Roselea

Author: Shaun

  • Built Rain Shadow protected Storage Area

    First thing this morning, we planed the four half-done long timber pieces left over from last week, down to the required 69mm thickness, using our power assisted planer machine.

    Then, taking these four pieces outside, we wondered where to put them and keep them out of the rain. So we decided to hoist up one of our large tarpaulin sheets right across the top of the three sides of Bedroom 2 which is an extension sticking out towards the swimming lane.

    It was a folded over plastic tarpaulin using a tensioned rope to form the fourth side and then tied down the edges using string from the eyelets down to concrete blocks.

    But we found that it still wouldn’t form a flat area so we also propped up various locations up inside the covering using diagonal struts with footballs taped on the ends (for a softer contact to the plastic surface) and this helped to create sloping ridges to encourage the rain water to run off without forming puddles.

    Rain-Cover

    Rain-Cover

    Rain-Cover-from-above

    Rain-Cover-from-above


    It was a surprising long time to complete this task, some of it because we had some stiff breeze blowing our tarpaulin around, but also trying out different methods of creating a slope and having to change our ideas half way doing this job. Phew!

    Now we have a rain shadow ready to keep our timber mostly dry and also very well ventilated, especially that we have our special LVL timber coming this week and we need somewhere to store it in the dry until we are ready to use them in building the special roof rafters.

  • Production of Bits and Pieces for the Skylight Continues

    Today, we carried on in our workshop to prepare and create all the bits and pieces we will need for our Skylight framework. We sliced up the plywood strips we made yesterday (744 mm wide by 2400 mm long) into 10 unique sized pieces ranging from 1165 mm to 2385 mm lengths, a total of 20 pieces. We labelled them A to J in pairs of two, and the two large end pieces labelled as “3” and “6”.

    Then, we cut a series of square notches on some of the boards which are needed to avoid the steel tie cross bars, so everything is now a jigsaw and will (hopefully) fit all together smoothly and tight like a glove!

    They are now lying on our trolley and covered up with tarpaulin.

    20-Strip-of-Ply-for-inside-of-Kerb

    20-Strip-of-Ply-for-inside-of-Kerb

    Then, we took the two piles of 327mm lengths of timber pieces, one is 63mm wide by 38mm and the other piece is 31mm by 38mm wide. We glued these together to form a T shaped composite piece. We made 52 of this T shape and 4 L shaped ones.

    Kerb-Piece-glued-together

    Kerb-Piece-glued-together

    And finally, to close off the day and while waiting for the glue to set, we set up four trestle legs outside on the driveway, and sliced down the middle of 4 lengths of 89mm CLS timber to make 69mm wide pieces. But we had trouble with the circular saw machine and it produced wider and angled pieces so on Saturday, we will put them through our planer / thickener machine to square them back up again and get the size back to 69mm too!

    It is a very fiddly list of parts for our Skylight and we haven’t finished yet, for example, we need various thickness of Foam insulation to fill in the void inside the framework etc. – phew!

  • All Day in Workshop Slicing and Chopping Timber

    Today, to avoid the rain and wet afternoon, we worked in our workshop, slicing and chopping lots of timber. But first, we made a quick solid sound barrier for our doorway that leads into the kitchen at the back of the workshop. We made it using a spare 12mm thick cement board and cut it down to a size (800mm wide by 2080mm high) to fit the door hole. We then taped on strips of an old towel to soften the edges and to plug the gap to reduce the noise being generated into in the workshop. Mum really appreciated this!

    Then, we went to our timber storage and collected 15 lengths of the 63mm CLS timber and brought them inside. Setting up the saw table to rip down 4 lengths making 31mm wide pieces which are needed to fill in as a spacer in the framework design of the Skylight.

    Next, we got out the chop saw and proceeded to chop up all the remaining timber lengths as follows:

    • 56 lots of 327 mm long pieces (63mm CLS)
    • 72 lots of 277 mm long pieces (63mm CLS)
    • and 56 lots of the 327 mm long pieces of the newly made 31mm wide timber.
    Four-trugs-of-framing-pieces

    Four-trugs-of-framing-pieces

    After lunch, we went back to our storage and loaded onto our trolley, 20 sheets of the 12mm thick plywood and 5 sheets of 18mm OSB boards. We then reset our work table back to the big circular saw and then sliced these sheets as follows:

    • 15 strips of 366mm wide of the 18mm OSB
    • And 20 strips of 745mm wide of the 12mm plywood
    15-Strips-of-OSB-for-outside-of-kerb

    15-Strips-of-OSB-for-outside-of-kerb

    20-Sheets-of-plywood-for-inside-of-kerb

    20-Sheets-of-plywood-for-inside-of-kerb


    Tomorrow, we will slice the 12mm plywood pieces into a collection of different sizes that each will fit between the steel tie bars (these stretch across from one side of the I-Beams to the other), with cutouts to fit around the ties and then we glue and nail the 327mm pairs of timber pieces into a T shape composite piece. After that, we will go out and up to the top of the Steel framework and start assembling all these pieces together to form the Skylight framework.

  • Finished off Lower Wooden Support on I-Beams

    The other half of mounting a series of wooden support timber pieces on the lower flanges of the I-Beams, on the inside of the Skylight was completed today.

    Lower-Kerb-support-finished

    Lower-Kerb-support-finished

    This is now ready for the vertical plywood sheets to be glued and nailed up on the inside of the skylight module and then the kerb framework to be built to this plywood. But first, we need to slice up 20 sheets of plywood tomorrow and chop up loads of 63mm CLS timber as well!

  • Vertical Slots All Done – External Wall Almost Completely Finished At Last!

    Today, after a delayed start due to a dentist appointment, we resumed cutting the little vertical slots into the top of the cement panels on the walls. The wall O and Wall K were finally completed with the template adjusted in its third position, to cater for the 45 degree angle roof.

    Wall-O-slots-done

    Wall-O-slots-done

    Wall-K-Slots-done

    Wall-K-Slots-done


    We then went around doing odd ones here and there were an extra piece will look good and fill in under the Eaves.

    This completed task very nearly finishes the structure of the whole of the External Wall of our house, all 14 sections, all 77 metres distance around and 3 metres high, with 12 windows and 3 doors too!! We only need put in the corner posts (when we install the hip and valley rafters) and seal up the joints in the cement boards (when we clad the wall with timber).

  • Analysis and Parts List Completed

    Over the last three days, we have been reviewing the design of the skylight and it’s kerb. The exact detail have not been look at for a few years and needed updating to reflect the actual size of timbers bought. Then an analysis of all the parts that makes up the structure and framework for the skylight was performed.

    We have now a list of parts (see list below)we need to generate in our workshop and using those bits and pieces, start building the kerb and framework that will hold up the Skylight window modules.

    • 12 sheets of 18mm OSB boards, cut into 35 metres of 300mm wide strips
    • 20 sheets of 12mm plywood boards, cut into 35 metres of 740mm wide strips
    • 3 lengths of 89mm CLS timber, sliced in half to make 20 metres of 43mm by 38mm timber length
    • 3 lengths of 63mm CLS timber
    • 8 lengths of 63mm CLS timber, cut into 120 vertical posts, each 300mm high.
    • 38mm thick PU foam boards, to fill the gap in the framework.

  • Cutting Slots on Top of Cement Panels Continues

    Also today, we were continuing with the task of cutting the vertical slots that will allow the rafter top flange to come through to form the support for the eves.

    Removing-a-nail-before-routing-a-slot

    Removing-a-nail-before-routing-a-slot

    Routing-slots-in-top-of-the-wall

    Routing-slots-in-top-of-the-wall


    We finished wall L and Wall J and I. Then around to wall E and finally wall D, a total of about 15 slots in all.

    After lunch, the template was adjusted for the next size and angle of the roof which is 40 degrees which means the bird mouth has to be bigger hence the slots needs to be deeper down the cement panels to allow the rafters to fit properly.

    Wall-P-with-rafter-slots

    Wall-P-with-rafter-slots

    We then continued on Wall H and Wall N and finally finishing wall P, a total of another 20 slots. Tomorrow, the template will be changed again to the last setting, ready to do the roofs which have an angle of 45 degrees which are the two back extension (wall K and wall O) facing the swimming lane.

  • First Bit of Skylight Kerb Goes Up

    Now that we have our part list sorted, the first pieces of timber can be generated and put up on the steel I-Beams to start forming the structure and framework for the Skylight.

    The first pieces were made from ripping in half planks of 89mm CLS timber down the middle to form 44mm by 38mm pieces. These went up on the lower flanges of the I-Beams on the inside.  This support piece provides a mounting point for the tall plywood panels that will go from the very bottom of the I-Beams, all the way to the top just under the glazing framework.

    Lower-Kerb-supports-started

    Lower-Kerb-supports-started

    We have done about half the way around, about 15 metres of a total of 35 metres. Tomorrow, that will be completed and the next job is to chop and slice the various timber and sheet materials into required sizes.

     

  • Building Inspector Comes and Approves Our Walls

    Our building control inspector came along this afternoon to take a look our new walls. He was curious about our cement panels and what they were made of and we reassured him that they are made of wood chip mixed in pure cement and compressed into flat 10mm sheets. He also wanted reassurance that we are fire proofing the necessary cladding along the back walls which are the nearest to the boundary line. We said we are already looking into various methods and options.

    He had a look inside for a minute or so and that was it!

    He was happy and we are happy too!

    Lovely!

  • Slots On Top of Walls Started Today

    After finishing off the clearance of the openings this morning, we then switched over to the other router, we tackled the next job of slicing 38mm wide vertical slots at the top of the walls to allow the roof rafters to come through. Using our specially made template (which hooks around a vertical post) to guide the router in the exact locations where there are vertical posts which is where we want each of the roof rafter come down and sit directly on top of the solid post for maximum strength and load bearing.

    We managed to do wall B and Wall A (along the front of the building) and then Wall M and half of wall L (along the back of the building).

    These rafters are coming down at an angle of 32 degrees which means a bird mouth of 37mm deep cut into the top flange of the rafter and hence the amount of cement board needed to be removed pass the line of the top-plate. This is to allow the rafter to lock onto the top of the walls in a very secure fashion and have plane of the roof exactly 60mm above the top-plate and also the edge of the cement panels (these are coming up to meet the roof boards).

    Birds-Mouth-Cut

    Birds-Mouth-Cut

    Sits-on-top-of-wall

    Sits-on-top-of-wall

    and-passes-through-the-cement-board

    and-passes-through-the-cement-board


    in-a-Slot

    in-a-Slot

    On Monday, we will finish off the remaining walls that has these same 32 degrees sloping rafters (wall L, J, I, E and D). then the template is adjusted to do the next walls that has the 40 degrees angled rafters and finally the 45 degrees angled one after that.