Friday, November 14, 2008

Rafters are on!

It wasn't as hard as I'd imagined, but that was probably because Keith had cut all the blocking ahead of time. And we cut the ends of the rafters last weekend in a drizzle. We decided to go for the pergola-style cut on the ends just for looks. We both imagined the rafters to have a longer overhang, but the lumber is only 16' long and the house is 12' wide, so you do the math.

It was nice to get back to working on the house again. Even though it was COLD out. We were just grateful it wasn't raining.


I did actually work, I didn't stand around taking pictures the whole time, even if that's what it looks like. I climbed up on rickety ladders and handed things to Keith. I was a gopher. I lifted rafters up.

Tomorrow the plywood goes on, which will definitely be more difficult. Mom and dad will help and we might have to employ the help of some neighbors to get the sheets up on the roof. Then the tin goes on for the winter. The green roof will replace and/or cover it in the spring, but we got some "previously owned" tin from my dad's friend Dave for a steal. That will get us through the winter.

4 comments:

Patia said...

Congrats! It's really coming along.

When's your planned move-in date?

April said...

Hmmm.... still too early to tell, I think. Maybe Dec. 1? We still have to do the insulation, flooring, and wood stove at the bare minimum... It's taking longer than we expected!

Patia said...

Well, everything always takes longer than you expect, but I'd say a December goal is amazing, considering you just started this project, what, a month ago?

Are you going to have indoor plumbing, electricity and all that exciting stuff?

April said...

no, no plumbing this winter. eventually we'll have an sawdust toilet and cisterns on the roof for gravity-fed water... and i don't think we're doing elec., either. solar panels eventually, and maybe feed those back into the grid. we're also looking at alternative energy (sterling motors, etc.)