Comments on Succah-Building Kits - Revised There are new succah-building kits available from several sources. These kits provide you with metal hardware... e.g.: connectors to join uprights and crossbeams... to which you add the wooden components, such as 2x4's. These kits do simplify construction in that they eliminate much of the wood sawing. I have used many of the included parts (which are sold by Simpson Strong-Tie Company and others) to construct utility shelves, firewood cribs, and even decks... all permanent structures. In my previous comments here, I mentioned that there is a tradeoff in using the kits. Rather than my approach of using bolts and nuts to connect the parts, some of the structural boards are screwed to the metal connectors. Over time, the screwholes will become enlarged and affect the tightness of the connection and can eventually lead to a rickety structure unless the boards involved are replaced. I received an e-mail from Steve Henry Herman, owner of The Succah Project. He assured me that he tells his customers that if this occurs, you can simply flip the boards over which will then provide a fresh area to screw into. He also mentioned that using that approach, it would be many years before before board replacement would be necessary. By the way, his kits produce succot of a wide variety of styles and sizes and are very reasonably priced! He also made the observation, and I concur completely, that the important thing is to do the Mitzvah and build the succah, regardless of which methodology you use! Update 2003: This year, I built a Double-Sized Succah using Simpson Strong Tie connectors. My experience is that the fabrication of the components and the assembly (for each half of the whole structure) were about the same as the original succah (not including the built-in floor of the new model). Likewise, the stability seems to be similar. However, the new succah is deeper and higher than the original. It also required a second pair of hands during parts of the assembly. I'll report on the ease and duration of the assembly in 2004. Update 2004: The assembly of the double-sized (8' x 16') succah went faster this year, but working alone, still required the better part of a day to put up and take down. At least an hour of that time was spent schlepping the parts from storage to the back yard. I also discovered at the end of the day that the slats for the roof had gone missing. This necessitated a trip to Home Depot to buy new 1" x 2" x 8' lumber and then notch the ends to interlock with the slotted cross-members (See Figure 15). That added another 1 1/2 hours. So, figure one person assembly at 6 hours. Adding another pair of hands should bring it down to about 4 hours. For 2005, I may eliminate the floor because I now have a new block patio on which to construct the succah. That should knock an hour off the assembly time. I will, however, have to remove the floor hardware and add back floor-flush crosspieces in the front and down the center for stability. Update 2005: As planned, I removed the floor from the succah since the new patio serves that purpose. Luckily, I specified dimensions for the patio that allowed plenty of space on which to mount a ladder on the outside to facilitate construction. I found that the structure was pretty rigid without having to use floor-flush cross-pieces, however there was some instability in the center. This was easily corrected by adding two diagonal roof struts running under the slats from the rear left and rear right to the front center (V-shape). Otherwise, construction was very fast and easy.