The next weekend was dry and I was able to get all the cross beams up and more. Each of the 2×8’s is set on end and has a 4 by 4 inch notch cut out on the garage side to allow for the gutter. With the board on the garage already having all of the supports mounted, I was able to get each one into place and set quickly. Work like that should always be done on the ground in the name of efficiency.

The 2×8’s are held in place by hurricane braces connecting them to the header beam. There are pieces that are designed to do this, but upon review I decided that I just couldn’t stand the way these look. Instead I opted for the hurricane braces which lay flat on the header. However with recent wind storms, I’ve been happier with this choice.

I wasn’t aware that there were specific nails that were designed for use with these braces. There are a tremendous number of nail holes and using regular nails leaves you with a challenge of trying to get enough in to lock it down without destroying the wood or running them into each other and splitting the wood. With the right nails, there is enough room. Watch out as you nail though, the nails aren’t the easiest to put in by hand.

Once everything was up and braced in place, the Halloween party occurred. One thing that many people noticed was how much lighter the area was. While there wasn’t a roof on it at the time, changing the slope to be to the house instead of away from it lifted the far side of the structure by about 4 inches. The white paint also helped significantly since the area was far brighter by now. For Halloween, the area was lit by one of my Halogen lights.