Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Chapter 762: Go straight to the meat

The foundation has only been half built, we have to keep pushing!

After starting the track car and climbing into the cockpit, Wang An continued to push the foundation.

Two houses, totaling 400 square meters, plus a large pit used to build the combustion chamber of the underground fire dragon. To be honest, this is a huge project.

It mainly refers to the speed of digging the foundation with a track bulldozer. Although it is much faster than people digging the foundation, this thing is actually not that fast.

More than an hour later, all the helpers came over one after another, carrying clean bowls or small basins.

It’s no wonder that these people are very serious and active in their work, and they are also very responsible.

On the one hand, it is because people are grateful to others for their help. On the other hand, it is mutual among people. If you treat me the same way when you help me, then I should treat you the same way. There is nothing wrong with that.

In short, only a very small number of people would do something sneaky and dishonest, and a normal person would never do that.

As everyone returned to their seats, everyone continued to do their own work as they did in the morning, and no one was idle.

However, four people who knew carpentry were selected from the group led by Wang Dashu to help carpenters Niu Yichen and Niu Dalong, father and son, with the work.

The father and son will lead these four people to carry out a very important task, which is to smash the shelves.

"Smashing the scaffolding" is also called "beating the scaffolding", and the professional term is "making triangular beams".

The triangular beam is a thing.
Locals call it "big rack".

Depending on the length of the span of the house, this thing can be big or small.

The long horizontal wood at the bottom of the triangular beam is called the "beam purlin" or "purlin", the diagonal wood on the left and right sides are called "diagonal beams", and the vertical wood in the middle is called the "standing man" or "pillar".

As for those short woods that play a reinforcing role and keep the inclined beams from deforming, they are collectively called "support woods".

The production of triangular beams requires a certain level of technical skills. In the early years, triangular beams were all mortise and tenon structures, which were quite troublesome and time-consuming to produce.

However, in this era, it is much simpler than before, because the triangular beams of this era only have very little mortise and tenon work.

The vast majority of mortise and tenon work is replaced by foreign nails.

The supply and marketing cooperatives sell 6-inch, 8-inch, 10-inch, and even 12-inch nails. When Wang An went to the supply and marketing cooperative yesterday, he bought quite a few.

Just as Wang An was driving the track vehicle to push the foundation, he was called down by his father Comrade Wang Dazhu again.

After Wang An got off the car, he asked:
"What's wrong, Dad? What happened?"

Wang Dazhu didn't say anything. He pulled Wang An's arm and walked to the circular saw. Only then did Wang Dazhu say:

"How long does the big rack need to hold the standing man? Should we just do it normally or what? Your uncle Niu is going to cut the material now."

Although there are various types of triangular beams, the length of the "standing man" on the triangular beam is certain.

According to the standard, the beam is 1 meter high and the standing man is 0.25 meters high, which means that the height of the standing man should be one-fourth of the length of the beam.

The reason for this standard is that it is said that a triangular roof with this angle can avoid lightning. However, the probability of a brick house being struck by lightning is really small, and such a house is not very beautiful, so this standard is also a minimum standard.

The house that Wang An wanted to build had a span of 10 meters. If it followed this standard, the entire roof would have to be a slightly pointed bungalow.

If a house like this were built, how shabby would it be?
And according to the rural Feng Shui, the height of the wing room cannot exceed that of the main room. In this case, if Wang An wants to build a shed or something in the future, it will be affected.

Therefore, Wang An said without hesitation:
"I think I forgot to write it on the blueprint, right? The three-meter-high standing figures, the shelves in both rooms are three-meter-high standing figures, and there are 3 large shelves in total."

The number of large racks in a brick house is always odd, and there will never be an even number.

Because after the bricks of the house's walls are laid, the first rack to be put up when the beams are installed is placed in the middle of the entire house, and then the other racks spread to both sides in turn.

After Wang An finished speaking, carpenter Niu Yichen subconsciously said:

"21 racks, that means we can just build small racks. Small racks are fine. They are light and don't require a lie. We can just nail the fence boards directly, and the roof won't collapse easily."

The small rack that carpenter Niu Yichen mentioned has nothing to do with the overall size of the rack. It refers to the thickness of the beams and diagonal beams.

Normally, although the number of triangular beams used in a house is odd, this number can be more or less.

If the number of triangular beams is small, a large frame with thick beams should be used.

When using a large rack, you will need what Niu Yichen calls a "lying piece" or "lying wood". The function of this thing is to be nailed to the diagonal beams of the two racks to fill the gap between the diagonal beams.

Finally, nail fence boards, that is, wooden boards, on the bed, and finally cover it with thick straw mats, mud and tiles.

However, the roof covered with a large frame will become uneven and wavy over the years due to the deformation of the frame, which is the so-called "collapse".

But if Wang An did what he did, that is, if the number of triangular beams was very dense, these things would not happen.

The only disadvantage of doing this is that it requires a lot of wood to make the triangular beams.

Although there is plenty of wood in the mountains, felling the trees is not an easy job without a chainsaw, and it is also quite difficult to transport the wood out.

You have to know that when Wang An's family was clearing the trees, even if they had a chainsaw and so many mules and horses pulling the harnesses, it still took them quite a few days to finish the job.

Hearing what carpenter Niu Yichen said, Wang An said with a smile while smoking a cigarette:

"Yeah, there's a lot of wood here, so I have to make a small frame. Thank you for your trouble, Mr. Angniu, hehe."

Niu Yichen took the cigarette, waved his hand and said with a smile:

"Why bother? Isn't this what I deserve? After all these years of work, the food in your house is the best. Hahahaha, this job is comfortable!"

When Wang An heard this, he also said with a smile:
"You must eat well when you work. On the day of raising the beam, we will have dry stewed meat at noon without any vegetables. You can eat as much as you want, hahahaha."

When talking to the people in the village, don't say anything nonsense, because no one will listen. Just get to the point directly, there will be absolutely no problem with that.

After hearing what Wang An said, not only did Niu Yichen laugh happily, but the people nearby who heard it also had shining eyes, and it was obvious that they were looking forward to the food on the day of the beam-raising ceremony.

These five words “eat as much meat as you can” are what many people dream of!
(End of this chapter)