Saturday, May 19, 2012

We have a real roof!

So we got out to the job site just after 8am today, and we really got some productivity flowing with that early start to the day! Jeff and I started out by sheathing the tiny wedges between the two roof pitches with plywood, in preparation for putting on the flashing and roofing today.

Then, Jef cut the edges of the plywood on top of the roof to line up with the framing that comes to a point at either end of the roof. This was an aesthetic choice, which kind of became a pain by the end of the day once we were making diagonal cuts on the metal, but we'll get to that...




Then our friend Mike showed up and helped us felt paper the roof and wrap the house in house wrap. (Thanks so much Mike!) He was a working machine, he's a fast guy!

My college friend Nicole came and helped us for most of the day...Thank you so much Nicole! She helped me with all the tasks that could be done on the ground level, since I am a bit skittish about standing on roofs....


The house got all wrapped up with the moisture barrier...


Jeff spent a lot of time protecting those wedges of wall from any moisture. First they got the layer of felt paper, then he caulked the area with a sealant, then placed aluminum flashing in the crack and screwed it in, and then over the edges of the flashing he placed waterproof flashing tape. No leaks in this house! 


Here is the first piece of roofing going on the roof, cut by yours truly. Thanks Sandy for all your help today!




Cutting the metal roofing was extremely loud, lots of hot metal flying around. To cut the metal roofing, we used a Skillsaw with a regular framing blade, but turned backwards so that the teeth were spinning towards the metal instead of away from it. This worked really well. (until we wore out our first saw blade that is...)



In the picture below Jeff is nailing the very last piece of roofing material into the sheathing. 


Then Jeff had to cut off the edges of the roofing at the same angle as the roof edge, which was a huge pain in the....well, it wasn't easy.



And last but certainly not least, we put one window and our front door in! We still need to finish plumbing the door and adding shims tomorrow, but it fits just great thanks to Jeff's excellent plans, measurements, and cuts!




Overall we had an extremely productive day, and we're SOOOO thankful to our kind friends for their help! Tomorrow we hope to get some more windows in. 

11 comments:

  1. That girl in the black tank top is HARD CORE!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh thank you! I'm not sure who left the comment but if you've been out to the job site and seen us working, you would know that Jeff is FAR more hardcore than I am. He's the one that does all the Spiderman moves crawling around on the roof to get everything put into place. But admittedly, cutting that metal was not for the faint of heart! :)

      Delete
  2. Yaay for the 2-fer-1 OR 3-for-1 deal on that beautiful clean roofing! Woot woot! I love it thus far.. Keep it up (and I'll try to come out again)!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, love the 3-for-1 deals! Thanks so much for your help scrubbing them off! Amazing what 16 years of sitting outside an old barn will do to them, but also amazing how great they look after we put a little elbow grease into them. We are really loving making the old become new again!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, the way you worked on that house is truly something! The passion and the love that you place into your work really resonate on the outcome! Cutting metal roofs is definitely no easy feat by the way. Your measurements should be precise before you cut or your work with the roof goes to waste. Well, I think you know that already because you did such a fine work! I bet your settling well in your tiny home. You should be because you truly deserve it. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Shawnda! There is certainly a lot of passion and love that have gone into this whole project. You are absolutely right--we took the "slow and steady wins the race" approach with cutting the roofing, and it helped that we had some extra pieces just in case we had a bad cut. We are definitely settling in, and are getting enough free time now that we can begin posting more details on the build as well! Keep watching for more posts!

      Delete
  5. Your ‘tiny house’ is inspirational! The roof adds a modern twist to the traditional feel of the house. They complement each other perfectly! By the way, I read your latest updates, and I must say that I’m in awe of how your house turned out. Maybe I’ll do a project similar to this with my family. Thank you so much for sharing the whole experience to us, Jeff and Margo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lenore,
      (I think your name is beautiful, by the way!) We do enjoy the metal roofing contrasted with all the wood, and it makes it all the more sweet knowing that the roofing materials came from an old family project! We encourage you to tackle big projects with your family as well, when the time is right. It sounded crazy when we first started talking about it, but now we couldn't be more happy that we did it!
      Thanks,
      J & M

      Delete
  6. You focussed on good point of your blog,thank you very much. Go To

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your house seems to be coming along quite nicely! Metal roofing is a great and practical idea, and there are many good points to it. It is attractive, durable, cost effective and environmentally-friendly as well. I myself use metal roof for my home. Call me crazy, but I like it when it rains. The sound of the rain pattering down on the metal helps me sleep.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, isn’t it a beautiful and quaint little house? You won’t have to spend a lot of time cleaning and you would be able to spend more time with the family. It’s also nice that you had it as a family project. I’ll bet that it made you closer than ever. Also the roof has a great contrast to it. I was expecting that it would be wood too, but metal made it more modern. You all did a great job!

    ReplyDelete