roof framin'

sunday, i nailed up portions of the ridge board and then raised & nailed up some common rafters.

for most of the rafters, i used a jig to hold them in place while i nailed them to the ridge & rafter plate. the jig was clamped to the ridgeboard, and it provided two slots for the top edge of the rafters to slide into.

From vinnie

a nail was placed halfway into the bottom of that edge of the rafters, and that nail would hook onto the back of the jig and hold them in place.

From vinnie

From vinnie

then i toenailed the birdsmouth area of the rafter to the rafter plate.

From vinnie

the jig came down, and i set it up on the opposite side of the ridge. the other two rafters went in place, their bottoms also toenailed, then the jig comes down. at this point both the rafter tops are still loose, so i can wiggle things a bit to get them in symmetrical positions for nailing. since the ridgeboard has some play in it, a clamp comes in handy here to help squeeze the rafters into position. then their heads are nailed off.

monday, the rest of the common rafters were nailed into position. i also tested attachment of the metal straps and the rafter blocking.

tuesday, gable walls were raised and nailed up. a bunch more blocking and straps went into place.

wednesday, the soffit blocks went up. the rest of the straps were also nailed. the soffit blocking was a pain, since the top of the walls aren't parallel with the first common rafter. this may be because the rafters aren't plumb, though i'm not sure. in any case, it was a pain, as each block had to be measured, marked, and cut. also, most of the gable walls came out off a bit, so i decided to dado the bottom edge of the blocks to fit them in plane with the roof over the walls.

the blocks i'm talking about are orange, and the wall+rafter out of parallel are blue:


i have yet to do the rear gable wall blocks. it appears each of the dados will need to be cut to a different depth, which is going to take a while. this method of roof construction is quite a pain when things are a little off. next time, a ladder-type soffit attached to the gable wall may work better. i'll have to make a comparison of the two.

moola

masts raised

yesterday, i assembled the gable walls and raised the temporary ridge poles. slow day!

certainly, the gable wall assembly would have gone faster if:
- i knew the length of the top plate without making multiple cuts to find out
- the stock was all straight and no prying and squeezing during nailing was needed
- i had brought up all the tools i needed in one go instead of going back & forth
- i had adjusted the nail gun to set nails to the proper depth without needing a hammer

the nail depth is tricky, as there are different angles of nailing involved, and each type requires its own depth setting. i suppose, ideally, i'd have multiple guns with their own setting used for the different types of nailing involved. but that's expensive. and really, i only spent about two minutes going over my work with a hammer.

the ridge pole raising was very slow. certainly, i'd like to speed that up.
- pre-determined bracing lengths and angles would have helped
- would require pre-cutting braces
- would allow placing brace bases without eyeballing or fumbling around with stock
- connection details for speed & strength should be developed

so it's xmas eve. i think we're getting some rain & wind tomorrow, but that shouldn't be a big deal. i'll wait on raising the ridge, as that won't like high winds without rafters holding it up.

teh storm

well the ground is covered in snow.. the storm is long gone. i think today i may get back to work. sure is cold out there. need to cut frieze blocks, mark/raise/plumb temp ridge poles, raise the ridge, and get the rafters up. need to find some motivation..

meh

yesterday i finished cutting the gable wall studs; ends at angles and all. i didn't get to the plates, however. i had a massive headache and felt terrible, so i came back to smyrna.

the weather is showing something like 12 inches of snow this weekend. so, i'm not going to raise the gables or roof yet. instead, i'm going to get the rest of the roof sheathing today and cover the ceiling up with it. this should keep the vast majority of snow off the deck. i just need to get out there after the snow and brush it off before it all melts and drips down.

mother nature is brutal

yesterday morning, i drilled out holes in the soffit blocking for ventilation. it's been a few days since i cut the rafters; i'm anxious to raise them.

i also calculated the gable wall dimensions and precut the gable end studs to length. i still have to cut their ends at an angle. i'll go back over my calculations today before putting the walls together.

one caveat of this type of gable end detail in the roof framing is that the gable wall must be constructed to accurately align with the rafters, and they're built separately. so we'll see how it goes :P

sunday was rainy. i got out there early and covered the roof with a tarp, then did some rafter marking using the stair gauges. spent most of the time climbing around the framing, keeping the tarp from blowing away. ugh.

monday i marked and cut all the common rafters. i also cut the barge rafters at the same profile as the commons, so the barges will need to butt the ridge. i think i did the same thing on the shed by accident. no biggie.

omg long post mm kay

today was like deja vu of yesterday

so first thing in the morning i measured, cut, and nailed up additional ceiling joist blocking. this was the blocking that runs along the front and rear walls, between the band joist and the first inside joist. the top of the walls toenail to these blocks.

next thing, i got the ridge boards up onto the ceiling. haha, that was fun. try lifting a 16' 2x12 of SYP. OK, now try getting it up onto a ceiling that's oh, i dunno, 12 feet or so above the ground. so how did i do it? i threw it up there. no, really. i did. two of them.

so then i laid the ridge boards against the rafter plate. then i realized i needed to mark the rafter plates first, so i pushed them aside. i used the square to carry the edge line of the ceiling joists up, and marked the opposite side of the line for placement of the rafter.

then i pushed the ridge boards back flush against the rafter plates, and carried the rafter markings across onto the ridge. sounds easy, but i probably wasted a good 20-30 minutes on this. i had the ridge against the left rafter plate, but that plate is a little longer than the main ridge (because of the small bump out on the left side of the building, there's a small ridge for that side.) once i realized that, i carried dimensions from the opposite rafter plate and away the marking went.

so at this point i was ready to make a template rafter and get cracking on the rafters. this was about 1pm or so. i accomplished nothing from this point until 4pm, when i left. i wasted alot of time and a few rafters, but i didn't come up with decent templates or anything. meh, practice makes perfect. i did discover i can't think for crap when its like 30 degrees and im standing outside in that neighborhood.

so tonight i recalled the use of stair gauges and found them on home depot's website, so i will pick them up. then i can use the rafter square as both a template to mark the rafter and as a cutting guide. this will be much faster than trying to perfect a hand made jig and will be reusable in the future.

so i think tomorrow i'll run one rafter with the gauges, then i can determine where reference marks could be placed upon the edge of the rafter. then i can line them all up on edge, snap lines, and have at it.

unfortunately, it's supposed to rain tomorrow. so i gotta get up at the butt crack of dawn to get down there very early, hopefully get the rafter material indoors, cover the roof with a tarp, and maybe if that works i can still cut the rafters.

i sure could use the time, the window deadline looms. don't keep your fingers cross tho, kiddies.

speedy gonzalez

so it's december 12th. time flies, eh.

the windows will be arriving on the 23rd. that's in 11 days. eleven days. what do i need to do before the windows can go in?

- frame the roof.
that's ridgeboard, rafters, gable walls, overhang blocking, fascia boards.
- sheathe the roof.
that's 45' x 16' x 2 - about 48 sheets, 4x8 7/16 OSB, up onto the roof into place.
- eave dripedge.
- paper the roof.
unroll that junk into place, tight, nailed down without it blowing all over.
- gable end dripedge.
- roof/wall intersection step flashing.
- shingle the roof.
about 1450sf, or 15 squares, or 45 bundles of asphalt shingles. up on the roof, chalked straight, nailed into place. including ridge vent cap shingles.
- sheathe the walls.
- paper the walls.
- plumb & square the window openings.
- sill pans in window openings.

ok i ordered the windows too soon. or i need to move my ass.

wednesday, i returned to find the tarp blown off and a boat load of water standing on the floor. i removed the filter from the wetvac and sucked it all up real nice. lovely water.

thursday, i beefed up nailing about breaks in the double top plates. i cut & nailed the rafter plates. i also nailed a bunch more metal connectors.

friday, i nailed the rest of the metal connectors up. i cut & nailed blocking in the ceiling joist over the living/dining area. i started working on a rafter cutting jig before the cold got to me and i finally left.

notes:

keep breaks in the top plates away from studs/joists - they interfere with application of metal connectors. this is a good argument for inline framing.

also, look for alternate plate material. something real straight and tight. same with the ridge board. it'd really help things come together nice.

today i finished setting the attic access headout, and i toenailed the ceiling band joist and cj->interior wall intersections. i also started nailing up some simpson h2.5 metal connectors.

toenailed the bandjoist using my framing hammer and 16d galvanized nails. went much smoother than using the gun with those spiral nails, felt good to swing a hammer.

the metal connectors go up slow. nine or so nails per connector. im also spray painting them with a clear enamel to prevent corrosion before its closed in.

we're supposed to get rain and wind tonight, so i covered the house with tarp, using a makeshift ridge of about 2 feet to shed water from the tarp. it's tied in a few minimal places, so hopefully the wind wont rip it loose.

if it stays dry, i can cut some rafters tomorrow under cover from the rain.

still feelin the ceilin

so friday i cut and set most of the rest of the ceiling joists and the band joists for the ceiling. missing parts were the front band joist and the ceiling joists interrupted by the attic access.

saturday, rain and snow occupied the lands, and thus i did not occupy said lands. however, i did manage to sit around and do nothing in the warm cozy house in smyrna :)

sunday (today) i went out there, cut and set the ceiling joists for the attic access, and the headout for the attic access. i also cut and nailed up most of the ceiling joist ties.

the ties tie together the two section of ceiling joists which meet over the center wall throughout most of the house. the exception is the front of the house, where full 24' joists need no ties. for ties, i decided to use up some of the scrap floor sheathing i had. this is 3/4" advantech osb. this stuff can handle a great deal of shear load. i doubled them up to tie each pair of ceiling joists, and nailed from both sides.

in retrospect, i should have made those ties a bit longer, and only nailed from one side. even further in retrospect, i should have lapped the ceiling joists instead of tying them, since im using the coil strap to tie the ceiling joists to the rafters, which allows me to lay them out either inline with the rafters or adjacent to them. ah well. it's coming together well.

a bit more work on the ceiling, and the roof is on the horizon.

ceiling begins

yesterday after quickly lining the walls, i put up the rest of the few sheets of wall sheathing at corners. around 2pm i was done that and rain let in, so i headed home.

today, i started late to let things dry out a bit. i set all the 24' ceiling joists and two 16' band joists at their ends. i toenailed one bandjoist, but that was painful. it's either the lumber, the nails, or my nailgun, but somehow more than half the toenails i shot, the nail literally did about a 120 degree turn to come out the back side of the band joist in an upward direction. what the ef?

so i'm going to try picking up smaller nails tomorrow for toenailing, perhaps they'll be less likely to be dissuaded in their course by the wood.

super plumb

the house is not plumb unless it's all plumb. the ceiling joists cannot go up until it's all plumb. so, i had to get it all plumb.

the PLS90E is the best tool for this job in my arsenal, bar none. unfortunately, i can't see the laser line for squat during daylight. monday night brought rain which prevented me from finishing up plumbing walls.

tuesday around noon, the ceiling joists and rafter lumber arrived. i cleaned up the site a bit, and added a few sheets of wall sheathing at the back corners to stabilize the building. at dusk, the PLS90E came out and made very quick work of extremely accurate plumbing of the walls.

after about two hours, i couldn't find a wall or corner that wasn't perfectly plumb. today, i'll double check lining of the walls to ensure they're straight, then the ceiling joists will start going up.

we may see some rain today. once the joists are up, i'll take accurate measurements of the ceiling width, and utilize those measurements in defining rafter dimensions.