1) The Wood:
First thing, the wood is cedar not fir like I said above. Explains why it lasted 60 years. Oh and its rough sawn so normal faced wood won't match.
Things did not go as planned. I went to get the $45 beam sections and they were just trash. Totally unusable warped and checked, like for a crate. yeah I'm glad I didn't pay ahead and have the wood delivered.
I started calling around and cedar 2x12 has gotten real 'spensive. Some local places can get it in a week and want $35/foot for 10' and under, one place wanted $55/ft for 12', but no one even has rough sawn. I found a place 45 minutes away that had s2s 12' 2x12 that were 'ok' for $7.50/foot so I went and they were good enough so I bought them. That gives me enough to replace half the inner beam and replace the rotted joists. The outer beam is basically the most visible thing on the front of the house. I just don't want big bolts on it so just need to find a 20' rough sawn 2x12, that is decent, and won't break the bank.
Called and called. Called craigslist used lumber seller and he recommended a place 90 minutes north. They called their mill and explained what I wanted. They have material to make me one, not two, for $320 so $16/foot.
So it goes. Guy said he was shocked how bad cedar is these days. They sell stuff today that 30 years ago they'd have used for firewood. I'm going to head up next week so I can go see the wood before they make the beam out of an existing 4x12. They say it is 'grade c'.
Anyway. I'm sure glad I saved the good cedar when I replaced my deck 15 years ago. That stuff is all clear and rift sawn 12-16' true 2x4. Unfortunately one side coated with a very strong coating...
2) The Surface
Like an idiot I got the stained house painted 20 years ago. I used some awful 'superpaint' that seemed to lock in moisture. That and neglect is what ruined the cedar. So this whole apparatus out front is painted cedar. We have a paint color we like but... I just can't bring myself to paint this stuff. Isn't that a geneva convention crime?
I've been sanding and staining some fir beams in the san juans using a high voc cabots deck and siding in 3000 natural. Its held up really well to the salt spray and winter winds. They have a new product called 'Australian timber oil' that looks a bit darker so I bought a can to try.
Today I cut the rotted half of the inner beam free and built a replacement with a joint with one of the $120 12' 2x12:
The piece in the pic is assembled backwards those chips around the hole will go against the metal plate.
And here you can see the oil finish. Its not dry in the picture but wow did it darken the knots. The stuff is really thin and soaks in deep.
I am going to see how it looks when the inner beam is installed, then maybe use this stuff on that $320 front beam too. If it is just too weird to have a natural wood color in front of all that paint then I could stain it dark later. Or I could just sand all the paint off everything else so its all matchy match.
3) The 2x Edge Caps
I asked above about getting sheet caps for the 2x to keep the rain off. Called probably 10 places and all but one estimated $8-$10 per foot for 4" wide sheet cap. Union labor? I mean I value skill but that seems nuts, I've seen people who are good with a brake and 100' might take 20 minutes and the material is cheap. So I guess I can rent a brake and make them myself? I need about 100 feet... the last place I called for an estimate we discuss and he's like: send us the dimensions and we can have it by... wednesday? Uh... you can't give me a quote until wednesday? No... we'll have it done by then. But how much? Oh... uh... about $100? Yeah so thats the place. Precision Sheet Fabrication on aurora in north seattle. Highly highly recommended by a friend, so probably not a scam.
I need to get the thing built before I can make the dimensions. I think the caps with little rain drip edges will go a long way toward preserving the wood.