What We Hope to Accomplish this Year

I hope the hardest part is behind us now and things will move along at a better pace. My vision for this year is to complete everything to the point that we can celebrate next Christmas in our new home. We still have much work to do, but with a roof on the house we can work rain or shine and should be able press on without being at the mercy of the weather.
These blessings need a little more room than our 800 sq' currently provide.

Roof Part 2

Working on the roof was very labour intensive and as we were trying to complete it before winter hit we were blessed by our church family to have several men out almost every Saturday for a month to help.

We had to build "sleepers" on top of the roof for insulation.

After this was done everything else was conventional procedures for roofing with R-38 fiberglass insulation, 7/16 osb, 30# roofing felt, architectural  asphalt shingles and a ridge vent.

Roof Part 1

It has been a while since my last update and the roof is now finished. Here are some photos.

Laying the tongue and groove. It was not so easy. We found it easier to cut them in shorter lengths. A little warping of a board made it almost impossible to fit it in.

Inside View

Each board was carried up a ladder.

Adding facial boards

Sleepers with insulation and air vents

Ready to Lay Tongue and Groove

The bird block is finished and last night we removed the ridgepole lifting poles. Today I (Tammy) have been putting a clear sealer on one side of the tongue and groove. This evening we will start nailing the tongue and groove to the rafters. A small crew of guys from our church are planning to come help on Saturday. We don't have an easy way to lift the t&g up to the top so it should be interesting to see what we come up with. I sure hope the t&g goes together quickly. Some pieces are a little warped.

Bird Block

All the rafters are up and leveled. Today we are working on the bird block. You can see the horizontal boards being nailed in between the rafters at the top of the logs. We had a good rain this afternoon that cooled it off quite a bit. Thank you God!

We have our yellow pine tongue and groove for the ceiling and for the second story floor. We want to put a clear sealer on the one side of the roof that will be seen from the inside of the house and had hoped to start on sealing it today but with the rain that was not possible. Even now as I write the rain has begun to fall again. Away goes the power tools and lumber gets covered back up. This could be a test of perseverance if the guys didn't enjoy building the house so much.

We need to push to get the roof finished before winter weather hits. Sitting in a hot trailer in August makes me think winter is far off, but there are only 16 Saturdays until December. We have chosen not to work on the Lord's Day, so Saturdays are the only full days we work besides occasional vacation days from the paying job. We also usually have four evenings available to work, weather permitting.

Meanwhile, Mom and Gabby have been recovering dining room chairs and teaching the littles how to set a table. Our space is tight but 6 of us fit around our table while the baby uses her highchair. Poor boy just woke from his nap and he is hungry.

The Rafters are Going Up

The rafters are going up fairly easy. We are doing it like we were taught in the class and what do you know it works. Our house will have 13 sets of rafters and last night we put up the sixth set. Once they are all up then we have to get them all level and then they will be pinned into place with rebar.

After the rafters are leveled and secured, we will lay tongue and groove on top of them. We don't have our T & G because we are still negotiating the price. After the T & G, we will build boxes on top to fill with insulation. We have decided to use architectural composite shingles for the roof. We hope to be finished with the roof by September. God willing!

There was a rainbow yesterday. It reminded me that God is in control of all things and it also reminded me of his long suffering and mercy. There was actually a double rainbow. If you look closely at the upper right corner you will see the second rainbow.

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