Trim and Ventilation 5

With no tarp hanging over the east end of the JayBee anymore, the roof of the east end bumpout was exposed. I decided I needed to get that tiny roof covered. First step: get the trim installed around the bumpout.

Here is the inside trim installed. I cut the pieces one day, stained all the pieces inside the house that night, and then installed them the next day.

Here is the external trim installed.

Yesterday I read a dramatic/disturbing/great blog post about properly ventilating a tiny house. (Sure makes me glad I hung in there with how long it took me to drill all those ventilation holes.) I included a link to Ella's Little Yellow Door blog in my blog's Resources/Links section because I followed her entire tiny house build and I love her writing, her bravery, and her honesty. I really recommend that you read her latest post; it's quite sobering.

Also see:

Trim and Ventilation 1
Trim and Ventilation 2
Trim and Ventilation 3
Trim and Ventilation 4

Roofing 4

I had two roofing helpers today. We had been hoping to install metal roofing panels, but I hadn't gotten far enough along to do that, so we decided to focus on getting the ice and water shield completely installed instead. The day started out cold!

Three of us up on the roof was a bit much, especially since we only had one heat gun, so I eventually climbed down to work on more drip edge. At one point, Bear joined the three of us up on the roof. As if there wasn't enough to worry about tripping over or slipping on, he just had to get underfoot. I was so annoyed, I didn't even snap a photo of him.

Here is Arlen helping drive the final screw into a piece of drip edge we added to the roof.

The crib I made for the underlayment worked even better today because I added two more rails to the basket of it.

After we took a lunch break, the sun retreated, and it got much colder (opposite of the forecast that the temperature would rise to 40 degrees F today), making it really difficult to work with the underlayment.

Then, we ran out of underlayment. We need just a little bit more to finish covering the roof. So, once again, we added a tarp back to the roof. The JayBee is starting to look different, though.

Well, the west end--not so much.

Also see:
Roofing 1
Roofing 2
Roofing 3
Roofing 5
Roofing 6
Roofing 7
Roofing 8
Roofing 9
Roofing 10
Roofing 11
Roofing 12
Roofing 13
Roofing 14
Roofing 15
Roofing 16
Roofing 17

Roofing 3

It looked and felt like midwinter yesterday, which made it hard to get much done on the outside of the JayBee. We have had years when we didn't get any snow until after Christmas; clearly this isn't one of them.

It didn't get much above freezing today, but the sun was out, so it was serious roofing time.

The snow was off the south roof of the JayBee, but this is what the north roof looked like when I got started. As I peeled back the tarp, snow and ice crystals kept pouring down my shirt.

Guess who beat me up onto the roof?

Can you guess what I made this for?

How about once the legs are on it?

No idea? Well, here it is in use. The rolls of ice and water shield are so incredibly heavy. It was all I could do to get this roll up on the roof. I built the crib for it so I would have a way to unroll lengths of the shield without having to worry about the whole thing rolling off the roof. The duct tape straps are meant to hold the roll in the crib as the roll gets smaller. It worked, but I think more wooden ribs in place of the duct tape would work even better.

As soon as I started working on the roof, George began meowing. He wanted to be let inside the house. I kept telling him that I wasn't climbing down until the end of the day, but he kept meowing...and meowing. Finally, he found a place in the sun to sleep while he waited.

The ice and water shield is supposed to be installed when it's 45 degrees F or warmer. Didn't come close today. When I peeled off the backing, the shield didn't really stick to the sheathing. (If it was summertime, it would be annoyingly super sticky.) Fine by me; it meant I could keep repositioning it until I was happy with its placement. Once it was in place, I used a heat gun to heat it up (which made it sticky) and a j-roller to seal the shield down to the roof. An added benefit to using the heat gun; it put off so much heat, I could work without wearing gloves.

First piece!

All four dormer valleys done.

South dormer done.

North dormer done.

I got another piece installed, but I pushed the daylight window a little too far. I had to pick up and put away everything after dark.

George was happy to be finally let into the house!

Also see:
Roofing 1
Roofing 2
Roofing 4
Roofing 5
Roofing 6
Roofing 7
Roofing 8
Roofing 9
Roofing 10
Roofing 11
Roofing 12
Roofing 13
Roofing 14
Roofing 15
Roofing 16
Roofing 17

Roofing 2

The drip edge is now done on the north eaves...

...and on the south eaves.

Also see:
Roofing 1
Roofing 3
Roofing 4
Roofing 5
Roofing 6
Roofing 7
Roofing 8
Roofing 9
Roofing 10
Roofing 11
Roofing 12
Roofing 13
Roofing 14
Roofing 15
Roofing 16
Roofing 17


At one point while I was working on the drip edge, I felt the ladder shake. I looked down and, yup, Bear had climbed up the ladder behind me. Crazy cat.

Housewrap 4

I used all the felt I had left to wrap the entryway. I ran out before I finished the sheltered part above the door. That means I will have to buy a whole roll just to do that little part--and the west end, too, of course.

I removed the cedar boards from the floor of the entryway to install the radiant barrier and housewrap--and look what I found living under there! Hundreds of ladybugs. They're gone now, but I wonder what might be the best way to keep them from returning...

Also see:
Housewrap 1
Housewrap 2
Housewrap 3

Roofing 1

I always feel a little thrill when I pull the tarps back and see the JayBee uncovered--especially now that the eave trim and roof sheathing are on it.

Before I could start installing drip edge, I had to get all the schmutz (left over from when I drilled all the ventilation holes along the ridge board) off the roof. I thought I could stand on a ladder and use a broom to do this, but that didn't work. I didn't have enough leverage from that angle to work the broom effectively.

My only option was to get back up on the roof. At least the view from there is always rewarding.

See? Schmutz everywhere.

Especially in the dormer valleys.

After spending hours getting the roof cleaned off, I could begin installing drip edge.

The first piece on the roof!

Then three more pieces.

I think I'm off to a good start.

Also see:
Roofing 2
Roofing 3
Roofing 4
Roofing 5
Roofing 6
Roofing 7
Roofing 8
Roofing 9
Roofing 10
Roofing 11
Roofing 12
Roofing 13
Roofing 14
Roofing 15
Roofing 16
Roofing 17


From the rooftop, I could see that George was not as concealed as he is when the foliage is on all the plants. He slept in this spot for hours.

Bear was very frisky today. At one point, he climbed a ladder and crawled up under a tarp to get on the JayBee's roof. I ran in the house to get my camera...and caught him on his way back down.

He also kept getting in my way--like here, where he is blocking my way on the staging.

Housewrap 3

I finished installing radiant barrier and housewrap up to the peak on the east end of the JayBee. The exposed green stuff you see is ice and water shield that I used as flashing on the top edge of the bumpout.

Since I hadn't made a decision about housewrap when I began installing the trim, only the radiant barrier is installed underneath the trim. I brought the felt housewrap up to the bottom edge of the trim and then pulled the top strip of radiant barrier down over it.

Installing the radiant barrier on the north side...

It is challenging installing anything on the north side of the JayBee because of the slope of the hillside and because the hill is entirely clay. These last few days, the clay has been especially slick. The following photo doesn't adequately convey just how slippery it is back there; I felt like my feet were skating downhill on grease! Believe it or not, stepping on wet leaves is actually better than stepping on the dirt.

An additional challenge I had while installing the upper courses of housewrap on the north side was that the steep hill didn't allow me to set up stand-alone stepladders, and I couldn't lean a ladder against any part of the house I was working on. So...I set up staging instead--and then wrestled with it every time I needed to move it.

Finally. The housewrap on the north side is done--all the way up to the peak of the dormer. Not sure why the bottom course has become so dimpled; it was smooth when I installed it.

I would like to celebrate being done with housewrap entirely, but the entryway isn't done yet, and this is the west end of the JayBee...

The poor neglected west end. Floor isn't done. Bumpout isn't built. Housewrap is now waiting as well. Everything in this end is waiting on plumbing.

No more tarps are hanging as covers for windows on the other three sides. This is what the windows now look like from the inside.

I won't cut the housewrap covering the window holes until I am ready to install the windows.

Now to move onto roofing!

Also see:
Housewrap 1
Housewrap 2
Housewrap 4


Great moon last night!