How to build a yurt platform - part 9

Previously, we got the joists in place and took a break from yurt work to wire up the septic system. Now there are several next steps going on at once:

bracing - we want to make sure the deck doesn't rack and collapse, either from the weight of a big party or during an earthquake. There aren't easy answers to the question "what is the correct way to brace my deck?" as it varies by seismic zone, loading, fastener schedules, post heights, joist spacing, wood strength, etc. Every deck is a bit different. In my case, the posts line up along the joists, but not along them, so bracing in that direction is tricky. I eventually picked a bracing strategy, but describing it in words would be difficult. If you want to know more, come for a visit! I bought a bunch of 2" x 4" lumber to use for bracing, and then used several of those sticks to hold up the 6" x 6" posts for the electric subpanels. Those will be there until we fill in the ditches, which may be a ways out. Once the floor is in, it will be harder to get in to install bracing. I put some in the middle, where it will be hardest to reach, and will add more bracing at the perimeter later.

insulation - A 700 sq. ft. yurt platform has almost as many sq. ft. of insulation. In this case, 2"-thick foam boards that have been crowding my garage for the last 6 months. They are manufactured as 4' x 8' panels, but the joist spacing is already 4' on center, so they were each cut back about 3.5" to fit. They were held in place by lathe strips screwed in to the joists. I want to install the insulation as we go, from above, instead of waiting until the flooring is in and crawling around below. So we went around and installed the lathe strips everywhere. We can't drop in all the insulation at once, because then we couldn't walk anywhere while installing the flooring, except for stepping on the joists. So we do a bit at a time. We didn't number when taking them apart, so now it's a puzzle.

flooring - it's 1 1/8" tongue-and-groove plywood, typically used as a subfloor. The sheets are heavy enough that you really want two people carrying each one. They fit together like a puzzle, as some of them were cut to the 30' diameter circle. Luckily we numbered these as we took them apart. Again, because we don't want to block access to the insulation, we install these a bit at a time.

perimeter blocking - there are some 2" x 6" boards attached to the ends of the joists. These were nailed in haphazardly before, but I'm using screws and Simpson A35 brackets. We could put all these in at once, but then getting in and out of the yurt platform would be harder - we'd have to climb over or duck under. So I want to wait. But they need to go in at the same time as the insulation, since they help hold it in place.

As you can see, getting the floor, insulation, and blocking all in at the same time is a little tricky, at least for me the amateur carpenter.

I'm a little worried about getting the placement of the first floor panel just right. If one corner is off by 1/4", the other end will be way off. Some trig would tell us how much, but I'm not going there

Yesterday we got to the point where we were almost ready to screw down the first panel, but we want to be sure of the alignment. We'll get that today, and then start filling in the rest of the deck.