My original plan was to put together a prefab garden shed and convert it to a working pigeon loft. I visited 3 fanciers in Surrey. I also travelled to Chilliwack, BC upon the invitation of Joe and Celia Visscher to view their lofts.

    The next step was to check several lumber yards and garden warehouses to compare the following materials:

• Galvanize steel
• Vinyl
• Plastic
• Wood shed
  
  

Foundation

May 13, 2003
I used 2 bags of regular cement on plastic flower vase to mold my four pillar blocks. I reinforced these blocks with galvanize wires. 6 inches concrete nail and washers were imbedded into each block to hold the steel post base. Drying and hardening time is 72 hours.

May 24, 2003
Alas! I was stalled for more than a week by our rainy weather here in BC. But today I cut a 4" x 4" x 8' into 4 smaller posts. Instead of using 2" x 8" frame support, I downgraded it 2" x 6". My reason for this is that I made changes to build a smaller loft than 8' x 10'size for my young birds. All frames were fastened to the posts using bolts, washers, and nuts, 2" x 4" floor joists secured using fence clips.

May 28, 2003
Great day! Today my brother Edwin sent a parrot wire cage to me that he is disposing. I requested for this material earlier. This wire cloth would save me 40 dollars on expanded metal sheet. A huge savings to my loft project budget. The size of this wire cloth flooring is 1/2" x 1".

Installing wirecloth flooring.
Photo by Aleli Paw

Walls and Roof

June 2, 2003
Today is my lucky day again. I got 6 hands working on my loft. My brother Edwin and my sister's boyfriend Joey helped install the back and side walls (7/16th x 6 OSB board I precut during evenings). I marked all points for the deck screws to sink in and hold the structure standing. It only took us less than an hour to put together the walls.

June 3, 2003
I assembled half of the roof on the ground and had 2 men to lift it up over the loft. This project is becoming more like LEGO blocks. I am starting to have fun as I see the loft coming into form. The asphalt sheets are heavy but with additional 2" x 2" wood posts at all corners, I believe there are enough reinforcement to hold the structure together.

June 9, 2003
BobbyC came by today and I happened to have completely assembled the corrugated plastic roof on our sundeck. Bobby helped and single handedly lifted this assembly on top front half of the loft. The roof is now complete.

SIX hands are better than TWO. (Bro. Joey, Bro. Edwin and Me)
Photo by Aleli Paw

Door, Trap and Louvers

June 14, 2003
Today I checked my small pieces of wood inventory. I measured the height and width of my entrance. Again, I had major modification to the master plan to put the door in front of the loft rather than in the back. The reason is to give my neighbor a little privacy whenever I would visit my elevated loft at later time. I completed the door assembly and installation at 4 PM.

June 15, 2003
Earlier, I surfed the SUNSET website of Mr Bob Percival to double check the measurement of the trap door before I cut my plywood. Luckily, I had no more adjustment to do because my opening can fit 4 1/2" width x 4 for trap holes. I also worked on 2 front louvers before sundown. GOOD working today.

Loft ready to be painted
Photo by Aleli Paw