Month: August 2017

This morning, we planed the top and bottom edges of both part of the K Ridge Rafter. We wanted to make sure that these surfaces are clean and smooth to get maximum contact area to the metal strip (coming later on) and the wood and have plenty of glue connection to maximise strength. We also planed the middle joint to clean up bumps etc. caused during the manufacturing process.
After struggling to get both parts laid flat on the work bench, pushing one end right into the shelf to the wall – phew and the other end sticking half way out the main workshop doors on a roller support leg! We managed to join them together so we could lay down one of the metal bracket piece that makes up the elbow joint element.
We then put in pilot holes where the bolts are going to go, and using a portable drill press and our electric powered drill, we drilled 10.5mm holes through the flanges, all eight of them. after that, we managed to get both metal bracket pieces bolted together and tightened up.

It is only a half day of work today because of other commitments so tomorrow, we will have to resume work outside as we just don’t have enough room inside the workshop! The other part needs to go in and have its own test fit too. Then the long narrow metal strips (5mm thick) will go along the top edge and bottom edge and bent at the elbow joint corners. Having done all this, everything is glued up and screwed and bolted all back together again!

Today, we cut down to the required lengths the LVL timber pieces with the appropriate angles on their ends for both parts of the K Ridge Rafter. This one has an elbow joint half way along as it follows the shape of the roof going over the extension at the back of the house. The elbow joint is reinforced with a solid metal brackets, two of them, to sandwich the rafter in between and bolted together when it is assembled and installed.

These two parts are fairly usual in their construction with noggings and the polystyrene foams inserts etc. so work went very well and we now have two completed sections and they will dry (the glue) overnight before we tackle the next task of fitting the metal brackets into place and drill clearance holes for the bolts tomorrow and making sure we get it all aligned up good and proper!

These last two days has seen the start of the building the next set of rafters. The metal brackets pieces were painted to give them a semi protection against rust while they are exposed to the weather to until the roof is on!

Then we sliced up some polystyrene foam blocks to make the inserts for the K Ridge and the O Ridge elements (including the angled bits going down to the walls). and finally, to finish off the first day yesterday, we measured the diagonal distances from the K wall corners and middle location, back to the central point on the steel I-Beam and analyse this against the drawings. It turned out to be pretty close, only 10mm offset for the two outside corners and 19mm offset in the middle of the K wall. This is close enough for us to continue to build the K Ridge and if there is any adjustment needed to be made, we can slice off little pieces off the beginning of the K ridge during installation.
Today, we sorted out all the plywood strips we had already made, also took all the “waste” plywood strips and moved them into our garden shed for storage and easier access. We spent all day slicing up more plywood sheets and other strips to generate all the webbing we will need to complete the remaining Special LVL Rafters, as follows:

• 9 x 400mm wide
• 6 x 413mm
• 12 x 423mm (already done previously)
• 18 x 455mm (taken from 20 strips left-over pieces)
• 4 x 477mm (two already made with a further 2 today)
• 4 x 508mm wide and that’s it!

We tidied up the pile of these plywood strips and put all the ones that will make the O Ridge series of rafters and stored them in the garden shed. Also, we brought in four lengths of our LVL timber pieces, 3 x 4190mm and 1x 3500mm lengths. We got our template back into shape again and started with our first rafter, the K Ridge. This 477mm wide object has 4 strips of the webbing and sliced a shallow angle cut (only 10.5 degrees) on one end of the plywood. This end will be push into the metal bracket and joined onto the second part of the rafter, the K Angled, which goes down at a 45 degree slope to the wall.
Tomorrow, we will cut the LVL timber and then sand to get them ready for gluing and nailing.

Today, we did two jobs on the fly. One was on the computer to organise, sort out and prepare diagrams for the steel bracing support unit, and the other job was to tidy up the workshop and bring in the various steel strips from the shelves outside under cover. The steel had to be sanded to remove the little bit of rust on the top most strip of the pile, so using the orbital sander with lots of emery cloth discs to go up and down each strip to remove as much of the rust as possible.

The Steel Bracing Unit that holds and reinforces the K Ridge element (this is the section of the house with the extension at the back over the Bedroom 2). The picture below shows the 3D diagram of this module.


Tomorrow, we carry on with the preparations and soon will be slicing up these steel strips into the jigsaw pieces to then be welded together.