Media Studio Portico Ridge Beam Placed Today

After nearly a month of work beginning while Kulapati Deva Rajan was here, the ridge beam of the new media studio entry way portico was placed today. It is the culmination of a long process and things should move quickly now as all the parts for this crucial element have been milled and ready for installation.

The bean is 25 feet long, made of laminated red wood that has been hand sculpted with a scallop plane to provide an elegant surface. Many of the original beams of the Aadheenam structure were done like this, by hand in the early 1900\

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Adi Srikantha, applying the final touches of the oil finish

It is really long!

The mortices (holes\/openings to connect with other pieces) have been hand done for the supporting posts and the future rafters. This mortar and tenon joinery is all done by hand so that there are not bolts or nails used.

Mortices for the rafters were done using a 25-foot story board that was marked on site, the brought to the shop to mark on the beam itself. No tape measures for this kind of work... it is not accurate enough...

We assemble a team of monks with good back and prepare for the \"Beam March\"

Off we go...

Turning end-for-end

Then off for a half-pradakshina of the Aadheenam...past the kitchen around the our vehicle parking lot....

The out in front of Kadavul across Tiruneri

Then finally up the road to the media studio

Marching into the building

Up it goes!

This end had to go out so the end inside can be raised.

Back now to place the mortices directly over the tenons (points) of the king posts (supporting posts)

But first we have to place this cross beam.

It fit perfectly into it\

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A few gentle taps and it is firmly in place

After applying a little glue to the tops of the king posts, the ridge beam is careful lowered.

Fantastic! It fits perfectly!

With 8 monks and several sidewalk engineers; that was easier than we thought it would be...

Let\

s wipe off a little excess glue...'

Next come rafters, then perlins and the roof itself. Once this is done we can connect to the roof of the main building and call Bobby to come and finish the whole roof. This is a key stage of the process. After which we can continue to close up the building and finish the interior. There are still several months of work ahead of us, but the majority of the demolition, heavy lifting etc is complete... from here on out we move into a more \"delicate\" closing in and finishing phase: Window and vent installation, sheetrock to close in the walls and finally the amazing new ceiling.

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