11.26.2015 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Although we weren't able to share this day with family, we are thankful for so very many things this year - namely, good health, strong bodies, hearts and minds (and good weather!) as as we continue on this path of building our home.  Thanks to all of you who are with us in spirit and provide encouragement to us along the way!

No turkey this year, but I put a chicken in the crock pot (close enough!) and headed out to the property to join Jim.  Since I didn't get a picture last night, this is a picture of the rest of the end wall blocking that Jim put in after I left.



First job today was to put the drip edge on the edges of the roof so Jim used our new roll of flashing and made some more pieces.

Working right over the edge is always challenging, but Jim got the drip edge placed and stapled.

Then he went back and used the nail gun to fasten it down securely.

A few details to be done before we could begin sheathing...like fastening down the corner of the front sheathing and cutting off the corner that extended out.

This side was a little harder to get things started - Jim had to measure from the ridge to try and get a straight edge.

He used a piece of steel to make sure everything was level.

Cutting the angle on the first piece...

  

 

 

Putting it into place...

Cutting the next piece...

Putting that one in place...

Starting to take shape!

Setting the next piece down...

It's becoming a bit difficult to get these pieces out...we moved scaffolding around a little to make it easier but Jim basically has to try and heave it up and out by himself.  Plus, the pitch on this part of the roof is very steep - it's the same as the side of the auto bay roof.  So crouching on his toes trying to do this is difficult.

Pulling up another piece...

Jim could get this piece in from the top, but then he couldn't get himself out!  So he had to go out the front wall onto the scaffolding and climb up onto the roof to fasten the piece.

 

Putting the first piece on the last course!  After Jim got this piece fastened down, he went back and finishing putting in all of the screws on the rafters.  It was too dark to cut any more or even take a last picture of the day by the time we came down. 

One more thing to be thankful for - being able to see these sunsets every night!

 

High 49/Low 38

11.25.2015

Another exciting day of progress  - today it was all about working on the valley rafters!

I had to run a couple errands this morning, including going to the roofing company to pick up another roll of flashing material.

When I got out to the site, Jim had already put up four rafters!  He had one up yesterday but took it down to do a little tweaking. 

I was glad I got there when I did so that I could help Jim with the longer rafters.

Clamping it down into place...

Then putting the last rafter up!  Then it was time for end blocking so Jim got busy fabricating all of those. 

Now that the area feels like an inside, it was also time for me to do a little cleaning while Jim was making the blocking.  We had lots of steel parts and pieces left over from bracing and shoring.  They were against the front wall and were totally in the way, so I  restacked the long pieces behind the plywood that Julia and I stacked over the weekend.  The rest of the steel we threw down and I organized it into our piles in the yard.  Feels good to have things so organized.



Putting up the first piece of blocking...

As the sun was setting, Jim finished up installing the 4 end blocks that he had made.  He wanted to put up 2 more, so he headed into the shop to make those.

 

This was the end-of-the-day picture as I left, but Jim stayed and got two more blocks made and installed so all the blocking is done on this side of the roof.  He also made another rafter for the other side.  He called today and ordered more steel to finish the rafters on that side which should come in next week. 

 

High 45/Low 28

 

11.24.2015

Today's goal was to put the underlayment on the roof section we got sheathed over the weekend.  First, Jim had to put the drip edge on.  Having the scaffolding right there makes that job so much easier.

Starting to put the ice guard membrane down for the first course.

And the second course...

Because this area sees a lot of sun and the membrane will be exposed all winter, Jim decided to just put the titanium underlayment on top for an extra layer of protection.

The ice guard membrane has to go up the side of the roof where the valley rafter will be. 

Putting the underlayment on this section of roof was much more difficult than on the dormer roof or even the smaller side of the main rafter.  Jim had to continually take the toe boards off/put them back on, plus it was hard to reach areas - like the side of the roof that he's working on below.  We ended up using smaller, more manageable pieces of membrane that he could put along the side of the roof.  Then he put the titanium underlayment on top of that.

Putting more membrane up the side of the roof.

Jim would give me the measurements of the underlayment and I would cut them and bring them to him so he didn't have to totally come off the roof.  Continuing along with the titanium...

The sides were tough - Jim had to move from the scaffolding to the roof to try and get the membrane attached correctly.

Working on the last course!

Putting the last piece of membrane at the top - Jim had to work from the other side of the roof for this piece!

Putting down the last piece of underlayment!

Time to put the cap staples in to really hold it down securely...

Jim continued putting caps in until he ran out of daylight! 

Last look of the day - that's a big section of roof to have done!

 

Jim stayed after dark and made some more rafters - he has all but one of the rafters made for the one side of the roof.  The temperatures really drop quickly after the sun sets...Jim came home very tired and a bit frozen around the edges!

 

High 39/Low 20

 

11.23.2015

We had a little bit of a relaxing morning with Kyle and Julia before they took off back to NYC.  It was so nice to see them - we had fun as well as accomplished a lot at the house!

Jim headed out after they left and started to work.  He had made the ceiling joist earlier so he got it in place and fastened down.



After that, he worked on finishing up all the screws in the sheathing.  He had done maybe 75% of them so it took him until lunchtime to finish up the rest.

Working on the last screws...

After lunch, it was time to switch gears.  Jim wants to get the valley rafters on this side of the building done while the scaffolding is all in place.  These are a little easier to make because they don't have the tails, but they are more complicated to fit because of all the complex angles. 

 

Once he got the fit he liked on the one side, he made the matching rafter for the other side to make sure everything aligned.

Putting a few screws to hold the two rafters in place.

Then it was time to head into the shop to work on making more rafters!

 

 

High 36/Low 18