Let It Pour!

This week the focus was on "drying-in" the cottage. The roof was trimmed up, flashing was installed, and roofing felt was nailed down.

Now it can rain all it wants. And the timing couldn't be better since tomorrow the first severe storms of the year are forecast. These are the kind of storms where it can rain one inch in a half hour.

It doesn't look like it but the slope of the roof on the west side is steeper than the east side. It is just steep enough where anything on that side of the roof wants to slide off the roof. Materials, tools ... people ...

The east side was done and I had one row of felt down on the west side. Between the difficult slope, the strong wind, and only two hands it was exasperating. There were a few close calls of sliding of the roof entirely and it felt very unsafe working that west side.

Then three helpers arrived. My neighbor who is a builder stopped by and then he brought his crew over. The timing couldn't have been any better. With all the extra hands and their expertise it made short work of the remaining tasks. Many, many thanks to my neighbor and his awesome crew! You not only made my day but kept me safe as well.

I'm very grateful that the building is now finally safe from rain, but even more grateful for the help that appeared so unexpectedly and helped to achieve this milestone.

Cottage Has A Roof

The roof is on! In this photo the 12 foot ladder next to the building helps to set the scale.

It took 12 days to put the roof on the cottage.

Work was done in four phases. Preparing the building, fabricating and installing beams, setting rafters, then sheathing.

There still is more work to do - some trimming and beautifying.

Then the top layers can be installed. The waterproof membrane and the standing seam metal.

The building is darker than anticipated inside. I thought the south facing windows would be contributing more light than they do.

More cob will the added to the top of the walls to close the building in.

Most sunsets are fairly clear but this one was dusty.

Rafters, Part Two

All the rafters are now in place.

 

Just a few more days and this cottage will be safe from the spring storms.

The roof decking will go on next.

More cob will need to be added to the top of the walls to close the building in.

The last chance to play with cob will be sometime in the next few weeks.