This afternoon, while we had some nice weather, even though it was quite chilly, we went and got our odd “N” rafter (the middle one, which is number 6) up and installed. We had to plane the end a fair bit as it was a complex shaped ends and we had wondered whether we had removed enough in the workshop. So it was a case of removing more until it fitted nice and tight.
We then measured the next subset of rafters on either side, these being the triangular sections going up to the steel I-Beam and down to the outside corner. These are now in our spreadsheet!
We did also the same for the “O” section and took measurements for the similar shaped triangular sections for the 45 degree sloping roof too.
We now have finally collected this data and we now have the means to continue working in the workshop while the weather is bad outside and try not to lose too much more time due to the weather!
We hope!
Grin!
Blog
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“N” Rafter Installed and Measurements taken for “N” and “O” secitons
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Oak Timber Surveyed and Moved to Storage Rack
Today, Monday, we resumed the task of quantifying our Oak timber and moving each plank around to our made-for-purpose storage rack.
We did some sorting on Saturday but only for the morning before the rain came at lunch time.
And this afternoon, instead of carrying on with this task, we decided to get our odd “N” rafter up and installed. We will carry on with the Oak Timber in the morning if the weather is kind to us again like today! -
Interruptions
Work has been patchy over the last three days, with other commitments on Thursday, rain all day Friday and also rain in the afternoon of Saturday too!
Erk!
We didn’t have any other jobs lined up as we didn’t have the “N” rafter (number 6) installed so we could measure the next set of rafters on either side of this central one.
So lost days!! -
Oak Timber Arrives!
This afternoon, in the middle of our lunch hour (about 1:30pm), the Oak Timber arrived!! There were ten packs in total, in four stacks on the back of the lorry. Also, on the back of the lorry, was a fork-lift truck which came down two steep ramps off the end! We were lucky that the driver was confident to reverse the lorry back down our Loke and avoided causing major traffic hold-ups on the A143 Beccles Road !
Oak-Deilvery-First-Pallet-Unloading-
Oak-Deilvery-The-Forklift
The forklift the moved the packs to the cleared area by the Storage hut.
Oak-Deilvery-All-Delivered
The pallets were quite neatly organised, each one having the timber of similar dimensions so we could check off against what we ordered. The initial spot check seems to show that we have got a lot larger volume of Oak than stated on the delivery note. This doesn’t means that we got more planks of Oak, just more volume. And in fact, after processing three pallets, measuring every single one and moving them to our sheltered storage area, it seems that most planks are thicker than advertised!
Oak-Deilvery-First-3-packs-onto-rack
We had a cordless keyboard and a cordless speaker sitting outside on one of the shelves on the storage rack (connected to one of our desktop computers inside), and as each plank was measured using a digital calipers and steel rule, the data was typed into a spreadsheet and then moved and sorted on separate sections on the rack.
We will resume on Friday with the sorting out the other seven pallets and get all the data into the database so we can cross reference any piece and mark it as being used and record what left-over there is, to be used somewhere else in other parts of the house. -
Bevels Cut On Latest Rafters
This morning, while we wait for the delivery of our Oak Timber, we got on with the task of cutting angled bevelled ends on the latest batch of rafters we made yesterday.
These have quite a sharp angle, very deep, at 53° and almost 100mm deep. Our slicing Saw machine performed very well! And this second version which has a new electric motor on board, is a better quality unit and doesn’t get hot at all, only the gearbox! It is also much better at cutting the wood without burning the material as we are able to turn down the speed of the saw blade and that helps considerable in controlling this burning effect.
So we have now a growing pile of ready-to-install rafters to go up, all the remaining P rafters and one N rafter. We are just waiting for a day of no falling wetness, whether it is snow or rain! Phew! -
Gorgeous Snow Stops Work!
This afternoon, having completed the production of the four rafters (for the “P” and “N” sections), we couldn’t go outside as it was snowinging quite hevily!!
Tomorrow, we have our Oak Timber arriving, during the day sometime, and with the cold snap occurring this week all over the country, it is unlikely that we will get any work done outside too.
Phew! -
Created Four Rafters
Today and yesterday, we resumed our factory production line to produce the remaining rafters for completing the “P” section of the roof, as well as the first one of the “N” section.
It was amusing to see us racking our brains for all the steps of the procedure of making rafters, getting all the tools, equipment and glues out and get ready.
We finished today at about 4pm and it is snowing outside so that’s the end of our work for the moment!
We will see when we can get them up, weather permitting but also our Oak Timber is scheduled to arrive tomorrow too! -
Two More Days Lost
The last two days has fallen foul of the side-effects of the suffering these cold and flu viruses, with disrupted sleep patterns and secondly infections.
What a world we live on!
What will be around the next corner??
Phew! -
Six “P” Rafters Go Up!
Before the rain arrived (about 3pm ) we got out there to get up and installed the six rafters we had made way back before Christmas, into the “P” section of the roof.
Rafters-P5-to-P10
These rafters were simple straight ones coming down from the O Ridge beam to the “P” wall, four of them had full eves sticking out and the last two didn’t.
Then after tidying up all our tools, under the steady patter of rain, we went and measured the last P4 rafter position so we can update the spreadsheet and then have the sizes for the last 4 rafters (P1 through to P4) to finish off the whole “P” section of the roof’s framework, covering the Great Room and alongside the conservatory.
We also measured on the other side for the middle rafter in the “N” section coming down from the O Ridge to the corner of the N and M walls. This particular rafter the only straight one in this group of rafters and it is situated in the metal bracket on the O Ridge so once that one is made and installed, we can measure alongside this rafter, on both sides, and get more measurements for the spreadsheet and we then can calculate what we would need to make the “N” rafters.
Finally, we returned back into the dry workshop and drilled bolt holes and sanded little slopes on the webbing so they can slide onto the leg and spread out the glue better. That concludes the work for today and the rain can do it worse. Hopefully, we can see dry weather tomorrow or else, we will be in the workshop and start preparing for those final P rafters! -
Bevel Ends Were Cut on P Rafters
This morning, a slight change of plan as the weather has come over wet again, so we got on with the job of cutting the bevel ends on the rafters going into the near corner of the Great Room near the front of the house. There were six in all, 5 were the full size rafters and the last one was just the top flange piece.
We dusted off the Slicing Saw Machine and got the template out of the shed and proceeded to slice the angled ends on these rafters.
And that is it for the day as the weather is now hailing frozen blobs of water so we will have an afternoon off and resume in the morning when we can start to put up these rafters and the others into place at last .. .. weather permitting!!!
