Tag Archives: roof trusses

2013_07_20 (Sat) The Last Day (of building)

Today was the last day of our 2-week HFH RV CAV / SKP BOF build.  It was our 6th day in a row, and was scheduled as a half day.  There was a mix of feelings at circle: satisfaction in what we had personally and collectively accomplished; disappointment that we had not accomplished more; excitement that we were almost done; a touch of sadness that we would soon be going our own separate ways.  It was also clear that most of us had an accumulated tiredness.  But we had one last half day to work, and we had things to finish.  We had one last reminder about safety; don’t rush, be careful on/under ladders and roofs where teammates are working, and watch your energy level.

Installing roof trusses over the front porch.

Installing roof trusses over the front porch.

One crew finished installing siding.  Another crew built a truss-like top for the front wall to fill in for a truss that had to be moved due to the front porch being foot longer than planned.  Lynn and Jack continued sheeting the roof.  Brett, an HFH homeowner, showed up to work and helped Brian lift roof decking up to me so I could hand it to Lynn and Jack.  When they were far enough along, I nailed off the roof sheets with the air nailer.  The Lindas finished the bedroom closet, installed the living room closet, and removed diagonal cross-bracing from the interior.

The house as far as we were able to build it.

The house as far as we were able to build it.

11:00 AM came quickly and we packed up the tools, stacked unused materials, and picked up the site.  The house was not closed in as the windows had not yet arrived on site, the front and rear hip roofs still needed to be sheeted, and the roof shingles had yet to be installed.  But it was clearly a house, and it was structurally sound.

 

After lunch, which included a very nice salad, we all made a final check of the site and then returned to our rigs.  Linda and several others headed to the laundry room and most of us started readying our rigs for departure the next morning.

Matt and Julie.

Matt and Julie.

At 4:30 PM we started gathering for our caravan to Dave and Karen’s house in Big Horn just south of Sheridan.  Dave is a founding member of the Eastern Bighorn HFH affiliate and the current treasurer.  They gave us a thank you dinner and a comfortable place to sit, relax, and be together as a group one last time.  The meal included several vegetable dishes, including grilled beets from their garden.  Matt, the executive director of the Eastern Bighorn HFH affiliate, and his wife Julie were also there.

Wherever/whenever Escapees gather there are hugs all around, and so it was tonight.  It was a nice way to cap off our first HFH build.

The view looking south from Dave and Karen’s back yard.

The view looking south from Dave and Karen’s back yard.

 

2013_07_18 (Thu) Progress And Some Evening Fun

We found out in conversation last night that, at age 61, I appear to be the youngest person on our HFH RV CAV / SKP BOF team, and Linda is probably the youngest woman.  Two of the men are close to being tied for “most senior” at age 77.  Regardless of age I have been impressed with our productivity, but more so given this new information.  The experience that comes with age often matches or exceeds youthful energy and brute strength.  Our team has been safety conscious to a person.  Each of us is aware of our own limitations and limits, and has kept a watchful eye on each other.  There hasn’t been any misplaced youthful competition, just patient, persistent, focused effort, guided by the advantage of being able to think ahead many steps in the project because of the ability to look back and remember.

We convened at 7:30 AM.  After circle one of our first tasks was to remove, rearrange, and reset six roof trusses.  Brian pulled the nails on the hurricane clips.  Kent and I then went up in the trusses to remove the bracing, which I cut out with a Sawzall one truss at a time.  In the process I dropped a short piece of 2×4 bracing on my head and decided to start wearing my hard hat.  We were joined by Lynn, Linda, Linda (we have two), and Jack so we could hand each truss down, move it over, and put it back up. Once the six trusses were reset, Kent and I aligned and secured the peaks (again) and re-installed the metal braces.

While the truss work was going on, a crew, worked on cutting off the east and west wall truss tails plumb as preparation for the eventual installation of the soffit and fascia.  Another crew started installing the 4’x8′ finish siding.  After helping with the trusses, a third crew started sheeting the roof with 4’x8′ 5/8ths OSB and the two Lindas built and installed closet walls.  The more they worked together the more fun they seemed to have, and could be heard laughing all over the build site.

We went to lunch at 11:30 AM, and ended up having an extended lunch break as we waited for a mystery guest to arrive.  It turned out to be the Sheridan mayor, Dave Kinskey, who was joined by a Deacon and one of the priests of the local Catholic Church that is sponsoring this build.  They expressed their gratitude for our work and the mayor explained the unique housing challenges in Sheridan.  Housing here is unusually expensive yet 50% of the wage earners make $20,000 a year or less.  Dave also invited us to come downtown for the 3rd Thursday street gathering and offered to get us coupons for free beer from the local Black Tooth Brewing Company (a microbrewery) and ice cream from Dairy Queen.

By the time we got back to the job site the temperature and sun were too much for most of us and we packed up for the day.  Mayor Dave stopped by Peter D’s and dropped off the coupons, which Linda and I delivered to our fellow team members.  We traded away our DQ coupons and ended up with four free beer cards.

Sheridan WY 3rd Thursday event.

Sheridan WY 3rd Thursday event.

Today was the 3rd Thursday of the month, and that meant five blocks of Main Street were closed from 4:00 PM to 10:00 PM for the street event that ran from 5 to 9.  We got down there a little after 5, parked a few blocks away and walked up to the event area.  Black Tooth Brewing Company had a tent so we used two of our cards.  Linda had their Saddle Bronc Brown (an English brown style) and I had a Wagon Box Wheat. Linda likes beer, me not so much, especially if it has a lot of hops, but I liked the wheat beer; it was cold, light, refreshing, and free.  BTW: Did you notice that we were walking around Main Street with beers in our hands?  That doesn’t happen “back home.”

We walked the event and stopped on our way into the farmers market spur to listen to the band.  The music was nice, and there were chairs for those who wanted to sit and listen.  We also stopped and chatted with a wilderness preservation group and a couple from the local Democratic party.  Yes, they have a few Democrats here.  This was the first night for the farmers market, but it was mostly crafts with some bakery and other food products.  As we saw in Gillette, farmers markets don’t open around her until later in July, and local produce comes later than that.

We found our way to the actual Black Tooth Brewing Company building and used our remaining cards for a second round.  This time I had their Bombshell Blonde, seasonal golden ale.  Mmmm, another good one.  Linda had another dark brew, also a seasonal item, but we can’t recall the name and it is not on their website.  This time we received the full pint specified on our cards.  Linda was pretty sure this was the first time in 45 years she saw me fully consume two beers relatively close together.

We were done with the 3rd Thursday event by 7:00 PM, so we drove to Sheridan College south of town to watch Brian’s community men’s’ league softball team.  We were joined there by Jan and Kent.  Jan and Linda rooted for Brian with great enthusiasm.

 

2013_07_17 (Wed) Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Mornings are lovely here this time of year with 5:00 AM temperatures typically in the mid-to-upper 50’s and clear-to-partly cloudy skies.  And so it was again today.  I know, because I was up at 5:00 AM working on our blog and watching the sun rise.

Linda L. holding the tape at the truss peak.

Linda L. holding the tape at the truss peak.

We gathered at the Works site at 7:30 AM, had our circle, and went to work.  Kent and I were joined by Lynn and Linda (the other one) and worked to correct the spacing of the roof truss peaks.  The spacing between the peaks had gradually increased from rear to front so that the ones by the front wall were leaning 3″ towards the front of the house.

 

Bruce and Lynn adjusting the truss peaks spacing.

Bruce and Lynn adjusting the truss peaks spacing.

Linda held the free end of the tape measure on a common reference point while Lynn and I worked our way along the trusses on either side of the ridge, alternately measuring, aligning, and then nailing 16 foot 2x4s to the center upright of each truss to hold the peak in place.  Kent worked from below passing tools up/down and using a board as a push stick and/or lever to help push the trusses into position and hold them while we nailed.  It was slow, careful work, but we got it done before lunch.

Linda L., Lynn, and Bruce, adjusting the truss peaks

Linda L., Lynn, and Bruce, adjusting the truss peaks

Angel and her two children.

Angel and her two children.

This house is being built for Angel and her two children.  As part of her “sweat equity” in the house, Angel organized the preparation of our lunches and got the food to the church kitchen and arranged on the buffet table.

 

 

 

Ron nailing hurricane clips.

Ron nailing hurricane clips.

Ron nailed hurricane clips all day and most of the rest of the team painted siding panels.  The Lindas installed another closet header and the worked with Lynn and Jack to cut and install extensions for the north trusses.

 

 

 

Front porch posts and beams (not)

Front porch posts and beams (not)

Kent and I were originally going to start sheeting the roof, but that had to wait for the truss extensions to be installed.  We switched off and worked on installing the front porch posts and side beams.  These are massive rough milled western Douglas fir (8×8 posts and 4×10 beams) pinned at the top by rebar inserted into drilled holes.  We cut the posts to length and notched the top surface of the house end of the beams using a circular saw and a Sawzall, and cut the rebar with a hack saw.  We cut and installed jack studs to hold the house ends of the beams.  When we finally lifted the west beam into place we discovered it was about a foot short.  Sigh.

A flurry of activity followed for the next hour as Brian figured out that the porch portion of the concrete slab was a foot longer than it was supposed to be, which placed the base pads for the posts a foot farther from the house than they should be.  Kent and I offered some suggestions for how to fix the problem beyond the obvious one of getting two new beams, but even that fix had the downside of a 3-week delay and another $300 in expense.  Brian conferred with Matt and Sandy (the architect), both of whom came to the site. In the end they decided to go with a solution Kent and I had suggested of constructing beams out of 2×10’s sandwiched together.  They decided to use 2×12’s and have us cut them down, but that would have to wait for Brian to get material on site tomorrow morning.

Linda F., Jack, and Lynn, extending and plumbing the north truss tails.

Linda F., Jack, and Lynn, extending and plumbing the north truss tails.

We had agreed several days ago to have a pot luck social this evening at 5:30 PM, with happy hour starting at 5:00 PM instead of our usual 4:30 PM.  Brian came, as did the folks from Castle Rock CO.  It was a warm evening (in more ways than one), and there were several dishes that Linda and I could eat.  Linda made the garbanzo bean salad, which tastes remarkably like egg salad, and is a favorite dish of mine.