Roselea

Category: Rafters

  • Troubles With Hauling LVL Rafter Into Place

    This morning, we sliced off the bevel wedge that needed removing off the top end of the LVL Rafter so it will slide and fit tight into the metal bracket. Then, at the other end, re removed a small section of the webbing so it can fit across the 76mm thick top plate on the walls.
    That done, we organised the scaffolding towers so that we could use our block and tackle to lift up the 60kg rafter beam without having to use the electric winch machines and instead use man power on ropes going through two pairs of 2 pulleys blocks to increase by 4 fold the lifting power.
    But, Hey Hoy, we had an incident involving a metal collar on our extending arm at the top of the tower and the fact that it snapped apart into two pieces under the twisting action and dynamic loading on the end of the extension arm.

    Broken-Connector

    Broken-Connector


    Fortunately, nothing came crashing down as it broke almost at the beginning of the lift operation and also we had tied ropes on each separate part to make sure that things didn’t slip off or come apart. Phew!
    So after lunch, we spent an hour or so to adapt our metal poles into a more solid braced design and welded everything together to avoid weak collars and bolts.
    Updated-hoist-arm

    Updated-hoist-arm


    Taking our new support lifting arms back out and set it up again, to only find that the whole vertical pole started bending over under the strain this time!! Oh Drat! Gee Wizz!
    Hoist-arm-bends

    Hoist-arm-bends

    It looked that it really needed a second leg to support the other end of the extended arm so we fetched our old wooden crane legs, reduced the height of where the horizontal pole fits through the wooden section and tried getting it to marry up and connect to our support arm. But it was leaning over drunken and we couldn’t get it to slide all the way into the metal collar!!

    Supporting-hoist-arm-with-a-leg

    Supporting-hoist-arm-with-a-leg

    At this point, it started raining so we abandoned this work and went back indoors to carry on with our vacuum unit instead. PHEW!

  • LVL Rafters AB and DE Are Now Constructed

    Today, we assembled the two LVL diagonal Rafters in our template and glued and nailed it all together. These particular rafters are just under 6metres long and they weigh 60 Kg each – phew!

    Ready-for-second-plywood-web

    Ready-for-second-plywood-web

    Glue-Spread-

    Glue-Spread-

    Valley-Beams-AB-and-DE-Finished

    Valley-Beams-AB-and-DE-Finished



    We are waiting for the glue to dry before we do the final slice off the top end where it needs a bevel sliced off the corner so it will slide diagonally into the metal bracket to marry up tight against the C Ridge beam already up there. After that, it is a case of carrying them outside and hauling them up into place, but this time, we will use a four-way pulley system to allow us more control over lifting up the very long rafter and it can be held in place with ordinary rope while we check the ends and position to make sure it fits in well! Wish Us Luck! Grin!

  • The Diagonal LVL Rafters Are Slowly Coming

    We have been working on sorting out the design and calculations of the first set of LVL diagonal Rafters, namely, the two rafters that comes from the C Ridge, down to the corners of where the Front Extension starts. It is the first time we have tackled this type of diagonal Rafter and it is quite complicated with different angles coming into play from different directions. It is a case of making sure that we understand exactly what is going on and how the real world measurements we got, fit with the drawings on the computer and making adjustments etc.
    Finally, today we have got to the point of having a pile of parts (polystyrene foam strips, plywood webbings, internal noggings and the LVL timber) all ready and prepared for assembling tomorrow. Everything is carefully being sanded and cleaned for maximum strength as these diagonal Rafters are going to be expected to be handling quite large loads, rather than the more normal straight rafters that just goes from top to bottom!
    The whole LVL rafters, including the corner Posts that we built several months ago, will be glued and nailed together and fit nice and tight – We Hope!

  • C Ridge Installed

    Today, it was the task of taking out our C Ridge beam out and installing it into place. But first, we had to cut away some little bits of wood at the end of the beam that goes next to the steel I-Beam (to clear the sticking out flanges of the I-Beam), and also insert some filler wood pieces so that the fixing nails in the side of the metal bracket will be securely and bite into solid wood.
    Next, we weighed the whole beam on our scales and it came in at 61kg which is a fair weight but we could handle it fairly easily to take it outside and lay it down ready for hoisting up our scaffolding towers. First, we tried hauling on rope by our own muscle power but it proved rather difficult to lift and keep the beam in control, meaning not letting it fall back down again!
    We then switched over to our old method of using our mains powered winches on our existing metal poles jammed into the corner of the scaffolding tower and hoisted the beam up nice and easy. We managed to swing the beam around and have it resting across our two towers.

    Here we found that it was tricky lifting each end up by ourselves into the bracket and onto the post (on the C wall) so we ended up taking turns to be both at one end at t a time and help lift it in place. We did some slight removal of wooden material at the I-Beam end so it would fit into the metal bracket and sit more firmly back to the Kerb etc. and then we applied lots of silicone glue to the whole bracket surfaces and wooden ends to slide the beam into it final position. We then applied more glue at the other end on the post and fixed two side bracing supports to lock everything together including six fat nails in the sides of the metal bracket to anchor the beam firmly in place.

    C-Ridge-in-place

    C-Ridge-in-place

    C-Ridge-in-Metal-Bracket

    C-Ridge-in-Metal-Bracket



    Next we made two diagonal struts that fitted from each corner of the C wall and up to the C Ridge to provide both more anchorage and a surface to nail up the cement panels to form the whole gable wall over the front door and window of the entertainment room.
    C-Ridge-Wall-end-with-Bracing

    C-Ridge-Wall-end-with-Bracing


    Finally to finish off the day, we measured the diagonal LVL rafters that comes down from the C Ridge at the I-Beam end to the inner corners where the Front extension meets the main wall line. They came out at 5990 mm for the AB corner and 5950 mm for the DE corner which is pretty close to the numbers from our drawings!! So on Saturday, we will make two more LVL beams and slowly build up the skeleton of our roof!!

  • C Ridge Beam All Made Up!

    Today, we resumed the work on creating the first Roof Element, namely the C Ridge beam that goes from the Steel I-Beam (the Skylight) to the Front Door wall, labelled “C”.
    We sanded the plywood webbing like we did for the LVL timber, again to make sure that we are getting the best condition surfaces for the gluing. We then assembled the two LVL timber lengths in the template and put in a couple of little spreaders to ensure that these timber pieces are pushed outwards and not jump around when we start nailing things together. Next we vacuumed all the surfaces to clear away the last of any bits and dust to stop them interfering with the glue joint. Here we then apply the glue using our compressed air glue bottle but first we had to fill it up, sort out the compressed air hoses, and nail gun as well so everything was ready to go!
    After the glue was applied, we took the plywood strips and placed them on top of the LVL timber in the template and then went along down each side, using our fabulous squeezer to ensure the glue joint is as tight as possible, and nailed it together to keep it nice and tight!!
    We turned it over and glued the second side but when we were about to place our plywood strips, we suddenly remembered that we haven’t put in the noggings and polystyrene foam filling!! Eek! So we spent fifteen minutes scraping the glue off again and washing the surfaces clean!! Oops!
    After lunch, we set the polystyrene foam slicing machine up and decided that it would make sense to get and install on a fourth hot wire near the top of the machine so we can slice the required width of foam without having to adjust the 3 wires which slice the foam into 38mm sheets which is what we need to fill in the space inside the box beams we are making. That took a little time to sort out as well.
    Finally, we sliced up one whole sheet of the polystyrene foam board into 3 strips of 260mm wide pieces and then sliced these 3 pieces into a further 3 thinner pieces to make 9 in total of 260mm by 38mm thick by 2400mm long strips, we only need little over 2 strips today. The remainders will be used later on inside other beams.
    Then we chopped up four pieces of 89mm CLS timber and shaved tiny slivers off them so they fit in between the top and bottom flange, one at the two ends, and two over the joints of the plywood webbing. After that, we inserted in the thin foam strips to fill in all the empty space and it went in quite nicely if we are allowed to say so!!
    We then sanded and vacuumed the second set of the plywood strips and vacuum all the template, the LVL timber and foam and make sure it was all clean again, ready for more gluing.
    We then put on the second layer of plywood strips, this time it was ok to do so! We went along again with our squeezer machine and while squashed tightly together, it was nailed tight, all the way along both edges, just like last time.

    Ridge-Beam-C-Made

    Ridge-Beam-C-Made


    That concludes the creation of one Ridge Beam – Phew!
    We pulled it out of our template and placed it to one side on little blocks to allow it to dry without sticking to anything important like our template! Tomorrow, we will go outside and install it up for real and actually have in place the very first element of our roof – At Last!! Grin!
    Today, it was slow and fiddly, but we were learning our ways and means of doing this job so we should get quicker and be able to make the next beams more quickly. The next ones planned is the two diagonal rafter “valley” beams going from the same point up on the steel I-Beam where the C Ridge is and down to the corners to the left and right sides of the front door and Entertainment Room where the walls meets the main house front walls.

  • Measuring for Real and Building Gable Wall Over Front Door Wall

    Today, we took our Laser level measuring equipment and did some Reality measurements. We wanted to see what things were in the real world, rather than what’s on the drawing in the computer!
    We did the following:

    • C wall height : 2990 mm above ground (3000 mm on drawing)
    • Metal Bracket for C Ridge : 5040 mm (5039 mm on drawing)
    • Length of C Ridge : 5347 to back of metal bracket (5348mm on drawing)

    The last measurement we tried to do by propping up a straight 89mm CLS timber flat against the C wall and projecting upwards to get to the height of the C Ridge beam but we found that it was still too wobbly right up there.
    So we decided to build the first part of the framework on the C wall that will form the gable end and hold up the C ridge beam itself.

    C-Ridge-end-support

    C-Ridge-end-support


    Combining to 89mm CLS pieces together to form a single solid post and two diagonal struts to anchor it in place. At this point, we could accuracy measure the distance from the front of the C wall and back to the metal bracket up on the steel I-Beam.

    We also reassembled the second scaffold tower to give use a working platform at both ends of the ridge.

    Finally, to finish off the day, we sliced up 3 sheets of plywood into six strips of 477mm wide and cut the two LVL timber pieces down to 5347mm and 5350mm (the second one is for the top flange that goes slightly further back to the Kerb of the Skylight. We sanded the surfaces of the LVL timber to remove any dirt and roughness to make a smooth and clean surface for the best gluing joints.
    Tomorrow, we will carry on with making the C Ridge beam in our huge template and then install the beam up into place to form the very first structural element of our Roof!!

  • Created Rafter Template and Jig Unit

    Today, we set out to build the enormous template that will hold all the pieces that makes up a rafter element. The longest rafter we have to manufacture is 6.1metres long! So we took 2 sheet of our regular 12mm thick plywood and cut 3 strips of each being 476mm wide. Then we chopped up 12 CLS timber pieces each measuring 590mm long to provide the footings under the plywood and also joiners to connect the 3 strips together. Then, we again chopped up some further 26 pieces of CLS timber but this time being 100mm long. These had a 6mm hole drilled down through the wider direction and with a 100mm long screws, were fixed down on the edges of the plywood at the same position of the footings. These smaller items provides constraint to brace and hold the flanges in place when we assemble the each rafter in turn.
    There was a special requirement to cater for, for the LVL diagonal rafters and ridge beams, where all 17 of this type, comes in a variety of sizes, but most importantly, about 5 different heights. This means that we had to have some means of extending the width of the template and we did this by cutting a further 9 strips of the plywood, a set of 23mm wide, a set of 33mm and finally a set of 76mm wide strips which we can place alongside the main plywood base board and extend the overall width by a combination of different width by using one or two strips together and screw the second constraints in place to lock the whole lot tight.

    Rafter-Jig-Portrait

    Rafter-Jig-Portrait

    Rafter-Jig-Widescreen

    Rafter-Jig-Widescreen



    It only just fitted on the floor of our workshop, the total length of our template is 6.6metres long! Phew!
    We stopped slightly early to go back to the computer to make a definite and final list of the LVL rafters and ridges along with their sizes and how many plywood webbing strips we would need to build each rafter.
    Tomorrow, we will slice up some more plywood sheets to make a stock pile of prepared webbing and also the same for the polystyrene foam strips too.

  • Final Measuring Templates Created

    Today, we carried on creating more measuring templates, this time, the 40 degrees and 45 degrees versions. The 40 degrees one is a pair as there are a small number of rafters that connects up to the steel I-Beams (on the short ends of the Skylight).

    Steel-Frame-End-Measuring-Jig-40-Deg

    Steel-Frame-End-Measuring-Jig-40-Deg

    Wall-End-Measuring-Jig-40-Deg

    Wall-End-Measuring-Jig-40-Deg



    The 45 degrees version is only needed for the wall end as all rafters goes up to hip and valley rafters instead.
    Wall-End-Measuring-Jig-45-Deg

    Wall-End-Measuring-Jig-45-Deg

    Wall-End-Measuring-Jig-45-Deg-On-the-wall

    Wall-End-Measuring-Jig-45-Deg-On-the-wall



    This concludes the collection of the measuring templates, a total 6 in all. The other angle of roof we got, the 60 degrees over the front porch, is just an ordinary straight forward CLS timber and we can measure the required lengths in situ at the time.
    The rest of the day was doing necessary adjustments to the construction drawings to reflect the real world and the sizes of our newly arrived LVL timber which is bigger than the original drawing was done for. They are 108mm wide instead of 100mm, and also we decided to make life a little simpler and not have fancy crafted double slopes and valleys in the top and bottom edges of the LVL and just leave them flat. This means adjusting the overall height hence why we have sat down at the computer and did the work of updating the drawings.

  • Measuring Template and Scarf Joint Jig Created

    Today, we set out to create several templates to help us measure the distance between the I-Beams up on the top of the roof and down to the walls. Every rafter will be an unique length especially when going down along the diagonal hip or valley rafters.
    we started with the 32 degree version and made one for the wall and two for the I-Beam end.

    Wall-End-Measuring-Jig

    Wall-End-Measuring-Jig

    Wall-End-Measuring-Jig-On-the-wall

    Wall-End-Measuring-Jig-On-the-wall

    Steel-Frame-End-Measuring-Jig-32Deg-Wide-Beam

    Steel-Frame-End-Measuring-Jig-32Deg-Wide-Beam

    Steel-Frame-End-Measuring-Jig-32Deg-Narrow-beam

    Steel-Frame-End-Measuring-Jig-32Deg-Narrow-beam

    Steel-Frame-End-Measuring-Jig-On-the-Beam

    Steel-Frame-End-Measuring-Jig-On-the-Beam



    We needed two because the steel I-Beams we got are of two different widths so the template needed to hook up and bridge around the steel flange to land flat upright against the Kerb.

    Then, to finish off the day, we created a Nibbed Scarf joint maker. This is a very long shallow diagonal cut across the timber with little notch ends. The traditional wisdom is to have at least a 5 to 1 ratio of the length being five times longer than the width of the piece of timber being joined together. We made a jig to help us guide the circular saw to cut across the end of the 89mm CLS timber pieces.

    Scarf-Joint-Jig

    Scarf-Joint-Jig

    Completed-Test-Scarf-Joint

    Completed-Test-Scarf-Joint



    We tested this out and have glued and screwed together a couple of short pieces of the CLS timber and we will give it a week to dry and cure properly before we try bending the joint against a fresh CLS timber and see what sort of deflection we will get or indeed how much weight before breaking completely!!
    Tomorrow, we will continue and make the 40 degrees version of the measuring tool and then carry on with other templates and jig as needed.

  • Birds Mouth Jig and Eve’s End of Rafter Template is Finally Created

    Today, we resumed our creation efforts of a Birds Mouth and End of Eve template. We had a think overnight and we have decided that we could use the battery circular saw machine after all. After careful considerations, we started building up the layers of the template and then lines of 63 CLS timber, three lines at the bottom and a gap for the 89mm CLS Rafter Flange and another three lines of 63mm CLS timber. All this was glued and screwed together because we couldn’t rely on the screws surviving when we cut a whole series of clearance slots at the different angles we will need for making the Birds Mouth. We have five angles in total as follows:
    • 32degrees – rafters coming down onto Wall A and E plus M and I.
    • 33 degrees – Rafters to Wall B and D plus L and J.
    • 40degrees – Rafters to Wall P, N and H.
    • 45degrees – Rafters to Wall O and K.
    • 60degrees – Special Rafters for Porch on Wall C.
    We printed off on A3 paper all the Birds Mouth shapes and stuck it down on our wooden template and drew lines across the surface and used our heavy duty mains powered circular saw which has a thick strong saw blade in it and sliced clearance channels along 8 separate slots. We then did the same at the other end of the template to provide a place where the Ends of the Eve is also done at the same time as both the Birds Mouth and where exactly to cut the end is very much related to what roof angle we are dealing with. The important factor is that the gutter’s must all line up to the same height, no matter what angle the roof is. So we had a collection of numbers to position where the jig needed to go for doing the end of the eves. Again, the heavy duty saw came into its own in making more slots so our battery saw can just slide along the guide and just cut the 89mm CLS timber where we needed and get the job done quickly.
    Next, we took a square piece of plywood and cut out a right angle segment (plus an extra piece to accommodate for the battery saw base plate) and this will provide the actual and exact guide for running the battery saw long. This was similarly done for the other end to provide a guide for the different angles at the end of the timber which will in turn be connected to the Facia board.

    Birds-Mouth-and-end-cutting-jig

    Birds-Mouth-and-end-cutting-jig


    We were successful at the end of the day, by creating a Birds Mouth notch and the correct angled cut on the end of the timber as seen below in the picture
    Test-piece-cut

    Test-piece-cut


    It is quite complex but we made it or at least we hope, so as we haven’t used it in anger under full production runs so we will have to keep our fingers crossed!
    Tomorrow, we continue with the next tools and jig template like the measuring template to help us get the length of each rafter accurate and be able to trim little amounts off the top end.