After the rain. The roof.
Eric went with rafters instead of trusses because we didn't have any way to get prebuilt trusses up there, but rafters can be built in place.
First Eric had to put in the ceiling beam for the second story and set in all the ceiling joists. That makes the bottom of the roof triangle.
Then he had to build a ridge beam to make the top point of the roof triangle. Then all the rafters had to be cut and attached to the ridge beam and the joists/walls below [which is the ceiling of the new second story.]
Did that even make any sense?
The pic is from late on the second day of roof building [the second weekend of the Big Building Phase].
To make extra sure that the rafters would stay in place, he cut gussets [trapezoid shaped pieces] that he glued and nailed in on each side of the roof [inside] where it joined the second story ceiling. Sorry no pic. The gussets support the bottom points of the triangle where the lower edge meets the edges of the triangle that go up.
It took a lot of precise cutting and heavy lifting to make that roof. It also took some nimble feet and careful walking so as not to slam one's head into the shorter attic area.
See the red ladder on the left? That's how we're getting up to the second floor right now.
Yeah we're the cover story for White Trash Homes and Gardens. I keep telling myself it could be worse. We are, after all, living in a construction site.
You can sort of see the general shape of the new part. The windows are not cut out yet up top. The back shorter addition will be ripped off and replaced with something with an actual foundation under it, taller ceilings and a roof that doesn't sag.
Also, we'll have a real stairway inside the house. We are not planning on using the ladder forever and entering through the girls closet.
In case you wondered.
