What's Happening in My Attic, Part 1

This is mostly for my brother, Nathan. It may be of minor interest to a couple other people, but probably not...

The title is not any kind of cryptic metaphor. It is simply that there is stuff happening in my attic. Here's what:

First, here is my attic. It's messy and gross, and generally not a fun place to be.

This is John. He gets paid 'the big bucks' to spend lots of time in my messy attic. He also gets to make it a much better attic which will be much (MUCH MUCH) less likely to fall down and me, Alice, or the rest of our house. Thus keeping the attic where it belongs--out of sight and mind! John is also a pretty good poker player.

Here is a fine example of some of the shimming that John gets to do. Notice the 1+ inch gap between the rafter and the ridge. That is now filled--and then the 2nd rafter (behind) is added to further secure the connection. These are both good things!

Here is the biggest single problem in the attic. This is a "valley beam" which is cracked and currently supported by a single 2x4 and a couple of nails. In Part 2 you will see something better supporting this.

Here we see some more shims and a shiny new big bolt holding things where they should be. The support column will be improved in Part 2.

More shims and another look at the big bolt.

And again... Notice how everything is touching now. Like those angle (valley) beams are touching the ridge beam. It wasn't that way before.

Another look at the cracked valley beam and 2x4 support column. The next time you see this, there will be a big metal bracket on the valley beam with a 4x4 support column. That will be nice.
Finally, this is the "Pit of Death." It has nothing to do with the attic structure, but I thought the world should know that my house has a "pit of death." This used to be a chimney, bit it is now a big hole where additional kitchen could have been. If one were to fall down this hole, they would go through the main floor entirely, then break the ceiling of the basement and land in the laundry room. The foreground is an old water tank--I think.
And there you have it. "What is happening in my attic" part 1. Hope you had fun.