Life of Gregory D: Garden Shed - Day 5-9

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Day 5 - 46-64 degrees and very windy
Phase 6 - Roof Framing

Exactly half way through my 9 day vacation and I'm feeling good about the progress. The ridge beams and rafters are about to go up which means that I should have a fair amount of roof installed before I have to go back to work.

As I prepared to cut the first rafter I counted all of the unique angles and cuts. One cut was made at the top of the rafter along the ridge line, another at the bottom as a "birdsmouth" that would rest on the stud wall, another for a birdsmouth like notch at the top and one small 45 degree angle at the bottom to give the exposed rafter tail some interest. Then depending on if the rafter was resting on a wall or beam the upper most notch grew in a couple locations. I knew it would be time consuming to double check all of these dimensions so after I got the first rafter fitted tightly I created 2 templates to help knock out the remaining rafters. I found some scrap siding and created 2 multi-templates for the top and the bottom of the rafter, and both could accommodate 2x6 or 2x8 (fascia). From here I consistantly cut and set the remaining rafters in record time.

Day 6 - 46-68 degrees and windy

Once the rafters were mechanically fastened and secured with 'hurricane' straps I ran 2x4 purlins perpendicular across the top. I evenly spaced them out so I could just fit in between them. The purlins are what I would fasten the metal roof down to later on.

Including this shed, I've only built two and as it happened both times my grandpa stopped by to supervise. I think two qualifies for 'tradition' does it not?

Mum, Grandpa, Me

Day 7 - 52-74 degrees and partly cloudy
Phase 7 - Siding Progress

As I tackled the roof, the girls continued to kick butt on the siding. You gotta enjoy a construction site with the sound of continuous hammering, the sound of progress! They did a great job!

Sue, Mum

Lauren even got to put her hammering skills to work when ever Norah went down for a nap.

Lauren, Mum

One of the firsts for my projects, a mini stampede of horses! I was walking around the side of the shed when I felt the ground shake. Sue's horses came running around the corner up to the shed to check on all the ruckus. If I hadn't already hoisted all the heavy beams up I could have thrown a rope around them and put em to use! Maybe next time?

After nap time the main Site Inspector pays a visit and scrutinizes over all of the details. Everything checked out to her liking and we received another OK to proceed!

Day 8 - 57-65 degrees and foggy

Roof Progress

It didn't take long at all to get a hang of this metal roof business. I cut the rafters to a certain length so I wouldn't have to cut the metal roofing on a majority of the shed. Just overlap the sides of the panels, line up the ends, screw down, and repeat.

Once I finished one side I got to listen to the sound of the first rain drops fall on the metal. It was a brief sprinkle but you could sure hear it and it sounded great!

2" 45 degree cuts on various members was a super simple option to dress it up.

Day 9 - 61-73 degrees and clear sky

Last day of my 9 day vacation and I was able to install over half the roofing. I have the next weekend available and planned on returning to wrap up the installation. I'm quite pleased with my first job working with metal siding and hope the valleys won't give me too much grief.