This week, I only managed to work for 4 days work on my workshop, rather than the 6 that I had planned on. That, plus some problems with the roof (see below) meant that I did not reach my objectives for the week.
This is what I did:
• Installed the facia.
Without an assistant to hold one end of the heavy boards, this took longer than I expected.
• Passed the framing inspection.
I did have to insert an extra board over the doors and windows on the load bearing walls. When framing the walls, I placed two 2x6 or 2x8s on their sides over all the doors and windows but one of them was flush with each side, leaving a gap in the middle. The inspector told me that, for strength, the boards should have been laminated. The board had to catch the lip on both sides yet fit between the two existing boards -not an easy thing to do. I managed by cutting an angle at the top of one end, inserting the other end, sledge hammering the board into place, then prying it at one end so some of the board caught the jack stud at both sides.
• Installed about 2/3 of the plywood on the roof.
I encountered 3 problems that slowed me down:
1. The recommended rough opening for the Velux skylights was one inch too narrow (21.5 inches) for the 2 foot centred rafters.
2. When calculating the placement of my rafters, I forgot that I had a 1 inch facia board on the rake ends.
3. I have never used 1/2 inch thick plywood on a roof before (always having used either boards or 3/4 inch plywood) and I just was not happy with the lack of rigidity where the plywood butted over spots where there was no support. The building inspector advised me to use clips but I tried those and I still was not happy. So, I ended up notching the rafters and using (real) 1" x 2" strapping under all places where the plywood was to but. This sounds very time consuming but it was not as bad as I feared it would be -my Festool jigsaw handled the notching quite quickly and accurately.
Next week:
• I will finish placing the plywood on the roof.
• I will install the 3 skylights.
• I will get started on the shingling (asphalt). I don't know how far I will get because there are a lot of other things on my plate next week.
The pictures I have included are:
(1) and (2) The "regular" two views of the shop
(3) an interior view of the shop (notice the setup for ripping narrower boards -the blade on my old craftsman table saw is unguarded and I stay well away from it)
(4) me cutting notches in the rafters
(5) an 18 foot eavestrough that I (foolishly) brought home (about 20 kilometres) on top of my car.