day five: thursday, november 23rd
Today I finished the build! Starting around 8:30, I put the overhang up, which was easier than I thought it would be. Turns out one screw in the middle of the plywood is enough to hold it up, temporarily, while I put the other screws in. After I got that, I attached the saftey piece onto the side closest the window, after sawing off one of its corners (right.) I didn't quite feel like using the circular say at 9 on thanksgiving morining. It's a peice of plywood meant to stop anyone on the wall from swinging into the window and, as it's a rather old window, falling out.
After doing the installs, I climbed it a few times and then moved the holds a few times. At one point I took off the vertical part of the wall so that I could put more T-nuts inside the holes I'd drilled the day prior. Reinstalled and with a revised route, I began to reset my room. As part of the reset, I did everything I've been wanting to that requires the drill. First, I installed a stick/branch peice that I found in the park a while ago onto my loft storage's door. (left) The story of the stick/branch is that I found it in the park after a big storm, it had been cut off. I took it home, and now I've thought more about how maybe that whole ordeal doesn't stick to "leave no trace," which made me come to the conclusion that because the park was man-made, and mostly for people's enjoyment, taking a stick that had fallen is justified because it doesn't greatly affect the natural enviroment the same way it may in an open wilderness or state or national park.
After installing the stick, I installed another hammock loop, a lag eye bolt (this kind) on the 2x6 beyond the overhang, above the loft. I'm not sure how a hammock will go with the climbing wall potentially in the way, but I'll find out soon enough. Once that was done, I vacuumed my whole room which really wasn't that interesting. I finished the whole thing around 2. (right) This project was really fun to do, and I found new ways to find my limits of how well I can assemble things at awkward angles. I also learned about 30/60/90 triangles, (thanks Avi) and generally learning that distributing weight across several studs is a good idea feels really useful. Thanks to everyone that helped at some point! Also, I think the climbing wall will need some paint soon... that's for winter break.