Saturday, November 24, 2007

Roof on!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Now for the really hard part. Back in September, I had a hard time figuring out how to frame the short walkway that connects the silo with the barn roof. I thought my head was going to explode, but eventually I worked through it and it turned out well. Now came the time to flash and roof it. Again, I was stumped, and the problem brought me closer to a complete meltdown than I care to admit. Since there was no time to dwell on things (winter should be here already, so I am working on borrowed time as it is...), I kept installing the other sections of the roof while researching the details of the silo walkway. Eventually, I developed a plan which started by flashing the entire walkway with short overlapping pieces of galvanized steel- essentially, this was a custom-built valley and sidewall detail, because such curved pieces could not be purchased anywhere. I continued the flashing all the way down the barn-silo intersection all the way to the eave of the barn roof. I also added pieces of Flexwrap at the ridge and along the silo's wall intersection to act as counterflashing (since the silo won't be covered with stucco until next year).

Next, I traced out the curved pattern of the silo walkway's roof onto plastic sheeting, then transferred this pattern to the shingle sheets. I added a couple of inches along each edge, then cut the panels and bent the edges up so that they could be tucked under the shingles of the barn roof.

The end result is shown in the closeup of the silo walkway below. You can see the piece of Flexwrap at the ridge (over the flashing but under the metal shingles). With my dad's help, the remaining shingles were installed on the barn roof, overlapping the bent-up edges of the silo walkway pieces. The end result looks very clean and will be very waterproof.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Fortunately, the weather has been cooperating enough for me to push on. A little snow, but generally warm enough to keep it at bay. The arched roof profile continues to make an easy job not so easy. Installing the trim was brutal and consumed a couple days alone. I made kerf cuts every 8" or so along all the trim lengths to get the rigid pieces to bend around the curve. Making the cuts was simple, but putting these pieces up on the roof edge was sketchy. The safety harness system is priceless! The roofing is not asphalt. These are actually metal shingles made from sheets of recycled-content steel. The galvanized pieces are stamped with a "shingle" profile, then covered with stone coating to protect the surface and provide a traditional shingle-style appearance. All I have to do is snap it in place and fasten to the roof with screws that get concealed by the next overlapping course of panels. This is a lifetime roof- which is good for environmental reasons and great because I should never need to go back up there to replace it! How many products come with a 50 year warranty? This one does!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

A couple of light snowfalls have left a dusting on the ground and a slick coating on the ladders and scaffolding. The deer hunters are thrilled to have their "tracking snow". I'm not a deer hunter. I'm not thrilled. I'll keep working on the roof because it must get done if I want to continue with the project over the winter (I can't insulate the interior if the roof is not watertight- it would be too risky). While this is no fun at all, I figure the alternative (finding some mindless, low-paying job while I wait for Spring to arrive) is worse. PLEEEEEZE, bring the sun back!

Monday, November 05, 2007

In the last few days of nice weather, I used every available minute of daylight... and several hours under the night lights... To get it done. I finished touching up the last of the trim as darkness approached and the storm clouds threatened on the horizon. This morning brought cold, wind, plus our first dusting of snow on the ground- winter is setting in! Now we need to put a roof on this thing....

Thursday, November 01, 2007

With the temps hanging in the 40s during the day, the opportunity to finish siding and painting the barn is still there. With the help of my mom, dad, sister and Lisa, we've been pushing to get it done. Here I am, painting "Minnesota syle"- sporting a jacket, hat and gloves. The gable ends of the barn took considerable time, as each piece of siding had to be precisely scribed and cut to fit tight along the curved roofline. About every fourth course also had to be notched to go around the lookouts. Barnbuilding is slow work (how did they do this a century ago???)