Roof Rafters 9

Regaining momentum once it's lost can be really challenging. That's how it felt to begin working on the JayBee's roof rafters again--after not touching them for years. The JayBee has been covered in tarps all this time. I thought there were two layers of tarps...

...but there were actually three layers.

I decided it was time to work on the two dormers over the living room and entryway.

Climbing up and down and working up high (even though it's not that high, really) had me shaking with nerves, so...

I created a harness and safety rope to strap myself into whenever I climb up into the rafters. That rope hanging off the ridge board is not a noose; it's my safety line. I haven't been rock climbing since I was in my 20s, but I easily remembered how to create a harness out of webbing. I clip into the end of the line before I climb the ladder and, as long as I'm staying near the ridge board instead of working on top of the outer walls, I also clip into a loop that shortens the line considerably. All of this makes me feel better when I'm moving around among the rafters, and my legs shake a lot less.

At first, I couldn't make sense of the open space along the ridge board where the dormers will go. Nothing lined up. But that's because I had totally forgotten that the rafters are 24" o.c. Once I remembered that, everything lined up perfectly! I drew marks where the four additional rafters will go along the ridge board.

I wondered how well the ridge board and rafters had survived these last few years. From down below, it looked like maybe the upper edges of them had grown some mold. Once the tarps were removed, I was relieved to see that the darkness was not mold at all; it was just some of the blue plastic off the tarps.

I kept drawing and re-drawing the south dormer and finally settled on this design. This photo doesn't do my latest drawing justice, because it looks all skewed, but you get the idea. This is a 2D rendition of a 3D object, so it's not perfect, but it helps me envision things as I work.

Once again, I'm being tortured by compound angles.

Wrestling with 14-foot 2"x10"s has been a challenge. Here's a funny moment. I did not take into account that once I finished hand-cutting this board (because the miter saw could only do so much with the compound angle I had given it), its weight would no longer be balanced over this small workbench. Oops!

So much work! Up and down, up and down, up and down. Finally, I installed one of the blind rafters on the south side. (The rafter tail isn't cut yet.)

Then, I installed the opposing rafter on the opposite (north) side.

Also see:
Roof Rafters 1
Roof Rafters 2
Roof Rafters 3
Roof Rafters 4
Roof Rafters 5
Roof Rafters 6
Roof Rafters 7
Roof Rafters 8
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