Roselea

Category: Phase 4

Construction of External Skin of House: External Walls, Roof and Skylight. Slate tiles on roof and timber cladding on walls.

  • “B” and “C” Fully Completed and Now doing “D” and “E” sections

    Saturday and today (Monday), we carried on doing the roof and completed the little bit left to do on the “B” where the very top narrow row was filled in and then the diagonal join point with the “C” was trimmed, ready for the “C”.

    Roof-boarding-Day-4-AB-Complete-


    Then we moved the mobile platform out and along the front to allow us to start work on the “C” Front Porch section of the roof. We managed to get just about half of it done by the end of Saturday.

    Roof-boarding-Day-4-Started-on-C


    Today, we finished off the “C” section, it took us longer to deal with this piece of roof as we had to cope with a miss-aligned hip diagonal rafter and it’s very steep but we got there in the end.

    Roof-C-Boarded

    Inside-of-C



    Now the mobile platform was moved along and sideways to tuck under the “D” Fascia and parallel with the “E” to allow us to work on the whole area of both sections and that should see more done when we get going tomorrow.
    We just managed to get one posh plywood sheet up to start the first row of the “D” before the day came to an end!

    Tomorrow, we will resume on D and E and should see them both covered and done – we hope!!

  • Roof “A” All Complete and “B” Almost Done too

    We resumed the work on covering the roof rafters with plywood boards and we managed to get all of the “A” section completed and almost all of the “B” area done too. We handled about 10 sheets in total, some were whole and went straight up, but others were sliced in various directions to fit the “hole”, especially going up the valley line.

    Roof

    Roof-boarding-Day-3-A-Complete-B-Nearly-so

    Roof

    Roof-boarding-Day-3-Inside-of-A

    Roof

    Roof-boarding-Day-3-Inside-of-B



    These two roof areas (“A” and “B”) adds up to about Twenty-one percent of the total and it has taken us the three days to do them, this means, doing the sums on the back of the envelope, and with a pinch of salt, about 15 days to do the whole roof! But that doesn’t include the chore of moving the mobile platform and other hidden tasks not covered by the calculations – Smile!
    Tomorrow, we will do the last narrow strip to complete the “B” roof and then move everything, including unscrewing all our foot rails and start working on the “C” Front Porch section.

  • Another Nine Sheets Went Up Onto “A” Section

    It was a very hot blistering hot hot hot day today as we resumed covering the “A” portion of the roof and a bit of the “B” section too.
    We started by moving our mobile platform all the way to the “B” edge so we could tackle placing exact length boards up the valley. We put on two more “posh” sheets, going around the corner onto the “B” section and reaching the “C” intersection diagonal rafter.
    A further seven non-posh plywood sheets were fitted, two more to fill the valley region and five whole boards to fill a major portion of the “A” roof.

    Another Nine Sheets Went Up Onto

    Roof-boarding-Day-2-9-Done


    So for tomorrow’s work, we need two more full boards (well, actually just under two full sheets) to complete the fourth row and then three and a bit half width boards to fill in the final fifth row right up on the Kerb and the Skylight. That will see “A” fully covered and we can then proceed onto the “B” and should see that all covered and perhaps most of the “C” portion too. We Will See – Phew!

  • Ten Sheets Of Plywood Is Up On Roof!

    Today, we started in earnest in putting up the roof boards all over the roof! We started on the “A” section and proceeded to do ten sheets of plywood (12mm thick structural grade) boards. We had four posh quality ones (with hardly any surface faults and also made from a harder timber plus having six layers instead of four!) went on first along the front edge of the roof, connecting to the Fascia board and hence being visible from underneath. The other six “ordinary” boards filled in the next three rows, going up towards the Skylight.

    Ten Sheets Of Plywood Is Up On Roof!

    Roof-boarding-Day-1-10-Done


    Some of the rafters needed a little bit of work with the planer to get rid of a protruding plywood edge so the surface of the rafter is smooth and lots of area for the glue to spread over and provide a strong joint.
    We also made a heap of seven foot ‘foot rails’ that we have screwed down to each board so we can clamber up and down the roof safely with the other boards and tools etc.

    Tomorrow, we will move the mobile platform right into the corner of the roof between “A” and “B” and start measuring and fitting appropriate pieces to do the valley and finish off the “A” section of roof and go around onto “B” and continue around the roof.

  • Preparation and Designing Work Flow Procedures to Start Covering the Roof with Plywood Boards

    This afternoon, we prepared the tools and equipment, like rolling the mobile scaffolding platform back to the beginning of the “A” section of the roof. Plus also get the compressed air buffer tank installed under the platform on its own little shelf so we can have several air-lines going up to the platform and have just one main feed from the compressor in our workshop. We brought out our planer, various cutting tools and also brought around a half a dozen of the “smart” plywood boards so we are ready to start covering the roof with lots and lots of sheets of plywood.
    First, we made sure that the rafters were not proud of the Fascia (by trimming any excess off using the planer), then cut a little notch just behind the Fascia board, on the end of each rafter timber itself to allow for the installation of a conduit or a watering system (to be done later on). And then planed off a thin layer of the weathered surfaces to maximise a good glue bond between the plywood and the rafters.
    That pretty much concluded today’s work, we have got a plan and know what steps to take to do the job and tomorrow, we will start in Ernest to cover up the roof – At Last!

  • Last Three Downpipe Channels Permanently Installed

    Today, we finished off doing the last three Downpipe Channels and permanently fitted into place with glue and screws. These were along the back of the building, on IJ, LM and MN corners.

    Last Three Downpipe Channels Permanently Installed

    MN-Downpipe-installed

    Last Three Downpipe Channels Permanently Installed

    LM-Downpipe-installed



    This concludes the six modules that are fully integrated into our building construction, fitting into the roof structure and the Fascia. The only other two Downpipe Channels are temporary and won’t be installed until we are ready to put on the roof boards around on the “P” and where the Conservatory would be constructed later on and hence why these two are temporary to provide an end cap to the guttering system in the meantime.

  • Final Fascia Boards Done With Slot Plus Two More Downpipe Channels Fully Installed

    We resumed the task of cutting the slot into the Fascia boards, the final stretch going from “E” to “H” sections to complete the full circuit.
    We also fully installed two more Downpipe Channels, one for the DE corner and the other one at the GH intersection.

    Final Fascia Boards Done With Slot Plus Two More Downpipe Channels Fully Installed

    Slot-in-E-and-DE-downpipe-installed

    Final Fascia Boards Done With Slot Plus Two More Downpipe Channels Fully Installed

    Slot-in-F

    Final Fascia Boards Done With Slot Plus Two More Downpipe Channels Fully Installed

    Slots-in-G-and-H-with-Downpipe



    Tomorrow, we will conclude doing the final three Downpipe Channels around the back of the building, on IJ, LM and MN corners and that will be that at last! We could be doing the roof boards and start covering up the roof next – yippee!!

  • Working Along the Front ..

    For the last day of June, we had a long day of work, continuing the task of cutting the slot into the Fascia boards, this time, along the front. We did section “A” and section “B” then fitting very carefully, gluing and screwing the Downpipe Channel module, making sure the sloping bottom base layer is exactly at the correct height in relation to the two incoming gutter base boards (to be fitted later on) and going downhill towards to the plastic downpipe itself.

    Working Along the Front ..

    Slot-in-fasica-A

    Working Along the Front ..

    Slot-in-fasica-B

    Working Along the Front ..

    AB-Downpipe-Screwed-and-Glued



    After lunch, we had to level the sandy soil along the front of the Front Door Porch (section “C”) so we could get our mobile platform moved along there. we managed to move the platform sideways (at a 90degrees right angle) before resuming along the front. We did the “C” section alright, apart from having to remove some of the stainless screws that were right where the slot is going (we put them back afterwards!) but the fun started when we needed to “turn” the corner to do the “D” and “E” sections.
    We were running out of room to move the bottom half (the actual metal scaffolding part and its wheels), we needed to avoid the fence and the last fence post. It was tricky because the wheels are hard nylon 6inch castors so the plywood strips were needed to support them from digging into the soft sandy soil. We managed to do it .. eventually – phew!

    We concluded the day in doing section “D” (a nice short one!) and then the outer corner patch.
    Working Along the Front ..

    Slots-in-fasicas-C-D-


    So we now have done, almost, all three sides of the house and have only the last four sections (“E” to “H”) to go and put in the final downpipe Channels in and that will conclude the work on the Fascia board and the first stage of the guttering. We will be tackling the job of putting on the roof boards next – Hurrah!

  • Corner Template Created and Tried & Tested plus Started Cutting Slot in Remaining Fascia Boards

    This afternoon, we created another template to help us with the task of cutting slots into the Fascia boards, this time, for the outside corners. These 45 degrees corners are only 150mm (6inches) wide so the template is quite small. Our first version was to have the flat plywood plate with the guide rail and slot in it, plus with two arms sticking out at the 45degrees angle so we can clamp the template into place.

    Corner Template Created and Tried & Tested plus Started Cutting Slot in Remaining Fascia Boards

    Corner-Template

    But we found that there are slight variations at each of these corners so we decided that the simplest approach is to just simply screw the flat plywood plate straight to the fascia section with two screws . the little holes will be covered up later on so we don’t mind this “kludge” to solve this problem!!

    We have used it on the back three corners we had waiting and all went well.

    Corner Template Created and Tried & Tested plus Started Cutting Slot in Remaining Fascia Boards

    Corner-slot-cut


    Now we can do the remaining corners as when we get to them as we cut the slot in the other Fascia board.

    We then got our mobile platform around the corner (coming from the “A” section to the “P” section – the long side of the Great Room) and got it positioned right down the far end to continue with where we left off from yesterday’s morning work. We proceeded doing the two “P” sections plus also the corner connected to the “O”. We managed to get the tower back around the PA corner (back on the front of the house) before stopping for the day. the tower wasn’t too bad to move with all its heavy concrete blocks loaded on, we just took it easy and used lots of plywood strips on the ground to help support the wheels.

    Corner Template Created and Tried & Tested plus Started Cutting Slot in Remaining Fascia Boards

    The-mobile-scaffold-ready-to-use

    Corner Template Created and Tried & Tested plus Started Cutting Slot in Remaining Fascia Boards

    Slot-cut-in-both-parts-of-fascia-P


    We will continue with the slot cutting on Saturday, going along the front (“A” through to “E”) and down the right side to finish off (“F” to “H”).

  • Slot Cut in All Fascia Board Along the Back of Building

    This morning we resumed our task of cutting a slot into the Fascia boards. Using our new V2.0 template guide, we continued with the “J” section, then “K” and so on until we reached and completed the “O” Fascia board.

    We found that we could slice the full 10mm deep slot in one go if both of us were holding and helping the heavy router machine along. All went very well and we feel confident to tackle the rest of the Fascia boards on our mobile platform later on tomorrow.

    Slot Cut in All Fascia Board Along the Back of Building

    Slot-in-Fascia-J

    Slot Cut in All Fascia Board Along the Back of Building

    Slot-in-Fascia-K

    Slot Cut in All Fascia Board Along the Back of Building

    Slot-in-Fascia-L



    Slot Cut in All Fascia Board Along the Back of Building

    Slot-in-Fascia-M

    Slot Cut in All Fascia Board Along the Back of Building

    Slot-in-Fascia-N

    Slot Cut in All Fascia Board Along the Back of Building

    Slot-in-Fascia-O



    This is as far as we can get today as our mobile platform needs modifying to improve its wheels so no more slot cutting.