is one 1/4-20 wingnut, with built in washer that holds the top shut.  There are some recessed holes under the top that hold a bunch of spares.  I told them not to chase one down the roof if they dropped it.

The glasswork on the roof is not real pretty, but like we say in building theater stuff, the "30 foot rule" applies.

Roof slope of the cupola is exactly double of the 18 degree slope on the boathouse roof.

[curlyoak]

On 7/4/2021 at 12:42 PM, Tom King said:

The light is just hanging in there,

If you think of it Tom, take a shot of it at night with the lantern on. Does it come on every night?

[Tom King]

I'm not sure.  I guess if the Sun charges the battery enough, it will light up.   I don't know when I will have a chance to take a photo at night.  It would have to be from the lake, and I haven't been out there at night, for years.  Pam, and I used to do a lot of sailing at night, but the place has really been built up, since then, and too many idiots operating boats.

When I was building our house, in 1980, we lived in a tent on the lake, with no houses in sight.  We'd have the whole lake to ourselves, during the week, and any week nights.  We kept a Laser rigged up, and laid over on the beach.  All we had to do was flip it upright, and take off.  Things are a Lot different here now.

[Coop]

I just did a quick research of Lake Gaston and it looks like a beautiful place to live. Ready to get back into home building Tom?

[Tom King]

I quit building new houses in 2007, after selling my last spec house.  Everyone in the building business had gotten a lot smarter than me then.  My to-do list is longer than I can possibly ever get done.  Just keeping up the Ponderosa is more than a regular full time job.