How to build a yurt platform - part 7

After placing the pier blocks, it was time to install the posts.

I knew I wanted to leave enough room to crawl under the yurt when it was done. And I'm a big guy. Also, extra height means dry storage space.

However, more height also means more steps to build and climb, more post material (4" x 4" pressure treated), and more diagonal bracing for stability. I figured that most of the under-yurt work would be at the perimeter, so crawling all the way across wasn't too important. And I figured I could do that with 18" clearance. Since the ground is uneven, we decided to leave 18" clearance at the minimum, and the rest would have a little more room.

When I actually looked at the highest spot (shortest post), the ground rose up just outside the site, which would make it difficult to get in there. Better to be a few inches too high than a few inches too low, right? I looked at the bits of wood I had and selected one that was a bit longer, maybe 20". On top of the pier block + bracket there's at least 2' of clearance at the minimum, almost 3' at the max. I screwed it in to place and we had our reference post. We're framing!

The carpenter (still sick) was going to use a water level to measure all the posts to the same height. I decided to go with a laser level instead (Agatec 220G, rented for $50 for a day). It's a pretty fancy device. You put it in place and turn it on. It levels itself, then it spins a mirror, projecting a laser out in a very accurate horizontal plane.

You can use a laser level in several ways:

1. Position it at exactly the height you want to cut. This seems hard. If the laser gets jostled, putting it back in the exact same spot seems hard, too. If you hold a post in place you can see the laser on the wood, and mark the spot to cut. Unless its sunny, then you can't see the laser.

2. Position it at exactly the right height, as before. Still hard. There's a receiver that can attach to a big aluminum yardstick. Place this stick in the pier block, move the receiver up and down until it says it's aligned with the laser, and read the length.

3. Put the laser level on the tripod at a convenient height. Put the stick on the top of the reference post. Move the receiver up and down until it says its aligned. Put post stock in a pier block. Move the stick up and down along the new post until it says its aligned. Mark that spot. Cut the post. It takes two people to steady the post & the yardstick & mark the line. Since the 4" x 4"s I bought were 10' long, they were difficult to hold this way for the first couple cuts.

4. Put the laser level on the tripod at a convenient height. Put the stick on the top of the reference post. Move the receiver up and down until it says its aligned. Hold the stick over a pier block while someone else measures the gap with a tape measure. This is very tedious. Transfer that length to the stock at the saw station.

I imagine that an experienced carpenter would have some good tricks for making this go smoothly. Our awkward, novice approach got the job done, though. At the end of the day, all the posts were within 1/8" of the reference post, which seemed good. 30 posts done.

Next: installing the joists.