The Porch Roof

The Porch Roof

    The next order of business is to get the roof onto the porch. I know it isn’t a very big porch, but it is a porch, and we enjoy sitting on it, so it needs a roof. On our first rendering of the cabin, we had 8 foot walls and the roof from the cabin just extended down over the porch. When we changed to 10 foot walls, I didn’t think it would look right, so we decided on a shed style roof.

    Four 6x6 posts will support the roof (over-kill). Each one was cut to length and then notched at the top to allow the doubled 2x8 carrier beam to sit flush across it.

    

     I added a header to the side of the cabin, and then went to work laying out my rafters. Once the rafters were laid out and cut, it was just a matter of nailing them in place.

    I’m going to hold off for a bit on the plywood so that I can access the soffit easier. After I close in the soffit, I’ll add the plywood and roofing to the porch roof.

~Terry

Wrapping It Up

Wrapping It Up

            We now have a roof! One of our goals is to have the roof on (which it is), have the house wrap on, and have the windows and door in by the end of October. At this point, we are feeling like we are going to hit that goal. The only thing that might come up short is having all of the windows in. We decided on double hung insulated window which are going to cost a bit more than the single hung windows we had first looked at.

            We had some of the sheathing already on the cabin, but had to get it all in place so we could get the house wrap on. So we went to work getting everything closed in. My friend Anthony came out and gave me a hand getting the sheathing on the gable ends up, and it went very quickly. Another bonus is that with the sheathing in place, we could install the front door (which we already had) and be able to secure some tools. This means no more hauling tons of tools back and forth!

            We decided that it would be easier to cut out the window openings before we put up the house wrap. This way, as we slowly purchased windows, we can simply cut the house wrap and install the window.

All that was left for this project was to wrap the house up like a Christmas gift.

Now on to the next project……..getting the front porch roof framed out.

~Terry

The Roof (part-2)

The Roof (part-2)

         Our goal for right now is to have felt paper on the roof to keep things dry. Once I have the stove pipe and sewer vent in place, then we will start shingling.

            With all the rafters in place, all we had left was plywood and felt paper. Once again, Brandon was an incredible help and showed up almost every evening to lend a hand. The 12:12 pitch of the roof (45 degrees) made it a bit tricky to work on because you can’t walk that steep of a pitch.

            I slid each piece of plywood up the ladder and over some temporary blocking so it would stay up. Once on the roof I was able to position it and tack it in place. Brandon, with his amazing arm span was able to nail it off quickly. As soon as we finished the plywood on one side, we put down the felt paper so we wouldn’t have to move the staging more than once.

            It is so nice to now have a dry cabin. The gables still need to be framed, and the sheathing still needs to be finished, but we will be completely dry very soon.

~Terry

The Roof (part 1)

The Roof (part 1)

            With a pile of lumber and a weekend ahead of us, we lined up some help and expertise and set out to put the roof on the cabin.

Our Roof

           We are putting a loft in the cabin and so that required us to set our own rafters. This process was complicated a bit by a building code that requires R-30 insulation in the roof. In order to fit that much insulation, we had to use 2x10 rafters. Not only far more expensive, but also much heavier, we had our work set out for us.

            The first step was to set a ridge beam. This took some forethought because we had to place a 24 foot long, 2x4x12 perfectly centered and perfectly level, 18 feet above the floor. With a plan in place, our friend Anthony and son-in-law Brandon and I went to work.

Brandon, Terry, and Anthony

The Ridge Beam

            Once the ridge beam was in place, we had to then lay out the rafters. Our friend Jason joined us and after some head scratching and intense figuring, we came up with a good template for the rafters. By the end of the first day, we had one rafter in place and all the others cut and ready to be hung.

Jason and Terry

            Brandon and Ali were back the next day to help get the rafters all in place. I had rented a couple of sections of scaffold and this turned out to be a great decision. I don’t think we could have got the roof on without it. 

One at a time

Brandon and Ali

So close

By the end of the second day we only had two rafters to go.

~Terry