A fitting challenge for awning in play yard (Condition Report)

FITTING THE AWNING’S SUPPORT POSTS is proving to be extremely challenging. 

If it is true that the sukkah must fit entirely within both the awning’s posts and its overhead frame, then here are the results after laying out the sukkah frame in the yard today:

[Update added 6/9/25] Various stakeholders consulted about this blog post have replied that the proposed arrangement, while it would obviously compromise the sukkah to some extent, is nonetheless tolerable. This consensus has now been reported to the awning vendor.

Below the jump, I provide links to photos, and more discussion.…

NOTES

1. The existing complete sukkah will not fit, as we learned already last week.
2. It will not fit even after removing one 8-foot section of the sukkah on its long side, as I had proposed last week, although that is still necessary.
3. The sukkah would fit within the awning frame only by sawing off an additional 9" from four (4) matching pieces on the short side (2 pieces at the base, and 2 on top). 
4. As a result, there may be more crowding when tables and chairs are placed inside the sukkah for a meal.
5. The awning needs to be located about 3' away from the wall of the school building.
6. In this configuration, 5 of the awning posts would directly support the frame, while one of them would be offset, with a cantilevered crosspiece about 1' long.

ADDITIONAL OPTION?   Last week, I had floated a suggestion that using leftover parts, we could construct most of another 8' wide section to sit outside of the metal awning frame (between the main sukkah and the pergola/climbing wall) so there would be two sukkot side by side in the play yard, separated by about 4" (i.e., the width of the awning frame). Additional parts would probably need to be procured. (Presumably there are kit manufacturers who might supply them to us. Somebody would need to do the research between now and Sukkot.) However, that structure would probably not have enough walls to qualify as a kosher sukkah, because it would need to be open on several sides as passageways to the main sukkah. Nonetheless, we might want to erect it for the sake of the shade that it would provide, since the sun tends to be strong at that time of year.

Documentation: Photo albums

STAGE 1.   For photos of the sukkah base in the yard with one section removed, but before further shortening, see HERE. At this point it became evident that there would not be enough room for 4"x4" awning posts along the western edge of the yard. (The posts need to be 5" from the edge of the shed roof overhang.)

STAGE 2.  For photos of the sukkah base in the yard with further shortening, see HERE. We overlapped certain base pieces by the amount that would be necessary to enable awning posts to fit within the yard but still be outside the sukkah. This told us how much further shortening would be necessary. 

The green tape measure on the ground shows the position of the awning’s post nearest its southwest corner. It’s located 5" in from the overhang; thus it would support the western side of the frame. It is placed out of the way of the nearby gate that opens onto the landing of the concrete stairs to the basement.

STAGE 3.  For photos of the position of masking tape marking three posts plus the sukkah corners of the doubly shortened sukkah, see HERE. (Links are good for 30 days.) This is how the play yard looked when we left. Hopefully the tape will remain in place through Monday, when Jeremy comes to visit.

[Clarification added 6/9/25] Some of the tape markings shown in the photos need to be updated in light of the above diagram, which was created afterward: (1) the tape that represents the NE post should be repositioned around the corner of the landing, toward the sink and away from the sukkah corner; and (2) the tape that represents the southern edge of the sukkah should be moved 16" farther south.

Lingering issue

What will these changes cost??

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Tom Sorter for measurement assistance, and as always to our staff, Fleming Brooks and Ruben Carrillo, for invaluable support. And kudos to Violet Malek as the point person for this project.