(Jan 26) Siding Begins

Got our first OSB siding up today! Woo Hoo! Used the reciprocal saw to cut out the window openings afterwards. It was pretty tough at times lifting the sheets into place and holding them there long enough get them clamped. We used the short pins and the air gun again for this task. The only issue was making sure that everything was tight and firm before you shoot the pins. They don't tighten things down as they go in like the screws. It happens so fast, everything is just frozen where it is. You risk loosening them if you pound too much with a hammer though you can tighten them down a bit. Best to get it set and right the first time. Starting to get a feel for what the building's going to look like finally. We made sure the OSB hung down below and covered the joint where the flooring meets the frame beams. Again, hopefully, if there are any leaks they will flow right over and off of the siding. After each sheet goes up, we go back and caulk with silicone sealant just to reduce the insect migration through the walls.

(Jan 19) The Roofing Begins

We decided to get the facia up first. We used HardiTrim and attached it with the air gun/pins. This way we would know our exact placement of the OSB and could lap it flush over the edge to ensure that if any water did get through the top layer, it would run off of the roof and not seep behind the facia. This was quite a task as we only had an 8' ladder and we were at 13' at the peak. Lots of me standing on my toes on top and hoping my balance would serve me well again. Luckily, no falls. As I look back on it, I'll get a larger ladder if the need arises again!

Kim and David would hand me up a sheet of OBB through the rafters. The tricky part was getting the first row secured. The others came much easier. We offset the seams for better stability.

Not too bad for stability. I'm sticking to walking on the rafters though. Riley was a lot of help on this trip passing stuff up to me. :)

David and I made quick work of pounding out the staples and securing the tar paper. Stuff was really slick to walk on afterwards though. I can see why people fall off of roofs on a regular basis! 

Here's the sunroof from the underside. Hoping the radiant barrier helps. Couldn't hurt for the extra $2/sheet it cost. 

(Jan 12) Finishing the Roof Frame

This was one of the more difficult pieces of the project so far. Getting the steel cut to the exact length and then getting it over the ends of the rafters. It would have helped to have another person in the middle on a 3rd ladder to keep it stable 'til we got it clamped into place. I can't stress enough how much the clamps help. You can't have too many and I usually found that the bigger the better. At times we would have to use a couple of pieces of Hardi or 2x4 to brace pieces together before we fastened them.

I wasn't quite sure how secure the cantilevers were going to be so I was conservative and only make them one foot. As soon as we started putting the roofing material on, I wished I had made them 2'-3' instead and given us a little extra shade/rain protection. Once the OSB and all of the braces were in place it was plenty sturdy and could have handled much more overhang.

(Jan 11) Capping the rafters

OK, I'm not afraid of heights but this did make me nervous a few times. Top of the roof on the north side is 13' high. There were several times, against my better judgement, that I ended up standing on top of the ladder to get a better angle. Since I couldn't coax Kim up here with me, I used ratcheting straps as I went along to hold the cap in place. Worked pretty well for an on-the-spot solution to my not having 6 hands. When I had them in place, I went up topside and laid down a sheet of plywood to sit on while I fastened the top of the cap with screws. Original plans had the cabin 2'-3' taller on all sides to accommodate a larger loft but with the ladders and tools we had, I'm glad we shortened it a bit.

(Jan 4) Rafters Ahoy

Whew, David, our son-in-law, was a huge help this day. Kim was on the deck handing the rafters up as David and I screwed the braces into place. Another great thing about working with steel.  Much lighter weight than it's wood counterpart and when you need a little extra strength, just spec the gauge up without changing the dimension of the board. On the structural steel, we had from 18 gauge to 12 gauge to choose from. All cut to exact length. I could have saved us some cutting time on site if I had been a little more careful with the CAD drawings. The other nice thing about the steel is that it is the same cost per foot no matter then length. Wood always gets more expensive as it gets longer because the taller trees demand a higher price.

To be able to attach both sides of the rafter to the brace, we cut and attached small pieces of track to go over the studs and give it a full wrap around surface to screw to. This was the only place I used 16 gauge steel. I just felt that the rafters were going to take a lot of weight with the overhang and the 12' gap over the interior of the building.

Starting to shape up!