Two weekends ago, it poured all weekend. I made no progress on the rafters for those two days. After going out to the JayBee to pour accumulated water off of the tarps covering the house about eight times each of those two days, I finally figured out a way to prop up and weight down the tarps so they stopped accumulating water.
The new method worked through the pouring rain at the beginning of the following week. Then...very strong, gusty winds blew the tarps off the house--even though there were rocks and bricks hanging on the grommets around the edges. (No one's been hit in the head with a brick yet--even if I occasionally walk into one ;-) --and, thankfully, there's no glass yet installed in the JayBee.)
Do you see the tail end of our little buddy in this next shot?
Last weekend was unseasonably HOT and sunny all weekend. I worked on roof rafters all weekend. Due to the great weather, there were a lot of boaters out on the water, and these little railway carts went by as well.
Here's another moon-on-the-water shot from that weekend.
At the end of a complete weekend of working on rafters, what did I have done? ONE three-foot rafter. Why only one? I went up and down the ladder a gazillion times, cut many pieces of wood, even had the rafter installed at one point only to have to remove it completely and start over. The multiple compound angle cuts are giving me fits. I think I understand now why people don't frame roofs this way.
Bear slows me down as well. When I'm up on the ceiling joists, he endlessly whines and cries--until he figures out how to climb up and join me--and get in my way.
When I climb down to cut a board, Bear whines and cries until he figures out how to get back down--and get in my way.
Since we had a couple more days of rain this week, I was pleased to see this morning that almost no water had gotten inside the JayBee--even though the tarps had begun to blow off in the high winds that arrived during the night.
When I lifted my gaze above floor level, though, I gasped. Look at how much water collected in one of the tarps!
There was no way to lift this up over the top plate to drain it, so I put a garbage can under it and popped a hole in the tarp to drain it.
As the water drained and the strong winds continued to blow, the tarp kept shifting and lowering even more.
While the water was draining, I replaced all the GRK fasteners that secure the wall bottom plates to the headers over the wheel wells with longer screws. I'd been meaning to do that for some time, so it felt good to finish that. Over two hours later, the water was finally completely drained, and I poured it out of the JayBee. (It amounted to one and a third garbage cans full!)
I spent awhile repositioning the tarps and re-anchoring them with bricks, etc.
Finally, I continued work on another rafter I began to cut last weekend. In the following photo, I was trying to position my compound miter saw for a cut--until I realized it would not be able to make the cut I needed.
So, I made the cut with the hand saw.
A bunch more trips up and down the ladder, and then I made some more hand cuts.
I was up on the ceiling joists, finally beginning to install this rafter, when I felt rain drops. I sensed that this was going to be bad, so I rushed to cover the roof with tarps. Thank goodness I moved fast because next came a big clap of thunder. I was thinking, "Oh great. Here I am sticking up above the roofline of my house wrestling with tarps--just where the lightning is likely to find me!" Just as I was finishing securing the tarps, the sky opened up; water and HAIL rained down. (If you have any trouble seeing the hail in this next shot, click on the image to see a larger version of the photo.)
By the time I covered my miter saw, it was already drenched. First time it's ever gotten wet. I was drenched, too, but as soon as the rain stopped I got back to installing the rafter. I finished the installation, but it was too dark by then to snap a photo.
::: sigh ::: I'm trying, but progress is moving at a snail's pace these days.
Also see:
Roof Rafters 1
Roof Rafters 2
Roof Rafters 3
Roof Rafters 5
Roof Rafters 6
Roof Rafters 7
Roof Rafters 8
Roof Rafters 9
Roof Rafters 10
Roof Rafters 11
Roof Rafters 12
Roof Rafters 13
Roof Rafters 14
Roof Rafters 15
Roof Rafters 16
Roof Rafters 17
Roof Rafters 18
Roof Rafters 19
Roof Rafters 20
Roof Framing Wrap-Up
Oh, wow.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, that photo of the JayBee with the windblown tarps in the dark (almost) is *so sad* ... and that drainage scenario is bizarre! I know *I'll* sure feel better once you've got a roof installed!
Then there's those rafter cuts... I understand that you're undertaking an unusual method in constructing those rafters on the ends; but even having seen how they're cut, I still can't grasp why they're so complex. No wonder they're giving you such a hard time! How many of those things do you need? Eight?
What a relief to have an update, though! Thanks so much for posting after the long work day :-)