Thread: The Bridge of Death. (inspired by TK421)

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(could have sworn I already started a thread on this, but I can't seem to find it...)

As with most my naming convention, it originates in comedy...



Inspiration for this project is actually 2 fold:

1st and foremost, from our own TK421.

Back in 2009, he made a wonderful boardwalk.



As if that didn't make me jealous enough, with a hole worn in my grass every year, he has since made a PERMANENT path, complete with underground fog access and everything.

If you haven't already, check out his awesome site: http://www.millcreekhauntedhollow.com/

Well, jealous as I was, I didn't really see how I could utilize the temporary portion...

Then I found this thing out messing around in Guild Wars:





Call me crazy, but I could just see that thing running off down through The Harvest.



Now, for technical and liability reasons, I didn't want to build an elevated bridge, but that boardwalk immediately sprang to mind, and TK421 was kind enough to share with me some notes on how he did his.

I wanted just a touch more height than he had, so I added some cross beams to the bottom of my skids, and i've added a third runner since I'm using used fence slats donated to the cause, where TK421 was using old decking.



The initial plan is to have those tongues sticking out lock each section together, but I'm questioning both the need, and the stability of the idea at the moment. We'll get a few more built and see.



Goal is to test the front yard this year, hopefully saving it from damage, I'm getting tired of spending 2 months overseeding and trying to get it to look decent again.

First of all, a few pics of the aftermath from last year I'm hoping to avoid.



In the front last year, we were able to minimize it by offering multiple paths.



This creates difficulties with design, however.

So, we wanted a clear path, one HOPEFULLY people will stay on.

As mentioned in my Chimera thread, I've suffered a couple injuries since the last update which has made work difficult. But, with a ton of help from my kids, we're about 80% complete on the bridge.

(the orange dots are there to help us know where to separate everything)


We need to build another section at the end, and figure out how we're doing the ramps on either end (to prevent tripping).



I also need to figure out just how we're doing the corner.



It's rather funny but we had a LOT of cars going by REAL SLOW as we were out putting this all together. A couple even stopped to ask if I was setting up already.

That's looking good. I see a few pieces with knots missing. You might want to replace those or fill the holes in, just in case.

Yeah, I'm not exactly a small guy, and I figured if I can jump on em and they don't break we're good. I've been testing each one as we go. Had to replace a number of boards.

I was thinking more of someone's toe or a high heel getting caught in one and someone tripping.

Those corners are going to be tough. How about building the framework to fit, laying the cross pieces on top like the other sections, and cutting them straight across with a chainsaw or circular saw?

Originally Posted by Screaming Demons

I was thinking more of someone's toe or a high heel getting caught in one and someone tripping.

Good point.

Those corners are going to be tough. The answer is obvious, but would be a lot of work cutting a bunch of angled pieces.

Yeah, trying to avoid that...

Thinking I'll run the planks on the corners the opposite direction then just make one cut at the proper angle across all of them. Might look a bit funny, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing.