It's a beautiful thing. . .

No one will ever see this again, but it now supports a roof that includes 16-inch wide boards milled from
Minnesota heartwood 100 years ago. 

The sad thing: Billy's magnificent framing will be covered with wallboard, never to be seen again.

Next, an engineered ridge board to support the roof.

Jen's broken down dormer under the 100 year old sagging roof has been reborn this week. Posts and beams, headers and hangers have been engineered on the fly, loads calculated, then members overbuilt, just in case.
There's no blueprint, no directions, just a master's experience and the courage to move forward. The resulting work is immaculate, with angles meeting perfectly, reinforcing and strengthening each other, solid and ready to defend this old house from the relentless, unforgiving forces of gravity, wind and storm.

Plywood seals the deal over the dimension lumber.

You would never say this out loud on the job site, but, confidentially, the man is a bit of an Einstein. (Thank you for keeping that close. We'd like to protect the reasonable rates.)
These photographs were made and are presented here to reassure Jennifer's mother that oppresive Minnesota snow loads will no longer threaten her daughter's security and also so that you can appreciate the soon to be hidden art of this industrious craftsman, this unsung Minnesota shipwright.
Meanwhile, on the main deck, two grunts finished gluing and screwing the subfloor to the engineered joists. The perfection of 4x8 factory sheets were made to fit to the irregular edges of a more organic structure. Finally, a 55 by 27 inch hole was opened for a future trapdoor, then closed with a temporary lid. Satisfied with his work, Jennifer excused her stepdad from the Dundas project, so that he can run off to California for a couple of weeks.
Jen's Old House, we are certain, is in good, competent hands.

Fruit cellar? Secret passage? Safe room? Treasure vault? A trap door can be very suggestive.
Jennifer's temporary living quarters are sealed on the other side of the wall.