Large Trussed Roof

October wasn't what I had planned as I had intended to work on my own kitchen and pantry area. The roof on my brothers house took priority in the end so he'd be weather tight by Christmas and it's nice to have been a part of his house build.

The roof was a monster and when it turned up we got a sense of scale of the thing! It's all attic trusses and they've got 8ft (2.4m) ceilings in them

Felt And Battening

Although it's not a job you can see when the roof is completed it's one I really enjoy.

 Putting the felt and battens on a roof makes it waterproof and changes the building completely.

Don't look too closely at our "scaffolding".

These two long runns didn't take us too long to complete but it's a big impact for the customer. 

Trussed Roof

On Thursday a gang of 5 of us put on this trussed roof.

 There's something strangely satisfying about putting on a trussed roof. It goes on so fast and looks so good when it's done.

We had the whole roof on and braced up in a day. All the trusses were lifted up by hand. I can see why big building sites opt for trussed roofs rather than ones that are cut on which take much longer and involve a lot more thinking.

Re-felting A Roof

Roofing in the rain is never much fun.

Luckily there's been a good team of us working on this roof and it's made the wet days go that little bit faster.

 The last couple of weeks we've been systematically stripping and re roofing a large roof in the village I grew up in. The house is a lovely old place, full of character and that character extends up into the roof!

The previous roofers (back in the '70s I'd guess) laid the felt over the battens - not your usual approach! All in all though the roof wasn't in a terrible state, we've had to add new valley boards to each valley and replace or repair a few rafters on each section of the roof before adding new felt and battens.

We've also been splicing the old fascia board and making new fancy barge board. It should all look pretty good when it's done.

Making Box gutters

This week I had to make up two sections of large box gutters to waterproof an area of a barn we're converting.

The roof used to run down into a wall with vertical cladding that had normal guttering at the bottom. This was fine when it was just a barn as the water could run down onto the floor and not cause any problems.
As we're now doing them up it need to be water proof. We stripped off the cladding and the first four or five runs of slates so we could see what we were working with.
I then started at the lowest point and made the first step. A 1.4m run of ply that had a good fall on it. I then worked my way back to the other end of the roof creating each 1.4m run of gutter with a 50mm step between each level Each bit has to be fully supported and built in such a way to take the lead.


Working on the roof

 Bert the plumber then leaded these for me and we set about lapping the felt back over it to make it waterproof before we put the slates back on.

One stretch of leaded gutter

I've now got to reinstall the cladding and repair a section of oak frame that I exposed due to a high level of rot/woodworm on one joint.

Pine Truss

This week we've had to put a roof on to a large underground shed that houses the water tanks for the house I've been working on. For this roof we had to make two large pine trusses as the roof is to have Coraline sheeting on, so there will be no rafters only purlins.

Pine truss ready to go in

Made out of 9"x3" timber they are mortised and tenonned together with a large bridle joint for the top of the truss. They look really smart and should last many years.

Make Your Own Slate Rip

This was something I was meaning to post ages ago but forgot! I was stripping a section of roof before Christmas to add a new back gutter to a chimney when I realised I had forgotten my slate rip.

I managed to make a temporary one out of an old disposable hand saw. Cutting the to the side of the hanging hole on the saw to make a notch.

It's then just a case of slipping the "rip" between the slates and over the nail, hitting the handle downwards to pull the nail out (or snap the head off).

This doesn't last for too many slates, as the plastic on the handle can only take so many hits, but it meant that I could carry on working and strip an area big enough to carry on.

Anyone else made a temporary tool lately?

Rotten Roof Repairs

A bee's nest behind a bit of rotten fascia board is what started a larger-than-we-thought-job this week. The painters had been prepping some of fascia when they noticed how rotten a section of it was under a chimney. I went up, stripped off some of the slates and investigated.

Rotten fascia was hiding some deeper problems

The fascia and soffit were both weak with wet rot but as I took back the slates I could see that the wall plate and bottom end of the rafters were rotten as well. 

Not trying to sell a tool but the Fein Multimaster is amazing for this type of work

So I then started quite a major repair for this little bit of the roof. Firstly I removed all the rotten wood, cutting sections out. When I cut the fascia out I used the Fein Multimaster to cut it on a 45 degree angle so I could easily fix a new piece back in, This tool is incredible for doing this, it would be a lot harder by hand and cause more disruption to the roof.

some rooten timber around this chimney

I started by adding in a section of wall plate. I used oak as that is what the original was, I used a good sized half lap joint to make sure the two pieces were fixed together and bedded it on a layer of mortar. I then cut a rafter end with birds mouth and added it into the roof. I made sure it was long enough to sit on the first purlin up in the roof so it would be structural rather and fixed to another rafter and also to carry the soffit and fascia when I add that later. I decided to double this rafter up around the chimney as it will make the lead work easier at a later date.

New rafter added and a new section of wall plate half lapped in place

With all the structural work done I cut a new bit of soffit and fascia to fit. When adding wood like this it's essential that they are added at an angle so if/when  the wood shrinks it doesn't leave a big gap. I replaced more fascia that I had originally though as it was rotten quite far up. I then treated all the wood before I covered it back over.

The finished repair, ready for a bit of paint

Quite pleased with the repair but it took a lot of time and it's never fun playing with rotten timber!

Fitting A Large Light Well - Part 2

Somehow I always end up being the guy holding the instructions. This roof light was no exception, its been like a big jigsaw puzzle packed in 12 different boxes. I didn't take any pictures of us putting it together (mainly because it kept raining) , but here it is almost finished.

Large light well

It's aluminium frame with a UPVC top and bottom, coated in fake oak. Although fake oak wouldn't be my first choice, I can see why they went for it. It looks quite good from a distance and needs no maintenance (which is always an advantage when it's way up on a roof).

The fake wood looks OK from a distance

It took some brain power to put together (more than I'd care to admit), as the instructions weren't the best and they were to tell you how to put a conservatory up! We were also three bolts short but we managed to find replacements after we'd searched the whole roof and surrounding area. We got there in the end though.

Looks quite posh!

This is the first aluminium/plastic window thing that I've put together from scratch, If I had to do another it would take half the time (but that's normally the case).

The opening light came the wrong colour so we couldn't finish it!

There's still a bit to finish as the opening light (window) came just painted brown so needs the fake grain adding, this means we couldn't get it sealed and water tight tonight. We've also got to bring the fibre glass up the sides of the wooden frame and repair all the slate work, but that can wait for another time.

Anyone else been fitting windows like this lately?

Cut Roof On A Steel Frame

If you've been following the blog you're know I've been doing quite a bit of roofing lately.

This is our latest one (with the other carpenter on site):

The Orangery

Good view of the new roof

 Quite an interesting roof as the one side is fairly normal, except it sits on a wall plate we had to bolt to the steel and the top has to notch around the ridge beam.

Picture showing the top of the rafter nothced round the steel and ceiling collars

Small birds mouths with the end of the rafters trimmed to make fitting fasica easier

 The other side finishes into the existing wall, so a timber first had to be bolted along it (working out the height for this was quite tricky) and then the rafters cut to fit between.

Other side into the existing wall - supporting timber is bolted

Tight reversed type of birds mouth

Enjoyable roof again though. The outside details for fasica and bardge board are going to be difficult but I'll post about that when we do it. We've got the box gutter to put on tomorrow (where the roof meets the wall) before we start back on our large roof light installing the plastic frame.

Fitting A Large Light Well - Part 1

The second half of this week the other carpenter and myself have spent installing the frame work for a large light well that is going above the stairs.

We first had to cut into the flat roof and make a hole the right size. Below the roof a different carpenter had already installed the supports to take the extra weight of this roof light.

The roof before we started (well a little hole to get up)

The frame work was relatively straight forward. We set the laser level to make sure the top was bang on, as the roof itself is sloping, also getting the frame square was really important otherwise the roof light won't fit when it comes.

Frame work

Frame work making all sides level

 Once we finished the frame we covered it in 18mm WBP ply for the lead to be fixed to, we formed a box gutter at the back just below the ridge and added fillets all the way round so when new fibre glass is welded/glued on it's not such a steep bend.

Box gutter formed on the sloping side to allow for lead work afterwards

Light well plyed

Ready for the installation of the roof light and lead work next week

It's certainly a large addition to the roof but it adds so much light to what were otherwise a dark flight of stairs. I've never been asked to cut something like this into a roof before (plenty of normal sized skylights though) has anyone else?

Cut Roof On A Porch

In the UK we describe a cut roof as one you build from scratch, not using preformed trusses. These tend to be the roofs I end up doing and it's funny when I've spoke to other carpenters who avoid them.

Getting the first four rafters up and the ridge is normally the tricky bit

This week another carpenter and myself have put a cut roof on a rather large porch, it has quite a good pitch (40 degrees) and a wide overhang to allow for the stone work that needs to be built up under it.

Ceiling collars added to give the roof that triangulation it needs for strenght

Starting a roof like this is the hard bit, working out the angles, cuts and lenghs. We used a ready reckoner on this roof (a book with tables of values for different pitches), each working it out separately and making sure we arrived at the same answer (we did!). Getting the first four rafters up with the ridge is normally tricky (you could each do with three hand to fix and hold everything). This is the point where you need to make sure all your cuts are spot on before you cut everything else.



Front view of the framed out roof



Side view showing the gable ladder on the front to be supported by the stone work

Picture showing the eaves with soffit added and fasica but barge board still to go on

Once all the rafters were up we added the ceiling collars to strengthen it then work on cutting the rafters to the right overhang and adding a "ladder" to the front to carry the barge board past the stone work that's to go up.

Not bad for under two days work but still a bit left to finish off next week.

Lean To Roof

We finished battening the lean to roof between to two stone walls this morning. It's been a good job despite the weather and nice to work with another carpenter for a change.

All the rafters had to be cut to individual lenghs, although there wasn't a huge difference between the lenghts (around 20mm in places) its a much tidier job to cut them all like this giving tight "birds mouths" on each one.

All the rafters up

We then fitted the fascia and soffit. The fascia was notched to take the soffit, as although it's more work it gives a much tidier finish and allows for movement in the timber. With the soffit we just finished it past where the stone wall will be built up to, this saves us having to scribe it to the stone work and gives a straight line to finish to.

Fascia board and soffit showing notched detail and mitre for joint

 The next job was to get some felt on the roof and fix the battens at the spacing required for the slates that are going to be used.

Roof felted and battened ready for slates

View form the underside. A row of noggins to be added to firm it up

I love roofing and July is normally the best month for doing it, but the weather has been so rubbish its been more like April, with heavy showers coming and going in the blink of an eye. Still we've a few more roofs to put up and alter in the next few weeks so all we can do is hope for a bit of sunshine!

Roofing In The Rain

I was roofing today. This is normally good. It rained all day, non stop. This makes it bad.

Earlier in the week we had to strip a perspex roof off of an old potting/storage area of the house and all the old rafters.

 

The bricklayer then bedded us some new wall plates on yesterday (in sunshine I might add) so we could have the whole roof to ourselves today. It was raining when I woke up, it was still raining when I got to work and it hasn't let up yet as I'm writing this sat at home tonight.

Needless to say I got quite wet today. I had to resort to a red crayon like pencil to mark the rafters as normal pencils weren't showing up on the wet wood. We did do some of the cutting of the tops inside but as the new roof is sitting on very old walls none of the rafters are going to be the same lenght and each will have to be cut to a different measurement.

I was using two "waterproof" coats on rotation so one could dry out a bit while I got the other wet. Still on the bright side we got some rafters on today and lots more cut ready, hopefully it will be dryer next week and this roof can be the enjoyable job it should be!

Anyone else been working outside in this wet July we've been having so far?

Little Roof In A Garden

Garden sheds are normally a flat pack flimsy peace of rubbish, so it's nice when someone wants one built properly, like how a garden shed would have been built on a large estate a hundred years ago.

This one it built out of brick and block and I'm fitting a proper roof to it, the same as if it was a roof on a house.

Nailing the rafters on

It didn't take long to work out the cuts and lengths on the rafters and with only 8 on each side it wasn't a massive job. It was made a little bit more difficult by how the bricklayer had left it but I'm not one to moan.

Working off ladders is never ideal

I'll cut the overhang on the rafters afterwards



Nice, tidy birdsmouth (or I think so)

In doing this it enables the bricklayer to build up the gables, then I can come back and finish off the rest of the roof, I'll probably end up tiling it as well. The roof will still need some bracing and ceiling collars when I come back (like I siad this is a proper little roof).

Not how I spend every Sunday morning!