Building a Sukkah - Some Pics

My prior post (from two years ago) on building a sukkah did not have pictures. I have now remedied that problem.

The most important thing about a sukkah is that it be structurally sound. You don't want it falling on guests. As noted in the earlier post, I accomplished this by bolting 2x4s together using metal L-straps to prevent racking. Here is what my basic corner joint looks like:



Note that the two 2x4s sandwich the L-strap between them, and each joint has 3 bolts. Each bolt protrudes by 1/2". So since standard 2x4s are actually 1.5" x 3.5" (don't ask), there are two "short bolts" (at the top and the left) that are 2" long (1.5" for the board, plus an extra 1/2"). There is also a longer bolt in the center that is 3.5" long (it goes through both 1.5" boards, plus an extra 1/2").

Also, each bolt has two washers.

Here is a "double" joint in the middle of the sukkah.



This is a double version of the first joint. There are actually two horizontal boards that end in the middle of the vertical board. (You can't see it from this side.) Note that in the first picture, the holes were centered on the vertical board, but in this picture, the holes are offset. I needed room for two L-straps. This takes some careful measuring. As noted in the previous post, I carefully made a template and then used it to mark all the holes.

Finally, here is a three-way corner joint. This joins three orthogonal boards.



A few things to note.

Note the marking on the right side mostly covered by the L-strap. It says "L3-R4 Down" This indicates that this is the lower board that goes from L3 (the third vertical post on the left side) to R4 (the fourth vertical post on the right side). (I have an extra vertical board on the right side to accommodate the door.) Uniquely marking each board is critically important.

There are two sets of three holes here. I had to make sure to offset them so that the bolts did not bump into each other. So I raised the board on the right by 1.5" by simply placing an small offcut from a 2x4 under the template while I marked the holes. I did that with all boards going that direction.

The joint on the left is the same as in the first picture. But the joint on the right used bolts of different lengths because two of them are going through the long size of the 2x4. So the 3 bolts are 4", 5.5", and 2". (I leave the formal proof as an exercise for the interested reader.)

* * *

One final structural point. I have two doors in the sukkah. (The sukkah is located at the corner of my house, and it blocks access from driveway to the backyard. The two doors give us that access. Here is the small door on the left, and part of the larger door on the right. Not that the doors do not have a bottom board (it is easy to trip over them). To give that side support, each side with a door has a complete square of 2x4s (top, bottom, left, and right) next to the door opening.



Here's the view from the front.



And here's the view from the inside (with a special cameo appearance by Dad, another Jew with another couple of opinions).



Note that the height of the vertical boards (7') is calibrated to the 6' height of the plastic-bamboo walls, plus 7" for the two 2x4s, plus all little extra for some space at the top and bottom. 2x4s commonly come in 8' lengths, but if I left them at 8', the extra space would raise an issue as to whether the wall is a complete wall. Also, I could attach the top bolts on a 7' vertical board without standing on a ladder, but not on an 8' board.

Finally, although none of the pictures show it, I marked the top-front-left corner of each board by making a slight bevel on top-front and top-left edges next to the top-front-left corner. So not only is each board uniquely placed, but it is easy to orient each board. I simply orient the board so that the notches are on the top-left and top-front edges.

It took a lot of careful planning and drawing to think through all the joints, to count up all the nuts and washers and bolts (in various sizes) that I needed, and to make templates, notch the boards, drill the holes, and square up each side. But it was worth it. Three years ago, two friends and I designed and built our sukkahs using the same design methods, but with slight variants in size and orientation. It was a lot of time and a lot of work. But we ended up with sukkahs that look good, are very strong, and can easily be stored. If a part gets lost or broken or damages, we can easily replace the part at the local hardware store. And most importantly, the sukkah can easily be put up and taken down; we built each sukkah in just 2 - 2.5 hours this year.

Chag sameach.

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Sukkot - Time to Start Building

Sukkot might be one of the few post-denominational holidays. Everyone can do what they love. Orthodox Jews can focus on lots of technical halachic details, like how much wall flapping is permitted. Reform Jews can think about social justice issues, like people who have no home at all, let alone a sukkah. Conservative Jews can agonize endlessly over which sukkot rules to change, if any, and who should make that determination, and how, and after considering what, and .... And if they are using their sukkah from last year, Reconstructionist Jews may literally be reconstructing.

But the one thing that should unite everyone is that Sukkot is a holiday of joy. Literally: z'man simchateinu. So after the apples and honey have been eaten, the lists of goals made, the forgiveness sought and received, the fasting both fasted and break-fasted, it is time for some pure happiness. I have previously written about why everyone should celebrate Sukkot and some practical issues in building your own sukkah. (Hint: use bolts not screws, so that it is easier to dissemble and reuse next year.) And if you have young kids, they love to help build and decorate a sukkah.

So go plan and build your sukkah. Remember, there is no weekend between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, so start planning and building now. Have a meaningful Yom Kippur, but then have a wonderful Sukkot.

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Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, Death, Rebirth, and Poetry

The holidays of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah have subtle and sometimes overlooked themes of death endings, followed by rebirth and new beginnings. And the Velveteen Rabbi has captured this theme nicely in a recent poem.

Death and endings run through these holidays. One common way of thinking about the four species of sukkot is as a body: a spine, heart, eyes, and mouth. But we don't wave the lulav and etrog on Shemini Atzeret: the body is at rest. We also have no special mitzvot or blessings for Shemini Atzeret, even though it is the eighth day of sukkot outside of Israel. The traditional term for a dead body, niftar, comes from the same root PTR in the word "patar", meaning exempt (from mitzvot). A dead person is someone exempt from mitzvot, and on Shemini Atzeret, we are exempt from the mitzvot of sukkot. And by Shemini Atzeret, the schach on the sukkah is turning brown (at least if you use palm fronds, not bamboo mats like I usually do); it is starting to look dead.

As we turn to Simchat Torah, we start off by reading the very end of the Torah, the death of Moses. We end the book, and the theme is death.

But another theme emerges: rebirth and new beginnings. The chazzan prays for rain on Shemini Atzeret, a sign of rebirth of plants. And of course once we finish the Torah and the death of Moses, we being it all over again, and read about God creating the world. A new beginning.

The Velveteen Rabbi writes poems about each parsha. Most are good; some are quite good. And this week, she penned Mobius (V'zot Ha-Brakha), about the last parsha of the Torah, Simchat Torah, and the annual repeating cycle. She picks up on some of these themes. She begins:

I want to write the Torah
on a mobius strip of parchment

The poem is short, clever, and worth the read.

These two holidays represent the culmination of the long process that began at the beginning of Elul. May we all become the better people we wish to be.

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Building a Sukkah - Some Practical Issues

My sukkah is a simple frame of bolted 2x4s, with plastic outdoor blinds for the walls. But after seven years and too many warped 2x4s (now with some extra holes), I decided to design and build a new sukkah this year. Two other families I know were interested in building their first sukkahs, and so I helped them with the design. We have cut and drilled our boards, and we are going to put all three up on Sunday.

Many people simply buy a sukkah kit. But I really enjoyed building my own from scratch, and I know that others do as well. I ran into several practical issues in designing and building both my last sukkah and this one, and I though I would blog about it in the hopes that it might be of some help to someone else who was actually constructing a sukkah from scratch. (Insert any joke about Jews and power tools here.) If you have any practical advice or questions, please add a comment.


1. Plans. This is critical. Draw the plans first and label everything. If you make changes on the fly, change the plans.

2. Size. You need to think about the maximum and minimum sizes for your sukkah. Not the halachic sizes, but the practical sizes. If you are going to put a table or tables in the sukkah, measure those first and add a few feet to each side (for chairs and people and things). That's the minimum size. And then figure out where it will go and how much space you have there. That's the maximum size.

3. Height. The fake-bamboo blinds for the walls are 6' tall. I cut my vertical 2x4s to 7'. That leaves about 1' of vertical space not filled by the blinds. But my horizontal 2x4s are each 1/2" from the ground or the top, so that uses an inch. A 2x4 is actually 1.5 x 3.5. So I use 1" in space at the very top and bottom and 7" in space for the two 2x4s, for a total of 8". That leaves 4" of extra space, or 2" at the top and bottom of the blinds, well within acceptable limits. BTW, I cut off all the strings on the blinds and simply tie them to the top and bottom 2x4s with twine.

4. L-straps. I connect each vertical and horizontal 2x4 with bolts and an "L strap" (available at Home Depot, Lowes, and other similar stores). These give it plenty of strength and prevent racking.

The bolts make it easy to disassemble and reassemble next year. Using screws or nails is a bad idea because after a few years the wood will get torn up.

Each 2x4 gets two holes. The corner of the L-strap goes through both 2x4s where they meet. The other hole in the vertical part of the L-strap gets bolted to the vertical 2x4, and the other hold in the horizontal part of the L-strap gets bolted to the horizontal 2x4. The L-strap goes between the two 2x4s (like a sandwich).

5. Bolt sizes. The L-strap I use (the smallest one available) takes a 3/8" diameter bolt. The length of each bolt is the length of the board or boards it goes through, plus 1". I need a total of 4 sizes (remember that a 2x4 is really 1.5" x 3.5").

- 2.5" - through the thin side of a single 2x4 - (1.5" + 1")

- 4" - through the thin side of two 2x4s - (1.5" + 1.5" + 1")

- 4.5" - through the wide side of a 2x4 - (3.5" + 1")

- 6" - through the wide side of a 2x4 and the thin side of a second 2x4 (1.5" + 3.5" + 1")

You simple need to draw the sukkah first and count the number of each type of bolt you need. Since the bolts are the same diameter, you can use the same nuts for all the bolts.

6. Washers. I use two 1.5" diameter washers per bolt.

7. Cutting the 2x4s. Make sure you are set on the size of the sukkah and then cut all your 2x4s first.

8. Labeling and orientation. The biggest problem in re-assembling the sukkah each year is remembering which board goes where and how it is oriented. In the past, I would somehow get one or two boards wrong each year, and that required some trimming or drilling an new hole. But this year, I have developed and idiot-proof system that will work even with me. (I am hoping to disprove the maxim that when you develop an idiot-proof system, someone will invent a better idiot.)

Everything is orientated to the front left corner of the sukkah.

The first thing to do is uniquely label each vertical board. I call the boards on the left side of my sukkah L1, L2, etc., and on the right side R1, R2, etc. (L1 and R1 are in the front). If the long side of your sukkah is the front, you can call the front vertical 2x4s F1, F2, etc. and the back ones B1, B2, etc. I write the number on each board with a thick black permanent felt pen.

I label each horizontal 2x4 with the number of the two vertical 2x4 that it runs between. So the board that goes from L1 to L2 is called L1-L2. Since there are two of these (one at the top, the other at the bottom), I also add an U (for "up") and a D (for "down") label. (You can't use B because it also stands for "back").

That uniquely identifies each 2x4. But it still has to be oriented correctly. To do this, I made a small mark on the top and left side of each board (neat the top left corner) and then slightly beveled those two edges. (I started with a router and a chamfer bit, but then realized it would be easier with a compound miter saw.) For an edge on the long side of the 2x4, I just beveled the last few inches to the corner.

If you don't have access to these tools, you could always cut a notch in these sides, mark them with a thick felt pen, or do anything else that will clearly identify this edge. The important point is to know where these edges are.

That should do it. When you put each 2x4 in, simply make sure that the beveled (or marked) edges are on the top and left sides. Now each board is in the right place and oriented correctly.

9. Pre-drilling and drilling. I pre-drilled 3 out of the 4 holes: the 2 holes on the vertical 2x4, and the one corner hold on the horizontal one. (I will drill the final hole during assembly - see below.)

To make this easier, I made six marking templates.

I used a thin piece of wood that was the width of a 2x4 and about 8" long. I drew a line across the template 1/2" from the bottom. (This is the extra space at the top and bottom.) I then drew another line 3.5" above that. This is where the horizontal board will go. I then marked the center of this and drilled a small hole, just big enough for a pencil to fit through.

I then put the L-strap in place and marked where the top hole will go and drilled that.

This template marks where the vertical 2x4 will be drilled. Once you make this, it is easy and fast to mark the holes on the vertical 2x4s. Simply put the template over the top or bottom of the 2x4, hold it in place, and make a pencil mark through the two holes. If you are going to be drilling a lot of holes, spending a few minutes making this template will speed things up a lot. (We were making three sukkahs this year.)

Vertical boards in the center of a sukkah wall can hold two horizontal boards (one from the left and one from the right). Simply flip the template over and measure and mark these 4 hole using the same method above on the other end of the template. Then you can use the other end to mark these vertical 2x4s.

Once everything is marked, drill the holes. The best bit for drilling a 3/8" hole in a 2x4 is a spade bit.

* * *

You need to make another template to drill through the long side of the 2x4. IMPORTANT: make sure these holes are about 1" above the holes on the other side. If they are at the same level, the bolts will bump into each other and it won't go through.

* * *

Finally, you need to make templates for the horizontal boards showing where the holes go.

* * *

If you really don't want to make the templates, you can mark everything with the L-straps as you go. That works, but it will take a little longer and not be as consistent.

10. Assembly. Once you have everything cut, marked, and drilled, you are ready to assemble. Pick a side. You should have four 2x4s (two vertical, two horizontal).

The first thing to do is make the whole thing square. If you can, lay everything down flat. Put the 2x4s in place (horizontals on the outside) add the L-strap, and add the two bolts for the vertical 2x4s. At this point, the L-strap should be solidly in place against the vertical 2x4s (since it is held in by two bolts), but the horizontal 2x4s are only held in place by 1 bolt. As a result, the whole contraption can "rack" and turn into a parallelogram. That's exactly what we want at this point.

The trick here is to get the whole thing square before drilling the final hole. And the way to do that is to measure the two diagonals (either from bolt to bolt, or from corner to corner, but be consistent). If they are equal, the thing is square. If not, simply move the two long corners closer to each other, remeasure, and re-adjust, until they are equal.

Once it is square, carefully mark the wood through the hole in the L-strap. Move the L-strap out of the way (don't try to drill through the hole!), drill the holes, move the L-strap back in place, and bolt it all together. You now have a side.

Repeat the process for the other sides. The frame is up.

That's the hard part. It's clear sailing from here. Add the walls, some lights, decorations, and the schach, and your sukkah is up!

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Update: I have added pictures and some additional suggestions here.

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