Roof!
March 30
TEMP: 48°/ CLoudy
We watched the weather all week knowing that we'd be getting rain starting Thursday night. That said, we REALLY wanted to have the house covered because we were trying to avoid getting water onto the subfloor. We always cover the floor with tarps to protect it from rain, but with the continuos rain expected all night Thursday and into Friday, we wanted a roof up.
Mom and I built the roof frame Thursday during the day. It was pretty straightforward as we we built it just like it was a separate wall, well actually 2 separate walls that would be connected once on top of the house. We used 2x6 in order to give the roof space to fit the insulation. The roof width was exactly that of the width of the walls of the house, 8'4".
The top material is a 3/4" tongue and groove plywood. To square up the whole roof we added the plywood to one corner of the frame while on the ground. We attached the wood with adhesive and galvanized screws. Because we squared up the bottom corner, moving forward on the roof when setting the tongue and groove sheets, things would continue to stay square, making these initial boards super important. Adding the plywood also made this section of roof super heavy and we quickly realized we'd need some help to get these up there. Another thing we did with the plywood on the roof is stagger the sections almost like a puzzle. This makes the roof much more solid rather than having straight breaks across the whole width.
Up, Up, Up
We thankfully had a crew of 7 to get the 2 framed sections onto the roof. Thanks for the extra muscle all!
1.
Prep the first heavy section as high as possible. The 3 guys in the truck lifted as high as possible and the 2 guys on the ladder kept the roof centered on the house. I was inside with a rope around the frame to help pull the frame down once it was pushed up far enough.
3.
Voila! It was actually easier than we all thought. Once the first section was in place, the second was a breeze as it had no plywood attached making it much lighter. The over hang on the front and back is intentional in order to allow the roof to come over the house to keep moisture away from the walls.
5.
From above we filled in the remaining plywood, first laying adhesive then screws every 6" along the studs.
2.
The 2x4 helped to push the roof when the truck guys could no longer reach. We had added a small piece of 2x4 to the sides of the house where the which helped the ladder guys guide the roof as it was lifted.
4.
The two sections of the roof are connected by a 24" piece of 2x6, screwed and glued in place to make one continuous roof.
6.
In order to secure the roof to the house we used 6"
lag bolts through the house frame into the roof studs. We did this at every stud to guarantee strength. We also added hurricane ties to secure the roof to the frame for extra extra strength.