The eternal roof....

More (slow) progress on the roof sheathing. All the big pieces are in place, so I can put the final rafter in place; several smaller pieces to be sized and cut.

For perspective, here's a picture of the whole cabin, way back in late September. (In current pictures, there are so many tarps on it that you'd think it was a giant tent!). Geez, it looks like all it needs is a roof. Henry David built his whole cabin in 3 months, and I haven't even gotten a roof done in that period!! :-(

I'm getting to the point where I have to decide just what to roof it with. Metal? Shingles? The good thing about shingles is that one of the neighbors has offered to do it for me. He's a builder, so he actually knows what he is doing. All he asks is that I help him(!) Mighty neighborly!!!

Testing the mettle

Yesterday was a good test to see if I could continue working through the winter. It was biting as I left the house at 7:30 to take the boy out to Poolesville for a magnet program test. 21 degrees. I figured that if it warmed up enough I would stop by on the way home and put up more sheathing on the roof. But it warmed up only a couple of degrees by the time I got close to home.

Maybe Starbucks would help? A half hour or so of fortification and I was ready to go. Only 24 degrees, but with the sun shining it really wasn't bad. I am prepared for whatever comes.

More sheathing. I can see that perhaps the roof will be completed.


Later in the day I went back to the cabin for a short while. A light snow was falling, and the roof was not yet on. A missed goal. :-(
But it was beautiful! :-)

The Tree Farm

It's been raining all day. No opportunity to work on the cabin except for a quick trip to empty the tarp of water and brace it up so the water flows off better.

The good news is that rain means I don't have to haul water over for the new trees. The real purpose of the land is to plant trees -- there's about a half acre of open space with room for a few hundred trees. I'm planting walnut trees with the goal of providing for my children's (or grandchildren's!) retirement. So far I've planted 8 trees, mostly in order to learn the basics of tree farming. In the spring, I'll plant lots more; more walnut trees, plus little Christmas trees in between.

Note the green "tree shelters" (harvested from the discards from the state park riparian buffer efforts of several years ago). The shelters protect the little trees from being eaten by the dear, or voles, or whatever. Hard to believe, but trees can thrive inside the shelters, and somehow get plenty of sunlight. I'm sure the leaves feel a bit cramped. (!)

Back to the rain. I love the rain. Otherwise, each week I have to haul over lots of water to keep the little treelets going. So, if I'm lucky, it will rain once a week all winter.

Today was beautiful - around 40 but no wind. I got most of the rafter tails mounted on the north side, with the 3 foot overhang.

That 2x4 is to keep all the rafters vertical; two of them wanted to twist off to one side. Hopefully tomorrow I can get some of the exuberantly red overhang sheathing put in place. If you look carefully, you can see the hurricane ties holding the rafters down; who knows, maybe we'll be getting a typhoon through here!


Here's the other end of the rafters (2x10's), mounted to the ridge beam. I used hardware for the attachment. Required by code in California, but I don't think anywhere else in the US. But not knowing anything about building structures, I was not inclined to trust the standard two or three 16 penny nails toe-nailed in to hold a rafter in place. My consultant, Mike, looked aghast and recommended returning them to the lumber yard. From what I've read, the rafter hangers are not standard around here, and builders consider them hideously ugly. But, with the shear loads from snow, or a heavy branch dropping on the roof, I'm more comfortable going "earthquake proof."

Another rushed hour over lunch....

Ran over to the Nine Acre Wood at lunch today. The major milestone today was manhandling a full sheet of plywood (5/8" thick) from the loft out through the rafters and onto the roof. First piece, and although it was a struggle, it was fully successful(!)

I was glad that I had left one rafter out, so that there was enough room to heave the sheet of plywood onto the roof. At first I tried to shove it through one of the standard 14 and a half inch gaps. No way. The plywood, 4' x 8', got wedged under the main room beam. Fortunately I had not installed one of the rafters, so the board went through the wide gap just fine. Even more fortunately, it didn't go sailing off into the woods as I gave the final heave-ho. And so here it is, in all its glory, positioned on the southeast corner



Since on Monday I asked the question about the not-so-subtle redwood red overhang with the Foresty Green rafters, here's a view of the two together. What do you think? Ridiculous combo or "quite handsome" together?

Ouch, it's cold!

I'm beginning to wish that I had kept to the original schedule where I finished the entire cabin by September - it's getting brisk out here! Today it was 36 degrees, with a stiff breeze blowing through the openings (As they say, "feels like 24"). It's hardly winter, and yet my fingers lost feeling as I picked up screws to assemble rafters in place.

Nice seeing the wildlife around. (There's a good view from the loft when there's no roof in your way!) This fox trotted down the dirt road and then positioned himself on a log to look around.

Monday - Progress?

Back in civilization, the garage was filled with bead board sheathing for the cabin roof overhangs, freshly painted with a not-so-subtle semi-transparent redwood stain. But a hard freeze was called for and I really didn't want to scrape the windshields in the morning, so I needed to make room for the car in the garage. So last night, I cut up the first board and stacked the others to make room to drive in.

Lunch today I took off for an hour or so and took the cut board over to the woods, hauled it up to the loft and put it in place on the southeast corner. Perfect fit!

New Question: Does this strikingly red overhang really go well with the "Favorite Foresty Green" of the rafter? In some ways, it's just like my dog: either quite handsome or else ridiculous looking; I'm not sure which. Perhaps time will tell.

The Big Question - Will I get a roof on the cabin before it snows?

Con:
1. When I spend time on the cabin, it drives my wife crazy.
2. I am working alone.
3. I have no time.
4. And no electric power.
5. I don't know what I am doing.


Pro:
1. I have a cool builder as a consultant (largely by Sketchup and email)
2. I get a thrill out of it.


Today's Unanticipated Hurdle:
Went over to work on the rafters and paint a little; Found that the tarp on the roof had collapsed between rafters and was holding about a hundred gallons of water nestled down on the loft. So I cut up a milk jug and bailed, just like the family boat as a kid.