Category: Build Progress

Yesterday and today, we got down to the task of preparing our Skylight framework and all its individual pieces, to get them ready to be installed up on the top of the roof. The first job was to clean the bottom surface of all the items, to remove all the dribbles etc. and produce a clean surface, ready for gluing.
Then, we drilled out the fixing holes in all the rafters (all 33 of them) and countersunk them too so that the head of the screws will disappear down below the surface and be covered up with PU sealant. More holes were drilled in all our outer Rim pieces, so we now got three fixing points in every “window” section around the whole skylight (there are 33 “windows” in total) so this means a total of 99 screws to secure our framework to the Kerb.
The last job on these framework pieces was to cut a 3mm wide slot down the middle of the Rim items, this to allow the rubber gasket to be secured and held into place.

Finally, the Kerb needed to be “cleaned” to remove the 18months of weathering. We used our power planer and went around the whole 36metres length of the Kerb, trimming any plywood or OSB edging that turned out to be a little high and also levelled off any steps at transitions points between lengths of timber in the construction of the Kerb.

On Monday, we will use our latest tool, a power file (a narrow belt sander – 13mm wide) to clean an remove the last of the dribbles of the white polyester resin from all the wide slots in the Rim edging pieces (where the rafters will go). Then get the scaffolding towers sorted out and then we can really truly get the whole framework installed! Hurray!

Yesterday and today, we continued with the task of coating the white top coat of the polyester resin on the wooden framework of the Skylight. We finally finished it today mid-afternoon.

Tomorrow, we will check all the surfaces for any defects, rub down any spiky bits and sand clean the bottom edge (this never had any treatment with the various resins) and drill fixing holes so it is ready for gluing and screwing down to the Kerb. The visible interior portions (like the bottom of the rafters) can be painted in the traditional manner later on when we decorate the interior.
Then it would be the big job of hauling all the pieces up to the roof and the Skylight to install the whole framework into place.

Today, we rubbed down the second layer on all the pieces to get rid of a small number of drips and dribbles, plus also doing this coat of transparent base layer, revealed more knot hole problems so we dealt with them (by chiselling deeper into the knots themselves and then filling them with our 2-part wood filler) and finally the surface was washed down with acetone chemical to prepare it for the next resin coating.
Then we started on the white final finishing coating, by carefully painting just one side of each timber piece (rather than having to twist the piece around to the other surfaces and waste time – As the resin is continuously curing and hardening). We did the 12 pieces outside and a further 19 pieces in our workshop before the day came to a close.

Tomorrow, we will continue with this white layer on the other two edges and hopefully by the end of the day, we will have it all done, bar any tidy up and other repairs.

Today, we rubbed down all the pieces of our Skylight framework, making sure that any dribbles, drips and sags were removed. It was a slow process and it took most of the day to process 43 individual pieces, and we also applied more wood filler, especially on knots as these were upsetting the curing process of the polyester resin coatings.
We managed to apply a second undercoat layer to all the critical areas where the triple glazing will be fitted, to ensure a good air tight seal on the surfaces.
Tomorrow, in the afternoon, we will check this second coat, do any further rubbing and then start applying the final white glossy layer.

Yesterday, we started the process of painting the framework of the Skylight. We first removed all the tarpaulins we had covering things against any possible rain showers, and then unscrewed and dismantled the whole thing. All 33 rafters came into the workshop and the longer ridge beams and rim parts were left outside in the house but grouped together and much further away from any chance of being showered upon.
The first job was to coat these longer pieces with an undercoat layer of the polyester resin paint (this is a two part mixture) and leave it to cure hard. We almost did all 12 of the longer pieces.
Today, we finished off the last 3 pieces we couldn’t do yesterday and then returned back to the workshop to continue with the undercoat process on the 33 rafters. A filled some holes, sanded and then painted them with the resin.

We finished with a little time to spare so we started sanding the first dry layer on the longest pieces outside to get rid of the spikey bits and get it smooth ready for the second coat, on Monday, when it will be the white coloured covering.

Over the last couple of days, we have been fitting the final set of wedge shaped pieces to the outer rim of the skylight framework.
We got interrupted by rain for a little bit but instead, we came into our workshop, this was yesterday, and made some 24mm thick gap filling timber pieces, made from two layers of 90mm wide 12mm thick and 8feet long strips! They were glued and nailed together using the short 20mm brad nails. These gap fillers are for doing the wide steel parts of the kerb where we need to bring the triple glazing unit support batten closer to where the inner surface of the Skylight.
Today, we continued fitting the remaining wedges , including using our new gap fillers and got it all done by the end of the day. We managed to cover our finished framework with plastic tarpaulin sheets, before the rain came!
Tomorrow, we will take the whole thing apart, back into their individual pieces and start the process of applying some level of wood filler to hide various defects, knot holes, joints and anything else that may prevent a good contact area between the rubber gaskets and the glass of the glazing units. On top of that will then have the finishing coating of the white resin to seal the timber from against moisture movement and evaporation.

With yesterday’s short afternoon and today’s full day, we continued with the task of fitting the extra battens to all the rafters, the ridge and the outer rim areas, to support the triple glazing units. We finished off the two ends of the Skylight with the ones for the rafters and then proceeded to put on the first set of the “wedge” shaped battens up on the ridge beam, lining them up to the two rafter battens so the glass will seat as flat as possible.

We started on the second set of the wedge shaped battens, this time down on the rim outer sections and will continue with that tomorrow.

Yesterday and today, we worked on creating a set of glazing holders that will take the triple glazing units (TGU) that goes up inside the Skylight later on next year when we have constructed the first floor.
They are a series of “wedge “shaped pieces with a plywood strip glued and nailed on top. These pieces are shown in blue in the diagram.

We made 14 thinner ones for holding at the top on the ridge beam, a further 13 for the bottom position on the narrow sections of the kerb and another 9 to sit on the wider kerb sections.
We used our circular table saw machine to slice up the wood with various 15degrees angles, then put them through the planer to smooth off the sawn surfaces. Then we pulled out a sheet of 9mm high quality hardwood plywood and sliced 45mm wide strips, a total of 38 of them. 14 of them went into the planer to trim one surface to produce a 15degrees flattened area (this is where the tray of moisture absorbing powder will sit) when the plywood is stuck to the “wedges”.

We then stuck the plywood to all the tops of the wedge shaped pieces made earlier.


We spent the last hour outside, screwing and locking down the rafters to the ridge beam and to the rim edges so we can be confident that the alignment of the wedges (when we come to screw and glue them into place) will match the existing long batten already on the rafters.
So on Saturday, we can start doing that job and by early next week, we can paint all the wood work with the white resin and glass fibre and have that all done. The only job left to fiddle with is the Bird Disruptor system (we are waiting for our stainless steel order to arrive).

Yesterday, we proceeded with the job of creating the four Hip Rafters, two for each end of the skylight. The tops were planed with two 10.5degrees sloping edges and then cut a very complicated doubled angled ends to fit into the corner of the rim edge.

It was quite fiddly to get all the distances correct, all the angles measured and then sliced to remove the excess material. It took us most of the day to do these four pieces.

Today, we got on with the next step in creating the skylight module, or as we discovered, some call it a “roof lantern” because of the shape and one assumes the glow of the room’s lighting will make it look like a flat lantern glowing in the dark!
Anyway, today, we created 44 pieces of timber, which are the glazing battens that will be fitted on the sides of the rafters and provide something to push the triple glazing units against. We needed 36 shorter lengths and 8 longer pieces, each being 15mm thick by 22mm high and either 1200 or 1700 mm long.
We got four lengths of our 63mm CLS timber, selected to be straighter and with not too many knots and chopped them up into ten lengths of 1200mm and four lengths of 1700mm. Each of these were then sent through our main bench circular saw and ripped them in half in both ways to create a heap of rough sawn timber measuring approximately 18mm by 29mm, at which point, each piece was bent under a little bit of stress to make sure we didn’t end up with battens that would break at a knot etc. We rejected about five of them. Next, we used our planer to trim all the surfaces smooth and get uniform thicknesses, passing all the pieces in the planer several times until we arrived at our required size. We repeated the process of testing the batten, but this time, selecting the best looking ones without too many defects or further knots and rejected half a dozen more pieces.
The final set were then passed through our router table with a little quarter round cutter so we could smooth off the outer two edges to help with the glass fibre and resin coatings we will be doing later on. Seems a lot of time to make a small pile of wood!

On Monday, we will glue and nail each of these new battens on to the sides of each rafter, making sure the batten is straight and flat (for the glass triple glazing units to press up to) and not be fooled by the rafter itself as it may “look” straight and flat but maybe not! We will make sure by using some form of a straight metal ruler etc. to position the batten as we fit each one!